Run to Win

• This week last year, I wrote about the first annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic, which I split into two parts. The first half covered topics such as progression, stretching and goal setting, while the second half covered topics such as intervals, recovery, mental preparation and teams.
• Scott tossed around some ideas about how the media impacts fringe sports and what we can do to increase their popularity.
• In an effort to explain why he bans them, Dave McGillivray discussed his opinions on iPods and racing. Dave is the race director for the Boston Marathon and the Beach to Beacon.
• This week two years ago I was still on my honeymoon, but I did discuss when it is appropriate to eat a midnight snack. I also finished the second half of my shoe maintenance series continued with a discussion on rotating your shoes, which can make it necessary to label your shoes. I suggested that you seek help when first choosing shoes, offered some advice on making sure your shoes fit when you purchase them, and recommended that when you find shoes that you like, stick with them! I described the differences between the eight categories of running shoes and suggested the circumstances under which you might want to replace the insoles of your shoes. The series ended after I got home from my honeymoon with a summary of all of the articles that I had published over the previous week.
• I also reviewed a movie called The Long Run two years ago, which is about a coach that tries to live vicariously through his athletes. The movie centers around the Comrades ultra marathon in South Africa.
• Three years ago this week, I predicted the record chase between Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin.

At tomorrow’s pre-game ceremony for the Red Sox game against the Rangers (August 14, 2008), a familiar face to the running community is going to be in evidence. Dave McGillivray will be finishing a 54 mile run with a lap around the infield at Fenway park, celebrating both his 54^th birthday and the 30^th anniversary of his trek across the country. Both the event 30 years ago and tomorrow’s event raised money for the Jimmy Fund, which Dave has continued to support in the intervening years with multiple fund raising events.

In 1968, Dave ran 3,452 miles in 80 days, running between 40 and 50 miles each day. Here are some clips of his entrance into Fenway 30 years ago, as well as some of Dave’s thoughts on what he has accomplished since then:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Topics this week last year were dominated by the Beach to Beacon.

• I started the week off by offering 4 ways to determine the length of a pool in response to a reader question on the matter.
• Maine Running Company hosted a talk by John L Parker, Jr. where he discussed his history as a runner and as a speaker. He read the first chapter of his as yet unpublished sequel to Once a Runner.
• The rest of the week was all about the B2B. First, it was announced that everybody would have a chance to run with the elites at the Back Cove race following the Beach to Beacon. There was also an interview between Joan Samuelson and Dave McGillivray published on the B2B site that offered some insights into the founding of the race. I offered up a few tips about running the race and provided a breakdown of the results after it was over.
• This week two years ago, I discussed why it is important to hydrate yourself after a race as well as before and during the race and I went into quite a bit of detail after being asked, “What is a taper?” I wrote a review of the movie Running on the Sun, about the Badwater ultramarathon.

Dave McGillivray, the race director for the Boston Marathon and the Beach to Beacon, recently shared his thoughts on headphone use. He gave his arguments about why he enforces the USATF rule about headphone use, which boil down to 3 points.

1. He’s technically required to.
2. Safety reasons.
3. Insurance reasons.

(Click here to continue reading…)

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. The fog burned off over the first 4+ miles before the race began, but was still present in the last few miles for a good portion of the race.

While warming up this morning, I thought that I saw Meb Keflezighi jogging around. I assumed that it was just somebody who looked like him, but I was wrong. He was here, and he was the first American to finish. Meb came through the finish line about 6 seconds behind the leaders to finish in 27:57.8 for 4^th place. The race was won by Duncan Kibet of Eldoret, Kenya. Evans Cheryiout came through in second place, just over a half second behind. Ayalew Taye was the first Maine finisher, but could not accept the $1000 purse because he is going into his freshman year at Georgetown University this Autumn.

Luminita Talpos of Romania has been in the top 5 four times, and finally achieved a win for the first time by running 32:20.3. She was followed by Natalyia Berkut in 32:28.5. In the Maine division, Emily LeVan ran a strong 35:01.3 to win by over a minute. Emily had quite the cheering section around 4.6 from her nieces and nephews.

Last year or the year before, my picture made it into New England Runner from right before I passed Emily a half mile from the finish. It took me a little longer to pass her this year; I edged her out in the last quarter mile and she finished less than a couple seconds behind me. Fellow B.A.A. runner Mariko Holbrook finished not too far back from us; she traded places with me quite a few times during the race.

The race as always encouraged me to go out about 15 seconds faster than I wanted to. I made up for that by being about 15 seconds slow at the halfway point. I did run my negative splits, however; my 6^th mile coming up the hill to Fort Williams was just as quick as most of my other miles. Once again, the hill remembered me. Even so, I think that next year I will need to make an effort to get some practice on the course ahead of time. I would like to get my body used to not going out quite so quickly, and these past two years I have not taken enough advantage of the down hill mile from 3.5 to 4.5. Overall, I am happy with my race, if a little disappointed with my time. I ran 35 point from the gun with a net time of 34:58.7.

Joan Samuelson ran 41:59.3 to finish her own race (for just the second time) in 364^th place. Race director Dave McGillivray had $1 donation to the race beneficiary for every runner that beat Joannie to the finish line.

(Official Results – Full Results w/better formatting)

The Beach to Beacon road race is tomorrow morning, and today an interview was put up on the website between race director Dave McGillivray and Joan Benoit Samuelson. I believe that this interview may have originally appeared in New England Runner, but I could be wrong. It seems familiar. In the interview, Joanie talks about how she got into running, what prompted her to run the Boston Marathon, and what it felt like to win the first women’s Olympic marathon. She also talks about founding the Beach to Beacon road race.

I have always had goals in the sport. The only goal left in the sport for me at this time is to run a 2:50 something or maybe even to sneak in just under 2:50 if I am very lucky at the Trials in Boston when I’m 50, almost 51. I think it is pretty cool that I will most likely end my competitive marathoning career where I started my competitive marathoning career almost 30 years earlier. Really what I am hoping is that I can get to the starting line without any injuries and with joints that still function.

The full interview is at: http://www.beach2beacon.org/joaniesinterview