All I Want For My Birthday

Perhaps it was the calm before the fall storm, but it was a pretty quiet weekend on the racing front. Or maybe it was just sheer exhaustion, as the Orioles played three games between Friday and Monday, which all finished midnight or later after a few lengthy delays. The atmosphere in Baltimore is great right now, and we'll keep supporting the Birds as they take on the Pinstripes in New York.

Chicago Marathon on Sunday was a thing of beauty, as Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede ran a perfect race, negative splitting a Course Record 2:04:38. Andrew Beef Jaffe didn't quite negative split, but still ran 5 minutes faster than he went earlier this year at Boston, crossing the line in 219th place overall in 2:43:45. Molly Eagen ran a big PR, finishing in 3:57:48.

Nationally there were some big events in the B.A.A. Half Marathon and Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Miler, but there wasn't much for us out here. As new editor-in-chief of the Washington Running Report/GRC runner Charlie Ban says, we need to get ourselves out to Great Allegany 15k next year. So let's put that on the schedule and get it done.

We haven't seen Seth Tibbitts' name in a while, but he finished 2nd at the Casey Cares 5k in 17:51. Only first place got any money though, and it was solid - $250. Megan DiGregorio was sneaky and made sure she didn't mention it to anybody, and got the win in 18:33. Fiana York was 3rd in 19:02.

Down in Columbia, the REV3 Half Full Triathlon, featuring an Olympic distance event as well as a half iron, went on despite some absolutely atrocious weather for triathlon. The pros were racing the Olympic, as were the college kids (it was the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Championship), but the ballers were racing the half. And by ballers, I mean yours truly and Lance Armstrong. I have to give a shout out to Mike Zero, who the morning after his birthday and the Virgin Free Fest concert came out to spectate, and really helped me out at the end of the race when I was in rough shape.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Jim Adams, as he raced not once, but TWICE this weekend. Sunday he did the Harvest Harrier 5k in Columbia, after running the Blue Steel Stampede 10k on Saturday. Both were challenging trail races.

We've got the Baltimore Running Festival this weekend, the expo starts Thursday. I hope everyone has everything ready! I'll be on the course on Saturday, so if you need anything, be sure to let me know. I can't promise I'll be able to carry too much, like I won't be able to take your clothes probably, but if you think you'll need any support, holler.

And of course we have triathlon's biggest event this Saturday - IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS from Kona! Baltimore + Kona, the best day of the fall.