Okay! Have we ever had a better stretch of weather during Boston Marathon week? Thursday night, with the last American male winner of Boston, Greg Meyer, proved to be a treat to the 70+ who stayed for his take on running your 1st Marathon. Though, not as specific regarding training tables, Greg's advice on strength, specifity of training and "Don't overthink things" was both insightful and entertaining.

At the Boston Sports & Fitness Expo on Friday, I made the rounds with our vendor partners. The Brooks booth with "Karl & Carl" AKA the the Underwood Brothers, were eager to "Tape Your Nipples" and provided comic relief. Marathon Sports owner and my old Beacon Hill neighbor, Colin Pedie was all smiles as he racked up sales from most of the booths....I only have one word for Colin....."Share!" Of course....who can blame the "King" of Running Retailers in New England.

The 80th Patriot's Day Race to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Portland, ran on Sunday with Curtis Wheeler (25:25 Mens) and Carrie Butterbaugh (30:04 Womens) besting the field of 400+. Hopefully, no one showed up on Monday to race, as race day was held for the 1st time in the history of Maine's oldest road race, the day prior to "Patriot's Day".

Marathon Monday weather with a NE headwind seemed to slow times a bit, but with beautiful sunshine and temps in the high 40's/low 50's, runners really didn't have much to complain about. American's had their best showing in years with 3rd place finishes in both the open Men (Ryan Hall 2:09:40) and open women (Kara Goucher 2:32:25). Goucher's race proved the more exciting as she ran toe to toe with eventual winner, Salina Kosgei (2:32:16) for 25.5 miles, even throwing her white gloves to ready for the final kick. Her gutsy move of pressing the pace for the final 5 miles, probably sapped her kick, but she was a beacon of hope for American runner's and gave notice American's are serious about competing with the rest of the world, again. She will be back, as will Hall.

Maine's own Sheri Piers, 37, finished in a PR 2:37:04, the third fastest Maine Female time ever, finishing 11th overall among open women and 9th in the 18-39 age group. After a sporadic Spring and nursing hamstring injuries, she put it all together and had, as she said "one of those days where you feel like your running on water." Evan Graves, 27, from Caribou was the 1st Maine male in 2:26:11 and 32 overall, respectfully.

Maine Running Company Training Group members had strong days as well. Coreen Lauren 3:39:31, Cindy Hilton 4:01:00, Susan Shepard 4:01:58, Martha Lippa 4:05:13, Janet Britton 4:14:12 and Renee Leclair 4:19:37. Maine men finishers included Dirigo RC members Dan Franek 2:51:36 and Dr. Wayne Piers 2:57:05, MTC's Floyd Lavery 3:15:21, James Toulouse 3:17:26, Paul Toohey 3:27:57 and Francis Bauer 3:28:16 and PR Racing's Scott Brown 3:14:51. For full Maine results go here!

Congrats to all 162 Maine Finishers! and Remember.....Run Happy!