I Wanna Rock With You

Everybody's favorite summertime race, Rockville Twilight 8k, was held on Saturday night, and while it was about 20 degrees cooler than we've become accustomed to, the humidity was at Defcon 1. As always, Montgomery County Road Runners Club put on an exceptional event, with a tremendous field of competitors showing up to race 4.97 miles around the neighborhood. This year we rolled more than deep, with a crew of spectators that seemed as big as the number of racers we had!

So first, support shout outs: Pete, Denise, Amy's friend Tina, Christa, Conrad, Kevin.

It became clear that the field was not going to challenge the course record (23:39), but the race was exciting nonetheless as the top two came barreling down the street towards the finish. Eyob Alemu and Christopher Mills looked to be stride for stride, neither giving up an inch - but separated by about 15 feet, as one was to the left and the other to the right. They hit the tape at what looked to be the same exact time, and for a minute I thought we were going to have to entertain a run-off, but they awarded Alemu the win by 0.01 seconds!

The women's race went out very fast, and was actually on pace to challenge the record of 26:40 (set by Denise's Terp teammate Rosalind Taylor Sheppard). It was close, but no cigar, for the women's winner, Aziza Aliyu of New York, who ran 26:53.

But forget about them, what about us? Alex Battaglino ran a great race as our top finisher (15th, 25:48). He had just returned from a vacation across the pond and was unsure of his fitness, but was pleased with how it turned out. Dustin Meeker has been running strong this summer, and it showed as he ran 26:19 for 26th. Ed Aramayo was a little rusty, but he hasn't been running much and hasn't done a workout in months now. So his 26:54 wasn't too bad. Dan Miranda had an awesome race, and seemed surprised at the finish. He ran 26:56, which would probably put him on equal time to Celtic Solstice (5 miles). Tim Burns and Brennan Feldhausen flip-flopped throughout the race, with Tim using his kick to finish just ahead of Brennan, 27:55 to 28:00. Andy Sovonick was another who had just returned from vacation, and ran a proper 28:20, and Terence Baptiste finished up at 28:55. Terry Decker had a HUGE race as he broke 30 minutes for the first time (29:43). Tom Stack was 30:02, and Joel Gladfelter surprised himself a little bit, running 30:46. PJ Anderer looked good at 33:50, and Tom Stott ran with Patty as they ran 40:26.

On the ladies side, Chrissie Ramsey was a little off, having a tough 4th mile, but pulled it back and ran 29:20 for 11th. Meg DiGregorio was 13th, and ran the same thing she ran last year (30:23) but was pleased as she's been dealing with some problems since the marathon. Amy Horst ran well - and looked happy about it - running 31:53. Melissa Tanner was not far behind in 32:07. Sara Damiano was super pumped to be out there and ran 37:18. Molly Eagen ran 40:44 and Amy Flash Flashenberg finished up at 42:52.

It was a really great effort from everyone, and probably the biggest group we've ever had down there!

Elsewhere in the US, Claire Lears ran her first 100 mile trail run, the Angeles Crest 100, and finished 13th in 32:45:35. Claire's addiction continues to escalate, what an awesome accomplishment for her!

And in Chicago, Jen Koshy and Colin Brooks ran the Rock n Roll Half, finishing 1:49:24 and 2:00:41, respectively.

But like I said early in the week, it was going to be tough to usurp Dave Ploskonka as the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week following his monster performance at Badwater!

And of course a special KC Masterpiece Award goes to Mike Mashner, who crewed for Grace on her first 100 miler up in Vermont. Props to both!