Friday Quick Intervals

Friday, April 24, 2015 · Mike Davis

Good morning and happy Friday! Friday is when we put the lid on our coffee and hit some quick intervals. So let’s roll! With the Boston Marathon now officially in the books the running season is now in full swing. I watched the final few miles for both the woman and the men and despite not having an American to hope for down the stretch it was still fun to watch the Ethiopians battle it out. Great runners and like always very gracious winners. My belief is that the American men are more likely to compete in the future better than the American woman. I may be wrong but it doesn’t look like our woman have the 26.2 strength that it will take to finish at the top. Maybe it is better to say amongst the current American woman it doesn’t appear possible. Then again I believe our best female runner is Kara Goucher and I’m not sure how competitive she will ever be again after moving into motherhood. For the men it may be the same case where they need some youngster to come on to the scene. Though with the way running has exploded in the U.S. it would make sense that we might produce some great runners. You would hope so. The Chief Maloney 10K is this Sunday in Greenland and it appears that the numbers are down for this great cause. Most definitely the talk amongst the local race directors is the race saturation and with many of the races being “for profit,” things are getting a little dicey. Many charitable races are feeling the pinch while the saturation is thinning down many races. While running is exploding, the amount of races competing with each other is numerous. I personally will stay away from “for profit’ races if at all possible. Kathy and I ran in the very first “Chief Maloney” race a few years ago and it was truly very special. Little funny story: Last night while running with leading the “Runners Alley Portsmouth 10K Training Group,” one of the runners said to me; “This wind is not as bad as I thought it would be.” I laughed and said; “Wait to we turn around.” Sure enough on the return the headwind was pretty rough. We both got a laugh out of that and it isn’t that always the case, you never feel like you are getting a push, but you certainly feel the headwind fighting you. LOL! For those in the Portsmouth area, I agreed yesterday to once again coach the “Portsmouth Runners Alley Advanced 10K Group,” beginning sometime in late June or early July. That is actually a group that I helped to initiate a few years ago and has been popular as well as fun. I will do it solo with the help of others as needed. That group will most likely be the last Runners Alley training group I will coach. That does sound kind of sad, doesn’t it. Been doing Runners Alley training groups for a long time. If you are currently looking for a training group to hook up with we have lots of flexibility in our “No Finish Line Running” Spring/Summer training group. We meet Wednesday nights at 6pm (7th Settlement Brewery) and Saturday mornings at 8:30 (NFLR Coaching & Endurance Center) and we have enough group leaders to work with beginners and advanced runners. You can also drop in anytime for a small drop in fee of $5. Great way to train and have fun. Well I need to get to the Center for my strength training so I am going to slow it down and finish the last of my coffee. Thanks for joining me for coffee and have a great weekend! God Bless! Mike