Bring Out the Big Balloons

Saturday was Graham's 25th birthday, and as Brennan pointed out, boy have things changed since most of the rest of us turned 25. None of us ever had the thought to run our age in miles. My 25th birthday was a dual-themed party, starting with a Pirates vs Ninjas Extreme Laser Tag Challenge and ending at the old 802 S. Eaton house with a Miami Vice (1984) theme party. Now, us old folks don't really celebrate birthdays, other than perhaps with a burger at Kooper's.

But for Graham, we were excited to get this one going. The plan was to start with a big group trail run at Patapsco. We left at 7:30 and got in a solid 15 miles on a beautiful morning before Graham, Conrad and Franco intrepidly headed back to Baltimore via Wilkens Ave. Immediately Graham and Conrad dropped "Flip" and after 4 miles, Matty Francs opted for a ride home in my whip. The other two were running so fast it took me to Carroll Park to finally catch them! 26+ miles later, the day was in the books.

We were also celebrating Chrissie's last day in Baltimore. She is getting her own separate post because she deserves it.

Meanwhile, there was some hot racing going on. Sunday was the Bel Air Town Run 5k, and I just checked and noticed everyone's times have been adjusted down - good news for you!

Dustin Meeker was the top dog as he soloed to the win in 15:27. He was almost a minute up on 2nd place, Rory Jenkins, who ran 16:21. Next through for us was Melissa Tanner, who had a decisive margin (17:37) over 4-time BATR champ, Megan DiGregorio (2nd, 17:55). Nick Klastava slotted in at 17:38. Jon Miller had a great race, coming oh-so-close to breaking 18 (18:05) and Dave Ploskonka also had one of his best 5k races, running 18:31. Carly Page rounded out the ladies' podium in 3rd at 18:50. Next up was Denise Knickman, 5th in 19:46, and then Julie Wolfe, who I missed initially, ran 20:23 for 10th. Jordan Dillen ran the fastest he's gone in quite some time (21:37) and Alley Firey had a great run, crossing the line at 23:22.

In the multisport world, Kendra Ingram rocked the Omaha Women's Triathlon, coming in 84th in 1:51:56. Tom Stack was 3rd at the Rock Hall Sprint, a very solid all-around race for him a week out from Eagleman. But the best part of his day was recording the fastest run of the day at 17:47 - the only athlete to break 18 minutes for the 5k run. I noticed Diane Heiser ran the Pacific Assocation USATF Championship meet (1500m) where she finished 8th in 4:48.05, which is about a 5:06 mile. Very speedy!

Finally, down in Raleigh at the Ironman 70.3 there, Brian Benda finished 52nd in 4:46:40. Naturally he had one of the fastest swims of the day (24:17) before riding strong (2:35) and holding on for a 1:42 half marathon. David Lee bounced back from his day at Columbia a few weeks ago to swim a terrific 31:30, ride a 2:40 and also ran a 1:42 to finish 152nd in 4:59:56. Just scooting under 5 hours, I'll take it!

The performance of the day, and our clear Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, went to Suzanne Hurst. Suzanne did her first triathlon last summer. Obviously she is a very fast runner, but the swim and bike are quite foreign. She managed a 40 minute swim, which was a fantastic start to her day, and she rode an eye-popping 2:57 bike split! Let me tell you, racing your bike for 56 miles is far from easy. To only be 30 minutes slower than the top female pros on the bike is pretty impressive. Once she was on the run, Suzanne went to work, scorching the earth to the tune of a 1:35:57 half marathon split. She went from 130th F to 59th over 13.1 miles. She negative split the run, ripping a 6:50/mile average over the last 5k. She finished 8th in her age group in her first ever half ironman in a time of 5:19:48. WHAT?! That's 90 minutes faster than I went in my first half ironman. Absolutely incredible, this performance will easily go in as one of our best of the year.

We Still in This

I think Buster Poindexter said it best: this weekend was HOT HOT HOT!

It's true, after a miserably cold winter and spring, anything over 70 degrees feels warm, but Saturday was legitimately hot, with the mercury already cracking 80 by the early morning. The good news was that Sunday morning seemed a little more tame, but once that sun came out, there was nothing you could do!

It was a very triathlon-heavy weekend, too. Rock Hall International Triathlon was on Saturday and Chris Scott kicked off his season with a 69th place 2:31:18. He commented that despite the course's flat profile, the heat and wind were really tough. Tom Stack found that out in Sunday's sprint distance race, where he finished 2nd in 1:10:08 behind an elite area competitor. Tom was unable to close the gap on the run, but we noted that he lost a lot of time in transition. Transitions: the 4th discipline! Christa Wagner also competed, and it was her first ever triathlon. Water temps over 80 degrees meant no wetsuits, but she didn't need it as she swam a great 750 meters. Her bike is strong, and she ran the 4th fastest bike split to finish in 11th at 1:28:15.

Down in Raleigh, NC, Brian Benda and David Lee were taking on the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Raleigh. Athletes were told the water was too warm for wetsuits, but by Sunday morning they remeasured the water and allowed them - of course most had just left them at home! It didn't bother Benda, who prefers no wetsuits. He had the 5th fastest swim of the day and was the top amateur out of the water. He then burned up the bike course, splitting 2:23:55, and ran a 1:46 half marathon to finish 40th at 4:40:16. David is pulling himself back into shape after some extensive global travel for work, and while he would definitely prefer a wetsuit swim, he had a solid day all-around and finished at 5:04:58.

At the ridiculously challenging REV3 Quassy race, Alyssa Godesky took 6 minutes out of her 2012 time to once again finish 7th. This is one of the REV3 organization's premier events, with a $100,000 prize purse for professionals. Alyssa swam 30:52, which is a distance swim PR, and then chopped 8.5 minutes off her bike split from a year ago. That put her in a great position, and she held on with a strong 1:42 half marathon to finish at 5:02:51.

Out in Omaha, Nebraska, Kendra Ingram was doing her first ever tri - the Omaha Women's Triathlon. Kendra has really impressed these past few months as she's put herself in situations that challenged her to conquer some apprehensions (namely open water swimming!). And in the spirit of a true triathlete, rather than be totally pumped with her performance, she's not resting on her laurels - she's already figuring out where she can improve, and has signed up for 3 more triathlons this summer, including 2 Olympic distance ones! Ben is a dangerous influence.

Back to running...

Dave Berardi raced the USATF Master's 8km Championships in Williamsburg, finishing 18th in 29:45. He always sends me his results after I send the email out. I can't keep tabs on every race!

The North Face Endurance Challenge features a bunch of different distance races over the weekend, including a 50 mile and 50k on Saturday, and a half marathon on Sunday. Keith Rice ran the 50k, finishing in 6:33:47. Then on Sunday, Mike Mashner went down and ran the half, finishing 6th in 1:53:09. Tom Stott did this race one year and confirmed: it is not easy!

On Friday night, participants registered in Sunday's inaugural Dot Dash 8k were notified that due to unforeseen circumstances, the course would now be on sidewalks. Yikes! The race started and finished at Riverside Park and went out to Fort McHenry. Carly Page decided to soldier on and race anyway, and won the race (3rd overall) in 34:53. Cory Donovan was just some steps behind, finishing 4th in 35:06.

Finally, the Bel Air Town Run was the weekend's big event. With money on the line you knew it was a fight for 2nd as Dave Berdan was once again going to devastate the field. He did, by the way, winning by 90 seconds in 14:38 - the 2nd fastest time he's ever run on the roads for 5k! Dave should probably slow down though when he's just running for money, as he definitely could have taken a nap with a 90 second gap. 3rd place went to Jesse Jaeger, and Tim Burns was first loser in 16:32. No wompum for you, kemosabe. Joel Gladfelter was disappointed with his race as he finished 10th in 17:36, but to think of where he's come in a few years, that kind of time would have been huge for him back then. Now it's a "bad day." He has set his own bar too high! Joel Brusewitz finished just behind him in 11th at 17:38. That's a trend lately, the two Joels finishing near each other. PJ Anderer was psyched with his 18:06, it validates his Shamrock race result. And Dave Ploskonka kept his very, very long streak at this race alive.

In the ladies race, it was Megan DiGregorio once again retaining her title in 18:12, but it was Sara Breedlove who stole the show, finishing 2nd in 18:25 - a huge new PR and moving herself pretty far up the Top 10 All-Time list! Interestingly, Carly had a big race there last year, and ran 18:26. Meg McNew is just getting back into it and was surprised she took 3rd, but definitely not complaining! And Denise Knickman was 4th, and top masters in 20:33.

Check out this article from the Baltimore Sun about the race, and here's your top 3 women:

And of course can't forget our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week - Christa! First triathlon and goes out and kills it. Add another to the tri club!

Set Fire to the Rain

I'm fairly certain that it rained more this weekend than it did during the "hurricane" last summer...

Friday monsoons cleared out of Baltimore at least in time for you all to have some great performances. David Ploskonka and Collin Anderson were back running together at Old Dominion 100 for the first time since the last Olympic year, and it went pretty well, as Dave clipped 2 hours off his 2011 time, and finished 2nd. Collin, who has been building his volume wisely (for once) over the past few months, was excited to get out there again - it was his first 100 in over 3 years I believe - and finished with perhaps a little too much energy, in 22:39.

Afterwards, Collin of course went to sleep like a normal human would, while Dave made the dangerous trip from Woodstock, VA, to Bel Air, MD, for the Bel Air Town Run 5k, in order to keep his 17 year streak alive. He finished in 21:47.

Meanwhile, others were actually racing the BATR, like "Stram" Thomas, who finished 3rd in 15:37. Jack Flowers was 9th in 16:38, and then it was another clean sweep for the ladies of Falls Road Running. Meg DiGregorio narrowly missed another sub 18 minute race (18:01) as she finished just ahead of Meg McNew (18:07), while Carly Page set another PR (18:26). PJ Anderer had an awesome race, earning the NOS Award for beating Remus by a few tenths (19:06). Denise Knickman was 9th in 20:15.

Out in chill/sweet San Diego, Becky Parks rubbed elbows with the likes of Ryan Hall and Ironman Champ, Chrissie Wellington, prior to the race - and it must have worked! She rolled to a 5 minute distance PR in 1:26:32, finishing 15th out of 11,000 women.

Elsewhere in the world of multisport, Chris Scott and Aaron Tripp raced the Rock Hall International Tri on Saturday. Chris blew out his Columbia time, going 2:25 mid for 63rd place. Aaron is "still learning" the ropes of the sport, and had another great race, finishing in 2:36. Tom Stack, newcomer to track, raced the sprint on Sunday and was 7th. Up in NH, Sam Wollner, who has already left Baltimore to seek greener pastures (Sam will be matriculating at Columbia Business School later this summer), did the swim leg of the relay at Mooseman 70.3. The only person who outswam him was pro Clayton Fettell, a terrific swimmer, who then went onto complete the rest of the event as well.

The big tri event of the weekend was the REV3 Quassy Half in Connecticut, and let me tell you, as Eric B and Rakim so eloquently put it, it "Ain't No Joke."(Note: that link takes you to their YouTube video). It was, without a doubt, the most challenging course I've ever seen. The swim was in clean Lake Quassapaug in the Amusement Park at Quassy, and then the 56 mile bike course was a cruelly undulating trip around the surprisingly hilly counties in the middle of Connecticut. From there, a brutal 13.1 miles of steep ups and downs, with the final mile an uphill grind to the finish. Mike Mashner was the day's top finisher, using very even splits but in particular a monster run to finish in 4:41. Alyssa Godesky ran her fastest split off the bike ever, a 1:39 half, and finished 7th overall in 5:08. She felt like she could have kept that pace on the run, which is great news in advance of Ironman Coeur d'Alene at the end of the month. David Lee is also doing CDA, and used the race as prep for that. He had a very good run also, and finished just over 5 hours. Courtney Busch, in her first ever attempt at the distance, surprised us all. She drank virtually no water on the bike, yet somehow made it to the finish line in one, smiling piece, in 6:11. Courtney, you probably could use some of this to quench your thirst, but you earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week!

While the sun held out for us during the race, it was right back to rain on the 6 hour drive home.

Coming up this weekend it's one of the best weekends in June, as we see results from the world of Open Water Swimming, Triathlon, and Running. Should be a good one!