Blaine: I wish I had seen this post yesterday I did go to the "Fund Run" and really enjoyed it. Especially enjoyed listening to the girls talk after the run. I posted this in the Masters forum but I'm not sure yet how to post a link on this site yet so I'll cut and paste it here if you don't mind. Thursday's run - I met up with some friends (Joel Croteau, Don Harden and Jim Boisvert) in Portland to do a benefit run for Emily LeVan's daughter, Maddie, who is battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Emily is the owner of the fastest marathon ever run by a Maine woman and is a qualifier for the 2008 Olympic Marathon trials. You can read more about LeVan's fund-raising drive at http//twotrials.org We did a nice 5.55 miles of warm up prior to meeting everyone for the benefit run - 48:10 - 8:42 pace nice and comfortable run. We met up with everyone for the benefit run and all four of the Maine women who are running in the Olympic Trials in Boston were there. They are Joan Benoit-Samuelson, Emily LeVan, Sherri Piers and Kristen Barry. Sherri and Kristen both qualified last year at Philadelphia after running the whole race together and finishing with identical times! We have a nice group of "Maine Rowdies" that will be there to support the Miane contingent - what are the chances we'll ever get to see four Maine women or men for that matter run in the same Olympic Trials again? This is a can't miss event! After making our donations and chatting with others and listening to a little pre-run chatter we were off on a nice fun run around Back Bay in Portland. I ended up running an easy 1st mile and then running the final 3.11 at marathon pace or better. My splits were - 9:02 - 7:36 - 7:31 - 7:13 - 51. I felt good and strong and really enjoyed the run. After the run we got to sit or stand around the Maine Running Companies store to listen to the Olympic qualifiers talk about their upcoming run in Boston and hear about their training etc. It made for a very enjoyable evening. Edited to add that Joan had to leave early so she didn't get to share anything last night, but we were reminded of her comments a few months ago that she has "never dropped out of a race" and "never finished a marathon over 3:00 hours". I know that all the fans at the trials will give her the credit she so richly deserves as she runs what will in all likelyhood be her last "Olympic Trials"