Highway Don't Care

It was a good thing most of the racing this weekend was either:

A) On Saturday or
B) In California

Because that snow on Sunday, man, who saw THAT coming?? Well, actually, everyone saw it coming, but for once the weather report held true (and if anything was underestimated). As a result of the weather we were forced to postpone Awards Night 2k13 [sad trombone] to this Sunday at 4pm at the running store. I apologize for those who were previously able to make it but now will not be able to.

In any event, shout to the folks in action over the weekend. On Saturday we sent 4 people up to Chambersburg PA for the 2nd Annual Christmas Cash Dash 10k. With $8000 on the line across a variety of categories, it was surely not going to be a cakewalk.

I'm going to tell a quick (true) story about racing for money. Many years ago there was a "race" in Harbor East (before it was even called that). James Joyce and the Baltimore Gaelic Athletic Association were hosting it. The entry per team was $100 but there was a $1000 first - and only - prize. The race was a short obstacle/relay race where you carried a tray of mugs containing water around a course, and handed off to a teammate. For every ounce of water you spilled you were docked 10 or 20 seconds. The course wasn't long enough to just knock all your mugs down and sprint around, because of the time penalty that you'd incur you would still have lost if the other team walked. We thought it was going to be a cinch, and started counting our money before we even had it. Well you know the rest. We lost. And while we weren't really out anything, other than $100 (which Jim Adams kindly put up for us) and an entire day (seriously it took all day), it was a pretty huge bummer and made me realize that no money is easy money when it comes to competing.

Graham Peck found out about this race and based on last year's winning times it looked like something we could do well in. There was money for top 3 teams (2M/2F) and then individual money, but no double dipping. With that much money, others sniffed it out and showed up ready to compete. Conrad Laskowski ran a valiant race, finishing 4th in 31:35, and Graham took 5th in 32:29. With scoring on aggregate time, they were holding a lead on the other teams after 2 guys through. Megan DiGregorio ran a swift 38:21 for 6th, and Kaylyn Peck, subbed in at the last minute, ran 42:51 for 13th. Despite these terrific performances on a cold day on a hilly course, that was good enough for just the 3rd place team! At least they went home with some dollars. And the pressure the winning teams' girls put on the race, well let's just say it would have been tough to beat them regardless of who we sent.

PJ Anderer looked to be the only one racing locally before the snow hit on Sunday. He was 14th in 1:01:25 at the Annapolis Striders' Anniversary Run 15k.

Becky Parks won the Sandbagger 10k or whatever it was called at Golden Gate Park in SF. A solid result though, 39:19 or something like that, coming off of a tiresome XC season.

And the big performance of the weekend - and our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week - was Alex Battaglino. AgBat was 13th at the California International Marathon, running a near 5 minute PR of 2:24:38. Great splits (1:11 at the half) on a cold (27 at the start) day. Awesome work Alex, especially since this year has been a pretty low key year for him as he's tried to return from injury and the move to California in the summer.

KC Masterpiece Award went to Cory Donovan for his helpful actions this weekend!