by Alicia McCarthy

This isn’t a traditional race report, but it felt like the right place to share it.

Like many women in the running community—especially those of us who have had children—urinary incontinence is a very real and often unspoken issue. I’m a mother of twins, both delivered naturally after a long labor, and over time running became less about pace and performance and more about logistics: Where is the next bathroom? Can I make it through this run? Should I cut it short?

It’s something a lot of runners quietly manage. We plan routes around restrooms, avoid certain workouts, or just accept a level of discomfort that we don’t talk about.

About a year ago, I decided to address it and had a urethral sling procedure.

For those who may not be familiar, the surgery is designed to support the urethra and reduce or eliminate stress incontinence—the kind that shows up with running, jumping, or even coughing. Like anything medical, it’s a personal decision and not one I took lightly, but I wanted to share my experience because it has made a significant difference in my running and day-to-day life.

My recovery was straightforward. I took it very easy for the first four to seven days—no running, just rest and short walks. By about four weeks, I was back to slow, easy running, paying close attention to how my body felt. At six weeks, I had returned to my normal running routine without restrictions.

What has stood out the most over the past year is the absence of something that used to be constant: worry. I don’t plan my runs around bathrooms anymore. I don’t cut runs short. I don’t think twice about intervals, long runs, or race day logistics in the same way I used to.

I also want to acknowledge something that I came across frequently when researching the procedure: concerns about complications, including sexual side effects. In my case, I experienced no complications, including none in that area, and my overall quality of life has improved.

Urinary incontinence is common, particularly among women who have given birth, but it’s not something you simply have to live with—whether that means physical therapy, lifestyle adjustments, or, in some cases, surgery.
If this is something you’ve been dealing with and have questions, I’m very open to talking about my experience. Feel free to reach out.
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This past year hasn’t been about a specific race result or PR, but it has been one of the most meaningful “running years” I’ve had—simply because I can run freely again.

The start was deceptively easy. I felt fine for the first few minutes, but we quickly moved off any recognizable trail and the world tilted upward. Soon, everyone switched from running to a crouched walk. My calves began to burn intensely, and I regretted my overconfident start. Eventually, the slope became so aggressive that we were on our hands and knees scrabbling towards the ridge. When I finally reached the top, the local runners immediately accelerated into a sprint while I had to take a few moments to stand and catch my breath.

The descent was a revelation in Scottish toughness and bravery. The other runners flew straight down the hill, using the thick vegetation—a mix of heather, grass, and ferns—to catch their weight with each step. I was quickly gapped and found myself alone, eventually hitting a section of the West Highland Way. Seeing no one in front or behind me, I forlornly studied the map and decided to just keep going along the trail. I was greatly relieved when I reached a race marshal who pointed me off the trail and back over the hill I had just descended.

​The final stretch was a gauntlet of obstacles. I encountered fences topped with barbed wire and, seeing no gates, had to climb over them before hurrying across pastures of disinterested sheep. There were long stretches of tangled thickets that I just had to claw through. At one point, I was sure that I was completely lost, but I eventually spotted some shapes (fellow racers, I hoped) moving uphill in the distance. I started pausing to rest after every step. My watch, unhelpfully, repeatedly asked if I was finished with the workout. I finally crested the ridge again
from the opposite direction, received a high-five from a volunteer, and began the quad-burning stumble back to the start. The finish line sat just across a burn (small stream). I didn't even bother looking for a dry path and splashed straight through the water to finish in just under two hours.

Did you know Central Maine Striders is 100-percent volunteer run? Every social run and meetup, every race and club activity organized, all Striders activities happen thanks to fellow runners—like you!—volunteering their time and expertise.

Do you want to get more involved in the oldest active running club in Maine? Big or small, ongoing or one-time, there are numerous Strider opportunities: club officers, social run coordinators and hosts, race and event volunteers, communications, and more.

Club officers are elected to one-year positions and are responsible for overall leadership and organization of the club, memberships, funds, events, and more. Our current officers are:

• President: Martha Cowperthwaite
  
• Vice President: Lindsay Theis
  
• Secretary: Alex Casey
  
• Treasurer: Ron Peck

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Interested in serving in the future? Attend an upcoming meeting or reach out to [email protected] for more information on any of these positions. Officers are limited to three consecutive terms, so the President and Treasurer positions will need to be filled in 2027. 

​Meet your officers>>

Do you like running and socializing? Our Social Run Coordinator position is open!

The club holds regular social runs on Wednesday evenings, often in the Waterville or Augusta areas, though also in other Kennebec County locations and places further afield. The Social Run Coordinator helps maintain the social run email list, organizing and informing folks of weekly times and locations.

Members  also can host a weekly run, suggest a future meetup spot in Central Maine, or get added to the social run list by emailing [email protected].

Races run on volunteers and Tom Farmer is our club's Volunteer Coordinator (thanks, Tom!). If you might want to volunteer at a future Striders event—like the January Thaw or the Fall Classic 10K--or help at another Maine race with fellow Striders, email or text Tom ([email protected] or 502-767-4422) for more info and get added to his list of potential volunteers (no obligation).

Currently there are two opportunities to volunteer on behalf of the club:

• April 26: Portland 10 Miler (race day registration and water station)
• July 26: Ironman 70.3 Maine, Augusta (Run Aid Station #4)

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​Meet Tom>>

We like to stay in touch with our members and potential members. If you have experience in website design and development, social media management, or other communications skills and would like to be involved, please email Alicia MacLeay ([email protected]). Here are some of the channels we use to communicate with members and the Maine running community:
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• ​Facebook/Instagram/Strava—help administer and moderate our social media pages and groups
• ​Website—we're in the process of moving our website to another platform and redesigning the entire thing; so, if you are experienced in Weebly to WordPress migration or website management and design and want to help, let Alicia know
• ​Newsletter--we use MailChimp to design and send out monthly newsletters and RunSignUp to manage members and their emails

by Sapan Bhatt
 
I can’t think of a better race to start the year than the January Thaw. Coming off the holidays it’s a great opportunity to come together and see faces both new and familiar. 
 
This year's edition saw 22-degree crisp air and roads which were a bit slushy in spots. It’s fun to scroll back through old Thaw photos and see it’s truly a roll of the dice what type of weather we get. But that keeps it interesting.
 
Start of the 4.5-mile race, you’re working to catch your breath in the cold. I found the strip of asphalt in the middle to be the most stable. I took the liberty of going a little bit into the road on the first climb. I received a supportive honk from a plow truck and was amused at the sight he was about to see of a herd of runners coming up the hill.

The road in mile 2 has a camber that would make Sugarloaf blush. The bit of downhill was a welcome reprieve from the initial climb. Mile 3 is always the trickiest. It’s a steady climb instead of one big hill to punch up. I kept looking at my feet as Billy and I slogged through it. 
 
The next thing I knew, I saw Lindsay shouting encouragement and directing the turn down that big hill to start Mile 4. The slush made the road a bit more precarious than years past, but offered a fun ride. My favorite view on the course was where Alicia was perched taking our great race photos. That sweeping view of the horizon before you make the last turn back into the school road, amazes me every time. It was especially pretty this year with the wind whipping snow into the air.
 
The after event was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed getting photos with Ian and his penguin suit and chatting with fellow racers. Many thanks to all the volunteers, our race director Ron, volunteer coordinator Tom, and especially Julie for crafting such beautiful penguin trophies. Here’s to a great year of running for all!

Want to run to the top of the highest peak in the Northeast? Then sign up today for the lottery to participate in the 2026 Mount Washington Road Race on Saturday, June 27. Getting into the race will be more difficult this year though. The number of race participants has been cut to 500 and the club’s lottery bypass slots have been cut to just two. Four club volunteers are needed in exchange for those two bypass bibs. 

Lottery and Two Bypass Bibs
The Mount Washington lottery for Random Selection Registration is open now through Monday, February 23. If you want to race, sign up for the lottery by February 23rd. Race officials will send out selection/rejection emails February 26. 

If you get in via the lottery you won't need a bypass slot—excellent! However, if you're rejected and would like to be considered for a bypass registration, please email me, Mark Fisher ([email protected]). Since the opportunity to enter is much more limited,  I will defer the club's two lottery bypasses to club members with the longest annual participation in the Mount Washington race.

Four Volunteers Needed
In exchange for two bypass bibs, Central Maine Striders needs to supply four volunteers on Friday, June 26, to help with parking during bib pickup. If you want to volunteer on behalf of the club please let me know.

The Central Maine Striders team has been a continual part of the historic Mount Washington Road Race. The 7.6-mile, all-uphill run has drawn thousands of runners from around the globe to make the grueling 4,650-vertical feet climb to the summit. 

Please let me know if you have questions.  Thank you!
—Mark Fisher ([email protected])
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• 2026 Mount Washingto Road Race Info
• Renew your 2026 Striders membership to be eligible for bypass consideration
• Read Mark's 2025 Mount Washington race report

Thanks to Charlie Jacobs for finding and sharing his 1988 copy of The Pine Tree Road Runner: The Story of Roland Dyer by Rick Kraus. Its section on the history of the Dyer Memorial Races (page 33-39), covers the efforts of Central Maine Striders Gene Roy and Jerry Saint Amand to put on these races in the ’70s and ’80s in honor of a pioneer of Maine road racing.

​Download your own PDF copy.

by Ian Hepburn

In September I and fellow Strider Nick Erickson took part in the Ragnar Reach the Beach Relay Race on a team with 10 other runners. This event began in Lancaster, New Hampshire, early on Friday, September 12, and ended at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, the next day. The course covered 204 miles split into 36 segments, which equated to three legs per runner for our team.

The race is similar in structure to the Downeast Sunrise Trail Relay, in that racers run their leg while their teammates drive to the next handoff point, and the team runs continually, day and night, until their last runner crosses the finish line. However, this race is twice as long as DESTR (204-ish miles versus DESTR’s 102.7), and teams have a size limit of 12 runners instead of eight. Teams also must have two vehicles, with half of the team in each vehicle.

The concept is for one van with six runners to cover the first six legs, while the second van leapfrogs ahead to the van exchange point at the start of leg seven.  When the first van arrives at the van exchange point, they recover their runner then drive the next van exchange at the end of leg 12, while the second van covers legs 7-12.  The pattern repeats for all 36 legs, with van exchange points at the end of legs 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and at the finish line at the end of leg 36.  

​Each runner runs an average of 17 miles in total, although variations in the course mean some will run more or less than that (I ended up running 11.2 miles, but I did have one of the steepest climbs in the course on my first leg).

Another major difference between DESTR and Reach the Beach is the number of participants. DESTR is limited to 400 racers to protect the Downeast Sunrise Trail from overuse, while Reach the Beach runs almost exclusively on roads and is not subject to a cap on participants. This year, 308 teams ran Reach the Beach, putting the number of racers well over 2,000.  

The number of racers poses some major logistical challenges for the race organizers. Fortunately, the Ragnar races are pretty well staffed and equipped and have experience planning events like this across the country. Every handoff point and van exchange location was chosen to ensure there would be plenty of parking available and sufficient space to ensure the safety of runners and observers. Vendors were invited to be present at van exchanges points, so that in their downtime racers could get food, beverages, sports massages, and race swag.

I ran as part of Team Lavi, named after an orphanage in Haiti that was sponsored by our team captain and her husband. The naming of most of the relay teams present at Reach the Beach was very much like a list of pub trivia teams, mostly puns and some self-effacing humor. There was also a very robust “van culture” present at this race. Each team requires two vehicles that can accommodate at least six people, so most teams rent large passenger vans like the GMC Savana or Ford Transit. As a result, most teams end up driving a big white van that looks like every other big white van. To counter this, most teams get washable paint markers and draw all over their vans to make them visually distinct. Some teams even get custom magnets made, and will trade magnets with other teams, or try to “tag” other vans with their magnets.

A common theme for marking vans is to list the runners’ names next to check boxes that get marked off as they complete their legs. A lot of teams will use the rear of their vans to count their “kills”, which is the number of runners that their team collectively pass on each leg. I told my van mates that I thought the word kill was overly dramatic and that we should find another euphemism, so they decided that a “souls harvested” counter would be a better alternative. I disagreed, but I was outnumbered…

Team Lavi ended up completing the race in 30:24:59, placing 96th overall and 8th in our class (Standard Mixed Team-Open), with an average mile time of 8:56. Overall I had a great time and recommend the Ragnar Reach the Beach relay with the caveat that it is expensive. Registration fees can range close to $200 per registrant, especially if you wait until the last minute to sign up. Additionally, teams need to reserve rental vans early, because this event uses up pretty much all of the large passenger vans available to rental agencies in New England. If you like long-haul relays like DESTR, then I recommend checking out the Reach the Beach relay, or any other Ragnar relay event.

Congratulations to Pierce Coughlin (35:23) and Alanna McDonough Tucker (39:48), our top open men's and women's finishers, and to Ryan Goebel (37:56) and Kelly Harmon (50:16) our top masters men's and women's finishers, at this weekend's Central Maine Striders Fall Classic 10K road race in Waterville.

​Photo above, left to right: Kelly Harmon, Ryan Goebel, Pierce Coughlin, Alanna McDonough Tucker

​Forty-two runners turned out on Sunday, October 12, 2025, to race the sixth annual race. Due to ongoing construction at the Quarry Road Trails yurt and parking area, there was a slight course chang for 2025, but racers still enjoyed a full 10K distance through Waterville and beautiful fall weather.

Thanks to all the volunteers who made the Fall Classic a success, led by  Race Director Ian Hepburn, Volunteer Coordinator Tom Farmer, and Central Maine Striders club president Martha Cowperthwaite. Julie Millard created stained glass prizes, Maeve Wilcox designed the shirts, and Alicia McCarthy organized registration and the finish line. Beth Bridger, Charlie Jacobs, Billy Kobin, Tom McGuire, Butch Parker, Amy Stabins, Lindsay Theis, and Debra Violette all helped race day run smoothly.

​Thanks also to our Fall Classic race sponsors: Waterville Parks & Rec and Quarry Road Trails, Pin High Printing, Alfond Youth & Community Center, Hannaford, Sunrise Bagel, Carrabasset Coffee, and White Pine Dentistry.
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Thank you to Alicia MacLeay for race pictures.
A full album of free race pictures is available for download on SmugMug.

by Mark Fisher

Another year of the Mount Washington Road Race is in the books. Given the low temperatures and winds, the race officials decided to take a cautious approach and halt the June 14th race at the halfway point on the auto road. While it was disappointing to see the race cut short this year, it was a reasonable approach given the risks that are part of changing weather on the “rock pile”.

First, Central Maine Striders showed up in force on Friday night to support the volunteer effort with parking duty. Linda Fisher, Peter Leone, Ron Paquette, Donnajean Pohlman, Beth Bridger, and Jay Bachelder all provided directional parking guidance for three-plus hours on Friday evening. Providing these volunteers allows the club to secure five bypass entries to the race each year (all club bypass entries were used this year). Thank you so much, volunteers, for supporting the club and this amazing event!

On race day, despite the course being cut short, conditions to halfway could not have been much better. Cool temperatures and mist made for a pretty comfortable trip up. The views were spectacular with low clouds dotting the surrounding mountainsides. Coming back down was a quad busting 4-mile downhill trip, but on the upside, no car brake smell this year. The race organizers again did an outstanding job and the turkey dinner was a wonderful reward for the racing effort.