I am a 56-year-old member of the Central Maine Striders. I decided at the age of 48 to start running road races again. After over 20 years of not racing I decided to skip 5k and 10k distances and train for a marathon. You might as well go big, I told myself.
 
The Maine Marathon in 2011 was supposed to be my one and done, except I was not done. I made every mistake possible, starting with jumping into the marathon without racing a 5k or 10k. After finishing my first marathon I had another goal: run the Boston Marathon. I ran Boston in 2012 as a charity runner for Tufts. Boston 2012 was 90 degrees and I did not run the time that I wanted. Naturally, I ran Sugarloaf 6 weeks later aiming to qualify for Boston.  I missed my Boston qualifying time by 43 seconds. After Sugarloaf I started doing track workouts with the Striders. I have to give the Cotes [Patrick and Tracey] credit for my rapid decrease in race times. They told me that I had the potential to run faster. That fall I ran the MDI marathon 15 minutes faster than Sugarloaf and earned a Boston qualifying time for 2014. We were spectating near the finish line in Boston in 2013 and fortunately left before the bombs went off.
 
Boston 2014 was great. I ran my best Boston time which was 8 minutes faster than MDI. When I lived in Boston for 7 years going to school, I never dreamed that I would be able to actually run the Boston Marathon.  The only running I did back then was running through Harvard Yard to catch the bus. In 2018 I was taken into a medical tent at Boston with hypothermia with 2 miles to go. My wife Jacky started asking me about the other world major marathons, and if I would like to run them. That was all the incentive that I needed.
 
I ran Chicago in 2018, and even though it started pouring with 6 miles to go I ran a good time. I decided to start my profile on the Abbott World Major Marathons website. Boston and Chicago done, 4 more to go.
 
I entered the London and Berlin marathon raffle entries in 2018 with no luck. I decided to run the New York City Marathon in 2019 and entered the London and Berlin lotteries again. New York went well, but the lotteries did not. Ten days after running New York I received an email inviting me to participate in the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon – Abbott World Major Marathons Wanda Age Group World Championship. I thought the email was a joke, but it was real. I did not know about the World Major Marathon age rankings, or that the inaugural championship would be held at the 2020 London Marathon. My Chicago 2018 and Boston 2019 times put me at 85th in the WMM age group rankings and 25th in the USA. My wife told me not to get a big head saying, “Someone is number one and it isn’t you!”
 
I will skip Boston this year and run London. After London I will keep trying to get in to Berlin and Tokyo. I want to thank all of my Strider friends for helping me to become a better runner. I am very fortunate to have a supportive family.

​Brian Morin 

With the 41st January Thaw on January 19th postponed due to an impending storm, the rescheduled date of January 26th dawned with clear roads and balmy, almost spring-like temperatures. Buoyed by a strong team of volunteers including Gene Roy, Geoff Hill, John Manzer, Harold Shaw, Rob Krickus, Deb Violette, and Lynda McGuire, the race kicked off without a hitch.

The field of 33 included some “old road race veterans” and quite a few new, welcome faces.  Conspicuous among the new faces was a young man, Patrick Caron, from Needham, Massachusetts who just decided to drop in.  The group took off with some donning just shorts and t-shirts for this real January Thaw.  The “outta stata” shot out in a near sprint leaving me to wonder about that pace for 4 1/2 miles but he proved to be the real deal finishing with a time of 23:41.  As far as I can find, this is second only to Todd Coffin’s 1993 course record of 22:01.

CMS runners, Sapan Bhatt and Jordan Castillo, finished second and fourth with times of 27:21 and 30:26 respectively.  They were separated by third place finisher, Blaine Moore of Brunswick in 29:24 running for Team Dirigo.  The first ladies across the finish line were Anya Davidson of Readfield in 6th place overall in 32:07 and Jess Beers of Waterville in 8th place with a time of 33:40.

This was a successful transition year with a strong foundation in place to carry on this longtime tradition led by “new blood” next year.

Thanks to David Colby-Young for his coverage.  As Gene Roy said, “We know we’re putting on a real race when David Colby-Young shows up to take photos.”

Tom McGuire
Race Director

January Thaw Road Race - January 26, 2020 - 4.5 miles - Belgrade, Maine

Lots of items were discussed at our January club meeting, including:
     - The upcoming January Thaw Road Race
     - Our status with the State of Maine as a Non-Profit
     - Our 2019 Annual Report
     - A potential new Striders 10k race
     - Race directors that are members are no longer eligible to use our RRCA insurance
     - And more!

Click here to download and read the full minutes:

First of all, I'm truly honored to be able to lead this club.  I'm proud of our long history as Maine's oldest, active running club.  When I moved to Maine a couple years ago, I never imagined that I would become so involved in the local running scene, much less become the president of a running club.  It's almost unbelievable how quickly it seems I went from moving to Maine, to running my first Quarry Road race, to attending a Striders meeting, to being elected club Vice President, to starting weekly summer pub runs, and now to being elected President. 

I have to acknowledge that I would never have made it to this position without the inspiration of previous club members and officers.  I'd especially like to thank former President Brendan Gilpatrick, former Treasurer Ron Peck, and former Communications Director Alicia MacLeay for making me feel welcome to the Central Maine running community and for encouraging me to get involved.  Thank you for your years of dedication to the club, and I hope we continue to see you around at club events this year and beyond.

As President of the Striders, I want to bring more value to your membership in the club.  I plan to get more discounts for club members in local races.  I will try to have more opportunities to get free or discounted Striders-themed running gear.  I intend to improve communications with our members through more email newsletters and regularly updating the webpage, and through our Facebook group.  I want to continue to host our summer pub runs and track workouts, but also want to add some additional social runs that are not focused on pubs or tracks.  I am also hoping to add an additional Striders sponsored road race or two, possibly in the 1-mile and/or 10k distances.  Most importantly, I want the Striders to continue to be a club that welcomes runners of all abilities, backgrounds, ages, and interest levels.

I'm looking forward to keeping the traditions of the Striders alive, but I also hope we can begin some new events and activities.  We have a lot of exciting things planned for the Central Maine Striders in 2020.  I hope to see all of you out there running and attending club events!

-Ryan Goebel, Central Maine Striders President

As voted upon at our December meeting, the price of membership in the Central Maine Striders will increase from $15 to $20, effective February 1, 2020.  That means that you can still pay only $15 for your 2020 membership if you pay before February 1, 2020.

For more information on how to renew your membership, click here.