Cashin' Out

Last week will be known as Katy Perry Week (get it - Hot and Cold?). With temps in the 80s on Monday, then 50 and rainy on Wednesday, then in the 80s again Saturday, before 40s and rain on Sunday, it was just not a fun week. But, that didn't mean it was a slow week, as we all know what happened at Wednesday's #MSM.

On the track, Louis Foudos ran a lifetime best for 800m at the McDaniel Twilight Meet (2:00.94), Tristram Thomas ran a season best 3:56.67 1500m at Princeton's Ellis Invite on Friday night (he almost didn't make it), and Tim Burns ran a 4:09.09 1500m at Widener Invite on Saturday. That was a 3 second improvement for Tim over his season best. Out in Oregon, Matt Jablonski ran a 3:57 1500 at their meet.

Saturday, the nice day of the weekend, also hosted some road races. Megan DiGregorio snuck an easy win at the 3.43 mile Hills of Milltown 5k, taking home some dollars. In Patterson Park, Andrew Jacobson finished 3rd in 17:46 at the Victim's Fund Run 5k, with Terry Decker in 4th at 18:10. Denise Knickman claimed another scalp, winning in 19:55.

Sunday's Mulligan Metric Marathon decided IT needed a mulligan, postponing to this coming weekend on account of the anticipated bad weather and its potential hazards on the Gwynns Falls Trail. That didn't stop 18 people from running the course as a fun run! Meg McNew ran the Rutgers UNITE 13.1 race in New Brunswick, taking 3rd in 1:24:01 - an 87 second PR! It seems as if the word got out that there was money on the line, as the men's top 3 were under 1:09 (including winner Demesse Teferra). Hirut Mandefro also sniffed it out, winning probably somewhat easily in about 1:20.

It was one of the tough weeks for deciding a Purple Drink Athlete of the Week. With so many people competing in the Main Street Mile, plus some great track performances, and a big half marathon PR, it was a very close call, but in the end, this week favored the elderly. Kris Simms, who turned 40 just a week ago, won his first masters' race, and took 8 seconds out of his 2011 Main Street Mile time on a slippery day. He ran a 4:27, pretty darn fast, and I expect to see him take Masters by storm.

Other Things

Lots of races this weekend. If you're staying local, we've got Operation Oliver 5k on Saturday on the east side, and Port to Fort 5k on Sunday on Key Hwy. Additionally, Mulligan Metric Marathon will be held Sunday, and of course, Pike's Peek 10k down in Rockville is Sunday.

If you missed The Runaround tonight on ESPN Radio, you missed a good one! We talked about yesterday's London Marathon, Mt. SAC, and talked with Jason Hartmann, 4th at Boston last week (1st American). You can listen to today's show here.

I forgot to shout this out already, but Emily Hurley's cousins started an apparel company called TWIFT Athletics. They make fun racing stuff for triathletes, etc. Check it out!

Finally, Dusty posted this article from Running Times, it's a few pages, but a good read.