Run to Win

The 2008 running of the Irish Road Rover 5k was this morning in relatively warm but very windy conditions. The team competition was broken into 3 separate types of teams, club teams, open teams and corporate teams.

(Click here to continue reading…)

The 2008 running of the Irish Road Rover 5k in Portland, Maine will feature a team competition for the first time. The race is this Sunday, March 9^th, at 11:00 in front of the the Brian Ború pub.

The race also has a new website this year with more information: irishroadrover.com.

Pre-Race packet pickup will be available on Saturday at Maine Running Company.

Just about all of the news this week last year was about making your body better. There was a race report, a review of some gloves, and a whole bunch of articles about lifting weights and getting in shape.

• I continued the animated lifting series with instructions on how to do swiss ball dumbbell bench presses. I also had another dietary workout tip where I suggest that you always eat before and after working out. It is great advice.
• I reported upon the 2006 running of the Irish Road Rover, locally known as Ború’s race due to where it starts and finishes. I also mentioned my thoughts on early season pub races, of which the Road Rover is one.
• I reviewed a pair of under armour gloves that I have used quite a bit over the past year or so. My review still stands, although now that I have actually tested the gloves in colder weather they are a bit lacking. They do have a wide range where they work well, though, and on those colder days do serve as a good layer beneath some mittens.
• I began a weekly series on what I thought about the 20 new rules of lifting found in the book by the same name. I posted two rules per week, beginning this week with the list of rules and the first rule: use your muscles as they were designed.

The 11^th annual Irish Road Rover was this morning in Portland, ME. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Members of Dirigo R.C. took 5 of the top 10 spots in the race, including the top 3. Not everybody registered as Dirigo, though. Claton Conrad handily won the race by over half a minute, coming through in 15:53. Todd Coffin followed him in 16:32. Erin Lane won the women’s race in 18:36.

I decided against running the race, so I took some pictures from the top of the Eastern Prom near the halfway point. I did not realize until after I had set up that the turn around was less than a quarter mile past me. I have put most of the pictures that I took online. I have labeled some of them with the name of the person, but I have not looked up everybody. If I missed you or if your number was not visible, feel free to let me know and I will update the image. If you would like a full sized copy of the image, I can accomodate that as well.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

(Complete Results – My Photos – More Photos)

I have already run the Mid-Winter Classic, but it sort of stands on it’s own despite being a Maine Grand Prix race this year. The official start to the racing season seems to be the Mary’s Walk. I liked the Kerryman Pub race (which is concurrent with Mary’s Walk) when it was a four miler rather than a 5k.

This year, I will probably go and watch the Irish Road Rover on Sunday, but I do not expect that I will run. I think I will wait until the New Bedford Half Marathon to begin my real racing season. I am still undecided about whether or not I am going to run the Eastern States 20 Miler the week after, though.

It seems to me as though early season races are usually sponsored by Pubs. Maybe it is only Maine, with last week’s Brian Ború race and this week’s Kerryman Pub Race but I know of a few races this time of year in New York that are also sponsored by taverns. I suppose one reason is since it is normally still cold, they can hold the races later in the day and still expect people to show up, which means that folk will stick around after the race. Last week’s race went off at 11 am and this week’s went off at noon.

Maybe this is all just in my imagination and Southern Maine just happens to be a fluke. But then again, maybe not. Do you know of any races in your area this time of year? Who sponsors them?

The Irish Road Rover 5k was yesterday morning in Portland, and the weather was fantastic. It was a very fast race for a season opener in Maine, with a winning time of 15:44 by Ethan Hemphill. Two other folk made it under 16 minutes, Kevin Tilton and Chris Muentener. There were also 5 other people under 17 minutes; this bodes for a fast season all around. As about average for most races in Maine, despite some fast time there were only two men in their 20s in the top 10.

Christine Snow-Reaser won the women’s race in 19 minutes and 22 seconds. Mid-Coast Multisport won the corporate race.