Aug 28. After the New Balance 5K in Skowhegan, Phil L. writes:

Had good race today ran a slow 16:30'ish, but I thought I would do the Latic Acid Death March by going out at 100% (4:28) looking the Reeper at mile 2 (9:38) and meeting my maker the last 1.1 miles.

I have to agree that the Acid levels come quicker then high school rabbits when you race this way.

I'm not sure of the runner that past me in the last 100m. all I know is that he was from California on vacation and he ran a smart race.
Super Star Cassie placed third over all and smashed the course record, not sure of the time but the local high school runners were in total AWWWWE.
8 Days till Labor Day, I guess I'll have to work that day :)

Aug 28. Heat was no object at the head of this year's Northeast Harbor 5-miler as Evan Graves set a new course record of 25:36. 13th overall with 33:14 and Chris G. won the women's division. In this year's field of 131 finishers, Judson was 2nd, Brian 5th, Matt W 6th, Tom K 24th, Rob H. 26th (80th percentile!), Bill P. 55th, Eve H. 75th, Robin E. 84th, Autumn 122nd, and ironman 87-year-old Tom M. was 128th.

Special notes: Rob ran without his winter hat, Gary staged a sculpture midway down Sargent Drive, and afterward, Judson ran Champlain.

Brian writes: Started out at the right pace, I think, and then backed down a little because of the heat. Around 4mi. I felt like I was slowing and got passed by Andy Beardsley with his baby jogger (which would have destroyed me had it been anyone besides Andy). But the splits show I ran steadier than I felt. Pretty hot at the finish.

Aug 21, At the Machias 5-Miler, with thunder and lightning providing extra drama, Eric R. and Bruce B joined with Judson's win to earn the Crows the top team spot while Matt W., Brian H, Tom K., Rob H, Bill P. and Robin E, filled out a deep Crow field, Ty-Daniel won the kids' 1-mile outright in 6:24 followed by Stephen K in 6th with 6:48.

Judson writes: The day started well, Ty came over to show me his race number, it was the 666 that seems to have followed our team around this summer. Ty ran with fire and finished first in the 1-mile race with a great time outkicking his competition by 1 second. Steven Kirby also was right in the mix of things and both ran under 7 minutes for the mile.

To the 5-miler. Crows rock, we took home the team title with 20 points. Awesome job guys. You all ran great.

As for my race, went out in 5:25 with others leading, let others do the work up the hill in the 2nd mile 5:58(11:23), and it was just Two others there. I surged to Mile 3 in 5:06(16:29), one left now, let him do all the work to mile 4 in 5:20(21:49) I surged again at 4, last mile in 5:05(26:54) funfun

Aug. 20. After the Ipswich YMCA Triathlon, Friday evening at Crane's Beach -- 1/2mi. ocean swim, 2-mile run on the beach, and a 9-mile bike ride -- Steve C. reports:

Crow Drowns (not really) at Crane's Beach - Ipswich Y Triathlon ... story to follow.

So, the water's cold. You ask how cold? 55 degrees. It was COLD. Fortunately, because of my kayaking I had an upper body wet suit. The swim was a one-way trip along the beach, around a marker, and into shore. When I got in, I could barely breath. I go off shore quite a bit to avoid the crowd. We begin ... I can still barely breath and start by swimming the breast stroke. With the turbulence from the swimmer's around me (baby-land waves), I got a couple of mouth-fulls. But keep moving. They said we were swimming with the tide, but I swear they were mistaken. My legs start to get numb (as well as other parts), so I start doing the crawl. I'm cussing with every stroke.

I swimming along and wondering, why am I feeling like I'm in the back of the pack. I notice this wave of people that are wading or jogging along the water's edge and moving up the beach way ahead. Now do you call that swimming ... I don't think so. I ask why bother. Later, I asked the lifeguards and they estimated it was about a quarter of the pack (out of 200 that leaves 50 cheaters).

At the transition on the beach I had a towel, wiped my feet, put on socks and shoes and I was off. Repeating the whole time "Oh, my god was that cold ..." I start by running in sand (slow motion). After about a 1/4 mile it turns to trail up the hill to the Craine Estate. During the 2&1/2 mile run I passed at least 3 dozen runners (a.k.a Cheaters).

At the bike transition, I put on my helmet, walk (rush) to the exit, and hop on. Now, to let you know how serious a biker I am, I own a Schwinn 10-speed that I think is pretty close to my age. So, off I go when this young whipper snapper goes bye, but once we get to a hill I pass him (that's the last I see of him). Then I would say I was passed by at least a half dozen "Lance-a-likes." Man, do I not respect bikers that spend thousands on equipment only to barely pass me on my Schwinn.

I don't know my time, since I wasn't wearing my glasses. I think I saw a 50 something. Hopefully, the Y will post it later.

I actually got a kick out of the cheaters. They motivated me to push harder than I really expected to. All for now.

[P.S.] I came in 39th overall and 16th out of 42 in the 40-49 age bracket. Not too bad for no swimming training and a 30+ old Schwinn.

Aug 14. At the County Open Half Marathon in Houlton, with an exuberant 5:01 opening mile Evan bettered both his PR and the course record "the hard way"..

Evan writes: Houlton Half...1:11.41...yes the hard way...I missed my pacer! sooooo...went out SUPER comfortable...spoke with my old ski coach for a couple of seconds in the first mile...(she was watching)...got to the mile mark...5:01...wooops...two miles at 10:36...{after talking with some others after the race (Judd Esty-Kendall, and Newell) realized maybe the first mile was a little short, and maybe the second one a little long...by mile 3 it was 15:48.......well all that is only relative...and the only thing that really matters is the finish line which for a fact was 13.1 miles from the starting line...
so anyway...the idea is I went out a little too hard...as I know to never do and it definitely bit my but...and I hope to not do it again...it was not fun coming in, but i definitely became more relaxed by mile 10 where I was running just under 5:25's...a nice day in the county. I definitely feel in shape to run under 1:10, and with someone to push me...who knows...
well as they say a personal best isn't always a PR...well...I must say today's PR was DEFINITELY not a personal best...BUT i did learn a lot from my mistakes...and I will be stronger as a result...
Finally...we need some more crows up there next year to represent...i guarantee you'll love it...

Aug 14. At the Mountain-to-the-Sea triathlon, Eric R. was first in the 10K leg by several minutes and his team successfully defended their win from last year.

Eric writes: I had warned graves JC and bunker to not laugh at my 10k time when they saw it in the paper. The YMCA triathalon 10k in Blue Hill has a very rough cross country 10k full of monster hills. I ran 37:55 but won the leg by 2:30 to 3 minutes over Ryan Goldstien I won't know the exact time until the ymca posts the results but going by the time he had on his watch that was the margin. My team composed of myself, Jeff Gamlin, and the awesome Nick Smith would win overall to defend our title. Our team name last year was Desperado this year we were proud to add Deperado/Crow Athletics. Ill post complete results as soon as they are up.

Aug 14. At the George Schaefer 5K, with 16:56 Cassie Hintz continues to win every race she enters this year and 16:01 was good enough to give Judson another first, even as he continues his experiments in deliberate lactic excess.. Brian H., new Crow Kevin Martell, and Tom Kirby swept the 40-49 division while Ty-Daniel D., Tom Miller , John Rolfe, race director Becky O'Keefe and Bill P. all placed in their respective divisions. Crows also took the tops spots in the Kids' Mile, with 10-year-old Stephen Kirby winning first overall in 6:47 and new Crow siblings Logan and Zach Martell taking 3rd and 4th. Seven-year-old Nora H., seventh overall, was first for the females.

Judson writes: Another race. This one at schoodic point, many faces were out. Very fun to watch Ty, Brian, Nora, Steve and Tom Kirby, John R. and son, amoung many more run and run very well in the muggy weather. Oh and Autumn and I ran. Autumn ran very well, and is planning on running the NE 5-miler in where I'd get the Lactate acid rushing in and then have to deal with it right away) I slowed lots but made sure my pace stayed below what I usually run my tempos at which is 5:20 pace. By the mile I had already hit the wall and only went through in 4:58, 2nd mile n 5:19, and the third in 5:16, last .1 in 30. for a good old 16:01 5-k, and guess who was only 55 seconds back, that Cassie Hintz girl coming in second.

Brian writes: Running 8:18, Nora was first female in the fun run. More importantly, it was her first self-paced race. I was proud of her as she didn't get sucked out too fast, just held a steady pace at the back of the pack for the first quarter, and then just kept passing kids asas they faded, working her way up to 7th place. Steven Kirby, wearing a crow singlet, was first overall with 6:46. Steven's 10, so look out.

In my own race, I started deliberately slow looking for something like 5-mile race pace. I missed the 1-mile split, but went through two miles in 12:19 which was about right. Finished in 18:50 -- slower than Bar Harbor -- but prudence over speed had been my goal. Still, my pace thrpough the last 1.1 was 5:55, so no complaints.

Besides, Crows Ty-Daniel, Judson, Autumn, Bill P., Tom K., Robin, Tom M., Dan, Becky and Ryan, John and Tris Rolfe. I also got to meet several of the Martel family who just recently joined the Crows

Aug 8, At the Marathon-by-the-Sea in Saint John, NB, Kevin J earned his 10th trip in a row to Boston, finishing 20th overall in 3:19. In the concurrent half marathon event, Judy B. finished 5th in her age group in 1:57:42.

Kevin writes: Finally I got that monkey off my back (or were they 800 pound gorillas) - A Boston qualifier by 16 min. My last 4 were not. I have to go back to MDI 2002 when I had a time of 3:23 for my last qualifier. Next years Boston will be my 10th in a row and I did not want to mess up that streak.

I ran fairly conservative since my last few marathons I've had melt-downs. Today was a solid effort and I felt relatively good whole way.

I am a bit surprised the overall times are not faster because the weather was ideal. 50's and fogged in at the start through the first couple hours. Overcast the whole time with one brief light sprinkling of rain. I am not sure it even made it into the 60's. The course is a bit hilly with some of the worst in the last couple miles. There was a very weird out and back at around mile 25 that was only about a hundred yards down a side street then a 180 turn back.

It was great to see Judy and Carol at the race. In fact they saved me from hypothermia. Waiting for my wife at the start I was getting pretty cold. I went inside which helped but I was starting to shiver, That when Judy and Carol showed up. Judy gave me a fleece jacket and Carol bought me a couple coffees. That was really great - Thanks

I'll take a little while off and then start working towards the MDI marathon. Number 3 and another streak I hope.

Aug 8, In his first race at the distance, Ty-Daniel finished 9th in the Indian Day Celebration Warrior Run at Pleasant Point.

Terry writes: Ty-Daniel run his first 4 miler today. He did well with a time of 30:59 9th overall and second in the 20 and under age division. Newel Lewey won the race with a time of 23:35. Katie Churchill was the first female, fourth overall and winner of the twenty to twenty-nine division, not sure of her time.

Aug 7. After the Dover-Foxcroft Pony Pride 5K, Eric Rudolph writes:

Today I raced up in Dover-Foxcroft at the Pony Pride 5k against Tim Wakeland. He beat me by the same margin he did last week at Milbridge and our times were both 10 sec slower. I ran 17:03 to win my age class and finish second overall. It was scary -- Cassie Hintz of Old Town was bearing down on Tim and me in the final straight [Editor's note: Cassie's 17:15 was a course record and Bill Pinkham was 27th with 23:20.]

Aug 1. At the Beach to Beacon 10K, running 16th overall with a chip time of 31:48, Evan Graves was the second Maine finisher, right behind Ethan Hemphill in 15th with 31:45. Judson finished 24th in 32:13 and Mike Bunker was 35th with 33:04. Phil Lebreton was 49th in 33:59. Gary was 137th with 36:59. Brian was 212th in 38:56. Running for Team Deer Tick, Matt W. was 310th in 40:49. John M was 575th in 43:47, Frank Newlin was 1887th in 52:04, and Mike Brooks was 3266th in 1:00:01. [Portland Press Herald: Familiar names are back atop the results list ] [Bar Harbor Times: Graves, Cake excel at Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K race ]

Brian writes: For our post-race run, Matt and I decided to run back to the start rather than taking the shuttle bus. Unfortunately I misremembered the course we'd just run the other way and took us on an extended detour that took in another State Park, Two Lights instead of Crescent Beach where the start and car were.

Kind of a warm day for an open ended run without water, but we made it back eventually getting in both a race and a long run on the same day. Hope Matt wasn't too late for work this evening.

Awesome runs today -- particularly from Evan, of course, but also from Judson and Gary. And I'd say the rest of the Crows all represented very well. In my own race I went out a little too fast and then, not knowing the course, held back a little too much for the middle miles. Still a 20sec. PR. And I'd do it better next time. A little on the warm side for me, but with the rain, it wasn't enough to complain about. I think with weather like we had at this year's Tour du Lac a lot of us might have run maybe 20-30 sec faster.

The feild of talent was very deep this year. Khalid Khannouchi finishing 7th and Catherine Ndereba finishing 5th in the womesn's race says it all. And that really puts Evans 16th place and Judson's 24th in proper perspective.

Judson writes: Not a bad day to run, Especially after the day we had in NY last week.

Evan, Ethan and I went through the 1st mile in about 5:01. Not sure where the rest of the Mainers were, but they had to be close behind. Evan and I then switched the lead a few times until about mile 3(15:15) and made sure to keep the pace honest through those middle miles. I started to slow, but not much, and through in a few little surges to help Evan as much as I could. Ethan, Payson went by and Evan pushed. I Held on to the end of the train, but Payson broke and a gap formed between the lead 2 and Payson and I. Mile 4 Muentener passed me and was flying, I got on that train and almost caught back up to the Payson, with Evan and Ethan still within 10 seconds. Muentener was now behind, but Spaulding now goes flying by. Mile 5 Evan and Ethan had reached in about 25:30, with Payson a few seconds back and then Andy Spaulding and I at about 25:40. I could hear a whole train of Mainers right on my tail. Ran 32:13, and didn't let anyone else pass me, but the last mile was 5:30 which put me out of any hope of a top 3. Still a 12 second PR, and a big improvement from last year. Happy, but my average pace through 5 miles was 5:08 and that's what Hemphill averaged for the win, so it's just a matter of hanging on a little more when I should have and a sub 31 would have been right there.

On a positive note, the few times someone passed me, 3-4 people throughout the race, I didn't let them just pass, I Attached myself and went and either passed them back or stayed there for as long as I could. Last mile is something to work on for next year.

It was great to watch Evan duke it out, and being right behind the whole time I could see the surges being put on by both runners, it was great. Mike ran very well in his first attempt in the race. 33:04 for 10th Mainer.

Awesome all around for the Crows.

Aug 1, At the Guilford Sea Legs Shuffle 10-miler, Harry B. ran 1:10:23 for 25th overall.