Mary cracks top 10 in women's-only Maine Coast Half-Marathon

Well it was a weekend for the NETT kids to crack top 10 in competitive races. The same day Dave Molk was turning heads at the Stone Cat Marathon, Mary Smith was up in Maine, cracking the top 10 at the Maine Coast Half-Marathon for Women (and one lucky guy!).

Mary tells the NETT Newsroom the "One Lucky Guy was chosen through a lottery and he told me that he only found out that he had won Oct 18th. I ran for about 5 minutes with the Lucky Guy and chatted with him, but then he took off & I ran the majority of the race alone (passing people here & there). I almost caught back up to the Lucky Guy at the finish - if I had another 1/2 mile I would've gotten him. I tried my best to catch him in a sprint to the finish - but he just had more left in the tank. However, it's important to note that due to "chip timing" I actually beat the One Lucky Guy, and came in 10th out of about 850 runners. More importantly I beat one of my co-workers (who's a pretty good runner). The best part is that she had no idea I was gunning for her!!"

But true to the NETT code of ethics, Mary finished the race and then backtracked for about 1.5 miles to meet up with her friend to pace her into the finishas well. "That was my secret training for the day," she says.

Mary calls it a "a false flat" course because it seemed flat, but there were a lot of gradual grades plus it ran along the Maine Coast, so the wind was always hitting you in the face.

"It was a great day to run...perfect temperature, sunshine and ocean view."

Here's the link to the race website:
http://www.locorunning.com/mainecoasthalf.html