Light 'Em Up

Alas, between Celtic Solstice, Awards Night, and Christmas, I neglected to post any sort of recap!

Here's what's been going on:

Celtic Solstice

As always, a very fun event and a great race up front. This is one of Dave Berdan's favorite races, and he's pretty used to winning when he toes the line. But it's tough to continue to win year after year, particularly as his focus has moved away from shorter races. Erik Anderson came out to play this year and took the win in a stellar time of 25:14, ahead of Dave's 25:36. There were obviously a lot of people racing so I won't recap everyone's result, but want to recognize a couple of people.

Justin Gerbereux showed up. Totally surprised by that, didn't know he was even running! He finished in 31:36, which I thought was pretty darn good. And how about Eileen Fleck?! Didn't know she was running, either, and she blazed to a 32:40 finish for 11th woman! That's incredible. Great race by Jon Miller, another fine result for Sara Damiano, and of course our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week that week went to Patty Stott, who ran a HUGE PR (40:57)!

Of course the race would not be possible without the amazing efforts of all the volunteers and staff at Falls Road, so many thanks!

Awards Night

With the postponement from the week prior, it gave me a whole 'nother week to think about what I was going to say, and well, you were there - it was pretty obvious I nailed it. It's a fun night of high energy, plenty of pizza, and delicious desserts. It was even cool that a few people actually dressed up!

When it was all said and done, our 2013 Most Outstanding Performers were Melissa Majumdar and Nate Brigham. Melissa won the Resolution Run 5k on 1/1, then Club Challenge, Shamrock 5k, and in the summer won her first multisport race. She set a number of PRs along the way and really seemed to enjoy running this year. Nate ran a pair of half marathons, going from a 1:10 in March to a 1:08 in October, a fast 5M, and ran two marathons. It was a great year for Nate.

Our Coach's Awards went to Carly Page and Andy Sovonick, and Most Improved went to PJ Anderer and Sara Breedlove. Our Comeback of the Year Awards went to Sara Damiano and Joel Gladfelter. Now that Ke$ha seems to be behaving, we renamed her award to the Amanda Bynes Award and gave that to Kaylyn Peck, and the Bert & Ernie Award went to Nick Klastava and Dan Miranda.

The Brita Grothe Best Ass Award went to Kris Simms, who couldn't be in attendance because he was polishing up his glutes, and the Performances of the Year went to Carly Page's 3:02 at Richmond and Conrad Laskowski's 24:49 Downs Park 5 Miler.

We also honored some of the pioneers of our running community with the induction of the inaugural class of Hall of Famers. These included: Alyssa Godesky, Arjun Majumdar, Ben Ingram, Brennan Feldhausen, Chrissie Ramsey, Denise Knickman, Joel Gladfelter, and Melissa Majumdar. These folks have all brought so much to our group and I was excited to recognize them for their efforts.

Christmas Lights Run

On Thursday the 19th we had our annual Christmas Lights Run. An enormous group met in the Harbor at 6:30pm to run north. We did a ceremonial "hot lap" around the Monument, and continued up Fallsway to Hampden to see the 34th Street lights. A short stop there and we were back on our way down St. Paul, running past the Mercy Hospital lights before ending in front of the Power Plant to see the 8pm lights show. It was a great run with a terrific turnout (over 30!) - pace was chill and the weather was awesome. I think this is the 3rd or 4th year of doing this.

Headlamp Run

Although overshadowed by Christmas week (many people were already out of town) and the Christmas Lights Run, a small group did make it out for the Fed Hill Runners Headlamp Run. Named in honor of Collin Anderson, this tradition recognizes the shortest Monday of the year by us running with bright/lighted clothes and hats and stuff. It was fun.

Coming up this week we'll get to check out ALL the #TWSSChristmas photos (and vote on our favorites!) and it's NEW YEAR'S WEEK which means everything that happened this year gets wiped clean and I get to start over with a brand new spreadsheet!

Awards Night 2k13

AWARDS NIGHT 2K13

The biggest names. The brightest stars. Catch all the glitz and glamour LIVE on Sunday night from the Falls Road Running Store in Mt. Washington.

What started in 2007 with a bunch of people crammed into my cousin's kitchen as a way to recognize the achievements of the team has blossomed into an annual evening of celebration and fun awards.

As I mentioned in the email, the Running Store closes at 4pm on Sunday, but due to the Ravens' 1pm game (and Packers) we'll look to assemble more in the 4:30 range. At least that's what time I will plan on being there with the pizzas. Red Carpet coverage can be found on the E! Network beginning at that time.

If you haven't already RSVPd (or signed up to bring something) here's the link to do that:

Awards Night RSVP

Typically the show lasts about 2 hours but if you need to roll early, that's okay. We'll fill out our 2014 goals cards as per usual and make fun of some of the silly things that happened in 2013. 

There's also still time to nominate your compatriots for awards: Awards Nominations

And stay tuned to see who wins the biggest award of the evening - the Brita Grothe Best Ass Award!

Awards Night 2012

We held our 6th Annual Awards Night (#TWSSAwards) on Sunday, for the first time after Celtic Solstice since the first year. As usual we had a big crowd out to the festivities and plenty of food - although it looked like the 8 pizzas I picked up went pretty quick. I reduced my order from 10 to 8 because I didn't want to bring any leftovers home, and we probably could have used another pie.

2012 was another banner year for the members of our team. Countless PRs, 60 wins, and immeasurable amounts of fun. As always, be sure to check out the link to the 2012 Spreadsheet on the right hand side for all the year's results, top ten lists, wins, PDAWs, attendance, etc!

Our 2012 MVPs probably came as little surprise to anyone - Conrad Laskowski and Megan DiGregorio. Conrad kicked off the year by literally running circles around me at the Charleston Marathon. He then went onto win Club Challenge, finish 2nd at the prestigious Leap Day 4k, finish 2nd in 15:09 at Shamrock 5k, and then run a 2:36 marathon at Virginia Beach. Somewhere in there he ran a 4:29 indoor mile. Following his 2nd marathon in 2 months he took a somewhat forced hiatus, but when he reemerged in the fall he crushed, getting stronger with each run and winning the Downs Park 5M (25:30) and running a 1:09:10 half marathon in Philly. He was also our first finisher at USATF Club XC in 33:11.

Meg D also excelled at two marathons this year, her first two, to be exact. After finishing 2nd at Club Challenge, she won the Shamrock 5k in a PR of 17:35, before going onto win her first ever marathon in 2:59 (NJ Marathon). Meg continued to race well through the summer, and in the fall was preparing to run the NYC Marathon. Some achilles problems limited her training, but when NYC was canceled she decided to give Richmond a go, and even split her way to a 3:01:50. She also won the Westminster Main Street Mile and was our wins leader for the year.

Our Coach's Awards went to Carly Page and Dustin Meeker. Carly stepped up in a major way as one of the primary organizers of the ladies contingent, but also ran some excellent races. An 18:26 5k, a 39:33 10k, and a 4:57 mile were among her accolades. She managed all this while completing her PhD, which is pretty incredible. Dustin is a leader by example. He sets the tone to work hard and commit to a plan, and under his wing he had many followers this year who went onto accomplish great things. He was also the driving force behind our USATF Club XC team, and one of the captains at Club Challenge this year.

Performances of the Year, as always, were tough to decide. There were some truly incredible performances, and any one of them would have been deserving. The Top Male Performance went to Ed Aramayo's 3:56.99 1500m at the Loyola/Hopkins Meet way back in April. Ed had an amazing stretch of track racing this year, getting under 2 minutes in the 800 (1:58) and 4 minutes in the 1500, but really pulled out the stops at the 33rd St Track when he broke 3:57. Among the other performances considered were Conrad's 15:09 5k, Brennan's 32:59 10k, Dusty's 51:53 10 mile, and Steve's 1:12:51 half.

For the Women, the award went to Christa Wagner's 39:42 Pike's Peek 10k. Christa was a contender for the MVP award, as she set personal bests in every distance she ran. But it was her 10k that stood out among all of them. I ran with her in that race and she executed her race plan to perfection. The other performances that were nominated were: Carly's 4:57 Westminster Mile, Meg McNew's 18:01 5k, Sara B's 1:08:17 Club Challenge, and Meg D's 2:59:44 Marathon win.

I'll add a tab to the spreadsheet with all the awards, but here were a few of the highlights:

Brita Grothe Best Ass Award: Chrissie Ramsey. Chrissie started the petition to reclaim her title last year, and was disappointed when she didn't win. She made sure to work really hard for 2012 to fend off the challengers.

David Letterman Top Ten Award: Brennan Feldhausen. Brennan appears in the Top 10 of all but two road events. The 5 Mile category (which he didn't run and honestly is redundant since I have 8k) and 10 miles. Truly remarkable considering how little he ran this year, largely due to the Orioles' success.

Newcomers of the Year: Tim Burns and Sara Breedlove.

Did I have a Comeback of the Year Award? I can't remember. Shoot, I like that one.

Houston: We Have A Problem

By now we've all read Chrissie's recap of her Olympic Trials race, which was a great read, and created some of the highest volume of traffic to the blog in our history.  Meg McNew was on hand and was able to grab a couple of photos, here's a good one:

Chrissie lettin' 'em know: I want that award this year!

Of course, Chrissie's race wasn't the only one going on, as 5 of us traveled down to haunted Charleston, SC, for the 2nd Annual Charleston Marathon and Shrimp & Grits 5k.  The marathon went off at 8am, starting downtown and heading north into Terribletown.  Conrad Laskowski and I started together, but it was quite evident that he was on good legs.  And even though he could have easily walked away with the win there, he kept turning around and looping back to check in on me.  So thoughtful, that C-Bag.  He probably ran 30 miles on the day, but his official time was 3:00:01 for 10th place.  I fell apart less bad than I usually do to run a 3:03:43 and finish 15th.

In the Shrimp and Grits 5k, which started up at the marathon finish line at 8:30, it was a clinic on How-To-Win, led by Ed Aramayo and Alyssa Godesky, featuring special guest, Andy Sovonick.  Ed cruised to the win in 15:12, and Alyssa won in 19:05.  Andy ran with Alyssa for 2 miles before dropping the hammer to run a 5 minute last mile (17:27, 7th).  We assumed, correctly, that the course was short, and we confirmed it to be 3 miles.  Even tacking on the extra 0.1, it was a great early season time for Ed, and a new PR, easily, by Alyssa. 

Post-Crushing Butts, pre-Shrimp and Grits

As previously discussed, we will be holding the first of two Club Challenge course runs THIS Sunday, January 22nd, at Howard County Community College.  Here is the pertinent information:

Sunday, January 22
HCCC, off of Little Patuxent River Parkway
RUNNING BY 9AM

What I mean by this is, on the starting line, ready to run, by 9am.  If you need additional miles or warm up, arrive earlier.  There is no guarantee that the Phys Ed building will be open, meaning no guarantee we will have bathrooms available, although last year I remember there being some port-o-pots around. 

There are many people attending, and likely many different ideas for workouts.  In merely offering a suggestion, last year for our first workout we did 3-4x2mi on the course, using the first 2 miles as a warmup, and then starting the workout at mile 2.  Doing the suggested workout will either take you to mile 8 or the finish.  A 2 mile cooldown puts you at 14.  Dustin and Nate are going to be running longer, in the 17-18 range.  Some may be running shorter.  Whatever your flavor is, have at it.  I will be going down as a course marshal, driving along the workout to make sure nobody gets lost.  This also means I can carry water bottles and nutrition for those who would like to bring it along. 

If you have any questions, just ask.  For directions and course information, and also to REGISTER if you have not, I refer you to www.striders.net/races/rrca/2012

Awards Night Recap

While Awards Night was the highlight of the weekend (and, the year, in my opinion), we did have some race performances that I should have highlighted:

Dave Ploskonka got his revenge on the Hellgate 100k, a race he withdrew from in 2009.  The conditions were favorable, but this is a tough race.  The race starts at 12:01am, which means the first 7 hours are run in complete darkness.  The roads were tough enough to drive through the night, I couldn't imagine having run the trails.  Dave moved up steadily through the field during the race, ultimately finishing 11th overall and 9th male in 13:11:16.  Alyssa Godesky, meanwhile, was racing on the heels of an extremely successful, and long, triathlon season.  Unsure of both her ultra fitness, and her trail running skills, she was not sure what to expect.  After a pre-race dinner of Wendy's, her stomach was unsettled throughout the first half, and while she didn't look bad, she was uncomfortable.  At the mile 42 point, Carly Page joined her for the remainder of the run, and the two laid waste to the competitors in close proximity.  From the last aid station (7 miles to go) they passed 4 or 5 runners, including the woman who was in 4th, and put serious time into them.  Alyssa's second straight fast finish earned her the "Coffee is for Closers" Award on Sunday night.  It also landed her in 4th in 14:32:40.

In other trail racing news, Lisa Ievers tackled her a) first ever trail race and b) first run over a marathon in the Tashka 50k, somewhere in Georgia or Alabama or something.  She took a few spills, and absorbed a pretty banged up ankle, but walked away with the W in 5:08:30, well ahead of the next female finisher.  Not a bad first attempt!

Out in Washington State, US Club XC Nationals were going on, with men racing 10k and women racing 6k.  Cool to see some names of old mixing it up again, along with some newer faces of the sport (including local, Matt Centrowitz, 4th in the men's race).  GRC sent a team and had some solid performances.  Former Baltimore resident, and dentist, Kyle Smits, ran 35:46 for 299th.  Yikes.  That would be a top 10 time in a lot of races around here!  Julia Webb, expectant mother, ran 21:53 in her race. 

The Annapolis Striders put on their Anniversary Run 15k, which PJ Anderer (this year's Ke$ha Award winner) finished 42nd in.  And down in DC, Alex Waldt and Baltimore turncoat, Liz Laseter, placed 15th and 6th in their genders, respectively, in 28:25 and 31:01. 

That led to this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week: Dave Ploskonka, and the NOS Button award went to Alyssa.  Carly took home a very well-deserved KC Masterpiece Award.

Then it was onto the 5th Annual Awards Night.  Major thanks to Jim, Karen and Pete for obviously all they already do, but particularly for them bringing alligator bits and turducken.  It was a great feast!  The attendance was great, and I was pretty proud of myself for being marginally better organized for this year.  Here's a rundown of a few of our marquee awards:

MVP (M): Dustin Meeker
MVP (F): Denise Knickman

Most Improved (M): Pete Mulligan
Most Improved (F): Alyssa Godesky

Comeback of the Year (M): Kris Simms
Comeback of the Year (F): Chrissie Ramsey

Breakthrough Performer (M): Pat McLoughlin
Breakthrough Performer (F): Diane Heiser

Performance of the Year (M): Joel Gladfelter's 2:51:21 Miami Marathon (17 minute PR)
Performance of the Year (F): Chrissie Ramsey's 1:14:57 Philly Half (1:33 PR, qualifies for Olympic Trials)

And of course, we can't forget about the Brita Grothe Best Ass Award, which went to New Becky Parks, who also won some other awards, like the Ed Aramayo First Loser Award, and a few other awards involving whining.

It's About To Go Down

5th Annual AWARDS NIGHT is happening THIS coming Sunday, December 11th, from 5pm, at the Falls Road Running Store.  It is one of my favorite nights of the year, a time when we get to praise our success and joke at our misfortunes (mostly mine).  Who will bring home some of our favorite awards, such as the Terence Baptiste Lateness Award and the Most Outstanding Performer?  Most importantly, which of our favorites will earn the most coveted award: The Brita Grothe Best Ass Award?  Find out LIVE Sunday night!  The Red Carpet event will be televised on E! starting at 4pm.  We'll also be tweeting live with the hashtag #TWSSAwards so if you're watching Fuse TV you can see your tweets come up on the screen.

Here's what to expect, whether you're an Awards Night virgin, or a gristled veteran:

The store is open until 5pm, so you're welcome to arrive a little early, do some shopping, pick up your Celtic Solstice stuff.  We'll probably kick things off with a brief meeting of sorts to discuss 2012, singlets, races, that kind of business.  This should also allow for those going to/watching the Ravens game to get there.  Then we'll get going with awards. 

I expect about 40 people to come - so RSVP if you haven't already please!

I'll bring pizzas and sodas, but if you have dietary considerations, you may want to plan to bring something.  I'm talking about you, gluten-free people.  Eileen will probably prepare some incredibly elaborate-yet-seemingly-simple salad.  People often ask, "what can I bring?"  I would suggest perhaps a dessert type food, or something that goes well with pizza.  However, if someone wants to volunteer to bring plates/napkins, and possibly a thing of plastic forks, that would be very cool.  I just feel like I'll forget that, and I don't want to have to leave the BBQ to drive around Catonsville looking for them, only to get a traffic light violation ticket in the mail a month later...

Awards are usually wrapped up around 7pm, maybe just after.  Also if you feel like bringing adult beverages, go ahead!  Just be sure to drink responsibly. 

And as usual, we will be doing Notecards again!  This is where I urge you to update your contact info: email, address, and birthday if I don't already have it.  And, of course, 2012 GOALS.  These goals can be running related, personal related, whatever - the point is they are YOUR goals.  Share with me only what you feel comfortable sharing.  I like to know what everyone has planned for next year so we can help you achieve! 

See you Sunday!