Run to Win

The final installment of the 2009 Weekly Back Cove Race Series was this evening, and 113 runners came out to participate. I also got out for my 7^th race this year in the series, and my first one since I broke my foot.

Curtis Wheeler (01:42:14) brought his overall time down by almost 2 minutes with his win in 17:49 today, which left him in a solid lead for the free shoes this year.

Abbey Gosling (01:54:10) was not present this evening, but nobody even came close to beating her in the series standing.

The win for the women tonight went to Nan Lobo, who ran 20:16 and completed 2 races this season.

The community spirit award went to Craig Whiten (02:19:56), who ran all but 2 of the races this season.

For myself, tonight was the first time that I have run in 45 days. I went out a bit quicker than I needed to but quickly settled into a more appropriate pace. My foot felt fine, which is good, although I am going to come back very slow and easy so that I don’t have to worry about injuring myself again.

I have no plans for my running until January, and have canceled everything I had had scheduled for the rest of the year so I can concentrate on getting better and building back my base.

I’d like to thank Stu Palmer, John Rogers, and Diane Fournier for all the work that they do throughout the Summer to put this series on. Without them, these races couldn’t happen.

I’d also like to thank Colin Ingram and Mizuno for their support, as well as Portland Trails and the Maine Track Club.

This year, we had 2864 finishers from 1203 runners, which is over a 30% increase over 2008. There was 1 person who ran every single week, Richard Dawson (02:26:47). There were 157 people who ran 6 races and found a place on the leaderboard, which is 37 more than last year and 104 more than in 2007. 23 people ran at least 13 of the races.

I hope to see everybody again next May when the 2010 series starts! Thank you for coming out.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List – Photos)

The Back Cove 5k Race Series was scheduled to go for 19 weeks this year, rather than the 18 weeks that it has been for the past 2 years. However, the last race is being dropped due to scheduling difficulties and so the series will end on September 09, 2009 instead of on September 16^th.

Awards will be given out before the race next week on 9/09. Right now, Curtis Wheeler (01:44:06) and Abbey Gosling (01:54:10) are at the top of the leaderboard.

Abbey will be almost impossible to catch her 13 minute lead, especially with only 2 races remaining.

Curtis could still be caught by Scott Gorneau (1:44:53), who trails by a mere 47 seconds over their top 6 races. Scott could take the lead if he ran one of the remaining races in 17 minutes flat, and could tie for first place if he runs both races in 17:20. He has run faster than that 17:20 time twice now in the series. If Curtis races at least one more time, though, he stands to drop his time by 2 to 3 minutes which will make him uncatchable.

The leaderboard is determined by an individual runners top 6 times throughout the 18 week series. Check the links below if you would like to see where you stand on the leader board, or if you would like to see what place you are in when you factor in every race amongst everybody who has run the same number of races as yourself!

(More Info: Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List)

The Weekly Back Cove Race Series is now 15 weeks in, with 1 more month of races remaining.

There have been 6 different winners in the past 3 weeks since my last update. Emily Durgin (19:10) and Curtis Wheeler (16:56) won on August 8^th. Matt Lunt (17:20) and Kristen Sweeney (20:24) won on August 12^th. Kurt Wente (17:40) and Marita Stressenger won on August 19^th.

Curtis Wheeler has (not surprisingly) taken over the leaderboard with a cumulative time of 1:44:06, 47 seconds ahead of Scott Gorneau. Abbey Gosling has only run once in the past 3 weeks and did not drop her cumulative time of 1:54:10 at all, but she still maintains a comfortable 13 minute lead.

Only 2 people remain who have run every single race so far this year.

I have not gotten to the race at all in the past 3 weeks, nor have I been running. My foot is getting better, but is not well enough to run on yet.

Results:Week 13 – Week 14 – Week 15 – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List
Photos: Week 13 – Week 15

This week’s Back Cove race consisted of 214 runners braving temperatures in the low 70s with clear skies.

Curtis Wheeler led the way handily, winning the race in 16:59. Abbey Gosling’s win streak was broken, however, as her time of 18:50 was 25 seconds behind Emily Durgin’s 18:25.

Abbey’s 1:54:41 overall time on the leaderboard is still almost 13 minutes ahead of her closest competitor. On the men’s board, as predicted, I came onto it in first place with an overall time of 1:45:59. I expect that Curtis will take over that number 1 spot next week if he runs, however.

The leaderboard is growing, with 74 runners having run at least 6 of the 10 races so far. We are down to only 4 people that have run all 10 races, however, down from last week’s 6 runners.

This race was more of a tempo run for me this week. I ran to the Back Cove from work, where I saw Madeleine, Erin and Matt Lane out for a jog and decided to run with them for a short ways. The next thing I knew I barely had enough time to get from Tukey’s Bridge to the starting line, but I did make it a good 30 seconds before the start of the race. This turned my 5k into basically an 8k tempo in the middle of a 16½ mile run. I was rather tired and hungry by the time I got home.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List – Photos)

142 people braved the weather this evening, although the rain held off until after the race was over.

Curtis Wheeler ran ahead of Noah Schoneberg, only beating him by 2 seconds in 16:51. Abbey Gosling continued her trend of leading the women with her time of 19:04.

For myself, I got in an almost 7 mile warmup by running there from work, and then did a 3 by ½ mile workout with folks to chase. By the time I got done with my cool down I’d gotten in over 15 miles this evening, which is probably why I’m so tired.

The leaderboard has seen some shaking up, with both the men’s and women’s board being led by a newcomer onto the list. Lilian Childress jumped onto the board with a cumulative time of 2:07:36, which gives her an almost 20 minute lead over second place. Next week I expect another new gap to be opened up, although not quite as large as this one.

On the men’s side, Daniel Salvo opened up about a 3½ minute lead with his cumulative time of 1:49:52.

The list of folks that have run all 9 races has gone down to 6 people, from last week’s total of 7.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Complete Runner’s List)

175 runners were met with some fog at the Back Cove this evening, with Michael Payson leading the way by bringing in this year’s fastest time to date: 16:11. Curtis Wheeler was chasing him down, a mere 9 seconds back.

Abbey Gosling again won the women’s race, this week in 19:20.

Kellie Stratton debuted on the leaderboard this week in first place with almost a 2 minute lead.

Nathan Augustine improved his lot to first place by knocking almost 3 minutes off of his cumulative time; he has now made it to all 7 races so far.

I didn’t make it to the race this week; with my legs as sore as they are I decided to do a few easy barefoot miles on the streets near my house with my wife.

We also found a small bug with the Back Cove website software, so if your name didn’t appear in last week’s results that should be resolved soon as we update the standings now that the technical glitch has been fixed.

(More Info: Full Results – Leader Board – Photos)

Tonight was the 2^nd of 19 installments in this year’s Back Cove Weekly Series. The weather was pretty ideal for running, with temperatures in the mid-60s and a slight breeze.

There were 175 finishers this week.

Curtis Wheeler took the lead in the race about 1.25 miles into it, beating Blaine Moore by 12 seconds with a time of 17:19.

Jamie Young led the women with a time of 22:43.

Before the race, I was deputized to start the video camera at the finish line after I finished, so check out Maine Running Photos sometime tomorrow for that to get posted. It took me a few minutes to find the camera bag and get it set up but I’m pretty sure I only missed the first 7 or 8 finishers. I’ll find out when David uploads it.

He has quite a few pictures up from the race (including the great shot above) so check out his pictures from the link below.

This week I managed to forget to restock my desk with various snacks so I literally ate nothing but breakfast and lunch today. I even forgot to pack a banana. On a brighter note, I ran the 5+ miles to the starting line and then found another trail that cuts about 4/5 of a mile of roads out of the run on my way back. I was a bit tired today.

(More Info: Full Results – Photos – More Photos)

Like last year, I volunteered at the race rather than running it. For the past couple of days I was (only slightly) regretting having committed to volunteering since I thought that 1 week post-marathon I’d be too sore to want to race a 5k, but I’ve been feeling good and racing would have been fun today.

So was volunteering, though. I got some good photos with my cell phone and I did my part to help things run smoothly, such as running race day registration numbers up to the folks in the press box, helping out with traffic on the course, and helping with results after the race.

While there was no lack of former Dirigo runners, current Dirigo teammates of mine were conspicuously absent today. I only saw 4 total. It was still a pretty quick day, with 6 runners under 16 minutes and another runner just missing it. Curtis Wheeler was the first over the line in 15:16, with Christine Reaser crossing first for the women in 19:00.

Almost 2000 people total ran, with 107 mother/child teams taking part.

(More Info: Results – Race Photos – More Photos)