Round Here

Man, remember last year when we were getting prepared to batten down the hatches in front of Frankenstorm? It almost threatened the running of the Marine Corps Marathon. Well, a year later, the People's Marathon looked even less likely to happen on account of the GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Fortunately, our elected politicians, whose main job is to serve the best interest of their constituents, managed to get their act together in time so that this footrace through DC wasn't postponed.

And as a result, Amy Flashenberg was able to run her first marathon! She ran 4:08:05, and according to coach/boyfriend Conrad Laskowski, there was no walking. Hey - if I can get through a half marathon these days without walking, that's something to write home about, so great job Amy! In a fairly quiet weekend, Amy was our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

But she wasn't the only who raced. Nay, there were others. Some I even missed in the email, like Bobby Van Allen and [dog], who won the human-dog competition at the Ready, Set, Sniff 5k in Patterson Park. Their alleged 5k time was 15:47, but I figured you have to multiply that by 7 for dog time because ain't no way BVA ran that fast.

In races of both questionable distance and dubious elevation losses, Collin Anderson ran a 1:16:02 at the Haunted Half Marathon in Utah. The course was net downhill, but the altitude made it about even to what he might have run at sea level. He finished 2nd.

Erik Orberg ran the Stoudt's Brewing Distance Classic in PA - a rarely run 12km race. His time was 43:xx and he finished 7th. Meanwhile, in the US National 24 Hour Championship, Dave Ploskonka ran 133 miles in just under 24 hours and finished 3rd. The race took place just three days prior to his birthday, and when I asked if he was going to run 32 miles, he said he felt he had enough in the bank to make up for this year...and next year.

At the Oktober Lauf Fest Half Marathon there was no shortage of sausage...oh and there were brats and plenty of sauerkraut to go with them. Brennan Feldhausen, winner of the two previous editions of this event, had his work cut out for him as a gentleman from Brooklyn (BK STAND UP!) came down and punished everybody. I guess he really wanted to win a cuckoo clock. Anyway Bren managed to hold on for 2nd in 1:21:45, and came away with a smaller cuckoo clock.

The 2nd Annual Towson 5k, a race which I feel was hardly marketed for as big as it's trying to come off, saw a top 4 ladies sweep. Sara Breedlove took the win in 19:00 while Emma Jornlin finished 2nd in 19:53. Austin Kim D'Andrea was 3rd in 20:11, and Julie Wolfe ran 20:20 for 4th.

THIS WEEKEND IS THE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

And despite seemingly low interest in both competing and spectating, I'm still pretty psyched as it's my brother's first marathon. Not to mention it will be aired LIVE across the country for the first time ever on ESPN2 from 9am. Besides being able to track on the web, you can download some app and track up to 10 runners and follow the live leaders' race.

'Cuz that's how we do it round here.