Tuesday, January 27, 2015

All About It

Another week gone in January and all of a sudden we're almost in February! We're a month into official winter and compared to 2014, it really hasn't been that bad.

2015 is off to an amazing start. We've seen some of the best early-season performances we've ever seen. One that I missed last week was Matt Jablonski's WIN at the University of Washington Preview meet in the 3000 meter race. In this YouTube video posted by Loyola Blakefield, you can watch the last 45 seconds or so of the race, where Matty Blaze unleashes a massive kick that helps him take down none other than German Fernandez as he crosses the line first:


Then it was onto this past weekend, where I should have gone to Miami. Indeed, not only is the Miami Half Marathon one of my favorite weekends of the year, but Miami was also host to the MISS UNIVERSE pageant. Kicking myself for not going.

Pete Mulligan ran the marathon there, and I assume he was pacing the 4:40 group as he finished at 4:38 something. Then there's Megan DiGregorio. Earlier in the week I thought Meg D was coming to our Club Challenge workout. When I asked her if she was coming on Saturday, she replied with "I'm actually in Miami running the half tomorrow" - ?!?!?! Our little jetsetter friend must have booked a last minute flight and decided she needed a little Vitamin D. She finished 4th in the half in a perfectly fine time of 1:23:53 (chip), but still complained about it.

A Miami veteran himself, Terence Baptiste ran the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park. The conditions were cold and there was plenty of snow on the ground, but T ran a 1:22:16 - a great January time for him! And it was good enough to earn him this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Saturday we saw the return of Denise Knickman to competitive racing, as she won the BRRC Frozen Fingers 5M in 34:10.

And out in Green Bay, a result I forgot to include in the email, Brennan Feldhausen was racing a marathon relay on Saturday. It was originally slated to take place on a 450m indoor track (it's around an ice skating track). Teammates could swap out whenever they felt like it. I think he said that they were going to do it on an outdoor track after the temperature hit 46 that day (warmer than here!)

2 comments:

Graham said...

Complaining about anything in Miami in January other than a $50 cover charge to the club seems wrong to me

RM said...

Amen to that Graham. Especially considering word on the street was that the conditions were pretty darn perfect. We've run it years when it's been in the 70s and very humid.