When Lori Welch started running with her daughter Lindsey five years ago, she did it just as a activity mother and daughter could take part in together. Now, as the Welchs prepare for Saturday’s Beach to Beacon race, Lori looks at running as more than a hobby she shares with her daughter.

“I fell in love with it,” Lori said.

Lori and Lindsey Welch are among dozens of central Mainers who will run in Saturday’s 17th Beach to Beacon race. The 10K race founded by Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the Olympic gold medal in the marathon in 1984, starts at Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth and ends at the Portland Head Light.

This is the third Beach to Beacon the Welchs will run together. They ran their first Beach to Beacon together three years ago.

“It was overwhelming. I had butterflies in my stomach because there were so many people,” Lori said. “Thousands and thousands of spectators lined the roads. I was stunned. Little kids wanted to slap your hand.”

Lori began running with Lindsey five years ago.

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“We started running road races,” said Lindsey, Winslow High School’s girls basketball coach. “We have fun together.”

Among the races the Welches have run together are the 15K at the Sugarloaf Marathon and the half marathon in Portland. They have a motto, “fast feet to the finish line.”

“She pushes me and I love it,” Lori said.

From their previous tries at the Beach to Beacon, Lindsey said she and her mother know to include running hills in their training regimen. With Lindsey in Waterville and Lori in Newport, they can’t train with each other every day, but they keep tabs on each other.

“It’s good to train the hills. We do hill sprints,” Lindsey said. “We’re both training on our own. We touch base every day. We stay positive with each other.”

Saturday’s race will be the centerpiece of a mother-daughter weekend in the Portland area for the Welchs.

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“I’m so happy to share this with her.” Lori said.

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Recent Messalonskee High School graduate Logan Moses is running his third Beach to Beacon on Saturday.

“The first time I didn’t really try hard. Last year, I really went for it,” Moses, who placed eighth in the Class A cross country championship meet last fall, said. “Starting further back is OK. It kept me motivated as I passed a bunch of people.”

Moses hopes to run alongside friends from southern Maine who are also competing. He’d like to come close to or break the 34 minute mark on Saturday.

Training for the Beach to Beacon has coincided with the training Moses has done to prepare for his college running career. He’ll report to preseason camp with the University of Maine cross country team on Aug. 24.

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“I’ve definitely been training a lot more, so I’ll be prepared, because the college cross country season is longer (than high school),” Moses said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM


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