Baltimore Marathon Supported Course Run 9/21

When: Saturday, September 21st, 7:00am

Where: Patterson Park, corner of Linwood and Eastern Ave

What: Supported marathon and half marathon course run, courtesy of Falls Road Running

With just a couple of weeks until the Baltimore Running Festival, this is a great opportunity to get some miles in and see the course for seasoned vets and rookies alike. Based on previous years, expect there to be 300-500 runners with many pace and distance options. The route will follow the marathon course, starting at approximately mile 17 and going up through Clifton Park to Lake Montebello, where there will be a fluid/food stop. The route continues west along 33rd Street, where there should be another stop around 29th and St. Paul. Those running the marathon course can continue into a Druid Hill Park out-and-back, while those running less can head straight down St. Paul.

There should be another aid station on Pratt and Light, and from here you can again continue out towards Under Armour or head back to Patterson Park. There are 10 mile options up to 20 miles.

The event is sponsored by Falls Road, who staffs the aid stations and provides the cups, water, sports drink, food, etc, but if you're so inclined, they will accept donations.

PARKING: As this is a question primarily for those not familiar with Patterson Park, street parking in the neighborhoods can be a challenge. The blocks around the park from Eastern Ave south to Canton Square are your best bet for parking. There aren't many restrictions (i.e. no permits required) but be warned that if you park in a business or church lot (e.g. Safeway, Rite Aid, banks) you have a likelihood of being towed. I would recommend planning on being in the area by about 6:30 to give yourself ample time to park and potentially walk/jog over to the start. Usually early on a Saturday morning Canton Square is pretty empty and that's less than a half mile to the meeting place.

Baltimore Running Festival Price Increase April 1

Baltimore Half and Full registration fees increase on April 1st, so save yourself $10 if you are planning to do either. 

http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/Registration/2004reg22d8.htm

Expo this year is in the Convention Center, so that's MAB.

The A Team

It's one of the best weekends of the fall: Baltimore Running Festival and Ironman World Championships, two  events near and dear to my heart, and this year was no different. I already sent out the email with results, so I'll just highlight a few performances from the weekend.

Baltimore Marathon

I was most impressed with Brennan Feldhausen's 2:57:02 run, negative splitting (1:31-1:26) and covering his last 10k under 39 minutes. As we all know, Brennan's season typically does not favor fall races, and this year, with the Orioles advancing to the playoffs, he hardly had time to run at all, let alone do the work necessary to run a great marathon. He had some help out there from the likes of Barf, Conrad, and CTR, so props to those guys as well. (Here's Brennan, his sister Erin, their friend, and a Chick-Fil-A cow)

Baltimore Half Marathon

Nate Brigham is a beast. In the spring he got himself into 2:31 shape, and after a mostly chill summer, he is back and giving Philly a go next month. Along the way he intended to use the half as a test of his fitness. He won the race handily, running 1:11:39 on the difficult course. Joel Brusewitz raced a distance over 10 miles for the first time in many, many years, and Tim Parker recorded a course best for Baltimore.

The ladies field was a little faster this year than it's been, so Jackie Truncellito's (now Jackie Range) 1:24:21 was "only" good enough for 5th. But it's also only 8 seconds off her PR, set in 2009 at the flat B&A Trail Half.

Baltimore Relay

It was good to see a bunch of people at least competing in something out there, and while we only fielded one official Falls Road team, the ladies team known also as Great Dames Be Pimpin, they were victorious. Great efforts from Carly Page, Melissa Tanner, Fiana Kumm, and Meg McNew.

Ironman World Championship

As Alyssa Godesky is still unwinding from the race, hopefully we'll see a race report from her soon. In the meantime, I can say that based on all accounts of the day, the conditions were the toughest they've been in at least a decade. The infamous Kona Winds were strong, and led to slow swim, bike, and run splits. The respective men's and women's winners, Pete Jacobs and Leanda Cave, were 15-20 minutes slower than 2011 times, which were in near-perfect conditions (for Kona).

Alyssa had a solid swim, and handled the winds well on the bike. She was assessed a drafting penalty (4 minutes on the side of the road) after a guy passed her on a hill, then sat up. It was pretty bogus. Following the loss of momentum it was back on the roads, and into a strong headwind for the final 22 miles. Her bike split of 5:48 wasn't far off her best IM bike split, and on the tough day - she was pleased.

Heading into the run it was hot...really hot, but she got her legs under her and finished up strong at 11:06:08.

Other Weekend Action

There were some other events going on this weekend. Tom Stott took 6th at the Hagerstown Duathlon - his first multisport event in a long time. Liz Laseter and Rodney Taylor competed in the Waterman's Sprint Triathlon on Sunday. Liz was 2nd F overall and Rodney had just done the Baltimore Marathon the day before. Collin Anderson won the Dracula Dash for Hope 5k on some muddy grass.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Nate Brigham!

Baltimore Running Festival 2012 Results

I'll get a write-up later but here are some quick results:

Baltimore Marathon

Britt Kern 2:50:04
Nick Gehlsen 2:56:39
Brennan Feldhausen 2:57:02 (negative split 1:31-1:26, hasn't run in a month!)
Dave Ploskonka 3:09:27
Dan Miranda 3:09:39 (pacing 3:10 group)
Lee DiPietro 3:12:42
Frank Regan 3:18:13
Erin Feldhausen 3:33:43
Sara Damiano 4:15:12 (pacing 4:15 group)
Pete Mulligan 4:15:12 (pacing)
Jan Cook 4:16:32 (12th Baltimore Marathon!)

Baltimore Half Marathon

Nate Brigham 1:11:39 (WINNER!)
Phil Turner 1:16:16
Patrick O'Rourke 1:17:32
Joel Brusewitz 1:21:01
Tim Parker 1:21:xx
Jackie Truncellito 1:24:21 (may have gotten married recently, new last name!)
Marc Malott 1:26:10
Emily Hurley 1:27:29
Megan DiGregorio 1:28:34
Bobby Van Allen 1:33:47
Chris Scott 1:41:06
Karen Menge 1:56:26

Baltimore 5k

Christa Wagner 20:29 (5th)

Baltimore Marathon Relay

Tim Burns, Steve Febish - Loyola Alums
Terry Decker, PJ Anderer, Aaron Tripp, Jon Miller
Carly Page, Melissa Tanner, Fiana Kumm, Meg McNew - aka Great Dames Be Pimpin WINNERS

All I Want For My Birthday

Perhaps it was the calm before the fall storm, but it was a pretty quiet weekend on the racing front. Or maybe it was just sheer exhaustion, as the Orioles played three games between Friday and Monday, which all finished midnight or later after a few lengthy delays. The atmosphere in Baltimore is great right now, and we'll keep supporting the Birds as they take on the Pinstripes in New York.

Chicago Marathon on Sunday was a thing of beauty, as Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede ran a perfect race, negative splitting a Course Record 2:04:38. Andrew Beef Jaffe didn't quite negative split, but still ran 5 minutes faster than he went earlier this year at Boston, crossing the line in 219th place overall in 2:43:45. Molly Eagen ran a big PR, finishing in 3:57:48.

Nationally there were some big events in the B.A.A. Half Marathon and Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Miler, but there wasn't much for us out here. As new editor-in-chief of the Washington Running Report/GRC runner Charlie Ban says, we need to get ourselves out to Great Allegany 15k next year. So let's put that on the schedule and get it done.

We haven't seen Seth Tibbitts' name in a while, but he finished 2nd at the Casey Cares 5k in 17:51. Only first place got any money though, and it was solid - $250. Megan DiGregorio was sneaky and made sure she didn't mention it to anybody, and got the win in 18:33. Fiana York was 3rd in 19:02.

Down in Columbia, the REV3 Half Full Triathlon, featuring an Olympic distance event as well as a half iron, went on despite some absolutely atrocious weather for triathlon. The pros were racing the Olympic, as were the college kids (it was the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Championship), but the ballers were racing the half. And by ballers, I mean yours truly and Lance Armstrong. I have to give a shout out to Mike Zero, who the morning after his birthday and the Virgin Free Fest concert came out to spectate, and really helped me out at the end of the race when I was in rough shape.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Jim Adams, as he raced not once, but TWICE this weekend. Sunday he did the Harvest Harrier 5k in Columbia, after running the Blue Steel Stampede 10k on Saturday. Both were challenging trail races.

We've got the Baltimore Running Festival this weekend, the expo starts Thursday. I hope everyone has everything ready! I'll be on the course on Saturday, so if you need anything, be sure to let me know. I can't promise I'll be able to carry too much, like I won't be able to take your clothes probably, but if you think you'll need any support, holler.

And of course we have triathlon's biggest event this Saturday - IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS from Kona! Baltimore + Kona, the best day of the fall.

Putting On For Our City

Full disclosure: Since no fewer than 50 of us competed in some way at the Baltimore Running Festival this weekend, not everyone's story will be highlighted in this recap.  You can see everyone's results on the side.

The 5k

Tristram Thomas won the 5k in 15:34, which was a 17 second improvement from his time last year, and a 17 second season best.  It also moved him from 9th to 5th in our Top Ten All Time list.  TT was disappointed the time wasn't faster, but put some of that on the lack of competition in the field.  In the women's race, Melissa Tanner was 2nd in 19:20, with New Becky Parks just behind in 3rd (19:29).  For NBP it was a season best.  She said she was going to try her best not to get drunk on Friday night, which could explain the performance.  But after the race, and Saturday night, and most of Sunday, she made up for all that she couldn't drink on Friday.  Erik Westlund had a cortisone shot prior to the race, which made his foot feel better, but also inhibited him from running too fast.  Christa Wagner ran 20:48, which was almost a minute improvement from her time last year, and I'm pretty sure a PR.  It also placed her 9th. 

The Half Marathon

A group of 8 blitzed from the gun, clipping the first mile in under 5:30.  Brennan Feldhausen made sure to dial back his effort, and it paid off for him as he began to reel everyone back in at Lake Montebello.  With sustained winds of 20mph, including a headwind for the final 5-6 miles, most recorded their slowest mile on the flat mile around the Lake.  Brennan finished 5th in 1:17:16, which while off his goal, didn't leave him feeling too concerned.  Tim Parker was coming off a fine finish at the Delaware Distance Classic 15k, and was looking to improve on last year's 1:22 low that he ran.  Unfortunately it wasn't his day, as he finished up at 1:26:31.  Another who had trouble finding his legs was Joel Gladfelter, who was hoping to go under his 1:23 time from a few weeks ago.  Joel finished up at 1:31:02, but as bad days happen, you just put it behind you and move on.  David Lee, better known for his monster skills on the bike, and Sam Wollner, the swimmer, both found their running legs as they finished in 1:31:14 and 1:32:51, respectively.  Jon Miller (1:38:42) and PJ Anderer (1:40:56) each ran fine races, and Colin Brooks had a good race, running 2:07:03.  I will keep telling this story for a while, but Colin thought that the mile markers indicated what mile you were STARTING.  In other words, he thought the race starts at Mile 1 (instead of 0) and that at mile 10 he still had 4 miles to go.  So he had a little too much left in the tank!

For the ladies, Jackie Truncellito ran a great race, improving by 1:40 on her 2010 time in her 3rd place effort (1:28:46).  Kelly Meier also ran a great race for herself, finishing in 1:39:15.

The Marathon

The laurels and praises for Dave Berdan's 2:21:19, 10th place effort, could not be higher or more plentiful, so we don't need to recap his performance.  I am confident that, at any race besides Baltimore, his effort would have resulted in a sub 2:19 time, and if he gives it a go again this fall, may the wind be at his back!

But there were others running this race, some for the first time, and some as their first marathon.  Conrad Laskowski shot out like a bullet, running most of the race by himself, and splitting 1:15:30 at the half.  He paid for it in the back half, as almost everyone does, but still finished up at 2:44:00, good enough for 27th.  Andrew Beef Jaffe always makes me scratch my head, as he muscles and bulls his way to great times.  He finished up at 2:49:01.  Pat McLoughlin, due to the forces of nature, decided to make Baltimore his first marathon.  Perhaps not ideal from a "fast race" perspective, it did allow him to train on the course and avoid traveling.  It also meant he was going to have support the entire way.  He didn't disappoint.  Running 1:23 at the half, he managed to hold himself together for a 1:27 back half and finish at 2:50:43 for 36th place.  A fantastic debut for Pat!

For the women, Denise Knickman finished 13th and was top master, claiming $1000 for her 3:09:45 effort.  Perhaps the surprise of the day was Meg McNew's 3:10:38, which, all things considered, is probably equivalent to her 3:06:43 from two weeks ago at Wineglass.  This is an incredible confirmation of her fitness, but now hopefully she'll take at least more than a couple of weeks off from serious running!

The Relay

We didn't have the numbers, or desire, to put together open men and open women teams, so it was just one co-ed team with Arjun (who hadn't really run in two weeks), Ed (who had just run his marathon 6 days earlier), Amy, and Meg D.  They won handily over Team Jaskot (2nd place co-ed) and finished 4th overall in the relay division at 2:42:12.  Apparently Meg D (4th leg) was enjoying the water stations. 

Andy Olson, and Nina Hartman, separately ran as individuals on the same team (inside joke) and established a team PR for themselves. Dave Berardi was on the 3rd place team, comprised of HCS masters. 

The Purple Drink Athlete of the Week

With many worthy performances on the docket, the PDAW showed its bias towards those competing in their first marathon, and with a 2:50 debut, it's one of the best debut marathons we've seen in our years here.  "Congrads" Pat!

But we weren't quite done with racing just yet!

Sunday was the Columbus Marathon and Half.  Although many were looking to run OTQ times, it appears as if, between both races, just a handful of women were able to do it - the half winner and a couple in the marathon.  The male marathon winner was 45ish seconds off and the half winner was even less than that.  Dustin Meeker wasn't interested in qualifying for the Trials, he just wanted to run a fast time.  He has been incredibly diligent in his preparations over the past few months, and he unleashed the fury on Sunday, covering the 13.1 mile course in 1:10:34 and finishing 13th out of nearly 10,000 runners.  For Dusty, it was a PR of 1:06, which is pretty insane.  It also helped him leapfrog Ben by 2 seconds to put him in 4th in our Top Ten All Time (in fairness, Ben has run 1:09 but it was before he met us so we don't count it. It also was before the internet, so there is no published record of it). 

Meanwhile, up in Detroit, Lauren Boof Dennisuk ran the Detroit Free Press Marathon, finishing 41st in 3:21:37.

Elsewhere in Michigan, Ryan Schmidt ran on a relay race at the Grand Rapids Marathon with his wife, his brother, sister, and sister-in-law.  They were out to have some fun, and for Sara, it was the first race I can remember her doing in a long time! 

This week we will honor Dusty with the NOS Award, for pushing his NOS button at just the right time.  He split 10k at 33:05 and zoomed past 4 people from 10k to the finish.

We will also honor the AutoZone In the Zone athlete, Dave Berdan, who seems to be firing on all cylinders following his great runs at PDR, Race for our Kids, and now Baltimore. 

Berdan - 2:21:19 at Baltimore Marathon

After leading the race until just before the halfway point, Dave Berdan finished 10th in 2:21:19, lowering his personal best by 2:21 (Steamtown 2007, 2:23:40).  Sustained winds of 15-20mph and 12 miles in the lead took their toll on Dave, who was looking to run under 2:19 and earn his spot on the line for January's US Olympic Marathon Trials.  While it was off his goal, Dave was still extremely pleased with the big PR, saying that he never "hit the wall" but muscularly was shot.  He also remarked that he "should have gone to Chicago," adding that, while speculative, he felt the effort would have been a 2:18 at Chicago or Philly.

I tend to agree, as the wind was brutal out there today.  It picked up steadily throughout the morning, and was straight into the runners' faces as they came back to the finish. 

Either way, it's a great result for Dave, for whom this is only his 4th marathon.  He also managed to outkick a runner for 10th - it was incredible.  He was so far back heading into Camden Yards and wound up putting 30 seconds into him by the end. 

Other great results, I'll get more up here later when they're all finalized.

FAME

I caught Ed on WBAL this morning at 5:45, being asked a few questions by Ava Marie.  Pretty cool!  I missed the later segment starring Coach Amy and possibly Jim, maybe we can find it online somewhere.

But Ed brought this article from the Huffington Post to my attention.  Liz Laseter, who graduated in May from Hopkins and ran with us on the track this summer, recently started her new career as a culinary student and author of two apparently successful food blogs (The Baltimore Food Rag and The D.C. Food Rag).  It's not every day that someone we know is featured in the Huffington Post, as Miley Cyrus would say, "it's pretty cool."

You can also read the brief article from Baltimore Magazine.

Polished Knob

Ultra runners are pretty funny people.  I mean, look at some of the names of the Checkpoints at the Grindstone 100 Mile Race that Dave Ploskonka ran this weekend.  They're just crass.  But it's our brand of humor. Dave's experience sounds hectic.  He had just flown in from Israel (and boy were his arms tired!), had to connect to BWI through Philly, then had to drive to the start of this race.  Sounds pretty miserable. 

Here are some interesting thoughts about elite runners being self-coached.  Also interesting is that Ryan Hall believes he has never run a bad marathon.  "There aren't many other Americans running 2:08," he said.  Cool, glad that he's content with mediocrity.  Also, Beijing 2008? 

Did you see a woman went into labor immediately following her 6.5 hour marathon at Chicago on Sunday?  She was 39 weeks pregnant, and her doctor said it was okay for her to run half.  So she jogged half and walked the other half.  Tom Cruise apparently heard, as he was seen sniffing around the finish line to get a hold of the placenta. 

I'm here all week, folks.

Anyway I was able to get most of the big results up from the weekend, and from the email we all know that Ed Aramayo was our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.  But I missed Tim Parker's 18th place/56:52 at the Delaware Distance Classic 15k, and the first ever triathlon for Thomas Stewart.  Tom went down to the Waterman's Sprint Tri (same venue as my half on Sunday) and finished 71st, with a monster bike split.  Dr. Rod also competed, swimming and running his way to an 83rd place finish.  Cynthia Evans ran a 1:20:34 at Army Ten.  At the PG Crime Victim's Fund Run "5k" in College Park, Greg Jubb won in 16:52 and Louis Foudos was 3rd in 18:02.  The pair found out that post-collegiate races aren't always the distance they say they are!

Now it's onto the BIGGEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR in Baltimore: the Baltimore Running Festival!  Here is the schedule of events:

Thursday: WBAL11, 5:30am.  Ed and Amy will be on TV Thursday morning from the Falls Road Running Store talking about how to prepare for the weekend.  Set your DVRs!  We will make fun of them if they fail. 

Thursday/Friday: Marathon Expo, 10am-9pm.  As I was informed on Monday, the Expo is at the Convention Center, NOT at Ravens Stadium, this year.

Saturday: Marathon, 8am.  I'm real excited to watch this one, as we have a number of people running and looking to do well.  Berdan, Pat, Conrad, Beef, Denise - it is going to be a great day out there!

Saturday: 5k, 8:30am.  Looks like we've got Tristram, NBP, and Christa competing in this one.

Saturday: Half Marathon, 9:45am.  Brennan, Barf, Tim Parker, Patrick O'Rourke, to name a few.  Colin Brooks will be tweeting live from on course about hockey, television shows, and other things, while he attempts to run.

If you're not racing, get your spectating game face on and get your ass up and out the door to cheer on our teammates!  Everyone will be in and done well before noon and the post-race party can begin.  I will be on course on my bike and will be tweeting updates all day, trying to get pics and also looking to get some quotes so think of something good to say!

Post Baltimore Festivities

Kris and his roommate, Donna, have graciously opened their home to a post-Baltimore Marathon celebration a week from Saturday (October 15) from 3pm on.  Here's how the conversation started:

9:52pm, on Tuesday

KS: Is anyone having people over after Baltimore?
RM: Nope, don't think so!
KS: Well that's a food thing cause the peeps can head ro 712 park ave baby!
KS: Hi rm. Its Donna.
KS: D is a lil tipsy('er body get tipsy). Party at ours post b-more.
RM: Hey Donna! A party sounds good
DG: Hi. This is the real donna. And btw the Kris is most likely wrong.
KS: I think I owe one to the running peeps for helping us move.
KS: Email me. And we will work our the details.   Mmmmwha RM
RM: Dude you don't owe anyone - that move was so long ago! But a fun party is always cool.
KS: That's he troof, kid.
KS: That's d who thinks we owe...I just think it could be fun.
DG: Oh honey. It's ok. It will be all ok.

Since all has been assured to be ok, a party it is.  Rules of parties:

1. Don't be lame.
2. Bring something to share
3. Seriously, don't be lame. If you have a bad race, don't bring it with you!

Baltimore Results

You can see the results for everyone on the right hand side, tomorrow's recap is going to be LONG!

Post-Baltimore Fun

I'm a little late in getting this out, and will not be accessible tomorrow or until approximately 10am on Saturday. I'll see you all at the finish line.

In the meantime, let's get to discussing some post-marathon activities. I have some thangs to do in the afternoon Saturday, so I'll open my house Saturday night as a starting place. From there maybe hit the Square, get some pretzel dogs, etc. BOOF will be in town, so we'll get to see her. DUSTY is also in for hanging out. So open the comments to some ideas.

Are You Doing Too Much?

The title of the post is a link to an article in The Sun that Justin sent me. Give it a glance. Here are the bullet points. You might suffer from exercise bulimia if:

You feel guilt if you have to miss a workout

You lose your menstrual cycle

You have anxiety and stress, including fatigue and depression

You have a compulsive nature.

Well, I guess we are all exercise bulimics. I have suffered from all of those things just in the past month alone. Including losing my period. First step is admitting I have a problem. Now I just have to get past it...

Anyway I never wrote up the weekend recap on the blog, with the exception of the results of VA Beach, so here we go!

Suzanne Hurst was our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week this week, thanks to her new 10k PR (41:24) and the win at Knights of Columbus 10k. She took home $150 for the W, which probably went right to fueling her Escalade and taking the kids to soccer practice (just kidding Suzanne!)

Meg McNew continued her romp of the Baltimore road running circuit, this time winning the NCR 20 Miler by a zillion minutes in 2:22:38. Pretty gnarly. And Patrick O'Rourke raced, running 2:04. That says he's in pretty good shape for the fall!

Cheese was 4th at Kentlands 5k in 15:55, which considering his high volume, aptitude for sickness and knack for running himself ragged, is quite good.

Lots of college alumni XC races too. Dusty went 4th in his alum 3k, Julia won her alum 3k, Boof ran 22:00 in her alum 5k and Ryan Schmidt ran the Sand Island Scrimmage 5k hosted by Chaminade and went 16:49.

We had a small showing at track this week, seems like it's been a quiet year. But the workout was good and the weather was nice, so I'll never complain about that. Tentatively I guess we'll just go through October, maybe into the first week of November, with "official" practices. I don't know of anyone that is racing past Army 10 anyway that comes to the workouts.

IMPORTANT: I hate not having enough people to fill out relay teams for Baltimore Marathon relay. If you are physically capable of running and are willing to do so for one of the events (male team, female team, co-ed team) please let me know. This is Baltimore's one and only team event, and the biggest event, for the year, so it's always nice to rep Falls Road on this day.

I'm the Boss, I Make the Jokes

Sorry it's a few days late now, I just didn't have the mental strenf the last few days.

Baltimore Marathon: There were big hopes for our boy Kyle as he approached his 3rd Baltimore Marathon, but unfortunately it did not seem like the best day to try and go under 2:30. With a warm start dilapidating into wind, rain and cooler temps, it became a test of survival. Many of the elite men dropped out somewhere in the third quarter (and coincidentally, harder sections) of the race. Kyle held his ground, finishing 20th overall and first Baltimore resident in 2:45. Lee DiPietro, 10th last year at 3:02:16, ran the exact same time this year and ended up 16th. Guess the elite women liked the weather, as the course record was utterly smashed. Denise Knickman finished one spot back at 3:05. Jackie Truncellito ran an amazing 3:09. And I should have made a bigger deal out of this one - Christine Trzcinski, chasing the elusive Boston Qualifier, ran a huge PR at 3:37:44. Awesome job Christine! Matt Castille was looking for a sub 3:10, and went out on pace but fell victim to rmcgrath style corporal punishment in the second half, finishing at 3:41. And our girl Alix Ruth finished her first marathon ever, going 5:09. Definitely a tough day, but at least she didn't quit when her body was telling her NOOOOO!!

Baltimore Half: Dave Berdan surprised me by running this one instead of the marathon, and finished 4th in 1:10:18. Dave Berardi finished 1 second faster than he ran last year, and then Steve Levin, who has been on a racing hiatus since about Club Challenge of last year, went just over 1:20. Chrissie was looking for a marathon pace half marathon, and while she chose the absolute hardest course to do it on, she went 1:21:37 and looked like she was jogging. Good signs for a few weeks from now. Tim Parker ran a course best at 1:23:46, and seems primed to hit an all-time PR at Richmond Half. My brother Kevin ran a 1:44, which was under his goal of 1:45 and he later found out he was given a d-tag without a magnetic strip! Beth Shepard ran a 5 minute PR and almost 16 minutes faster than her Baltimore Half last year, and wasn't done with that...

Baltimore Relay: I was definitely surprised to see Howard County there with a stacked team, and after Will texted me and said he was just a step or two behind them at the first hand-off, I was definitely concerned, knowing that their 3rd and 4th legs in particular are beastly runners. Jake did a great job on leg 2 to put some time into them (52 second lead at the next exchange) but then Brennan, who had been working through a pretty rough week of illness and work, had a tough day. Ben ran as best he could to finish strong, but the HoCo team took us to the house. For the ladies, it wasn't even close, as team Shorties on Your Left, composed of Melissa, Jen, Lauren and Nina built a 12 minute advantage over their next closest competitor. Their time of 3:02 was excellent. Of course they weren't recognized as the winners at the awards ceremony because of a timing glitch, but it's been fixed. Our co-ed team (well, technically running for UA but mostly comprised of us) of Dr. J, Mike Prada and Jeff Rumbaugh (and Michele, Dr. J's friend) easily won the co-ed division and was also 4th place team overall. Awesome. Other people raced on various teams and also did pretty sweet.

Ford Ironman World Championships: This is what every triathlete aspires to - the big dance on the big island. Scott Boylan was fortunate enough to have qualified via a great day at Louisville just six weeks ago, but by his own admission, 6 weeks is just not enough time to recover for another Ironman. Still, he was there, and he had a solid 4 hour run on what was a brutal day (I had a few friends run over 4 hours and they are not 55-59). Great job Scott!

Soulstice Sprint 6 miles: Claire, already onto her 2nd race at altitude in Flagstaff, and she's only been there like 3 weeks! This sounds like an awesome time, great post-race party and it seems like she's getting on pretty well there. Check out her new blog too, let's get her writing on it! http://clairebearstare.blogspot.com

Boo! For Life 10k: Eileen took 2nd here in a season best time, 38:10. The goody bags sounded...interesting. A lot of organic/green stuff.

Run for the Booty Half: It's not often that we see people doing two races on one weekend, especially not two half marathons. Beth Shepard did just that - driving nearly 5 hours, picking up a speeding ticket, getting very little rest and having just run a PR, she did the Run for the Booty Half in NC on Sunday morning. Her time of 2:18 would have equaled her previous PR! For her efforts, she has just earned her first ever Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award!

Vienna Night Run: BG raced to the same 15:32 that he raced to earlier this summer, taking 4th at this nighttime run.

So we've obviously also passed our Tuesday Night Track for the week, the workout was short and there were very few people there, but a hearty group of harriers nevertheless. 5x(400-300-200-100) was on tap and the times were blazing fast.

I also got a call today from a chick out in Arizona about putting on one of those Skirt Chaser 5k races in Baltimore. If you don't know about this, basically the girls get a 3 minute head start and the dudes try and chase them down. First to cross the line is the overall winner, regardless of gender. Here that would likely mean dudes would have to put down some pretty fast times - particularly if Chrissie ran! Then it's party time, so it's a lot of fun. Anyway that will be in May or June of next year.

Super America Rock and Roll!

This weekend's race results were among the hardest to find. Even at this point not all of them are "online" - but we've got most of them.

Flagstaff Half Marathon: Claire wasted no time hopping into the running scene out there in AZ. She jumped into this relatively small race on Saturday, starting at 8000' and ending at 8600', and taking place on trails. She ran 2:17:56 for 16th place among women.

Lake Needwood 10k: Doug Ripley's favorite time of year - cross country! 38:51 is a dece time for a road 10k, let alone xc, and taking 5th is pretty baller.

BWI Airport 4M: Kyle usually does this one and gets outkicked by that Moroccan in the last quarter mile. This year, Ben ran in his trainers and was well off the pace of 1st and 2nd, but still took 4th in 21:40. Eileen battled the dominant Sherry Stick and took 2nd to her, running 24:20.

NCR Trail Half Marathon: A few familiar names, including Sean Sharpe winning, I think he works for UA now so they'll probably have a tough team to beat at Baltimore relay, especially if Ian's in shape too. Jeff took 11th here in 1:24:49.

Duke Liver Center Half Iron: Pat McLoughlin, in his first half distance race, took 39th in a tough field. Great swim, great run, get some work on the bike in this off season and it's gonna be on like donkey kong. 5:05 is a great first time effort, and for his achievement he has also been awarded this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week. Congrats man!

This week's TNT workout is going to be short and fast. Mile pace. 4-6 sets of 600-300, with 2:30 rest in between everything.

This weekend, in addition to the Army Ten Miler, there is Susie's Cause 5k. This used to take place downtown but I think it's in Towson now or something. Used to be a good race.

And two last things: 1) If anyone is interested tomorrow night (Tuesday) at the store, from 6-9pm, Bart Yasso will be there. RSVP to karen@baltimorerunning.com. 2) If anyone can lend a hand at the Baltimore Running Festival Expo it would be appreciated and you will get paid for your efforts. They need help on Wednesday afternoon setting up, then it's Thursday from 9a-9p, and Friday from 9a-9p and breaking stuff down Friday night. So if you can help out, even if it's for a bit, also email karen@baltimorerunning.com and let her know.