Although not as hot as last year, The 2008 Chicago Marathon was pretty damn warm to say the least. With race day temps starting at 70 degrees, and reaching a high of 85 at noon, many people were forced to alter their goal pace to adjust to the day's weather, or suffer the consequences as rescue sirens were a plenty throughout the day. The forecast also called for mostly cloudy, but that didn't happen.

First Running Heritage finisher Scott Bessette, ran extremely well, considering how he has performed on hot days before. Reaching 1/2 way at 2:36 pace, he began to slow in the race's final miles but never really crashed. He held on to finish in a very respectable 2:42.

The next finisher was rookie marathoner Erik Russo. This being Erik's first marathon, and having never competed in a 1/2 marathon, Erik had to start WAY BACK in the open corral and weave his way through the slower runners. His goal time of 2:48 was in jeopardy from the start, but Erik was looking to qualify for Boston as well (3:15) and needed to remain focused. That he did hitting his 5K splits (after the slow 1st 5K) almost exactly where he needed to be. He finished only 4 min. away from his goal time and got his Boston qualifier as well. Look for a fast time for him in Boston in 2009 with more experience under his belt and a better starting position.

Ed Duhamel's marathon troubles continued with his second hot marathon in a row. On a better day, Ed seemed likely to break 2:30. Passing 1/2 way still under 2:40 pace, Ed still had a PR in his sights, but the heat had already taken it's toll and the wheels started to come off. Looking just to finish, Ed pulled in just over 3 hours in 3:05:22. As unpredictable as Boston weather is, Ed is looking to break his unlucky weather streak on 4/20/09.

Chris Poulos, realizing early on that this was not going to be a good day for a marathon. slowed down and enjoyed the scenery and looked forward to finishing another marathon. Chris passed 1/2 way at 2:48 pace, and then slowed way down to save his legs for another day, finishing in 3:31:36.

Much like everyone else, Elaine Craik has struggled to luck out on the race day weather. Boston 2007 was a hurricane, Twin Cities 2007 had temps in the 90's, Vermont City 2008 was in the 80's, as was Chicago 2008. She had hoped to run under 3:30 and was just off that pace at 25K. Unfortunately, she realized that she would not be able to hold that pace to the finish with the heat, but still finished with a very respectable 3:43:16, finishing less than 15 min. off her goal time which in the heat, seems to be better than most of the runners did, as more than 15,000 runners out of 47,000 starters did not finish the race.

Running Heritage member Scott Bessette and family once again put on an excellent race, that continues to set participation records each year, including this year with 832 registered participants. 1000 next year? I'm guaranteeing it right now!

Individually, the results for the members of Running Heritage varied greatly. Matt Pelletier finished 1st overall (for the 3rd time in 10 days), but ran almost a minute slower than last year (when he finished 2nd). Hoping he was just tired from racing so often as of late, he's not looking down on his performance.

Race organizer, Scott Bessette, ran a very strategic race to take 2nd overall. Working double duty as a race director, and athlete at his own race, usually doesn't work out for him, but this year's race was different. Scott stayed in the chase pack for much of the race, until it slowly whittled it's way down to just a few athletes. In the final mile, Scott started to surge and relax and surge again on eventual 3rd place finisher, Bronson Venable, putting 10 sec. on him between mile 3 and the finish. Scott ran almost a min. faster than last year's race where he finished 5th.

4th place finisher Ed Duhamel was in the chase pack with Scott and Bronson, but Scott's surges eventually separated the 2 teammates. Finishing 2 seconds behind Bronson, Ed improved upon his time from last year by 26 seconds. Ed is another member of the team, besides Matt and Glen, who ran the Blessing of the Fleet (as a workout) in addition to the Newburyport 10 Miler, and the Run 4 Kerri in a span of 10 days.

Glen Gullemette continued his streak of fast racing with a 6th place finish in 21:29. Glen also ran the Johnny Kelly 11.6 mile road race (as a workout) the day before, finishing 4th. Glen also ran the Blessing, finishing 5th (the 3rd member of the team with 3 races in 10 days). This was Glen's 1st Run 4 Kerri.

Closing out the top 10 was Running Heritage's 5th finisher, Erik Russo. Erik started training with the team over the winter, and suffered an injury that kept him from running during much of the winter and into the spring. Now, Erik is back and healthy, and running very well. He's also handling racing during marathon training, which is not very easy to do, especially when you're training for your 1st marathon.

After Chris Poulos's poor performance at the Newburyport 10 miler, he was just looking to have a decent race. He has been working hard all Spring trying to get back to where he was at this time last year. This race finally got him there. His goal was to break 22:49, and he did just that, running 22:13 (a new PR), which puts him right where he wants to be at this point in his marathon training.

Heather Crosby, in her first race in a Running Heritage jersey (albeit an old one...for now), finishing as the 11th woman. Returning from an injury she sustained during a hill workout done on grass, she was off her winning performance from last year. (as well as the addition of some of the best female runners NE has to offer being in this year's race, including former Olympian, Marie Davenport).

Elaine Craik continued with her consistency at this race, running only a 9 sec. difference from last year's race. With windier conditions, and a much higher weekly mileage average, Elaine is showing that she plans on destroying the course in Chicago. Elaine was also the 1st Craik across the line by 2 1/2 minutes, as her daughter Jessica and son Jonathan both ran as well. Husband Chris, did an excellent job of working the finish chute keeping everyone in line and making things run smoothly. Rumor has it that someone will have to take his place next year as "Chief chute engineer", as he plans to run the race.

Next Race on the schedule is the Bobby Doyle 5 Mile Summer Classic on 8/16.

Running Heritage headed north to Newburyport, MA for the 2008 Yankee Homecoming Road Race, which also served as the USATF-NE 10 Mile championship. With hopes of finishing in the top 3 as a team, the athletes did not alter the marathon training preparations, and kept the mileage high the week of the race.

Matt Pelletier was the first New England finisher as well as the first finisher overall defeating a strong field over the challenging course. Matt went out with Casey Moulton, and hoped to stay with him as long as possible. At mile 5, the lead pack contained only 3 runners, and by mile 6, Matt and taken the lead and ran alone easily to the finish. The race started a few minutes early, and as a result, Matt Ely (another favorite for top NE'er) missed the start by almost a minute. There's a good chance he may have contended for the lead, had he not started after everyone else.

The next finisher was John Larosa. John ran an excellent race, placing 34th overall in the competitive field, and running a 10 mile PR. John also helped the team score by passing several runners from other clubs in the race's final .15 miles, which consists of a steep incline from a parking lot up to the football field, eventually finishing on the field itself.

Scott Bessette and Ed Duhamel were in sight of each other for most of the race. Both have been running very well as of late, and both do not run very well in the heat and humidity. In the 2nd 1/2 of the race, Scott pulled ahead of Ed. In the final miles, Ed was pulling Scott back in but ran out of real estate and the 2 finished 17 seconds apart running 57:23 and 57:40 respectively.

The next finisher had a huge breakthrough race. Erik Russo who has only been running with the team since the beginning of the year, wanted to run under an hour in his first long distance race in quite awhile. Admittedly, he went out a bit too fast in the race's 1st downhill mile (5:37 with Ed and Scott), he managed to hold it together, and just missed breaking an hour by 6 seconds, running 1:00:06. The future looks bright for this new up and coming runner from Woonsocket.

Chris Poulos broke the cardinal rule of racing, and tried something new on race day. Wearing his orthotics in his racing shoes for the first time, he experienced severe foot pain and did not race to his expectations. He still managed to finish, running 1:06:13. Learning from his mistake, Chris plans to show what shape he's in by running well at the Run4Kerri this Sun.

Ray Nelson and Elaine Craik continued their game of playing cat and mouse during races, by exchanging the lead with each other several times over the course of the race. In the end, it was Ray who prevailed, running a conservative early pace and picking it up in the 2nd 1/2 for a negative split. The heat and humidity (and hills) took their toll on Elaine who did not run as well as she wanted. The bigger goal is to run well on 10/4/08 and not necessarily to run well in July. With the higher mileage, and tougher workouts, she is ready to run a tough fall marathon.

Overall, Running Heritage placed 7th as a team, missing their goal of top 3 by less than 8 minutes. The other New England Clubs really stepped up their game, and ran better than we had expected. This was Running Heritage's first team race on the NE Grand Prix circuit, and they didn't do too bad for being such a small club.

Next up is the Run4Kerri on Sun. 8/3.

Running Heritage chose the Vermont City Marathon as it's spring marathon, mostly because the city of South Burlington, as well as the race directors, put on a great event. The other reason was because Matt Pelletier wanted to continue his winning streak and try for a third straight victory, as well as take a shot at the course record of 2:17:08. After some quick early miles (4:50 pace) battling with Hilary Lelei, the course record was not to be as Matt died a horrible death in the last 5 miles, but did hold on to become the race's first 3 time champion in 2:20:44.

The 2nd finisher from Running Heritage,with a 9 minute PR, was Ed Duhamel. His new PR of 2:38:15 was good enough for 12th place, and just 2:45 from breaking into the top 10. The heat combined with a not-so-easy course, really worked against Ed, but it shows that he is capable of going under 2:30 in Chicago in the fall.

The next Running Heritage finisher across the line was Scott Bessette. Scott does not have a good history with the marathon, and also does not run well in the heat (the race finished with temps in the 80's). Add in that Scott will be having a baby any day now, and was taking classes combined with working full time this winter, it's amazing he even made it to the starting line. Scott ran with Ed until the Battery St. Hill at 15 miles, and than started to fade. He held on to finish 25th in 2:47:32. A respectable time considering the tough winter he had.

The final finisher, and only female runner from the team in the race, Elaine Craik, ran a PR of 3:31:50. With the weather, and tough course conditons, you can expect another huge PR from Elaine when the team heads to Chicago in the fall.

Running Heritage also had a 2 person relay entered, with runners Kristen Duhamel, and Gina Poulos each running a 1/2 Marathon. Kristen ran the first 1/2 marathon in 2:11:58, and Gina ran the 2nd 1/2 marathon in 2:06:15 for a total time of 4:18:38.

For more info on how the relay went, as well as some footage of the marathon, check out the video made by Chris Poulos, who had to sit this race out due to an injury he's had for several months. You can find the video located in the "Running Related" section of the message board.

4 members of Running Heritage (and 1 husband) traveled down to Philadelphia, PA for a fast 10 miler 3 weeks before they run the Vermont City marathon. It was a chance to get a fast, longer race in on a course that Scott Bessette called downhill and flat.

The team disagrees with Scott and thinks that there is almost as much uphill as there is downhill in the first 5 miles. The 2nd 5 miles are almost completely flat, but there was a bit of a headwind after you passed City Hall and for most of the second part of the race. After the race, even Scott said that he didn't remember the course being that hilly.

Matt Pelletier fell well short of running his goal of sub 48:00, but lowered his PR by almost 2 minutes, running 49:05 and placing 4th overall.

Ed Duhamel was next with the biggest PR of the day, taking 2:11 off his previous best at 10 miles by running 53:35. Until March, Ed had not even broke 1 hour for 10 miles (officially, but he split faster in a 1/2 marathon).

Next was Scott Bessette, running 53:58. With all the school work, and classes that Scott is taking, his training is going remarkably well. This could be the year where he gets the best out of his marathon training. For the record, MARATHON: 5; SCOTT: 0.

The story of the day was Elaine Craik breaking a 22 year old PR by 1:44 with a 1:12:26 performance...A time that would have been faster, had the other competitors actually seeded themselves appropriately. Her first mile was her slowest because she had to pass all the slower runners. It ended up costing her a minute and a half over the course of 2 miles. Lesson learned.

Look for good things in Vermont from all of the Running Heritage athletes.

I think it's about time the front page got an update...

4 weeks before the team leaves to go out to the Vermont City marathon, the team ran the State Police 5K as a workout. Matt Pelletier decided he could use the extra money, and broke his own course record of 15:11 with his 15:04 performance. Ed Duhamel and Scott Bessette ran together through the first mile, with Ed eventually pulling away in the second mile with a 15:48 to Scott's 16:12. Todd Simmons returned to the racing scene with an 18:01 performance. A week after running Boston, (and than working a 12 hour shift less than 7 hours after finishing) John Gadrow ran a 19:37, but missed out on 25 pts. in the Gadrow Grand Prix by losing to his wife (who also ran Boston in under 3 hours) by 12 seconds. Elaine Craik ran a very controlled 21:57. Starting off slow, she picked it up i the second mile, and unleased a 6:30 final mile to place 2nd in her age group. Gina Poulos continued with her training for the VCM relay (with Kristen Duhamel) running 17 seconds off her PR with a 26:59.

Next week: The Broad St 10 Miler in Philadelphia, PA

This race was the first stage in a 3 week racing period. Running Heritage will race 3 consecutive weekends (unheard of for this club) beginning with the Greater Boston Track Invitational held at Harvard's indoor track.

Ed Duhamel's race was first. He ran in the open section of the Men's 3K. His goal was to run under 9 minutes. He started off towards the back of the field, and moved his way up throughout the race, eventually finishing in first place with a new PR of 8:53, which Ed hopes to lower next week at the Terrier Classic.

The next race was Chris Poulos' first track race ever in the Open Mile. Track racing (especially the mile) is very different from road racing, as Chris found out. Not used to being pushed, elbowed, and fighting for the inside lane, Chris' introduction to track racing left him short of his goal. He did gain valuable knowledge of how to race on a track, and expect a better race as he tries the 3K next week at the Terrier Classic.

The final race of the day was the Men's Invitational 3K, with Matt Pelletier and Scott Bessette. Matt separated from the field with the leaders early on, and held the lead for almost a 1/2 a lap before he realized that he's not a track runner and should just stay behind the fast guys and get pulled along. He faded badly in the 2nd 1/2 of the race, finishing a distant 3rd and well short of his goal of breaking 8:20. Scott Bessette, on the other hand, showed what a few good track workouts can do for you by running 22 seconds faster than he did 3 weeks ago at the BU mini meet. He ran in last place through the first kilometer, and moved up throughout the rest of the race, eventually finishing 6th in a competitive field. He hopes to run a faster 3K next week at the Terrier Classic which has a much faster track. Matt who has had enough of lactic acid, will be running in the longest event possible, the 5K.