Summer Running Is In Full Swing!

The 4th Of July is one of the largest participatory race days in the state of Maine. Last year over 5,000 runner's participated in holiday races and it continues to grow and fill up faster than ever.

Start the week of July 4th by running The Weekly Back Cove Series, held every Wednesday night at 6pm, thru September 16. Where else can you line up, get a time and support a great cause. Runner's may purchase a WBCS Tech Tee for $20 or make a donation with all proceeds going to support Portland Trails, the foundation of our fitness community.

July 4th starts things off with a bang with the L.L. Bean 10K in Freeport and the Four on the 4th in Bridgton. LL Bean is given away pair of New Balance 1063 Running Shoes to the 1st 400 and tech tees to the 1st 700 registered runners. Both Races offer an opportunity to participate in Holiday classics with plenty of family fun and have already surpassed last years numbers. July 4th offers a number of Maine community races, such as Four On The Fourth in York, Friends on The Fourth 5K, Winthrop, Bath Heritage Days 5 Miler, Bath, Mt Desert Relay, Bar Harbour, Hunt Memorial 3K, Brewer and finally, the Goose Rocks Beach 5K, Kennebunk on Sunday! I can't think of a better way to start the holiday than getting your run out of the way in your favorite community race. Happy Fourth!

After the 4th, July is packed with festival races and the heart of the Maine Racing season. Looking for something different? On July 12th, try the Bradbury Scuffle 6 Mile Trail Run at Bradbury Mtn State Park. July 18th is the "Pat's Pizza" 5 Mile Classic. This race, including a great Kid's Fun Run, starts at the town common in Yarmouth and offer's an opportunity to run before embarking on a day full of "Clam Festival" events.

July 25th presents an opportunity to run one of New England's most underrated events….the Peaks Island 5 Miler. The island course, features a scenic course and pre-race registration participants receive an Island Artist t-shirt, a Lobster Bake and an opportunity to run one of New England Runner Magazine's named best road races in New England.

August 2nd features the 12th TD Banknorth "Beach To Beacon." 10K. On-line registration filled up the 7,000 slots in 1:45 this year, frustrating some Mainers, but none the less, Mainer's point for this race as the height of the Summer racing season. Trust Dave Weatherbie and his crew to improve the on-line registration component next year.

Maine Running Company will host group runs every Sunday morning at 8am, in July, beginning July 5th. Meeting at Cape Elizabeth High School, group runs will cover both the 1st Half and 2nd Half of the course. For Information Go Here!. Additionally, join Hannaford and Maine Running Company every Tuesday Night in July @ 5:30pm for B2B Group runs at the Back Cove Hannaford. Look for the Hannaford and MRC tents.

August 9th is the 2nd Women's only Tri For A Cure to raise money for the Maine Cancer Foundation. This event sold out quickly and has a cap of 700 participants and a waiting list of 400. Didn't get in? Volunteer for this worthy cause.

So have a great 4th of July and Summer (yes, the sun will shine eventually!) and remember….Run Happy!

YouTwitFace

I was watching Conan O'Brien the other night when he said "in the year 3000, You Tube, Twitter and Facebook merged to form one company....YouTwitFace". The social network is consuming us and folks are on-line networking or just keeping in touch. I've heard from high school buddies, I haven't heard from in 30 years....

In November 2007, I was at a Brooks Symposium in New York, when Brett Lamb, from Fleet Feet San Francisco, mentioned that Facebook was a great opportunity to connect with customers and drive business. Not being the total tech geek, I came back, signed up Maine Running Company and then quietly left it alone. Six month's later, I decided to look on our Facebook Fan page and found 80 fans! Wow...80 people were actually connected to Maine Running Company and I hadn't touched a thing! I started to interact...reluctantly, but I still believe that new forums of communication are critical to connect with your customers. Today, we have over 300 fans and growing every day. Several connect daily and it's a great way to communicate and catch up on what is happening.

Twitter, the latest and greatest form of connecting and networking is something we added 4 months ago. The 140 character quick bursts allows you to let everyone know what is happening every second, of every day. Now, several MRC Facebook fans are crossing over and doing both. It seems every running related company is following MRC and the same people respond over and over again..

But really, here is the conundrum. How much to Twitter and "Inter-Face" without annoying folks? Well, I don't know the answer to that? Definitely new territory for me. However, irrelevant communication is a no-no. Are people just not busy enough and are so tied to their I-phones, laptops, netbooks that they can't wait to receive or respond to the latest MRC news? Does it make us better operators, by taking time away from managing the minutia that really keeps product available for our customers?

Well, here is the answer...Twitter and Facebook are here to stay. Other forms will come and some will go. However, what is NOT cool about spreading the word, connecting with a classmate from 30 years ago and connecting with folks that have an interest in your brand? Nothing, YouTwitFace...

Remember, Run Happy!

MRC Brunswick and Run With Joanie This Thursday!

Well, here we are, four years old and opening our second Maine location in Brunswick this weekend. I guess I am testing the limits of the human mind and body, but feel fortunate that with Maggie Oeschlie Managing Portland and Ellie Tucker Managing Brunswick and with Bill Galbraith heading up Operations, we have a good team in place to ensure success.

We've had nothing but positive response to extending the Maine Running Brand up the Midcoast area and already have Jim Favreau's Saturday morning group running out of the store. In addition, we will be adding a Wednesday night track workout, and a similar Tuesday night all women's and Thursday night co-ed running group at the new Brunswick location. Look for these on www.mainerunning.com soon.

This Thursday evening, June 4th at 6pm, women runners and "Tri For A Cure" participants can "Run With Joanie" (as in Benoit-Samuelson) and preview the 5K course route for the 2nd Annual Tri For A Cure Triathlon on August 9th. Cost is $25 with all proceeds going to the Maine Cancer Foundation. The first 100 women will receive a Nike (of course) tech tee. MRC's all women's "Train For A Cure" will send 35 runner's who are participating in this year's Tri For A Cure Sprint Triathlon. Word of mouth is infectious as we are adding 1-2 women every week. Coreen Lauren is doing a great coaching job and has added Lois Martin to help and provide support and positive experience for all the participants. In addition to running, the group is riding on some Saturdays, swimming and learning how to transition as well. Giddyup!

Good luck ladies and remember....Run Happy!