And It's Not Even My Birthday

Well with no TRACK to watch tonight, I figured it was as good a time as any to get the weekend recap going.

Dreaded Druid Hills 10k was on Saturday morning, and you can click on a link to results on the right side. Jim and crew put on another great event, and special thanks to all the volunteers: Sara B, Fast Dan, Mike Zero, Dave P, my bro Kevin, Denise, Conrad, Amy, Cheese, Dan Goodman, Meg D, Pete, Karen, etc. This is a super tough race and the first thing I learned when I moved here in 2005 is that we don't run this one. Jim always used to think it was funny to have the faster folks out at the turnaround on top of the hardest hill handing out water. The conditions were pretty decent, but the times were not. Jack Flowers took 4th in 39:01. Jon Miller was 21st in 43:58, and Carla Williams finished 2nd among the women in 44:08. Madeline Tink Dulac was 5th in 46:21, and Sara Damiano was 12th in 49:04.

A result I missed in the email was the Spirit of Gettysburg 5k. Dave Berdan was 3rd in 15:18 and Tristram Thomas was 8th in 16:11. TT is certainly racking up the races before he heads out to Italy next week!

Sunday was the Baltimore Women's Classic 5k, and shout to our girls who all finished way up in the results, so I didn't have to look very far! Darcy McDonald finished 3rd to two foreigners, running 17:32. Megan DiGregorio, Liz Laseter, and Meg McNew went 5-6-7 in 18:35, 18:37, 18:42. For McNew it was her first run in the week since the marathon. Becky Parks was disappointed with her 19:33 result, but won't let it get her down, and Amy Horst is making some progress, as she went 19:45. Denise Knickman crossed in 19:56, and Lillian Pinault had a great race, running 20:11 - SO close to getting under 20! Marci Benda was just behind her in 20:14. Karen Menge had another consistent result, running 23:28.

Out in Columbia, another result I missed was the Celebrating Heroes Triathlon. Anthony van Lierop finished 2nd, Tom Stack was 5th, and Chris Scott was 41st. But the day's big story was the return to racing by Allison Gerbereux, who was 15th female and 2nd in her age group! She hasn't raced in years so it's cool to see her back. 3 small children will usually deplete your time and available energy.

Up in Philadelphia-town, a few of us were racing the PHLY Tri, part of the Toyota/Lifetime Fitness Series. Marc Malott overcame a slow swim with a monster bike, catapulting himself into a very high place in the amateur division, and finishing 31st overall. Mike Mashner had a very even race, and was just behind in 36th. Andy Sovonick fell ill just prior to the weekend, courtesy of Tom Stott, but managed to hold his own, finishing 46th I believe. Pro and former GRCer Lindsey Jerdonek finished 9th, but was then disqualified on account of a pack of women inadvertently cutting one of the buoys in the swim. A lot of weird rules things happened in triathlon this weekend, hopefully I'll have some time to address them this week.

The day's big performer - and earner of our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week - was Alyssa Godesky. Alyssa qualified for Ironman World Championships in Kona at her last Ironman in Arizona, so Ironman Coeur d'Alene was just to get one under her legs before her trip to the Big Island. With water temps in the 55 degree range and rain/chop to contend with, she recorded an IM swim PR at 1:04, and then overcame a 4 minute penalty on the bike to go from 8th out of the water (AG) to 2nd off the bike. For a little bit we thought she'd catch the leader on the run, but she just ran out of real estate. She still had the fastest run of the day in her AG (3:45) and went 10:50:44 on a tough course. She was 22nd F overall and had she needed it, would have earned a spot to Hawaii. Instead, the 3rd place girl was made very happy at rolldown. David Lee also competed, and had a very even race, only showing signs of fatigue in the last 7 miles (understandable!). He went 11:37:46.

Some tremendous displays of ballerness and sportsmanship landed pro athletes in our other award spots. Notably, Galen Rupp earned the KC Masterpiece Award for helping keep the tempo high to get his friend and training partner, Dathan Ritzenhein, to the Olympics in the 10,000m. Ashton Eaton - what else can you say about his performance - earned Baller of the Year. The NOS Award goes to Duane Solomon, as he finished 3rd in the 800m to punch his ticket to London - but ONLY because he also ran under the A standard, which he hadn't yet achieved.