Tibbitts' Tidbits

After sending out yesterday's email, I received a message from Seth Tibbitts, letting me know he raced over the weekend in Doylestown, PA.  The event was the Colby Umbrell Memorial 5k, an event in honor of one of Seth's fraternity brothers who was killed in action in Iraq in 2007.  Seth, just a few weeks removed from the Boston Marathon, owned this race, winning by two minutes in the excellent time of 16:53. 

Happy birthday today to Arjun!  We will celebrate following TNT by going to the appropriately named Ruby Tuesday in Charles Village. 

The weekend's other results mostly included those from either the Frederick Half, or the MAC Half.  Tim Parker ran 1:21:16 at Frederick to finish 24th, and Terry Decker ran 1:28:55, both are really great times.  Alyssa Godesky finished 3rd F and 9th overall at the MAC Half in a new PR of 1:36:39.

The big event was the 3rd Annual Arjun Majumdar Birthday Mile, and this year boasted the most competitive field to date.  The men's (Cheese) and women's (Alyssa) 2010 champions were returning, along with most of the rest of the top finishers from last year.  The new road course featured some new challenges, and with the large field (20 starters), the transition zone was crowded.  After introductions and the singing of the National Anthem, competitors got underway.  The first can hit the ground, and Tom Stott was off and running.  The cans started dropping, and feet hit the pavement.  For the women, Carly's can dropped first and she was off. 

The top of the leaderboard yo-yoed back and forth between Tom, OJ and Cheese, mostly, but Tom's rapid early pace led to his demise.  Cheese would move past OJ on the laps, but OJ can just consume so quickly, that he would move back in the lead.  Ultimately, Cheese came down the final straight in the lead, and broke the tape in 6:38.10.  9 seconds slower than last year, which he attributed to not being able to consume as quickly.  OJ, always a bridesmaid, finished 2nd in 6:45.98. The birthday honoree, Arjun, was 3rd again in 7:03, with Tristram in close pursuit at 7:05.  Brennan was having a ML and a smile, crossing in 7:09.  His cooldown includes having another. 

That was the top 5 men, on the women's side, Alyssa was running on fear it looked like, and it propelled her to a new PR of 7:56.73.  NBP was 2nd in her first attempt at the distance, in 8:48.  She led a string of women across the line, including Courtney (8:51) and Meg McNew (8:52).  Carly, another fast starter, thought her "reversal of fortune" led to an automatic DQ, but we told her she was only responsible for a penalty lap, and she continued on, ultimately finishing 5th in 13:01.

Some of the other highlights included Melissa's 3/4 completion, and JK and Meg D having given up (early) before attempting to finish.  They finally crossed the line in just under an hour.  There were a handful of DNFs, but for the most part everyone got through it. 

As a result of her double PR Saturday, our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Alyssa Godesky.

This week we had two people come through in the clutch - Ben and Kendra Ingram - who surprised all of us by showing up at the Mile on Saturday night.  It was amazing.  As a result, they earned this week's KC Masterpiece Award.

Don't forget - on Memorial Day Monday, Winchester hosts the Loudon Street Mile at 10am.  Let's go down and spend some time with the Ingrams!