There’s not much that gets me up before 4:00 AM, but the two events that severely cut into my beauty sleep this summer both involved the Striders! One was the Downeast Sunrise Trail Relay— which hardly counts as “getting up early” as there was no bed the night before— and the other was volunteering at IRONMAN 70.3 Maine.
 
It was pitch black when fellow Strider Lindsey Madison and I rendezvoused at the local “park and ride” (AKA Marden’s parking lot) for the short trip down to the Augusta boat launch. The sky was showing the first glimmers of light as we picked out our loaner kayaks and paddles from the pile and found the other faithful Strider volunteers, Amy and Allison Stabins and Martha Nadeau. We had a short briefing meeting in which we were given our assignments, then maneuvered our kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards to our designated spots on the river about half an hour before the first wave of triathletes entered the water.
 
At 6 am, the canon signaled the start of the elite men’s race, and the pack churned through the water in a perfectly straight line. Shortly thereafter, the elite women were off, similarly powering through the course on a perfect tangent from buoy to buoy. For the next hour, wave after wave of swimmers went by, and that’s when our work really began. Volunteers flanked the course all the way down the river, and just maintaining location against the current required some serious paddling. Several athletes needed assistance, often holding onto a boat to catch their breath. Others swam completely off course and needed to be wrangled back inside the markers. Motorized police boats patrolled up and down, shouting instructions through bullhorns at volunteers, particularly when a swimmer appeared to be in distress. When the tail end of the competitors finally proceeded down the river, we were each given an assigned swimmer to escort. By about 7 am, the last athlete had made it out of the river and onto their bike for the next leg. The exhilarated volunteers paddled their way back to the boat launch and made it home in time for breakfast!
 
Several other Striders volunteered for the race that weekend by handing out packets, directing athletes along the route, and in other capacities. Shout out to all the Striders, who included Drew McCormick, Jan Santerre, Kate Scott, and Heather Cable—our club volunteers worked together to earn a $500 grant from Ironman, which we will use to further our mission of supporting running in central Maine! Hope to see you on July 28th 2024…on the Kennebec River

We recently asked club members what their greatest running accomplishments of 2021 were.  Here's what our club members accomplished this past year:

Susan Brooks:  "​My greatest running achievement is every day that I lace up my shoes and get out the door. This year has been particularly challenging as I’m coming to terms with ever-slowing runs and races and the need for more time to recover. After fifty (50!) plus years of running I’m learning to cross train with a goal of more rounded fitness that will keep me healthy and injury free as I run on into each decade. It’s still one run at a time and each is an achievement.  I did finish 3rd in my age group at the Millinocket Half (290/939 overall)"

Thanks to all of the Striders who sent us their running achievements from this past year.  And thanks to all of the Central Maine Striders members, both in this article and not, for making 2021 another great year for the club.  We're looking forward to running into the new year with all of you!

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Central Maine Striders weren't able to have their annual year-end social this year.  As a way to foster some kind of social spirit amongst the members of the club, Club President Ryan Goebel hosted an online trivia night after the December 15th Striders monthly meeting.  The 25 questions were all running-related, with topics ranging from Striders history to movies about running to songs with running in them.  Although some may say that the random algorithm that Zoom used to divide the teams wasn't very fair, the "Running With The Dogs" team (Julie Millard, Ron Peck, Pat Guerette, and Rob Krickus) came out on top of "The Mainiacs" (Alicia Wilcox, Tom & Lynda McGuire, and Drew McCormick) and "Posterior Cross Bite" (Deb Violette, Sapan Bhatt, Shanon Delaney, Brian Morin, and Kate Scott).  Although Julie Millard proved to have some impressive Striders historical knowledge, no one could have guessed that it would be Ron Peck's knowledge of the song "Run" by Korean boy band superstars "BTS" that held onto the win on the final question of the night.

​Thanks to everyone who participated.  We already have plans for a second trivia night coming soon.

by Harold Shaw

Let’s think for a minute - for the year 2020 we all probably had goal races, big plans and were going to accomplish many of them. 

Basically, my goals in 2020 were to race more than I have in a long time, well as long as the old body held up to the demands of training for an October 18th super-secret race. Unfortunately, like most of you, back in March I put all those great plans, goals, or whatever you want to call them...well to be blunt I and most other runners I know threw most everything out the window when....

The Coronavirus pandemic happened.

Which largely ended many of our plans for spring racing and restarting of Strider group runs (thank you Sapan, Jordan, & Julie), where members were beginning to enjoy the camaraderie of being around our friends or meeting new friends through running again. ​

Around mile 23, I started to hit “the wall.” Each step felt like it required ten times the normal amount of effort, and I felt all my muscles ache with each strike of the ground. I actually remember feeling angry and wondering why I was running the race in the first place. My brother was so good at reminding me that this race was possible and that we were going to make it to the end. I was in so much pain, so my brother’s encouragement made a huge difference.

​Without a doubt, the final .2 miles of the race was the most agonizing, challenging part. I remember passing the 26th mile marker and thinking, “Wow! I’m done! We are at the finish line!” But the reality is that .2 miles is still .2 miles. It also didn’t help that there were still a few turns after mile 26, so I couldn’t even see the finish line until a minute or so after passing the final mile marker. When I eventually did see that finish line, though, I ran with everything I had.

“From Lakeville, Minnesota, we have Jordan and Spencer Castillo, about to finish their first Grandma’s Marathon!” The announcer was cheering us on, along with the hundreds of fans lining each side of the road. Those last few seconds of the race seemed to last an eternity, and I couldn’t believe that I was actually about to be done running those 26.2 miles. With a time of just under five hours, my brother and I crossed the finish line. My dad and brother were right there, and we grabbed each other with a sweaty, beautiful embrace. I felt a sudden rush of accomplishment, relief, pride, and overwhelming joy like I’d never felt before. At the age of 16, I had just finished my first marathon.

Over the past few years, I have bought far too many pairs of running shoes (about 20-25 pairs a year since 2012) - hoping or is that dreaming about the "right" shoes that will magically allow me to become the runner that I have always wanted to be.

A typical runner’s dream, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, as I have learned the expensive and hard way, there is no such thing as a pair of magical running shoes that are going to make you or I, a better runner. If you buy into that line of thinking you will spend a LOT of money searching for that magical shoe. 

I have.

Besides, just like everyone else my body changes a little each year and what would have worked for me as a younger person, doesn’t work for me now. Those Asics Excalibur GT’s that I loved in the ‘80s would kill my feet now and so many other shoes that I have loved over the years would not work at all for me in the body that I have now.

This is something I think that we tend to overlook when we look at running shoes, how much our bodies do change as we get older. The reality is that it really doesn’t matter what our age is, our bodies are always changing whether we 25, 43, 62 or 75 and the type/style of running shoes we need constantly change as well. 

What have I learned

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So think twice and then think again about what you are reading, watching or being told.

Over the years, I have learned that there are no magical running shoes (although some claim otherwise as the current controversy over the Nike Vapor Fly line shows) and that the best ways to improve as a runner are to focus more on:

1. Running consistently - the more uninjured miles run - the better, in other words, training smarter, is more important to being a better runner, than what running shoes I am wearing.
2. Lose weight/eat better - getting rid of the extra 5-10-15 or more extra pounds of flubber and looking at what we eat, are far more important to running better, than how much different shoes weigh.
3. Be aware of the BS factor - When it comes to running shoes, we have to wade through the ever-present marketing hype, discussions, bluster, believe it or not maybe even a few facts -- in magazines, ezines, blogs, forums and yes even on Twitter or Facebook, along with our ever-present running buddies about running shoes over the past few years.  So much so that most of us runners do not really know what works versus what is hype most of the time. 
4. Have an open mind -  we need to figure some things out for ourselves by doing the research, actually thinking about what we are seeing or doing and even be willing to go beyond our usual authors, friends, coaches, websites or brands for information related to running. It might even mean - heaven forbid, that we need to think outside of the box from time-to-time and look at brands or ideas we have not used in the past. I know that I have been surprised by what works and does not work several times.
5. Don't jump on the next great bandwagon shoe or shoe style. Just because it is a certain design, style or the next best thing since whatever, it doesn't mean that it will work the same for you or that it is even the right thing for you and the way you run. The minimal, maximal, carbon plate bandwagons come to mind pretty quickly. All have led to mixed results and caused more or different injuries than have been reported or talked about.
6. That all the major brands have at least one running shoe style that we can or could run in - Not really what we want to believe, after all, such and such a brand couldn’t possibly work for me. While it is true that I run better in certain styles of running shoes and I tend to stay with the brands that have those styles. 
7. BE COMFORTABLE - this is the most important thing, find a shoe that you run comfortably in - one that you put on and forget about. Get beyond brand marketing, the salesperson's prejudices or preconceptions, the running store's limited selection and find the pair of running shoes that feel comfortable to you when you are running. 

Although I gotta admit that the wrong running shoes really do screw things up royally from time-to-time! The litany of injuries I have had over the years are a testament to bad shoe choices, training mistakes and just being stoopid.

Then you have the fun issue of when the brands update that style/model that you love and the new version is a different shoe than the one you loved. It sucks big time and happens all too often. Then we have to go out and start looking for a new running shoe all over again - it has happened to almost all of us who have been running for a while and yeah, it does suck.

The reality is that...

All runners are different, we have different likes, needs and wants from our running shoes and in today's world, most brands have a shoe that will satisfy that need.

The primary purpose of running shoes, in my opinion, is to protect our feet from the ground, tar, concrete, trail or whatever you are running on, which in turn allows us to run more safely or comfortably than without them (no I do not believe in running barefoot other than for drills - it doesn't work for most of us, especially in Maine in the Wintah).

While I believe that proper running shoes can make a difference (good or bad) for a runner, at the same time I strongly believe that I (and other runners) put too much emphasis on the importance of their running shoes and how much of a difference they actually make.

The biggest lesson I have learned over the past few years is that my running shoes are a lot less important to my running than what I am doing as a runner, but even so, I am ever hopeful that someday, I will find that running shoe that works for me and hope against hope that its updates continue to work for me.

Hmmm let me see what Running Warehouse has on sale this week. :-) 

Yeah, I know I am an incorrigible running shoe geek. Hehehee