Run to Win

Logan Price (12^th: 16:56)

The 10^th Annual Kerryman Pub 5k Road Race (and Mary’s Walk) was yesterday in Saco, Maine. Some decent weather and good competition led to some blazing fast times in a March race, with a dozen people running under 17 minutes.

The race also appealed to a younger demographic than is usually the case in this area, with only 2 runners in the top 10 over the age of 30 and 4 runners in the top 20 that were 16 or younger! There were a total of 737 finishers.

Despite the large number of fast times, the course record was safe for the first time in years. Casey Carroll was the overall winner with a time of 15:49, outsprinting Chris Harmon and Jeff Sprague by only 5 seconds.

Jenna Desrochers had a slightly more comfortable lead in the women’s race, coming through in 19:22. She was 13 seconds ahead of 13-year old Emily Durgin.

Photo Credit: Don Penta (Set 1 - Set 2)
Results: Full - Top 10 M&F - Age Group

The New Bedford Half Marathon in Massachusetts was this morning. It is the first of seven races in the USATF New England grand prix racing series. The temperature was in the high 30s with some strong wind but not as strong as in years past. It was much stronger at 9:30 in the morning than it was at race time.

The course is pretty flat, with some hills in the first few miles and one decent sized hill over the last mile of the race. There are 4 or 5 miles of (mostly) gentle downgrade in the middle of the course. Those miles correspond with when the wind is at your back, but it comes straight into your face from mile 9 through most of the rest of the run.

There were 1666 runners this year. Derese Deniboba won with a time of 66:29, almost 2 minutes ahead of New Balance Boston’s Ryan Carrara.

Ethan Hemphill led the Dirigo runners, outsprinting a few competitors to finish 11^th in 69:45. I rounded out the scoring for our team as the 5^th man in 76:31.

Heidi Westerling led the women’s race, finishing 65^th overall and winning with a time of 74:30. She passed me about 4 or 5 miles into the race. Molly Taber came through in 5^th for the women with a time of 77:16 for her warmup for the Olympic Trials in April. She ran the majority of the middle miles with me, but decided not to let me break the wind for her in the back stretch and fell back a little.

The Boston Athletic Association dominated in the team race, winning the men’s race with a combined time of 5:47:57 and the women’s race in 3:49:47. Scores are the aggregate time of the first 5 runners on a team for the men’s race and the first 3 runners on a team for the women’s race. The men’s team won by about 9 minutes and the women’s team won by about 5 minutes.

Dirigo finished 5^th overall, following the Merrimack Valley Striders by only 30 seconds. Our combined time was 6:02:28.

(Full Results)

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.

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• This week last year, I compared the pros and cons of running with headphones, which is always such a polarizing topic.
• Shani Davis broke his own 1500m speed skate record with a time of 1:42.32. He bested his own record by 0.36 seconds.
• Jim Snyder provided some information about the treadmill record from the week before, including providing a video of the event.
• How do you compare your workload from week to week when your training consists of multiple activities?
• This week two years ago, 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. I also demonstrated how to do a swiss ball bench press with dumbbells, suggested that you always eat before and after working out, and wrote a review on Under Armour gloves. Unfortunately, I have sense lost that pair of gloves and replaced them with Sport Hills.

I never got around to writing a “this week last year” article last week, so here it is this week for last week. If that makes sense.

• Some folks decided to try and break the 24-hour treadmill world record by running as a team on the treadmill. Each of the people in the “relay” needed to average 22 miles in 2 hours while they were on the treadmill. They succeeded, smashing the former record by over 14 miles.
• The Irish Road Rover was last week last year; I did not run but I got out and took some photographs. This year’s race is tomorrow morning, and unless they need some extra help I should be there with my camera again.
• I offered a very important swimming tip for the guys. Always tie your shorts! Pushing off from the wall and discovering your shorts are around your ankles can be embarrassing. Or so I’m told…
• Something I am asked on occasion is, “How many pairs of shoes do you need to be a runner?” Technically, you don’t need any shoes. I tend to have a lot of shoes, though, between trainers and racers and such.
• Finally, I discussed a story where Terry Francona made a bet that he could stop chewing tobacco. I challenged Red Sox fans to challenge themselves as well, but nobody took me up on it.
• Last week two years ago, I demonstrated how to do an overhead triceps extension and suggested that you should space your hands evenly on the bar when you are weight lifting. I also wrote a review of the Mizuno Wave Rider running shoe. They didn’t work for me, but I do use a different type of Mizuno’s these days.

Imagine yourself in a 600 meter dash, you are coming up to the second to last turn with 200 meters to go, you get cut off, and you fall on the track. Hard. What would you do?

If you are Heather Dorniden, you get mad, you get up, and you find another gear. Despite her competition having a 10 or 15 meter lead on her with 200 meters to go, and having to move from a standing start while they are in their final sprints, Heather Dorniden managed to not only catch up to the pack but to move right up to the front of it and win her heat. Her second place overall finish managed to bring the University of Minnesota to a Big Ten women’s track & field championship.

A video showing Heather’s fall and comeback follows after the jump. Her race is preceded by an equally amazing 2:05 800 meter run by Michigan’s Geena Gall, where she managed to create some monster separation from the rest of the pack. That 2:05 was a new Big Ten meet record.
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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.

Early results are in! There were 12 runners: 3 women, 8 men, and 1 dog.

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