Timber!

One of the things I hear Nate Brigham say often (in reference to his training) that he just keeps chip chipping away. Well on Sunday, in Columbus, Ohio, Nate did much more than chip - he cut down the whole tree! Nate ran a commanding 1:08:16 at the Columbus Half, finishing 9th, and rolling even splits. Much like they did at National Half in the spring, Nate and training partner Dustin Meeker ran close together as Dusty finished in 11th in a new lifetime best 1:08:30. That's a 90 second PR for Dustin. Really terrific stuff. Melissa Tanner also competed out there, finishing 12th in a tempo'd 1:25:23.

Probably the biggest event of the weekend was the Patterson Park XC race. With a strong field of...9 people, including 3 children, it was one of the most competitive races I've ever been a part of. The course was what Jeopardy! might call "potpurri" - a mish-mash of weaving around the park, up and down steep inclines, through intramural football games, and finally back at the finish. We're not sure how many, if any, ran the actually correct course, but we do know that the top 3 were a little short based on their times. Fortunately the finishing positions wouldn't have changed anyway, as Ed Aramayo took the win ahead of Brennan Feldhausen, and then Kris Simms. Doug Ripley made a rare appearance, but wasn't really surprised as he loves cross country racing. In the 2 person women's contest, it was Robyn St. Laurent, a young adult, taking the win over a tween who will probably one day be a state champ. In team scoring, the Snake Hill Whale Sharks (Ryan + Ed) won with 6 points, ahead of the Old Guys With Kids (Kris + Doug, 7) and the Locust Point Dominoes (Brennan + Robyn, 8). While the course was confusing, it was a fun and hard run, and shout to the girls who were out there cheering: Melissa M, Carly, Emily, Julie, Sara B, and Christa!

I went down to Army Ten Miler on Sunday in DC and am always surprised to be able to spot certain faces among the crowd of 26,000 finishers. Kyle Smits, Seattle resident of the past few years, was out there and ran 55:57. Afterwards he said he was pretty pleased with the effort as he tries to return to competitive racing. I remembered to check on Nick Gehlsen's results (59:55), and we saw PJ Anderer (1:05:13) and Dave Ploskonka (1:07:13) out there.

In Hunt Valley, Dave Berdan, a week removed from his Baltimore Marathon win, took his 5th or 6th consecutive Race for the Cure 5k win in 16:17. Props to Louis Foudos on his 2nd place performance, running 17:21.

Conrad Laskowski offered to help pace a high school teammate to a sub 18 minute 5k at the Shrewsbury Classic. Now, for a guy who could easily have done that in high school, he should have had no problem doing that himself - but Conrad gave a hot speed injection and, playing the role of domestique, allowed his team leader to take the win in 17:24. C-Rad finished 2nd in 17:28.

At the Runner's World Half Marathon, Bryn Burkholder ran just about the same as she ran last year (1:36:54), and across the Delaware in Flemington, NJ, Dave Berardi ran the USATF Master's XC Champs. He ran 17:52 and helped his Baltimore-Washington Athletic Club finished 2nd to the talented Atlanta Track Club.

At the Tussey Mountainback 50 Miler, Joel Gladfelter and his 2 friends ran the relay. Sounds like his friends had a rough go, and Joel held the race together to make sure they beat Henry Peck, who was running the 50 Miler solo. Henry of course is Graham's dad, and together they own the World Record for fastest father-son in the same marathon from last year's Chicago. Mr. Peck killed it, running 7:31!

Lauren Dennisuk ran the Detroit Free Press Marathon, briefly detouring into Canada (don't worry, that's the way the course goes!), and crushed it! Based on her running log, she's been running really well lately despite the challenge of med school, and on Sunday she finished 9th in 3:13:00!

Finally, a few results I had missed initially: Bobby Van Allen (yes, BVA of Hopkins coaching fame) ran a 3k XC while his team raced. He ran 11:55. Hey, it's a start! Hannah Southworth continues her comeback trail as she ran the Tufts Women's 10k on Monday, and Chris Scott finished his triathlon season at the REV3 South Carolina aka USAT Long Course Championships, going 5:20. That's two half iron distances races for him this year!

Great work all, but in the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week race, it went to Nate this time. Although it was probably pretty close between him and all of us who ran the Patterson Park XC race.