Friday's quick intervals

Friday, August 01, 2014 · Mike Davis

Good morning! It is Friday and that means we share coffee over some short and quick running stuff or even not running related. So fill your coffee cup up and let's roll! Dover New Hampshire has gotten into the racing scene big time over the past few years and may now have more local road races than even Portsmouth. Pro Portsmouth started the popular Seacoast Series many years ago and now runners and walkers flock to races around the seacoast with the goal of running enough of the series races to obtain that great running jacket. This year Dover introduced the "Dover Series" and like the Seacoast Series, Dover is rewarding those that participate in 7 of 11 Dover races a custom jacket as well. Obviously the difference between the series' is that Dover is promoting solely the races run in their town. The fact that Dover has as many races as they do says a lot about the Dover running community. Earlier this week another announcement came out about Dover's first half marathon. November 1st will be the inaugural Cochecho Half Marathon in Dover kicking off at the First Parish Church. This is huge news and certainly creates some additional competition to a busy half marathon season. With the popular Seacoast Half Marathon only a couple weeks from that time and the Newburyport half in between, it will be interesting to see the over effect. Personally I would love to run this new race because of my allegiance to my town, but Kathy and I already committed to running a half up in North Conway and running a second isn't smart for me. I am also somewhat conflicted as Kathy and I work with the Runners Alley half marathon training group as well. I am very interested to see how all of the races (and series) are going to exists together. I am hoping that the number of runners will continue to increase and all of these races will be successful! Speaking of races, one of my favorite people in the local running community is Jim Flynn. Jim is a proud runner and 67 years young. I have known Jim for some time and marvel at his youthful attitude in all that he does. Still an avid skier and most recently he overcame some heart issues and is back running. This morning I received an email via being cc'd by Jim that he sent to Bart Yasso at Runners World. The subject is the expense of running races, but in particular the little regard for our seniors. I hope that Jim doesn't mind, but I going to share the email with y'all. Maybe some of my coffee partners can get behind this great effort by Jim. Here it is: I have been running since at least 1972. I have run about 230 races for which I have the bibs .There may have been more races than that. My wife saved most of the bibs. There are very few runners left in my division since I am 67. I continue to run races and pay the increasingly expensive entry fees. In my state,New Hampshire, I can ski at Cannon Mt. a state owned ski area for free at 65. The state parks are also free and I get the reduced senior rate at the movies. I think that road races should also recognize that many long time runners have paid entry fees amounting to several thousand dollars. Most races in my area may have 10 or fewer men in my division. So, I believe that a reduced entry fee or no fee should be considered. Many of us are also military veterans and are of the age of Social Security eligibility. I am requesting that Runner's World publish this email and maybe start a movement for us senior runners in order to encourage race directors to give us a break in the entry fees. By the way, I have been reading your magazine since 1972 when it was in black and white and in the periodicals section at Susquehanna University. Thank You for putting your considerable influence behind this issue. Jim Flynn Portsmouth, NH Met with a young lady yesterday that is asking for some help with her last couple of months of marathon training. As I always do I asked that she send me her current training plan prior to getting together. As I reviewed it, I quickly saw some flaws that most likely would challenge her goal for finishing without being totally miserable. Like many she got her plan off the internet and most people familiar with me know my feelings on generic training plans, but to her credit she has done a great job with her plan. Because she is late in her training I so only danger in trying to adjust her long runs, but I saw opportunities in other aspects that will hopefully make for a "less miserable" marathon. I was so impressed with this young women and her approach to running that I will write about her at some point. I will enjoy working with her over the next couple of months. PS: Next time come to NFLR a little sooner. :) Finally, yesterday I enjoyed running with my NFLR partner Lew. Lew is coming back from a knee problem which kind of pulled him away from NFLR, but he's getting stronger and it is good to see the running passion that he has. We ran an easy 4 miles and it was a lot of fun. Truly what running is all about! Thanks Lew! Well I have to get moving. Have a great Friday and a super weekend! Mike