The Ceiling Can't Hold Us

It's halftime, so I figured I'd take a few minutes to write up the weekend recap.

Cherry Blossom Ten Miler

What a race! It was a bit chilly and there was a little more wind than the past couple of years, but let's be honest - this is as fast a race as there is. It was also the USA 10 Mile Women's Championship, which meant some heavy hitters. Chrissie Ramsey started in this wave, and while she is admittedly not in the shape she'd like to be, her 59:20 was a good start.

In the "common" start, Andy Sovonick crossed the line in 55:33. It's about the same as he ran last year, but he was pumped because he feels he was in better shape last year. This year he ditched the watch and just raced. And it paid off! One of the biggest races of the day was Melissa Majumdar. Obviously Melissa's been killing it so far in 2013 (making us all wonder what's really in those bottles she has), but yesterday was simply exceptional. She started 40 seconds off the gun, which meant weaving through people in the early stages of the race. A 6:22 opening mile was within reason, but by the time she hit 5 miles (30:55) she was cruising. As the wind came around and pushed runners home, Melissa found another level and dropped 5:43 and 5:45 miles to close out the race, negative splitting (29:48) to a 1:00:43. This was a 2.5 minute PR from her Club Challenge time earlier this year.

Tim Parker was oh-so-close to breaking 60 minutes, running 1:00:01, and placing 5th in his elderly age group. PJ Anderer was another one with an incredible race. Much like Melissa, PJ has also been on a tear this year, and while he went out a little aggressively, the move paid off and he ran a 1:03:13 - 2 minutes faster than his Club Challenge PR. Jon Miller also ran a personal best, coming in at 1:04:50. Nearly side by side were Jackie Truncellito-Range (1:06:05) and Liz Laseter (1:06:06), and Terry Decker crossed at 1:07:58. 

Mike Mashner hasn't raced since his 13 miles at the Philly Marathon, and really hasn't run until the past couple of weeks. He felt confident in his ability to make it through 10 miles, so he went out slow, consumed a couple of adult beverages, and then felt energized to pick it up to 6:30s, and finished at 1:09:36. Right behind him was Keith Rice at 1:09:43. I noticed Rodney Taylor's name in there (1:14:14) and Jen Koshy ran 1:20:27. Jen and Colin Brooks had run the Dirty Kiln Half Marathon just the day before in PA - a muddy, hard trail run. So terrific effort on the double race weekend! And Molly Eagen ran a PR, 1:26:29.

Everything Else

Of course Cherry Blossom was the big event of the weekend, but far from the only one. Shout to race winners Becky Parks (Survivor 5k, 19:36) and Lee DiPietro (Thin Mint Sprint 5k, 19:43), as well as Allison Letourneau (Nikia's Nippy Nor'Easter Half Marathon, 1:24:15).

Matt Jablonski rocked a 14:30.05 5000m at the Pepsi Invite (Hayward Field), and from what I saw online, Spider Sillery ran the Double Oak Duathlon, formerly the Powerman Duathlon.

And a special shout to Ben and Kendra Ingram. While vacationing in Arizona, the pair put on their swimmies and entered an open water swim event in my favorite - Tempe Town Lake. I love Tempe, and it's great to see both the Ingrams competing, especially in a swim race! Ben did the 3km while Kendra did her first ever open water swim, doing the 1km. Kendra's doing a triathlon in a few weeks so we'll have to keep tabs on her!

With such an impressive run, the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week had to go to Melissa. She's set her own bar so high - what else does she have in store this year?!

And to the greatest spectators in the sport: Bryn, Sara B, Christa, Amy, Arjun, Tarala, and Melissa's mom - thanks for being out there!