Boom, Clap

Next up in the series of race weekends was the last weekend of July, which served as a random mid-summer's marathon weekend.

Out in Oregon, Dustin Meeker and Melissa Tanner had quite the adventure to get to the Eugene Marathon, but once they did it was business time. Dusty, clearly in the marathon shape of his life, had ambitions of a sub 2:30 time. His setup was perfect: chill first 10k, started to pick it up to 20, incredibly consistent splits. The last 10k - as they often do in a marathon - got tough, but he held on and finished up in 5th overall at 2:30:32. Huge new PR and a fantastic result for him. In the women's race, Melissa finished 9th and ran her miles like clockwork, basically even-splitting her way to a 2:55:20.

On the exact opposite end of the continent, Matt Franco and Allison Letourneau were tackling the Nova Scotia Marathon, putting their eggs in the "Canada is cool in July so it'll be easier to qualify for Boston" basket. Franco's story has made the rounds by now, but we'll just say it featured a solid 20 miles, and really tough last 10k after he stopped to go to the bathroom. Speaking from experience, unless you feel absolutely amazing, going to the bathroom that late in the race does nothing but drop a piano on you. While Franco had a rough go, Allison shuffled her way to a 3:33, good enough for 4th and a Boston qualifying time!

Other recent results included:

Megan DiGregorio's Rosaryville 50k win (and course record); Conrad Laskowski finished 14th at the Crystal City Twiligher 5k (15:26) and Andy Sovonick was 36th in 16:22 - side note, this race, a week after Rockville Twilight, is probably one we should look into. Very good competition and hear it's well-organized.

And of course a shout to Brennan Feldhausen, who tore up the Diamond in the Rough Triathlon a week or two ago.

This week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Dusty.