Hougan mixes chivalry with a little me time

Sunday, June 11, 2006

RUNNING: John Rolfe

You could fire up a spirited debate over whether having a running spouse is a good thing or an ill thing. But there's no denying that Matt Hougan's self-propulsive nature came in handy on Tuesday after his wife, Sara Murray, phoned to say she'd locked her keys in their one car, in Northeast Harbor.

It was 5 p.m. and Hougan, who does speechwriting, public relations and financial journalism, was working at home. In Bar Harbor.

"I could have biked over," he admitted, "but I hadn't gotten a run in that day. And there was work I should have been doing. Under deadline."

Work avoidance gets many runners out the door. But Hougan's subsequent actions, this column prefers to believe, arose purely out of chivalry and concern for Murray, who works at the Great Harbor Maritime Museum in Northeast and had just completed a day of projects at Mount Desert Elementary.

So Hougan headed out for an impromptu 13-miler, opting not for the MDI Marathon route down Route 3 through Otter Creek and Seal Harbor, but for a romantic overland trek - to Eagle Lake and over the carriage roads to the Brown Mountain Gate House, then down into town just before dark.

Wish I could type that it was pouring rain and that Hougan dropped off the keys, tipped his cap, put his head down and galloped back home across the island at a little over 7-minute pace. But it wasn't raining and Hougan wasn't wearing a cap and he accepted a ride. No shame in that; but he acknowledged that his next-door neighbor, a fellow Eden Athletics runner, probably would have done things differently, as in seeking out a longer and more mountainous route back and then capping the run with a soak in an icy brook.

For this last is the postrun habit of Bar Harbor homey Judson Cake, most recently glimpsed setting a 47:13 course record at the Sugarloaf 15K last month. Hougan credits Cake with helping him go from being a casual 20-miles-a-week runner to a 60-mpw guy who ran 1:20 at the Bar Harbor half last fall and is looking forward to a first marathon, probably Philadelphia, in the fall.

As Hougan trains he may well benefit from the advice of his wife. Murray is pretty new to running, but she has already logged her first marathon, a 4:14 at Sugarloaf. So there you go. The value of a running spouse is truly inestimable. . . .

As part of a quest to run a 26.2-miler on every continent, a Portland couple is soon off to Kenya to run the Safaricom Marathon. Timmi and Rory Sellers hope to bring with them two duffel bags of gently used running shoes, which will be given to local youths.

The Safaricom, on June 24, is run over two loops within the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, which is 5,500 feet above sea level. "One of the 10 toughest marathon events in the world. Run on a rough terrain and under harsh climatic conditions," organizers say. Note that Daniel Yego set a 3-minute course record of 2:22:14 last year, after running 2:08:16 in his marathon debut in Rome the previous March.

Marathon world-record holder Paul Tergat and five-time TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K champ Catherine Nderaba are expected to be in the field this year.

Oh yes, the running shoes. To arrange a donation, call the Sellers at 773-7446. Or you can leave the shoes in the dropoff box at 37 Carroll St. by Friday. . . .

The Portland Trails 10K is already in ferment as it takes on a new flavor for its seventh annual running, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 17. This year the race becomes the "Trail to Ale" as it will be followed by a postrace party at the Shipyard Brewery (also the site of race-day registration) where bevvy (including root beer for runners of delicate nurture) and Portland Pie pizza will be served.

The event also marks a kind of historic, er, second as it becomes the second Maine race ever to be included in the 9-year-old history of the annual New England Runner Pub series. Last year, the Irish Road Rover 5K was the first.

The Trail to Ale this year is fifth in the six-race series. After three races this year, Pub Series standings show Nathan Huppe of Berwick the top Mainer, in ninth overall, unless you count Paul Hammond of Lexington, Mass., (out of Westbrook and Bates) who's in second in both overall and masters standings.

Hammond has also achieved a kind of Pub Series immortality, New England Runner editor Bob Fitzgerald points out: Hammond has missed only two Series races, one of them in order to attend his Maine Running Hall of Fame induction in 2002.

For more info call 775-2411, e-mail isabel@trails.org or visit www.trails.org.

John Rolfe of Portland is a staff writer and a road runner. He can be reached at 791-6429 or at:

jrolfe@pressherald.com

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