Run to Win

It has now been a week since the second running of the Cox Sports Marathon in Providence, Rhode Island. This is the race that I won last year, and I was looking to repeat again this year.

New Course Analysis

The course this year was completely different than last year, with a different start and finish line and much more extensive use of the local paved trail system. Rather than going north of Providence through Pawtucket, the course spent more time towards the South near Barrington. All in all, I rather liked the new course despite taking some of the hills away. There were a few problems with the new course, though.
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Greg Meyer will be speaking at the Maine Running Company this Thursday, April 16^th, 2009. Greg Meyer is the last American man to win the Boston Marathon with his 2:09:00 in 1983. He has formerly held 2 world records (15K and 10 miles) and 10 American records (8K, 10K, 15K, 25K, and 10 miles.)

He will share his experiences with Boston, and along with the Maine Running Company coaches (Mike Gaige, John Rogers, and myself) he will be discussing how you can get ready for your first marathon or half marathon.

If you have some spare time and are in the Portland, Maine area this Thursday evening, I recommend stopping by. The normal training group run will begin at 6:00 and the 1^st Time Marathoner clinic will begin at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome.

The event is free, but if you are planning on attending, please register in advance at the Maine Running Company.

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask…about me!

Well, maybe not everything, and you may not have been afraid, but Amy over at Runner’s Lounge took the time to ask me a dozen questions about my running so if you are interested in taking a peek, you can do so here: RunnersLounge.com

The interview covers some running history, gets some of my favorite tips out of me, and lets me get on a pulpit and remind people to volunteer at races.

The L/A Bridge Run was this morning, concluding the 1^st Annual Lewiston/Auburn Triple Crown racing series. Conditions for the race were favorable, with temperatures in the low 60s, overcast skies, and only a very light breeze albeit with a bit of humidity mixed in.

Ethan Hemphill returned again this year to claim the victory, splitting the distance between his performances from the last two years to finish in 15:29, 20 seconds ahead of Nicholas Wheeler. The race was a little closer on the women’s side, where Lauren LaRoche’s 18:40 was only 15 seconds ahead of Tina Meserve.

There were a few guys that went out for the cameras at the beginning of the race but who quickly faded (all but one not even making it to the bridge before falling back,) but a lead pack of 5 runners quickly formed and put a little distance on the field after going through the first kilometer in 3:05.

Towards the end of the second kilometer, I was behind the pack which had whittled down to 3 guys with a few others starting to string themselves out. I ran it in 3:12, slower than I wanted to go but still on pace.

Everything fell apart by 3k, though and I barely managed to hang on for the rest of the race. I got passed by a few guys and finished in 6^th place overall with a time that was at least 45 seconds too slow. Most of the people that I spoke to felt that they had all run slower than they thought they would going into the day, but that is small consolation.

I did secure a 3^rd place finish in the Triple Crown Series, however.

Here were the final standings for the 3 races:

(Full Results – Triple Crown Results – Photo Credit: Erin Moore – Penta Photos: Kids Race – Start Line – Finish Line 1, 2, 3 – DCY: Photos & Video)

There are a lot of prizes up for grabs tomorrow morning at the L/A Bridge Run, the 3^rd and final triple crown race for this summer in Auburn. The series began with the L/A YMCA Fit Fest in June and continued with Emily’s Run at the end of July. If you have already run both races, then you should definitely go to tomorrow’s Bridge Run because not only are there prizes for the top 3 overall in the 3 race series, but there are also prizes for the top 2 in each age category. If you did not run in both of the races, there are still all of the normal prizes for the Bridge Run itself.

This list here is not at all official or definitive, just me trying to figure out who the top people are. It is shaping up to be a tight race for 3^rd place in the men’s race, which I can hopefully carry through given that my goal time would have gotten me 3^rd at the Fit Fest and would have won at Emily’s Run.

The race for 3^rd is pretty tight in the women’s race as well, although with fewer runners vying for the spot.

(More Info: Greater L/A Triple Crown)

I felt pretty strong in the last few hundred yards. I waved for the crowd, got them pumped up when my name was announced over the intercom, and hammed it up as I sprinted in. And by sprinting in, I mean picking up the pace a little bit over what I had been running. It is an uphill finish, after all.

The Finish Line

After I passed the bulldog mascot and got into the finisher’s chute, I hung out near the finish line area to congratulate all of the runners that came in after me that I had passed over the last few miles. I was waiting for the marine and for Paul to finish running so that I could chat with them.

A Navy runner finished and had a little trouble after passing over the line, so a couple of marines put his arms over their shoulders and walked him over the medical tent. He was in heaven. “First I run a marathon,” he said, “and then I get escorted around by a couple of lovely ladies.” They just smiled and kept leading him away.
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I was about 4 people away from the starting line when the gun went off.

It took all of about 1 second for me to cross over the line. My goal was to run between 2:40:00 and 2:45:00, and I was hoping to be at 2:45:00 pace halfway through and then run negative splits. Any sort of a PR would make my slowest goal, so I needed to run faster than 2:51:37 at the very worst.

Mile 1: 7:37 / 7:37 (+1:19)
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I am not a big fan of traveling, and getting down to Virginia this past weekend has not made me a fan of it. The only flight that was on time was the one that left Portland for JFK. I’ll leave it at that.

When we arrived in DC, it was raining pretty hard. We met up with my friend, went back to his place, and had a great dinner that him and his wife prepared for us. We did not even bother trying to get to the expo since the plane had been late getting in.

The rain had not let up the next morning when we went into town, but we got to the Armory just after they opened the doors so we did not have to wait out in the rain for very long. The whole packet pickup situation left a bit to be desired though. “There’s a right way, there’s a wrong way, and there’s the marine corps way,” to bastardize the popular saying.
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