Run to Win

This morning was the 11^th Annual TD BankNorth Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It was a beautiful day in the mid-80s that left the runners very happy to reach the shade on Shore Rd.

Repeating last year’s performance, Ed Muge led the way in 28:05, about 13 seconds behind last year’s time. 11 of those 13 seconds came from the first mile, which went out at only 4:23 this year and allowed for a lead pack of about 12 people to stick together for a few miles. Local favorite Ben True was a part of that pack but fell off the back side, only to pick up the pace and finish in the top 10 with a new Maine Record time of 29:11!

Speaking of Maine Records, Sheri Piers took down the Maine women’s record by 20 seconds with her 34:17 finish (also in the top 10!) Fantastic! That was just over 2 minutes behind Kenya’s Irene Limika, who won the race in 32:06.

There were 5613 finishers this morning, and I was not one of them. I broke my foot last week so I volunteered with the Atayne crew instead and cut D-Tags off of people’s shoes to recycle them with the help of my 11 year old niece. My nephew and my sister ran with the Sweep Crew picking up all of the trash that was left behind on the course, so hopefully we left things a little cleaner than they were before the race and got everything separated into recyclables, compostables and actual trash.

I’ll have another update probably tomorrow about the volunteer experience with the race, which certainly a different way to experience a large race like this.

(More Info: Full Results)

Registration is going quick for the L.L. Bean 10k. When registration opened on Tuesday, it only took until noon before the last pair of free shoes was taken.

As of this morning, a scant 48 hours later, there have been over 700 registrations which means that the free shirts are also gone now.

If you are interested in running, there are less than 300 online registrations remaining.

Once the race has 1000 registered runners, there will no longer be any pre-registration available, although if you get to the race early enough there will be an additional 200 spots available for race-day registration.

So here’s a big congratulations to the L.L. Bean race directors for getting so many race registrations this fast! I wonder whether they’ll get all 1000 registrations before the weekend?

Once again, the L.L. Bean 4^th of July 10k is going to give away free running shoes to registered runners.

The first 400 runners will receive a pair of New Balance 1063 running shoes, their premium neutral-cushioning training shoe. It retails for $125, so if this is a shoe that you can wear then it is a great deal for the $18 race registration fee. In order to get the shoes you must arrive on race day to pick up your packet. Along with the shoes, the first 700 runners will receive a technical race shirt.

Registration opens on Tuesday, March 24^th at 8:00 a.m. EDT. The first 400 to register for the run before May 14^th will receive the shoes. They will then have a treat of a course through Freeport on the Fourth of July.

This is the second year that L.L. Bean has offered free shoes and last year there were a lot of happy runners. This year, they have a spiffy new website for the race, which has all of the information that you’ll need if you are interested in running: http://www.llbeanroadrace.com/

If you are going to be in Maine this Summer then I’d definitely recommend this race; it’s well run, there is a fun 1-mile run for the kids afterwards, and they give out a lot of awards that are actually worth using. Last year, I won a duffel bag.

.
.
.
.

The Beach to Beacon 10k is a great destination race, especially for a race of such a short distance. A world class field combined with a scenic (and fun) course in Southern Maine serve to provide a great experience for anybody wanting to vacation in the area.

The race is very popular, selling out last year in about 24 hours and this year in about 110 minutes despite allowing a field that is 9% larger than last year.

As great as this race is, though, I think that there are some definite areas for improvement.

Find a New Provider for Registration

The registration process has been atrocious the past 2 years. Now that online registration is mandatory and there is no longer a paper option, the race committee really needs to look into finding a new solution than the company that they currently are using. Their website basically grinds to a halt with a few hundred to a thousand people hitting it at one time, which in the grand scheme of things is not really all that much traffic and a merchant provider should easily be able to handle it.

Not only are their frequent timeouts, but the site would often just show you a blank white page rather than an error message. If you refresh the page, then you might get an error message or you might not. After processing my credit card, I got the white page and tried to submit my info again. I was told that duplicate information was submitted, so despite not getting a confirmation I assumed that I had gotten in. When the list of entrants was announced, however, my name was not there.

Incorrect error messages are even worse than no error messages.

The company that they are using is Forte Interactive. Not only are they not capable of handling the registration process accurately or with anything other than a frustrating user experience, but they also charge higher than average registration fees. With the local ties that the Beach to Beacon has to the local Maine community, I don’t understand why they continue to send their registration business to Florida for a 2^nd year in a row after having had the same problems the previous year.

Change the Registration Time

Registration for the race is always on March 15^th. While I personally see no reason for registration to be held 4½ months before the race when they know it is going to be at or near max capacity anyway, I understand that that is not going to change and have no problem with that.

However, there is no reason for registration to have begun at noon. In years past, registration began at 9:00 am. This year, with registration falling on a Sunday, the noon start to registration coincided with a popular local race’s starting time which seems rude to me. Given that registration filled in less than 2 hours, my guess is that very few people who ran in that race had an opportunity to try to register themselves.

Allow Cape Elizabeth Residents to Register Early

Residents of Cape Elizabeth, where the race is held, have to deal with their town shutting down for a day and a half for the race and have a month of runners training on some narrow and windy roads throughout July.

For people with a mailing and billing address in Cape Elizabeth, there should be an early registration option to allow them to compete in their home town race without having to deal with all of the frustrations created by the registration process.

Allow Streakers to Register Early

If somebody has run all of the Beach to Beacon races, they should have the opportunity to register early so that they can keep their streak alive. They supported the race year in and year out and every year the number of eligible folks will decrease.

They should also have the opportunity to register early.

Allow the Transfer of Registrations

I recognize that it can be a bit of an administrative hassle to transfer registrations, but for a popular race that sells out half a year in advance it should be allowed. The only real reason that I can think of for not allowing the transfer of registrations is so that come race day there won’t be a full-capacity crowd.

To relieve the administrative hassle, don’t allow any registration transfers after a week before the race. Because packets and bibs are printed ahead of time and are personalized, there may need to be more of a lead time so in allow them up until a month before or however long it takes for bibs to be printed.

To relieve the cost of updating the paperwork, charge a fee ($10 would be reasonable and is almost 30% of the registrations fee) and automate the process through the website so that all you need to do is run off a report to send it to the printers. You could also provide a no-charge method for turning a race number in which would allow people on a waiting list to register for full cost.

This not only would raise additional revenue, but would also allow people that did not get into the race an opportunity to replace those who can’t race because of injuries or other reasons.

Mark Shore Road at both ends throughout July

Runners frequently train on Shore Road in the month before the race, which can give them a huge edge over people experiencing the course for the first time on race day.

Unfortunately, Shore Road consists of non-existent shoulders on twisty, hilly, narrow road where traffic tends to go a bit faster than it should. It’s a beautiful and scenic road to run on during the race, when the road is closed to traffic, but it can be dangerous the rest of the year.

Given the number of people that do train there through July, it makes sense to post a sign for the drivers to ignore that says something along the lines of “Caution » Watch For Runners” so that there’s at least a chance that they might be aware that they’ll be sharing the road with up to a few dozen runners through that 2 mile stretch.

Packet Pickup Should Be Moved to Portland

I fully recognize that this will never happen.

I mention it anyways, because Cape Elizabeth is not designed to handle the amount of traffic that has to go through the town in the days before the race, which leads to gridlock and stressed out drivers trying to get to Cape Elizabeth from the surrounding area.

Parking at the high school is also in relatively short supply, especially during and after rush hour. Getting out of the high school and back onto Route 77 to get back into town is also very frustrating.

Portland is much better situated to handle the traffic and there are plenty of options for places that could be hired out to hold the expo and packet pick up. Even South Portland would be more convenient and provide less of an impact than Cape Elizabeth High School.

Extra Shuttle Locations outside of Cape Elizabeth

Right now, very few people other than press and race organizers can park at the finish line. There are shuttles from Cape Elizabeth High School and from a few empty fields that are relatively close to the starting line where people can park.

The problem is that there are too many cars for these locations, and the commuting situation is no better on race morning than it is in the 2 days leading up to the race. There should be at least a few shuttles provided from Portland and from South Portland to reduce the number of cars that need to get into Cape Elizabeth in the first place and help relieve some of the pressure of getting to the race on time and finding somewhere to put your vehicle.

Well Worth Running

The Beach to Beacon is well worth running. The race itself is very well run and there are a lot of amenities for the runners. If you can get into the race, then I highly recommend it.

The only real problems that I see are with registration and packet pickup, with their being room for improvement for race day parking.

Have you run the Beach to Beacon before? Do you see any other areas for improvement that I have missed?

Leave a comment below letting me know what you think.

The 2^nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. This is the third part of my reporting on the clinic; the first part was about injury prevention and treatment, the second part was about nutrition basics and fueling, and the third part was about selecting proper footwear.

The fourth part of this series introduced you to the 3 athletes on the panel, and this final part will summarize their thoughts on training, teamwork, and racing as they answer the questions posed to them by the people in attendance.

What do you wish you knew in high school that you know now?

Lauren Fleshman only had 2 paces in high school, workout and racee. In college, she had 3 paces, workout, maintenance, and racing. She had a much better idea going into each workout what the goal was, and sometimes that was just to prepare for the next workout. She also would like to have known in high school how much better she could recover from two-a-days than doing 1 longer run throughout the day. In college she would run double 3 or 4 times per week.

Matt Lane would like to have known how important consistency in training was, especially having grown up in Maine where consistent running can be more difficult than elsewhere.

Matt did not run on the indoor track team, and instead competed for the ski team. Unless you are Ben True, skiing is not a complete substitute for running. It gives you great cardiovascular fitness, but it just doesn’t translate onto the track.

Matt would basically not run a single step between November and March, and his high school track times suffered as a result. He considers himself by far the slowest guy in the top 10 at Foot Lockers for his track times.

Matt wishes that he knew that running even once or twice a week would have been good enough to allow him to maintain his running fitness between the cross country and track seasons. Going for 5 or 6 weeks at a time without a run just didn’t allow him to do that no matter how well he was cross training. In the Summer, he did not have that same problem, which is why he did so much better in cross country.

Louie Luchini wishes that he had known what a difference a high volume workload can make, and wishes that he had done some harder workouts in high school.

His biggest problem with the extra volume, though, is that he sleeps too much and morning runs are out of the question for him. (Much to the chagrin of his coaching staff.)
(Click here to continue reading…)

The 2^nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. This is the third part of my reporting on the clinic; the first part was about injury prevention and treatment, the second part was about nutrition basics and fueling, and the third part was about selecting proper footwear. This fourth part will introduce you to the 3 current or former professional runners who made up the athlete’s panel.

The athlete’s panel took over the clinic and comprised a little over half of everything that was said. It was very down to earth and full of practical tips and advice from 3 people whose job it was to run. I will provide a bit of a history on each of the athlete’s here, and in the next article I will provide the answers to the specific questions that they were asked.

Matt Lane

Matt Lane was a graduate of Yarmouth High School in 1996, where he had some measure of success on the track but excelled in cross country. He won the North East Regional Foot Locker Championship as a senior in high school, and started his pattern of 4^th place finishes at the national level race.

Matt was recruited to go to Stanford, but wound up choosing to go to William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia for his degree. Right after he arrived, though, the coaches at William & Mary left after the first day. For a short time there were a few interim coaches, but the former Stanford coach Andy Gerard became the permanent coach.

While at William & Mary, Matt won 3 NCAA cross country championships and 8 indoor/outdoor track titles in the 3k and 5k.

In 2000, Matt ran in his first Olympic Trials for the 5000, which he described as just a higher pressure US Championship race. He finished in 4^th place, although he was the 3^rd place finisher who had already run an Olympic “A” Standard. Nick Rogers managed to run the “A” standard before the Olympics, though, which allowed him to continue on to Sydney and left Matt at home.

Matt graduated from William & Mary in 2001 and went to Stanford where he signed a contract with the Nike Farm Team. In 2004, Matt again finished in 4^th place at the Olympic Trials.

At this point, Matt decided to try moving up to the marathon, where he debuted in Chicago with a 2:17:32 and finished in 14^th place. He did not really care for the distance, though, and decided to retire. He has since returned to Maine where he is studying for his law degree.

Louie Luchini

Beginning his track career as a short and chunky shot putter and discus thrower in Ellsworth, Maine, Louie Luchini moved onto the track as he got skinnier and faster in high school. Both him and his brother were state champs and had respectable showings at the Foot Locker championships.

After graduating high school, Louie went to Stanford where he came into his first season injured and out of shape. Every Summer he would become lazy and arrive at pre-season in less than ideal shape, where he’d do all of his training camp runs with the women instead of the men. (They used to call him Louise.)

Louie considered not training over the Summer the dumbest idea that he ever had, but it did not stop him from becoming an All American 7 times with a 13:25 personal best 5000m time.

After graduation, Louie joined the same farm team as Matt, and now runs for the Oregon farm team. He recently competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials, but did not run as well as he hoped with a 23^rd place finish in 29:42.78 in the 10,000m finals.

Lauren Fleshman

The final runner on the athlete’s panel is not a native Mainer and has never lived out this way. Lauren Fleshman is from Southern California. She was a softball player through junior high, but she moved to cross country and track in high school on the recommendation of her coach. She got sucked into the social aspects of the team, and once she began to become more successful as a runner she began to enjoy the training as well.

Every year since she began running she has set personal bests. Her one overriding goal is to constantly improve, and she has now maintained her PR streak for 13 straight years.

She went to school at Stanford, and instantly went from being a stellar athlete on her high school team to an average runner on her college team. If you can call 15 national titles average. She was All American every time she went to Nationals.

In 2006, she won a national title as a professional, and has competed in 2 world championships. She ran in the 2008 Olympic Trials, and despite a sprained ankle she managed to place 5^th in the 5000m finals with a time of 15:23.18.

Now that you have a little background on the 3 athletes on the panel, come back for part 5 where the athletes answer questions such as what they wish they knew in high school that the know now, what they think of the team aspect of cross country, what are some specific workouts, as well as others. It will give you a great insight into the world of professional running as well as offering a lot of good advice that can help an amateur or recreational runner as well. Part 5 will be available at 8:00 am on Friday, August 28^th.

This has been a jam-packed weekend; there was a lot going on! If only NBC actually broadcast the races, I’d be all set. I’d sit there and watch commercial after commercial.

First, the women’s marathon. I almost cried when Deena Kastor broke her foot barely 3 miles into the race. Magdalena Lewy Boulet made it a bit further, but also dropped out due to an injury. Blake Russell was the only American to finish, taking about half a minute longer than it did in the Trials back in April and coming in 27^th overall.

It was an exciting race, though. After a pedestrian pace over the first half of the course (I could have kept up), Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania was the only runner to have the courage to go for it. Nobody ever came close to catching her as she crossed in 2:26:44. The race for the next two medals was close, though, as Catherine Ndereba edged out Zhou Chunxiu for the silver medal. Catherine was the only woman to medal that I had predicted before the race, as Paula Radcliffe fell apart and finished in 23^rd. (Deena was my other pick.)

The men’s 100m proved pretty interesting, as Tyson Gay failed to make the finals so he didn’t win the silver medal I thought he’d get. Usain Bolt ran away with it as expected, though, crossing the line in a world record 9.69 seconds despite showboating the last few steps.

The women’s 100m finals was very interesting, with 3 quarters of the field made up of Jamaicans and Americans. The Jamaicans swept, though, keeping every other country off of the medal stand.

On the 1500m front, Bernard Legat missed making the finals by 0.02 seconds. He didn’t even realize it until after he’d left the track.

And of course, last but not least, we go back to Friday and the women’s 10,000m, where Shelane Flanagan managed to set the American record in 32:22 to bring home the bronze medal.

I realize that I’m skipping over the women’s steeplechase, but I don’t want to know the results of that race until I find a video somewhere of the entire race.

The 10^th annual TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10k was this morning in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. As always, it was a closely contested race that is great for spectating. While the temperature was not very high during the race, it was quite humid. Unlike last year, the fog never burned off so that combined with a low tide caused the race to not quite lead up to it’s reputation as one of the more scenic New England races.

Leading the way was Ed Muge of Kenya, who had to battle it out with Maregu Zewdie of Ethiopia to earn his 0.6 second win in 27:52.4. Duncan Kibet fell back to 4^th place in 28:21 this year.

The women’s race was also pretty exciting, despite there being a slightly larger lead. The race was won by masters runner Edith Masai of Kenya in 31:55.6, followed by Liudmila Biktasheva of Russia (although she now resides in New York, I believe.)

The Maine race was won by 22 year old Ben True in 31:01.8, over 40 seconds ahead of a pack of Mainers that all came in right under 32 minutes. Women’s winner Kristin Barry set the Maine record, dropping it by over 6 seconds to 34:37.1. She was working hard for that win, and you can see how much pain she was in at the finish line in the news video, but she regained her composure by the time I turned to see her come through the finishing chute.

There were a total of 5248 finishers, the first time that the race has cracked 5000 finishers in it’s 11 year history. That the race sold out in about a day this year is just a small testament to the popularity of what Joan Samuelson has brought to her hometown.

My race went pretty well; I just barely run negative splits (17:05/17:03) to finish in 34:08.1, getting outsprinted by PR Racing’s TJ Hesler to the finishing line. I felt really good, though, and I know that I need to have a lead on TJ at the end of a race if I am going to beat him. He is especially hard to edge out when he has a downhill finish.

WCSH6 has full video coverage of the race, including 5 minute videos that show everybody coming across the line. I picked out my wife’s finish and you can clearly see her disgust with her time after she crosses the line and checked her watch.

Congratulations to everybody that ran this morning and thank you to everybody that came out to support or cheer at the race. Almost everybody that I spoke with ran well today and enjoyed themselves and the crowd support was as good as it normally was. The race also requires a large number of volunteers who are all kept extremely busy from hours before the race to hours after, and we appreciate the hard work that goes into putting this event on.

(Official Results – Full Results w/better formatting – Race Photos – Photos Source: Home Page)

View Larger Map