To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before; Uncharted territory.
On Sunday, in Phoenix, that's precisely where Alyssa Godesky went as she ran a 3:04:31 marathon and finished 5th in the process. As I sifted through our historical records, I found that's the 13th fastest time run by any of our women. Over the past couple of seasons we've come to expect big performances from Alyssa, but this one truly is next level when you consider that her best time coming into this race was 3:26, run off the bike this past fall.
The last time she ran an open marathon? Marine Corps 2008, where I think she finished ahead of The Bachelor, Andy Baldwin (who is in Baltimore quite a bit these days) and ran a 3:31.
So a 3:04 is kind of a big deal. And she pretty much even split the race. Really great stuff!
Also in Phoenix, our old friend Julia Webb ran a terrific half - 1:18:07 for 5th herself!
Down in Clearwater, PJ Anderer tackled an early season 50k. That's a tough distance any time of year, but especially when it's January in a place that's much warmer than here, for a person who doesn't like running in the warm. PJ did well to finish 12th in 4:27:34.
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Alyssa.
CLUB CHALLENGE WORKOUT is THIS SATURDAY!
We will be starting the workout on the start line at 8:30am. Warm up and do whatever you need to prior to that. The suggested workout is:
1 mile easy
3 miles up
1 mile easy
2 miles up
1 mile easy
1 mile up
10 total. Good workout, then we'll go eat somewhere.
Also, don't forget to sign up for Club Challenge on Striders' website. Fill it out, make sure you select Falls Road as your club and mark that you are "elite." Yes, I realize you don't think you're elite. Not my rules. Just do it.
Showing posts with label Club Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Club Challenge. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
You Better Work
You wanna hot body?
You wanna Bugatti?
You wanna Maserati?
You better work, bitch.
The team performance at Club Challenge was, in my opinion, the best I've ever seen. People ran huge personal bests and dug deep to pull out a 6th consecutive team win. But most important, as this race tends to do, it brought everyone together and provided a much-needed morale boost in what has been an absolutely draining winter.
My first Club Challenge was 2006. I went back into my running log, and well, here were my post-race thoughts:
"Very hilly, extremely challenging with the wind and my attitude was completely negative. Falls Rd was 2nd to HoCo, and I don't think I want to do this again."
Despite running an abysmal 1:04:10 with incredibly positive splits, I also remarked that I felt the course was at least 600m short. That may be a first - someone saying the course seemed short.
The race was canceled in 2007, and when we went back in 2008, we fought valiantly but came up short yet again. Finally, 2009 was our year, and we were able to come away with the Team Championship. Since then, we've been fairly dominant at this annual race, with 2012 being a highlight as we swept the entire competition. But, there have been some close calls, like 2013, when we lost the Men's and Women's Team title but came away with the Overall title by the slimmest of margins.
The face of the team has changed a lot over the years. In 2006, Spider Sillery and Chris Nowakowski went 1/2, and some of our top performers included Ryan Schmidt, Jake Marren, and Rodney Timpson. Part of the "challenge" of this event is rallying the troops for a race that ultimately isn't an "A" race. We get it - it's not a great time of year, the course is hard, there are more important races to prepare for. But this year we were missing our TOP 6 male scorers from 2013 and our top 2 women - who also happened to go 1/2 in the race.
Howard County, as we know, does not like losing on their home turf. And new this year was the inclusion of our friends from Georgetown Running Company. Besides the winter being annoying, it's been a few months since most people have raced so it's hard to gauge the fitness of the team. I knew people were working hard, and was confident they'd give their best - but would it be good enough?
The answer was a resounding yes. Conrad Laskowski took charge of the race, only relinquishing the lead at mile 8 to Luke Meyer (GRC). Conrad finished 2nd in a new PR of 52:40 (:15 faster than his winning 2012 time) and Graham Peck missed his 10 mile PR by just one second (53:27) as he finished 3rd. Ed Aramayo led the next pack as he finished a little under 57 minutes, and Steve Febish was right behind. Awesome work for Febish, who has been on the injured list most of the winter. Dan Miranda came up huge with his best race there in years, and he came in just ahead of first-timer Erik T. Orberg. One of the guys who came up really big today was Tim Burns. Tim ran like garbage here last year (1:02:38) and since he had to move to Chantilly for work, we haven't seen him much. But he came up huge. So did Max Hacker, who was unable to race last year due to injury. He even split the race, which is unreal. And Matt Franco closed out our scoring 9 as he finished under 58 minutes.
The next 3 acted as displacers: Nick Klastava (6 minutes faster than last year), Joel Gladfelter (59:25 = 1 minute PR), Brennan Feldhausen.
There were new scoring rules and new categories this year. GRC won the Men's Under 40 competition, but in the Men's Overall we managed to win by a 1 point margin. 1 point. That basically means any of the guys up front who finished ahead of a GRC runner, you reverse the positions and we get beat. Or if Brennan hadn't picked it up after going out at an easy 5 mile clip. Every runner counts, no matter where you are in the field. Always remember that!
The girls competition was going to be interesting. GRC didn't have enough to score as a team, so it would once again likely be a race between us and a reinvigorated Howard County. Through the first couple of scorers, we were going scalp for scalp. Megan DiGregorio started things off great, holding off HCS' 1st runner to finished 2nd (1:03:05). Emily Hurley ran a great race after just getting back from Africa. Sara Breedlove came up huge with a 1:04:50 (PR), 3 minutes faster than her best here. Carly Page put on her big girl pants to run a 50 second PR and really started to set the team apart. And how about Suzanne Andrews? Runs a 1:12 or something last year, comes out this year and runs 1:07:47. Huge! Denise Knickman pulled out some time from her 2013 result and came in under 1:08.
Close that out with displacers Christa Wagner and first-timer Julie Wolfe, and voila - Women's Under 40 and Women's Overall Team Champions!
Of course with the new scoring in place it's virtually assured that if you win both the Men's and Women's, you won't be beat in the Co-Ed/Overall Competition.
The performances of our scorers and displacers doesn't diminish anyone else's day, and there were some really great runs - especially from a bunch of Club Challenge first-timers. After a really cold week we were fortunate to have some relatively warm weather. Temps around 40 made it much more bearable. The support we had on course was tremendous, so big shout to:
Tom & Patty Stott, Andy Sovonick, Melissa & Tarala Majumdar, Cory Donovan, and Amy Flashenberg.
It's been fun to compete at this event every year, and to have been fortunate to be so successful, but of course any given year brings a new set of obstacles. I'm beyond proud of all your work to achieve this win, you should be too. Congrats team!
And while it was a difficult task to award a Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, I am keeping tradition of dual M/F PDAWs this week and was really impressed by Joel and Sara B. Joel absolutely attacked this race, despite him thinking he'd run 1:01, and as always dug deeper than seems possible to come up huge for himself, and the team. And Sara B, I mean to be the 3rd scorer and have a 3 minute course best, that's so clutch.
You wanna Bugatti?
You wanna Maserati?
You better work, bitch.
The team performance at Club Challenge was, in my opinion, the best I've ever seen. People ran huge personal bests and dug deep to pull out a 6th consecutive team win. But most important, as this race tends to do, it brought everyone together and provided a much-needed morale boost in what has been an absolutely draining winter.
My first Club Challenge was 2006. I went back into my running log, and well, here were my post-race thoughts:
"Very hilly, extremely challenging with the wind and my attitude was completely negative. Falls Rd was 2nd to HoCo, and I don't think I want to do this again."
Despite running an abysmal 1:04:10 with incredibly positive splits, I also remarked that I felt the course was at least 600m short. That may be a first - someone saying the course seemed short.
The race was canceled in 2007, and when we went back in 2008, we fought valiantly but came up short yet again. Finally, 2009 was our year, and we were able to come away with the Team Championship. Since then, we've been fairly dominant at this annual race, with 2012 being a highlight as we swept the entire competition. But, there have been some close calls, like 2013, when we lost the Men's and Women's Team title but came away with the Overall title by the slimmest of margins.
The face of the team has changed a lot over the years. In 2006, Spider Sillery and Chris Nowakowski went 1/2, and some of our top performers included Ryan Schmidt, Jake Marren, and Rodney Timpson. Part of the "challenge" of this event is rallying the troops for a race that ultimately isn't an "A" race. We get it - it's not a great time of year, the course is hard, there are more important races to prepare for. But this year we were missing our TOP 6 male scorers from 2013 and our top 2 women - who also happened to go 1/2 in the race.
Howard County, as we know, does not like losing on their home turf. And new this year was the inclusion of our friends from Georgetown Running Company. Besides the winter being annoying, it's been a few months since most people have raced so it's hard to gauge the fitness of the team. I knew people were working hard, and was confident they'd give their best - but would it be good enough?
The answer was a resounding yes. Conrad Laskowski took charge of the race, only relinquishing the lead at mile 8 to Luke Meyer (GRC). Conrad finished 2nd in a new PR of 52:40 (:15 faster than his winning 2012 time) and Graham Peck missed his 10 mile PR by just one second (53:27) as he finished 3rd. Ed Aramayo led the next pack as he finished a little under 57 minutes, and Steve Febish was right behind. Awesome work for Febish, who has been on the injured list most of the winter. Dan Miranda came up huge with his best race there in years, and he came in just ahead of first-timer Erik T. Orberg. One of the guys who came up really big today was Tim Burns. Tim ran like garbage here last year (1:02:38) and since he had to move to Chantilly for work, we haven't seen him much. But he came up huge. So did Max Hacker, who was unable to race last year due to injury. He even split the race, which is unreal. And Matt Franco closed out our scoring 9 as he finished under 58 minutes.
The next 3 acted as displacers: Nick Klastava (6 minutes faster than last year), Joel Gladfelter (59:25 = 1 minute PR), Brennan Feldhausen.
There were new scoring rules and new categories this year. GRC won the Men's Under 40 competition, but in the Men's Overall we managed to win by a 1 point margin. 1 point. That basically means any of the guys up front who finished ahead of a GRC runner, you reverse the positions and we get beat. Or if Brennan hadn't picked it up after going out at an easy 5 mile clip. Every runner counts, no matter where you are in the field. Always remember that!
The girls competition was going to be interesting. GRC didn't have enough to score as a team, so it would once again likely be a race between us and a reinvigorated Howard County. Through the first couple of scorers, we were going scalp for scalp. Megan DiGregorio started things off great, holding off HCS' 1st runner to finished 2nd (1:03:05). Emily Hurley ran a great race after just getting back from Africa. Sara Breedlove came up huge with a 1:04:50 (PR), 3 minutes faster than her best here. Carly Page put on her big girl pants to run a 50 second PR and really started to set the team apart. And how about Suzanne Andrews? Runs a 1:12 or something last year, comes out this year and runs 1:07:47. Huge! Denise Knickman pulled out some time from her 2013 result and came in under 1:08.
Close that out with displacers Christa Wagner and first-timer Julie Wolfe, and voila - Women's Under 40 and Women's Overall Team Champions!
Of course with the new scoring in place it's virtually assured that if you win both the Men's and Women's, you won't be beat in the Co-Ed/Overall Competition.
The performances of our scorers and displacers doesn't diminish anyone else's day, and there were some really great runs - especially from a bunch of Club Challenge first-timers. After a really cold week we were fortunate to have some relatively warm weather. Temps around 40 made it much more bearable. The support we had on course was tremendous, so big shout to:
Tom & Patty Stott, Andy Sovonick, Melissa & Tarala Majumdar, Cory Donovan, and Amy Flashenberg.
It's been fun to compete at this event every year, and to have been fortunate to be so successful, but of course any given year brings a new set of obstacles. I'm beyond proud of all your work to achieve this win, you should be too. Congrats team!
And while it was a difficult task to award a Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, I am keeping tradition of dual M/F PDAWs this week and was really impressed by Joel and Sara B. Joel absolutely attacked this race, despite him thinking he'd run 1:01, and as always dug deeper than seems possible to come up huge for himself, and the team. And Sara B, I mean to be the 3rd scorer and have a 3 minute course best, that's so clutch.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Club Challenge Workout 2/1
When: Saturday, February 1, 8:00am
Where: Howard County Community College
What: Club Challenge workout
That's right, tomorrow is the Club Challenge workout. As stated in the email, we will be starting at 8:00am AT the start line. The parking lot is at the Physical Education Building, an address for you GPS/Googlers/MapQuesters:
10600 Hickory Ridge Rd
Columbia, MD
The start line is a little over a quarter mile up the road (Hickory Ridge) from the parking lot.
For rookies and veterans alike, the Club Challenge course can often leave you befuddled and turned around - particularly in the neighborhood in the middle of the race. We obviously don't run here often, and everything looks the same. I'm going to try to drive the course in the morning and mark it in some capacity, and also make note of the mile markers. If I can't (or even if I can), it's still a good idea to take a look at the map and possibly print one out. We always do our best to look out for one another, but sometimes it gets tough. The trickiest parts are between miles 4 and 6, and then again just after mile 7 when you enter a small path for about a hundred meters.
More information, including the map, can be found here: http://striders.net/races/rrca/2014
If you're looking to carpool, I'd suggest asking some of the people you know if they're going to the workout. If you don't really know anybody, use the comments below.
Where: Howard County Community College
What: Club Challenge workout
That's right, tomorrow is the Club Challenge workout. As stated in the email, we will be starting at 8:00am AT the start line. The parking lot is at the Physical Education Building, an address for you GPS/Googlers/MapQuesters:
10600 Hickory Ridge Rd
Columbia, MD
The start line is a little over a quarter mile up the road (Hickory Ridge) from the parking lot.
For rookies and veterans alike, the Club Challenge course can often leave you befuddled and turned around - particularly in the neighborhood in the middle of the race. We obviously don't run here often, and everything looks the same. I'm going to try to drive the course in the morning and mark it in some capacity, and also make note of the mile markers. If I can't (or even if I can), it's still a good idea to take a look at the map and possibly print one out. We always do our best to look out for one another, but sometimes it gets tough. The trickiest parts are between miles 4 and 6, and then again just after mile 7 when you enter a small path for about a hundred meters.
More information, including the map, can be found here: http://striders.net/races/rrca/2014
If you're looking to carpool, I'd suggest asking some of the people you know if they're going to the workout. If you don't really know anybody, use the comments below.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Something to Believe In
Sunday's Club Challenge race will go down as one of the most memorable for me, as we took a lean but feisty group down to Columbia and for the 4th straight year claimed the Overall Team Championship. But, as we all know, it was close. Real close. We scored 557 points to the very motivated Howard County Striders' 559. It was pretty incredible.
Jim Adams did a little research and found that in the past 10 editions the cumulative overall point totals stand at 6935 to 6950, advantage Falls Road. Amazing! Now that's some competition!
Here's a brief write-up from Washington Running Report about the race.
Here's a brief write-up from Washington Running Report about the race.
There were some really amazing performances and while each of you got a shout in the email I'm going to limit it a little here. Once again I'll start with the ladies. Last year we had 11 ladies under 70 minutes, this year we had just 8 women in the race. I knew 6 had a chance to break 70, and 6 did. They were led by race winner Melissa Majumdar, whose return to competitive racing has been nothing short of astonishing. This victory is her biggest since she's been in Baltimore, and it was 8 seconds faster than she ran in 2010. She ran a smart race, starting out a little slow and building throughout. Pumped up by Chrissie Ramsey, the selfless teammate, the duo lit up the field and put nearly 2 minutes between them and 3rd place.
Suzanne Hurst ran a PR and finished 8th, and Carly Page came up big as our #4, running faster than she did last year. Jackie Range wasn't far behind Carly, finishing under 1:08, and big D Denise Knickman was our 6th, coming in just under 70 minutes. Suzanne Andrews ran a terrific first CC race, finishing in 1:11:46.
For the men we were once again led by Dave Berdan, whose 3rd place finish came as I'm sure a bit of a surprise. Very competitive up front this year, with a new course record set (51:00). Nate Brigham was running CC for the 2nd year now, and once again was one of the playmakers. Last year he earned a PDAW for his big finish, and this year was just taking it as a tempo run. Fortunately for us, his superior fitness means that even a tempo run yields a 6th place finish. Dustin Meeker was just one spot and 150 meters behind.
Our 9-12 guys were really critical on Sunday, as Matt Franco and Patrick O'Rourke tied at 59:43, and then Arjun Majumdar and Joel Gladfelter came through just over an hour. I was really happy for Joel, who not only ran a huge PR but achieved one of his long-standing goals, which has been to be one of our top 12 at this race.
PJ Anderer was one of our two Purple Drink Athletes of the Week (Suzanne Hurst was the other) because he ran 7 minutes faster than he did in 2012, and a 10 mile PR at 1:05:10. Now we just need to get him to stop doubting himself during the race!
Gone, but certainly not forgotten, were our ladies (and gent) down in New Orleans. Megan DiGregorio led the girls in 10th place, running a PR of 1:21:53. Amy Horst and Meg McNew finished at 1:23:07 and 1:23:10, both PRs, and for Amy, truly a testament to her diligent work this winter to prepare for this race. Sara Breedlove also ran a PR, 1:27:28. So they pretty much all kicked ass. And in the marathon, Cory Donovan went out a little fast, slowed down, ran 3:39, but had a good time.
Moment of the Year may go to Meg D, who got to run a brief cooldown with Kara Goucher after the race. "How do I get faster?" she asked.
So great job to all, and for those of you who helped our team keep the trophy (and for those who came out to support - the Stotts, the Conrads, Steve, Emily, Kip and Brian), THANK YOU! I'm so proud of all of you!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Catch My Breath
By the narrowest of margins - 2 points - Falls Road captured the 2013 Club Challenge Overall Team title on Sunday. Check out the new trophy. The parade is Tuesday.
A full post will follow but congratulations to Female Overall Champion, Melissa Majumdar!
Help me out Ryan, I'm not good at math. How could the Striders win the men's AND women's individual team titles but NOT the overall title?
Interesting question. As I've explained numerous, numerous times, individual team scoring is based on your top 12 men and top 6 women, but in overall scoring it's based on your fastest 15 people, with a minimum of 4 women. Individual team scoring for the women uses their gender-actualized place. So Melissa wins, she gets 1 point. Chrissie is 2nd, she gets 2 points. Striders may have had the next two or three places, so that means 3, 4 and 5 points.
But in the overall scoring, each woman counts as her overall place. So say Melissa was 50th overall, that means she is 50 points now instead of 1. Since our top two women were very far ahead of the next women, that really helped us out since they had 4 in before our 4.
I didn't create the scoring, I just abide by it.
After the race in the presidents' meeting the issue of scoring was brought up. In particular, since there are more women in the field now, perhaps more women should count. I raised my hand just to remind them that our ladies raised that very point 3 or 4 years ago. The good news is that they are open for suggestions on perhaps a new scoring system. So if YOU have any ideas, send them my way and I will forward them on.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Keep Their Heads Ringin'
The wind was angry on Sunday, chilling and biting. Somewhere, a boy needed saving, and a firefighter was there to answer this boy's call for help.
Down in Alexandria, Virginia, the crew took on the GW Birthday Classic 10k. Nate Brigham and Dustin Meeker set the tempo, as the others latched on and shielded themselves from the wind. 16:40 at the turnaround, Nate then dropped a tailwind-fueled 15:20 back half to finish 3rd in 32:00. Dustin wasn't far back at 32:31 (5th). Dan Miranda was among the closest to his actual PR, finishing 9th in 34:38.
At the GW Birthday Marathon, which is a loop race on some rolling, boring agricultural property in Beltsville, Dave Ploskonka was 9th in 3:19:55. Not the kind of day I'd want to run a marathon, that's for sure.
Chrissie Ramsey took the top honors at the Frostbite 5M in Ambler, PA, running a very solid 29:25 and picking up some keesh for her effort. And Meg McNew also took a win, at the low key RASAC 15k.
Chrissie's win was good enough to propel her to the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week!
Of course we have Club Challenge this weekend, and even though our team has hemorrhaged runners, we'll put our best foot (feet) forward and let the chips fall where they may!
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| If you want to know the story, you'll have to ask Steve |
Down in Alexandria, Virginia, the crew took on the GW Birthday Classic 10k. Nate Brigham and Dustin Meeker set the tempo, as the others latched on and shielded themselves from the wind. 16:40 at the turnaround, Nate then dropped a tailwind-fueled 15:20 back half to finish 3rd in 32:00. Dustin wasn't far back at 32:31 (5th). Dan Miranda was among the closest to his actual PR, finishing 9th in 34:38.
At the GW Birthday Marathon, which is a loop race on some rolling, boring agricultural property in Beltsville, Dave Ploskonka was 9th in 3:19:55. Not the kind of day I'd want to run a marathon, that's for sure.
Chrissie Ramsey took the top honors at the Frostbite 5M in Ambler, PA, running a very solid 29:25 and picking up some keesh for her effort. And Meg McNew also took a win, at the low key RASAC 15k.
Chrissie's win was good enough to propel her to the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week!
Of course we have Club Challenge this weekend, and even though our team has hemorrhaged runners, we'll put our best foot (feet) forward and let the chips fall where they may!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Saturday 2/9 Run in Columbia
Following Monday's email, a few of you expressed interest in running the Club Challenge course prior to race day, so Carly and Melissa M invite you to join them in their workout. Here are the details:
Carly and Meg M will begin at 9:30am from the parking lot at Howard County Community College (Phys Ed building) and run for 30 minutes before swinging back to pick up Melissa.
From there they will head back out on the course and use the first 2 miles as warm-up, and then start a 4 x 2 mile tempo. Note: this is only a workout suggestion, and if you show up you are under no obligation to run it. A recommendation would be to regroup at the end of each 2 miles anyway.
The Club Challenge course can be confusing, even for old-timers, so it's best to familiarize yourself (perhaps even print) the map and turn-by-turn directions from the Striders' website.
The 4x2mi will take you back to the start, and those who need to add on from there can do so. If you wish to run more beforehand, you can also start earlier. Use the comments section below to announce if you'll be attending, and what your plan is.
Carly and Meg M will begin at 9:30am from the parking lot at Howard County Community College (Phys Ed building) and run for 30 minutes before swinging back to pick up Melissa.
From there they will head back out on the course and use the first 2 miles as warm-up, and then start a 4 x 2 mile tempo. Note: this is only a workout suggestion, and if you show up you are under no obligation to run it. A recommendation would be to regroup at the end of each 2 miles anyway.
The Club Challenge course can be confusing, even for old-timers, so it's best to familiarize yourself (perhaps even print) the map and turn-by-turn directions from the Striders' website.
The 4x2mi will take you back to the start, and those who need to add on from there can do so. If you wish to run more beforehand, you can also start earlier. Use the comments section below to announce if you'll be attending, and what your plan is.
Monday, February 27, 2012
TEAM
Sunday's Club Challenge 10 Miler was the most successful showing from our team in its history, as we kept hold of our RRCA-MD 10 Mile Team Challenge title in a strong, to quite strong, display of team running.
I will never apologize for the pride I feel when our team is successful, both individually, and of course, as a team. The recipe for success is no secret: set a goal, make a plan, prepare, execute. You were out there on two of the coldest, windiest days of this winter running yourselves into the ground on the course. You have been coming, in droves, to the track each week to hammer yourselves. You talk about this race to others like you expect them to understand, or at least know, what the race means. You demand greatness of yourselves, and expect it of your teammates.
And for those reasons, and a million more, our team won yesterday. Many of you ran PRs. You helped make this race the most competitive in its existence. Even those who had "bad" races didn't make excuses, didn't stop working hard.
For me to go through and write a post mentioning every person's performance would take up the entire length of the page, so I'll let you read my thoughts in the email, and of course you can see results any time. Instead, I'm going to highlight just some of the plethora of great performances from the day.
We have a grand tradition of laying claim to the overall race winner, but interestingly, none has ever won twice. Keeping the streak going (4th straight year) was Conrad Laskowski. Conrad put everyone on notice that he's here to play, running 52:55 (3rd fastest in our history). The only other time he ran here was 2 years ago, when he went 56:20. He runs fearlessly, and with his heart. He is not a follower; he doesn't know how.
Not to be outdone, it was a remarkable race for Nate Brigham, who finished 2nd in 53:04 (4th fastest all-time for us). Nate has pedigree, and desire: two traits that will lead to greatness. No stranger to setbacks, Nate has rediscovered his passion for the sport, and has been a motivating factor in the recent success of the team. We love having him around, and if this race is any indication, he's put himself in a position to have a great year.
Dustin Meeker is an historian, and as such, prefers order to chaos. He prepares diligently for all of his goal races, and has established himself as a leader of this team. He overcame a disappointing 5k last weekend to take 25 seconds out of his 2011 Club Challenge time (and, 10 mile PR) as he finished 4th in 53:37. Dustin later reveled in the folly of anarchy at Kisling's. And thanks to his lovely wife, Ellen, for once again sending down some delicious muffins.
Vince Collins and Jesse Jaeger were running CC for the first time, but these two long-time buddies and training partners were almost inseparable on the course. The trio of Tristram Thomas, Alex Battaglino, and Ed Aramayo came through next, a little off what they did last year, but their focus hasn't been on the 10 mile distance, and with a strong kick by Ed, he ensured 8 of our team in the top 9 of the race. Just our great rival, Carlos Renjifo, was able to break up the mix. He, too, ran a PR, shaving 7 seconds off his time from last year in another 3rd place effort.
Seth Tibbitts led a strong contingent in the 57th minute, as he ran a bit faster than last year. Chris Snyder led 3 others across in just 4 seconds, as Dan Miranda, Brian Godsey, and Brennan Feldhausen rounded out our top 12 (scorers) in under 57:30. That was good enough to solidify the men's team victory. 4 guys came through next, all running their first Club Challenge: friend of the program Andy Sovonick, Andrew Beef Jaffe, Tim Burns, and Steve Febish. Kris Simms finally broke that hour barrier, running 59:37.
On the women's side, there was going to be no challenge to superstar Chrissie Ramsey. She cruised to a 1:01:36 victory. But running super aggressively behind was Megan DiGregorio, who raced to a 1:02:53 2nd place. This is a PR of 2:22, and some 5 or more minutes faster than she ran here last year. Meg D looks super fit, and has been running great lately. Emily Hurley completed the podium sweep as she ran 1:04:07. All of our scoring 6 were under 1:06:40 and inside the top 10, as Denise Knickman, Becky Parks, and Meg McNew made up that group. For Becky, it was an all-time PR, and for Double M, I'm pretty sure the fastest she's run at CC. Carly Page took it to the streets in her first CC, and we had a surprise rockstar performance by Sara Breedlove. Christa Wagner took a full 7 minutes out of her 2011 time, which is incredible, and Eileen Fleck wasn't even running a few weeks ago and came out to rock. Alyssa Godesky, 19th a year ago, was 20th this year with a time 3 minutes faster than last year.
When results were announced, we had earned the men's, women's, and overall team titles. This is a testament to your hard work, and for another year we will get to claim the "Ugliest Trophy in the World."
There were a number of other impressive PRs and first-time performances: Louis Foudos (PR), Tom Stott (PR), Dave Ploskonka (PR), Terry Decker (1st time, great race!), Jon Miller (1st time), PJ Anderer (1st time); Lillian Pinault (1st time), Alyssa Doyle (1st race that long), Kelly Meier (BIG PR!), Jen Mitton (1st time), Sara Damiano (1st time), Fraley Coles (1st time), Emily Boss (1st time), Karen Menge (PR), and Steph Sudbrook ran her first race ever, and her first time over 8 miles.
We did on-the-spot Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award(s) at Kisling's after the race, and it went to the two runners-up, Nate Brigham and Meg D. Joel Gladfelter earned the KC Masterpiece Award. His race not going as he'd hoped, he realized he could help set a tempo and clear a path for Meg D. Great teamwork! And the NOS Award goes to Conrad, who sneakily didn't mention he ran a 4:29.26 Mile last weekend indoors at the Monmouth Invite.
And a special shout to the great support we had on course. Of course Jim was out there, and Melissa was great, navigating the course on Chrissie's bike, and being in a number of spots to cheer. It was awesome to see Justin out there with a half mile to go, and nice of him to run it in with me. Patty Stott and baby Haleigh were out there, braving the cold. Amy Flashenberg was there, and maybe next year we'll get her to run! And another local stud, Michelle Miller, was out snapping some photos. She said since there were just so many of us, and we stood out so splendidly in our new singlets, it was easy to get a lot of shots of us. She conveniently put them into Flickr, so here they are for you to see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77415518@N08/sets/72157629459890307/
How did we fare in our Project 2012 goal? 18 guys, 11 girls. I think this is awesome! A couple of outlier performances by some guys (myself included) and the late departure of a few girls made it a very challenging goal, and now it leaves us with something to strive for next year. It will help us stay sharp and not become complacent!
In the intrasquad scrimmage between Team Edward and Team Jacob, it was incredibly close - almost unbelievably. I tallied the scores and Team Jacob, captained by Dusty and Alyssa, had won by a scant 3 points!
It was a great effort by everyone, and the post race atmosphere at Kisling's was great. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your day there!
I will never apologize for the pride I feel when our team is successful, both individually, and of course, as a team. The recipe for success is no secret: set a goal, make a plan, prepare, execute. You were out there on two of the coldest, windiest days of this winter running yourselves into the ground on the course. You have been coming, in droves, to the track each week to hammer yourselves. You talk about this race to others like you expect them to understand, or at least know, what the race means. You demand greatness of yourselves, and expect it of your teammates.
And for those reasons, and a million more, our team won yesterday. Many of you ran PRs. You helped make this race the most competitive in its existence. Even those who had "bad" races didn't make excuses, didn't stop working hard.
For me to go through and write a post mentioning every person's performance would take up the entire length of the page, so I'll let you read my thoughts in the email, and of course you can see results any time. Instead, I'm going to highlight just some of the plethora of great performances from the day.
We have a grand tradition of laying claim to the overall race winner, but interestingly, none has ever won twice. Keeping the streak going (4th straight year) was Conrad Laskowski. Conrad put everyone on notice that he's here to play, running 52:55 (3rd fastest in our history). The only other time he ran here was 2 years ago, when he went 56:20. He runs fearlessly, and with his heart. He is not a follower; he doesn't know how.
 |
| Conrad the Barbarian |
Dustin Meeker is an historian, and as such, prefers order to chaos. He prepares diligently for all of his goal races, and has established himself as a leader of this team. He overcame a disappointing 5k last weekend to take 25 seconds out of his 2011 Club Challenge time (and, 10 mile PR) as he finished 4th in 53:37. Dustin later reveled in the folly of anarchy at Kisling's. And thanks to his lovely wife, Ellen, for once again sending down some delicious muffins.
Vince Collins and Jesse Jaeger were running CC for the first time, but these two long-time buddies and training partners were almost inseparable on the course. The trio of Tristram Thomas, Alex Battaglino, and Ed Aramayo came through next, a little off what they did last year, but their focus hasn't been on the 10 mile distance, and with a strong kick by Ed, he ensured 8 of our team in the top 9 of the race. Just our great rival, Carlos Renjifo, was able to break up the mix. He, too, ran a PR, shaving 7 seconds off his time from last year in another 3rd place effort.
Seth Tibbitts led a strong contingent in the 57th minute, as he ran a bit faster than last year. Chris Snyder led 3 others across in just 4 seconds, as Dan Miranda, Brian Godsey, and Brennan Feldhausen rounded out our top 12 (scorers) in under 57:30. That was good enough to solidify the men's team victory. 4 guys came through next, all running their first Club Challenge: friend of the program Andy Sovonick, Andrew Beef Jaffe, Tim Burns, and Steve Febish. Kris Simms finally broke that hour barrier, running 59:37.
On the women's side, there was going to be no challenge to superstar Chrissie Ramsey. She cruised to a 1:01:36 victory. But running super aggressively behind was Megan DiGregorio, who raced to a 1:02:53 2nd place. This is a PR of 2:22, and some 5 or more minutes faster than she ran here last year. Meg D looks super fit, and has been running great lately. Emily Hurley completed the podium sweep as she ran 1:04:07. All of our scoring 6 were under 1:06:40 and inside the top 10, as Denise Knickman, Becky Parks, and Meg McNew made up that group. For Becky, it was an all-time PR, and for Double M, I'm pretty sure the fastest she's run at CC. Carly Page took it to the streets in her first CC, and we had a surprise rockstar performance by Sara Breedlove. Christa Wagner took a full 7 minutes out of her 2011 time, which is incredible, and Eileen Fleck wasn't even running a few weeks ago and came out to rock. Alyssa Godesky, 19th a year ago, was 20th this year with a time 3 minutes faster than last year.
When results were announced, we had earned the men's, women's, and overall team titles. This is a testament to your hard work, and for another year we will get to claim the "Ugliest Trophy in the World."
There were a number of other impressive PRs and first-time performances: Louis Foudos (PR), Tom Stott (PR), Dave Ploskonka (PR), Terry Decker (1st time, great race!), Jon Miller (1st time), PJ Anderer (1st time); Lillian Pinault (1st time), Alyssa Doyle (1st race that long), Kelly Meier (BIG PR!), Jen Mitton (1st time), Sara Damiano (1st time), Fraley Coles (1st time), Emily Boss (1st time), Karen Menge (PR), and Steph Sudbrook ran her first race ever, and her first time over 8 miles.
We did on-the-spot Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award(s) at Kisling's after the race, and it went to the two runners-up, Nate Brigham and Meg D. Joel Gladfelter earned the KC Masterpiece Award. His race not going as he'd hoped, he realized he could help set a tempo and clear a path for Meg D. Great teamwork! And the NOS Award goes to Conrad, who sneakily didn't mention he ran a 4:29.26 Mile last weekend indoors at the Monmouth Invite.
And a special shout to the great support we had on course. Of course Jim was out there, and Melissa was great, navigating the course on Chrissie's bike, and being in a number of spots to cheer. It was awesome to see Justin out there with a half mile to go, and nice of him to run it in with me. Patty Stott and baby Haleigh were out there, braving the cold. Amy Flashenberg was there, and maybe next year we'll get her to run! And another local stud, Michelle Miller, was out snapping some photos. She said since there were just so many of us, and we stood out so splendidly in our new singlets, it was easy to get a lot of shots of us. She conveniently put them into Flickr, so here they are for you to see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77415518@N08/sets/72157629459890307/
How did we fare in our Project 2012 goal? 18 guys, 11 girls. I think this is awesome! A couple of outlier performances by some guys (myself included) and the late departure of a few girls made it a very challenging goal, and now it leaves us with something to strive for next year. It will help us stay sharp and not become complacent!
In the intrasquad scrimmage between Team Edward and Team Jacob, it was incredibly close - almost unbelievably. I tallied the scores and Team Jacob, captained by Dusty and Alyssa, had won by a scant 3 points!
It was a great effort by everyone, and the post race atmosphere at Kisling's was great. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your day there!
 |
| This is what winning looks like. Photo via Amy Flashenberg. |
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Can't Get Enough
In what was likely the last weekend of indoor racing for our guys, Greg Jubb and Louis Foudos were like Maverick and Goose, because they felt the need. THE NEED FOR SPEED. Greg won the 800m at the Princeton Invite after leading from the gun. His time (1:53.23) was a 3.3 second improvement from just a few weeks ago at Maryland, and was a full 4 seconds clear of 2nd place. Meanwhile, Louis' 2:02.76 was a 4 second indoor PR, and within a second of his all-time best. Appropriately, Greg earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and Louis earned the NOS Award.
Out in Ohio, Dustin Meeker was hoping to improve upon last year's 15:45 at the Kent State Tune Up Meet. But, he found out the hard way that a lot of running at 5:20 pace is good for marathon training, but not great when one needs to run 5 minute pace for 3.1 grueling miles around an oval inside. Still, Dusty crossed the line with a 16:11.26, and on heavy legs, I'm sure he'll "dust" himself off and get back for this weekend.
Speaking of this weekend, according to C-Rad, there's some kind of big race. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called Club Challenge, and it's only the most important race in the world. Psyche. That honor belongs to the RM Classic. Psyche again! That would actually be the Arjun Majumdar Birthday Mile. I sent an email to those of you who are registered for the event with some information pertaining to logistics, so please read it all the way through. In an effort to not share our secrets with the world, the blog will be void of Club Challenge related material until after the race. I also noticed that I made a few errors when I split everyone up for our squad scrimmage, so I have made the appropriate adjustments and will let everyone know their revised teams.
Today is Fat Tuesday, so in honor of the day, we will be rolling dice at the track tonight to determine our workout. Unfortunately, I'm quite under the weather and will not be running, but I should be able to make it up there.
Out in Ohio, Dustin Meeker was hoping to improve upon last year's 15:45 at the Kent State Tune Up Meet. But, he found out the hard way that a lot of running at 5:20 pace is good for marathon training, but not great when one needs to run 5 minute pace for 3.1 grueling miles around an oval inside. Still, Dusty crossed the line with a 16:11.26, and on heavy legs, I'm sure he'll "dust" himself off and get back for this weekend.
Speaking of this weekend, according to C-Rad, there's some kind of big race. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called Club Challenge, and it's only the most important race in the world. Psyche. That honor belongs to the RM Classic. Psyche again! That would actually be the Arjun Majumdar Birthday Mile. I sent an email to those of you who are registered for the event with some information pertaining to logistics, so please read it all the way through. In an effort to not share our secrets with the world, the blog will be void of Club Challenge related material until after the race. I also noticed that I made a few errors when I split everyone up for our squad scrimmage, so I have made the appropriate adjustments and will let everyone know their revised teams.
Today is Fat Tuesday, so in honor of the day, we will be rolling dice at the track tonight to determine our workout. Unfortunately, I'm quite under the weather and will not be running, but I should be able to make it up there.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Spend It
We recapped most of the track results, and by now everyone should know that Ed Aramayo was our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, but there were a few road race results from the weekend that I wanted to point out:
At the BRRC Valentine's Day 10k, in peaceful, snow-kissed Loch Raven, Meg DiGregorio won the women's race and was 3rd overall in the great time of 39:49. Terry Decker finished just behind her in 40:53, and then it was Denise Knickman, 43 years young, finishing at 43:43. Christine Trzcinski rounded out the top 3 women in 45:52.
Sunday was the Love the Run You're With 5k, where Tom and Patty Stott raced to great finishes. Tom was 12th in 18:09, while Patty crossed in 24:15.
Today's website for you to peruse is Bring Back The Mile. These guys were on The Runaround last night and have been gaining traction recently with their campaign to make the Mile a relevant race again, replacing the so-called "metric mile" equivalent that has invaded our sport like cane toads. Take a look at it when you get a chance, and support the Mile!
ALSO: Sorting through the Club Challenge roster and there are some people I do not know. It's the last three guys' names, and the person who named themselves "Hard Wood." This may be considered funny for other races, but in a race where we are paying your entry, it is not that cool. It reflects poorly on our group, and provides more fodder for the other clubs, many of which already have negative opinions of us. So, if you are one of those guys, please email me at runbaltimore@gmail.com. Thank you!
At the BRRC Valentine's Day 10k, in peaceful, snow-kissed Loch Raven, Meg DiGregorio won the women's race and was 3rd overall in the great time of 39:49. Terry Decker finished just behind her in 40:53, and then it was Denise Knickman, 43 years young, finishing at 43:43. Christine Trzcinski rounded out the top 3 women in 45:52.
Sunday was the Love the Run You're With 5k, where Tom and Patty Stott raced to great finishes. Tom was 12th in 18:09, while Patty crossed in 24:15.
Today's website for you to peruse is Bring Back The Mile. These guys were on The Runaround last night and have been gaining traction recently with their campaign to make the Mile a relevant race again, replacing the so-called "metric mile" equivalent that has invaded our sport like cane toads. Take a look at it when you get a chance, and support the Mile!
ALSO: Sorting through the Club Challenge roster and there are some people I do not know. It's the last three guys' names, and the person who named themselves "Hard Wood." This may be considered funny for other races, but in a race where we are paying your entry, it is not that cool. It reflects poorly on our group, and provides more fodder for the other clubs, many of which already have negative opinions of us. So, if you are one of those guys, please email me at runbaltimore@gmail.com. Thank you!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Club Challenge Course Workout #2
When: Sunday, February 12th
Where: Howard County Community College, Phys Ed Bldg (parking lot)
NOTE: I have received a number of requests to start this workout earlier than the last one. With that in mind, let's aim for 8:30am on the start line. Keep this in mind if you plan on running a few miles prior to the workout, bathroom, etc.
Workout: in an effort to avoid having everyone really spread out through the neighborhood, we're going to focus on time-based intervals rather than distance. The interval length will be shorter, and the rest will be 1:1, so we may do up to 3 minutes on/3 minutes off. This also means running an effort slightly harder than race pace. In the "off" minutes, the faster folks can circle back to the slower folks, and we can start each interval together. Based on who I believe is coming to the run, nobody should be more than :30 apart over the course of 3 minutes.
I also want everyone to focus on the last 3 miles of the course. So I think the workout suggestion is going to be:
a) Miles 1-4: relaxed (we will stop to regroup at the top of the hill before mile 4)
b) Miles 4-6.5: fartlek session, 1-2-3-3-2-1 (minutes) with equal rest. We'll regroup and run easy to mile 7
c) Miles 7-10: progression. Starting a few seconds per mile slower than your goal race pace, and finishing slightly faster. So if you're targeting 6 minute pace, maybe start with 6:10, work down to 6:00, and ultimately, 5:50, by the end.
Dustin and his pacemates may do something slightly different, but as they'd be running off the front anyway, that's fine.
If you can, please comment below, or send me a text/email to let me know if you plan on attending, or need directions. If you are unsure of the course, you can download the map on the Striders' site. I will be running this one, so there will be no vehicle support this time! I am planning on getting there around 8 to do a couple of miles beforehand.
Where: Howard County Community College, Phys Ed Bldg (parking lot)
NOTE: I have received a number of requests to start this workout earlier than the last one. With that in mind, let's aim for 8:30am on the start line. Keep this in mind if you plan on running a few miles prior to the workout, bathroom, etc.
Workout: in an effort to avoid having everyone really spread out through the neighborhood, we're going to focus on time-based intervals rather than distance. The interval length will be shorter, and the rest will be 1:1, so we may do up to 3 minutes on/3 minutes off. This also means running an effort slightly harder than race pace. In the "off" minutes, the faster folks can circle back to the slower folks, and we can start each interval together. Based on who I believe is coming to the run, nobody should be more than :30 apart over the course of 3 minutes.
I also want everyone to focus on the last 3 miles of the course. So I think the workout suggestion is going to be:
a) Miles 1-4: relaxed (we will stop to regroup at the top of the hill before mile 4)
b) Miles 4-6.5: fartlek session, 1-2-3-3-2-1 (minutes) with equal rest. We'll regroup and run easy to mile 7
c) Miles 7-10: progression. Starting a few seconds per mile slower than your goal race pace, and finishing slightly faster. So if you're targeting 6 minute pace, maybe start with 6:10, work down to 6:00, and ultimately, 5:50, by the end.
Dustin and his pacemates may do something slightly different, but as they'd be running off the front anyway, that's fine.
If you can, please comment below, or send me a text/email to let me know if you plan on attending, or need directions. If you are unsure of the course, you can download the map on the Striders' site. I will be running this one, so there will be no vehicle support this time! I am planning on getting there around 8 to do a couple of miles beforehand.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Can't Nobody Do It Better
All this indoor track reminds me of 2008! Sadly, it was a return to the PG Sportsplex for Ed Aramayo, Chris Snyder, and Arjun Majumdar, on Saturday, to waste their day watching little kids run 400m races for 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours of quarter miles. Ed set the tempo in the mile, before stepping aside to allow the other two to go through. Chris took the W in 4:36, Arjun was 2nd in a season best 4:40, and Ed rounded out the top 3 in 4:42. Later, in the 800, Arjun took the job of pacesetter for Ed, bringing him through the 400 in under 60 seconds. Ed ran even splits of 29.x, 30.x, 30.x and 30.x, but finished just outside of 2:00.
Saturday morning was the Du Charme Invitational at Dickinson, where the competition was about as stiff as a good Frosh/Soph meet in NJ circa 1996. Becky Parks was doing her coaching duties when she decided to run the 5000m, an event nobody on her team was entered in. Becky ran amazingly even splits of 6:16, 6:16, 6:18, and cruised into 3rd place at 19:37.70.
Saturday's road event was the re-re-rescheduled Lewis Memorial 10 Mile prediction run out in Frederick, where PJ Anderer ran 1:15:47 to finish 16th.
On Sunday, sneaky Meg McNew cherrypicked a nice little victory at the Nobles Mill 5 Miler, a RASAC event in Harford County. Her time is solid though, 36:25, so she should be pleased. She's also running a ghastly amount of miles lately.
The Howard County Striders held their annual Penguin Pace 5k on Sunday in chilly conditions. The route is expectedly hilly, but that didn't stop a sell-out number of runners from competing. Joel Gladfelter found himself in 2nd place to the multiple-race-per-weekend Karsten Brown. Joel ran 18:13, it left him feeling kind of "meh." In the women's race, Christa Wagner took 5th in 20:43, faster than she ran at Baltimore 5k in the fall, and seems to be fired up now for Club Challenge. I can't wait!
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Arjun for his terrific mile race and rabbiting duties, while Ed earned the NOS Button Award for punching it at the right time.
Tonight we'll be at the track, and it's another beaut of a day. I have a suggested main workout of a fartlek run, starting at 1 minute, building up to 5, coming back down, in one minute increments. The total of tempo running will be 24 minutes, with a minute recovery in between each effort. Alex will be doing 400 on/400 off, Tristram is doing 10-8-6-6-4-4 or something like that. Dusty is doing his workout tomorrow, as are Ed and Arjun.
Saturday morning was the Du Charme Invitational at Dickinson, where the competition was about as stiff as a good Frosh/Soph meet in NJ circa 1996. Becky Parks was doing her coaching duties when she decided to run the 5000m, an event nobody on her team was entered in. Becky ran amazingly even splits of 6:16, 6:16, 6:18, and cruised into 3rd place at 19:37.70.
Saturday's road event was the re-re-rescheduled Lewis Memorial 10 Mile prediction run out in Frederick, where PJ Anderer ran 1:15:47 to finish 16th.
On Sunday, sneaky Meg McNew cherrypicked a nice little victory at the Nobles Mill 5 Miler, a RASAC event in Harford County. Her time is solid though, 36:25, so she should be pleased. She's also running a ghastly amount of miles lately.
The Howard County Striders held their annual Penguin Pace 5k on Sunday in chilly conditions. The route is expectedly hilly, but that didn't stop a sell-out number of runners from competing. Joel Gladfelter found himself in 2nd place to the multiple-race-per-weekend Karsten Brown. Joel ran 18:13, it left him feeling kind of "meh." In the women's race, Christa Wagner took 5th in 20:43, faster than she ran at Baltimore 5k in the fall, and seems to be fired up now for Club Challenge. I can't wait!
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Arjun for his terrific mile race and rabbiting duties, while Ed earned the NOS Button Award for punching it at the right time.
Tonight we'll be at the track, and it's another beaut of a day. I have a suggested main workout of a fartlek run, starting at 1 minute, building up to 5, coming back down, in one minute increments. The total of tempo running will be 24 minutes, with a minute recovery in between each effort. Alex will be doing 400 on/400 off, Tristram is doing 10-8-6-6-4-4 or something like that. Dusty is doing his workout tomorrow, as are Ed and Arjun.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Project 2012
By now you have probably read the email, but as we are now a month out from Club Challenge, we have unveiled a new mission: Project 2012.
Project 2012 represents the goal for our team, which is to put at least 20 men under 60 minutes, and 12 women under 70 minutes. The team we have assembled appears to be the most talented we've ever fielded, and perhaps one of the strongest in Club Challenge history. However, the nature of Club Challenge is to never assume, and results are never given, but rather earned, on the streets of Columbia.
Looking back in the record books, you will see that only once in the history of Falls Road Running competing in the event has it put all of its male scoring members under an hour (2010). It is no coincidence that the team placed first among the male teams. The Howard County Striders are more than prepared to protect their turf, and I expect they will have a formidable team ready to go on February 26th.
For the women, I erroneously stated the only 4 count - instead, 6 women comprise a scoring team. This makes our task no easier, as there is less margin for error. One "off" day can mean the race, especially when the teams of Westminster RRC, Montgomery County, and the Striders, will all be gunning for us. Our women have a target on their back, and it will take a number of PR performances to capture the title again.
It is no secret that this race is very important to our group, and that our goal each year is to win it. And each year, the race gets faster and deeper. It is the most competitive race of its distance, pound for pound, in the area. By now, most of us have raced it at least once, but there will be a number of CC virgins competing this year. The important thing to remember is that every runner counts. In this cross-country style scored event, low score wins. Every runner you can push back from an opposing team is less points in their pocket, even if you're not one of the scorers for our team.
Our team is about as full as its going to get, I don't see too many names missing from the list, and based on who we have, the goal of Project 2012 appears to be something we can achieve, but far from easy. We will need some women to step up big, as well as some men who have not historically run fast there.
For those of you who feel that you are "too slow" and that you will hurt the team, that is absolutely FALSE! You cannot hurt the team, believe me, I do the hypothetical scoring scenarios for this race well in advance. It is, however, a great team event and a chance for you to bond with your other teammates over the challenging hills of the Columbia neighborhoods. Besides, you never know what you're capable of until you get out there and do it.
PROJECT 2012!
And now, a quick review of the races from over the weekend. Chris Snyder and Tim Burns each doubled in the Mile/800m at the Bucknell Bison Open Meet. Chris ran 4:29.96 and 2:01.28, while Tim ran 4:39.04 and 2:06.81. At the Hagerstown Community College Invite, Alex Battaglino, fresh off a birthday, ran a 4:35.88 mile to finish 3rd. And while we took a year off from the craziness of the Miami Marathon weekend, Emily Boss ran a 1:48:56 in the half. We hope you enjoyed the trip, Emily!
While these performances were all perfectly fine, I had to stray from the beaten path a bit for this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week. The lowly Towson Tigers Men's Basketball team had lost 41 straight games - an NCAA D-I record - that is, until Saturday. They were victorious by I think one basket, and snapped their supreme losing skid. All it takes is one, fellas. Great job, Towson, you are our PDAW for this week!
Project 2012 represents the goal for our team, which is to put at least 20 men under 60 minutes, and 12 women under 70 minutes. The team we have assembled appears to be the most talented we've ever fielded, and perhaps one of the strongest in Club Challenge history. However, the nature of Club Challenge is to never assume, and results are never given, but rather earned, on the streets of Columbia.
Looking back in the record books, you will see that only once in the history of Falls Road Running competing in the event has it put all of its male scoring members under an hour (2010). It is no coincidence that the team placed first among the male teams. The Howard County Striders are more than prepared to protect their turf, and I expect they will have a formidable team ready to go on February 26th.
For the women, I erroneously stated the only 4 count - instead, 6 women comprise a scoring team. This makes our task no easier, as there is less margin for error. One "off" day can mean the race, especially when the teams of Westminster RRC, Montgomery County, and the Striders, will all be gunning for us. Our women have a target on their back, and it will take a number of PR performances to capture the title again.
It is no secret that this race is very important to our group, and that our goal each year is to win it. And each year, the race gets faster and deeper. It is the most competitive race of its distance, pound for pound, in the area. By now, most of us have raced it at least once, but there will be a number of CC virgins competing this year. The important thing to remember is that every runner counts. In this cross-country style scored event, low score wins. Every runner you can push back from an opposing team is less points in their pocket, even if you're not one of the scorers for our team.
Our team is about as full as its going to get, I don't see too many names missing from the list, and based on who we have, the goal of Project 2012 appears to be something we can achieve, but far from easy. We will need some women to step up big, as well as some men who have not historically run fast there.
For those of you who feel that you are "too slow" and that you will hurt the team, that is absolutely FALSE! You cannot hurt the team, believe me, I do the hypothetical scoring scenarios for this race well in advance. It is, however, a great team event and a chance for you to bond with your other teammates over the challenging hills of the Columbia neighborhoods. Besides, you never know what you're capable of until you get out there and do it.
PROJECT 2012!
And now, a quick review of the races from over the weekend. Chris Snyder and Tim Burns each doubled in the Mile/800m at the Bucknell Bison Open Meet. Chris ran 4:29.96 and 2:01.28, while Tim ran 4:39.04 and 2:06.81. At the Hagerstown Community College Invite, Alex Battaglino, fresh off a birthday, ran a 4:35.88 mile to finish 3rd. And while we took a year off from the craziness of the Miami Marathon weekend, Emily Boss ran a 1:48:56 in the half. We hope you enjoyed the trip, Emily!
While these performances were all perfectly fine, I had to stray from the beaten path a bit for this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week. The lowly Towson Tigers Men's Basketball team had lost 41 straight games - an NCAA D-I record - that is, until Saturday. They were victorious by I think one basket, and snapped their supreme losing skid. All it takes is one, fellas. Great job, Towson, you are our PDAW for this week!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Get Faded
There was more fading going on at Saturday's Terrapin Invitational at the PG Sports and Learning Complex than Kid and Play's haircuts...
The morning's first event was the 5000m, which saw Tristram Thomas take a brief stab at the lead, bringing the field through 1600m in 4:49, before slowing down to hit 3200 at 10:00, and ultimately finish 10th at 15:53.16.
The mile was up around noon, and Arjun Majumdar, racing in his first indoor race since March 2008, ran a fairly even split 4:46.28. In the next heat, Ed Aramayo was in a battle for position from the gun. He came through the half (809m) in 2:11.5, which had him in a good spot to challenge his 4:23 from last year's Terrapin Invite. Unfortunately, a brief mental lapse around the 3/4 mark saw his split slip a little, and he finished up at 4:28.62 for 12th. Chris Snyder, who ran a 4:40 1600 just two weeks ago at the PG Meet, apparently gets into shape real quick, as he finished 3rd in 4:21.76.
Later in the day, after I left, Greg Jubb took 3rd in the 800 with a 1:56.50, and Louis Foudos ran 2:06.50 for 35th. In the 3000m, Liz Laseter finished 4th in 10:34.31.
Somewhere on the ultra circuit, Dave Ploskonka finished 2nd at the winter edition of the Beast of Burden 100 miler. In the summer version of 2010, Dave won and ran a PR of 16h19m. This weekend, with a snow covered path, he ran 17h20m. The winner was an astounding 14h56m or something insane.
Out in sunny Carlsbad, California, Andy Gell ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon (a race we've been talking about going out to!) in 1:33:09 to finish 198th.
With a great race on Saturday, this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week honor is going to Chris Snyder. 20 seconds in two weeks? One way to assure yourself a PDAW is to set the bar low and then rise above it!
We had an awesome showing yesterday on the Club Challenge course - 22 people did some kind of workout, which was run in 26 degree temps. Very chilly in the hills of Columbia.
We're on the track tomorrow at 6:30 (warmup) and there will inevitably be a zillion different workouts so you can figure out what you want to do tomorrow. I know Dustin is doing 40 minute tempo starting at 5:40/mi and working down to 5:20/mi. He plans on arriving at 6:15 to do a 30 minute warmup and then starting his workout around 6:50pm. So if you usually work out with Dustin, plan accordingly. I am going to start getting back into running again, so I'll be starting with something light, perhaps 2-3 miles of 200 on/200 off a la Brennan's "workout" last week.
The morning's first event was the 5000m, which saw Tristram Thomas take a brief stab at the lead, bringing the field through 1600m in 4:49, before slowing down to hit 3200 at 10:00, and ultimately finish 10th at 15:53.16.
The mile was up around noon, and Arjun Majumdar, racing in his first indoor race since March 2008, ran a fairly even split 4:46.28. In the next heat, Ed Aramayo was in a battle for position from the gun. He came through the half (809m) in 2:11.5, which had him in a good spot to challenge his 4:23 from last year's Terrapin Invite. Unfortunately, a brief mental lapse around the 3/4 mark saw his split slip a little, and he finished up at 4:28.62 for 12th. Chris Snyder, who ran a 4:40 1600 just two weeks ago at the PG Meet, apparently gets into shape real quick, as he finished 3rd in 4:21.76.
Later in the day, after I left, Greg Jubb took 3rd in the 800 with a 1:56.50, and Louis Foudos ran 2:06.50 for 35th. In the 3000m, Liz Laseter finished 4th in 10:34.31.
Somewhere on the ultra circuit, Dave Ploskonka finished 2nd at the winter edition of the Beast of Burden 100 miler. In the summer version of 2010, Dave won and ran a PR of 16h19m. This weekend, with a snow covered path, he ran 17h20m. The winner was an astounding 14h56m or something insane.
Out in sunny Carlsbad, California, Andy Gell ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon (a race we've been talking about going out to!) in 1:33:09 to finish 198th.
With a great race on Saturday, this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week honor is going to Chris Snyder. 20 seconds in two weeks? One way to assure yourself a PDAW is to set the bar low and then rise above it!
We had an awesome showing yesterday on the Club Challenge course - 22 people did some kind of workout, which was run in 26 degree temps. Very chilly in the hills of Columbia.
We're on the track tomorrow at 6:30 (warmup) and there will inevitably be a zillion different workouts so you can figure out what you want to do tomorrow. I know Dustin is doing 40 minute tempo starting at 5:40/mi and working down to 5:20/mi. He plans on arriving at 6:15 to do a 30 minute warmup and then starting his workout around 6:50pm. So if you usually work out with Dustin, plan accordingly. I am going to start getting back into running again, so I'll be starting with something light, perhaps 2-3 miles of 200 on/200 off a la Brennan's "workout" last week.
 |
| Seriously, are they Black Simon and Garfunkel? |
Friday, January 20, 2012
Ball So Hard U.
Pete was ordering singlets the other day and it needed a team name. And not like a "TWSS" team name, a team belonging to a school. I said why not use Ball So Hard University, they play in the Hip Hop North Conference. With the BSHU mantra on the forefront of Baltimore's mind this weekend, let's hope they cause New England to have a long winter!
We ordered some singlets. We should have them in time for Club Challenge. Speaking of Club Challenge...
This is me officially reminding Conrad, Nate, and Tristram, to sign up! We are almost full with our whopping 23 guys and 18 girls. Even Chrissie signed up! PS, I love that you signed up as Christy.
This is also a reminder about our workout scheduled for Sunday. This workout will take place regardless of the conditions, which I'm hearing may be less than stellar. Come prepared, dry clothes for post-run, towel, etc. Bring water bottles and I'll carry them in the car for you. In order to get the day moving, please be there prior to 9am, and warmed up and ready to run right at 9.
In addition to the challenge of Club Challenge, I challenge you to another challenge:
How many guys can we get under 60 minutes? And how many girls can we get under 70 minutes?
Howard County, as usual, is fielding a very strong team for both men and women, and Westminster RRC's women's team is always solid. Last year, our women's team was very strong and expects to be competitive again, while our men were outraced by HCS. In order to avoid that from happening again, I think we'll need to have all of our scorers (12) under 58:30. For the women (only 4 scorers, a truly unfavorable setup) we'll need to have them under 1:06, if not faster.
No matter the outcome, I am positive we'll have some great performances that will set the bar for the rest of the season! So let's get things started with Sunday's workout, and then a Ravens victory!
We ordered some singlets. We should have them in time for Club Challenge. Speaking of Club Challenge...
This is me officially reminding Conrad, Nate, and Tristram, to sign up! We are almost full with our whopping 23 guys and 18 girls. Even Chrissie signed up! PS, I love that you signed up as Christy.
This is also a reminder about our workout scheduled for Sunday. This workout will take place regardless of the conditions, which I'm hearing may be less than stellar. Come prepared, dry clothes for post-run, towel, etc. Bring water bottles and I'll carry them in the car for you. In order to get the day moving, please be there prior to 9am, and warmed up and ready to run right at 9.
In addition to the challenge of Club Challenge, I challenge you to another challenge:
How many guys can we get under 60 minutes? And how many girls can we get under 70 minutes?
Howard County, as usual, is fielding a very strong team for both men and women, and Westminster RRC's women's team is always solid. Last year, our women's team was very strong and expects to be competitive again, while our men were outraced by HCS. In order to avoid that from happening again, I think we'll need to have all of our scorers (12) under 58:30. For the women (only 4 scorers, a truly unfavorable setup) we'll need to have them under 1:06, if not faster.
No matter the outcome, I am positive we'll have some great performances that will set the bar for the rest of the season! So let's get things started with Sunday's workout, and then a Ravens victory!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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:
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.
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
 |
| 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
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A Story You've Probably Never Heard
I took the link out of the title, read it here. Story courtesy of TrackFocus.com
I came across this first person account of a "race" that I doubt most people knew Steve Prefontaine ran, in Oregon, in 1974. It was a relay from Eugene to Corvallis simply called The Great Race, organized by fraternities from both Oregon and Oregon State as a fundraiser for Muscular Dystrophy. The relay was run in conjunction with the annual football game between the two schools, dubbed The Civil War, and was timed so that the race actually took a break on Friday, and resumed during the 2nd quarter of the game on Saturday for the last 4 miles. This way, the winning team(s) would come into the stadium during halftime.
Read the rest for yourself. The story is told by Steve Bence, a runner for the University of Oregon and lifelong Nike employee. Also playing a part in the story was Matt Centrowitz, Sr.
The story proves to illustrate that even for a runner with the accolades of Pre, the thrill is the joy of competing. A plastic trophy of insignificant value holds in it great memories like this one.
It kind of reminds me of this race we do every year in February...
Why do YOU compete?
I came across this first person account of a "race" that I doubt most people knew Steve Prefontaine ran, in Oregon, in 1974. It was a relay from Eugene to Corvallis simply called The Great Race, organized by fraternities from both Oregon and Oregon State as a fundraiser for Muscular Dystrophy. The relay was run in conjunction with the annual football game between the two schools, dubbed The Civil War, and was timed so that the race actually took a break on Friday, and resumed during the 2nd quarter of the game on Saturday for the last 4 miles. This way, the winning team(s) would come into the stadium during halftime.
Read the rest for yourself. The story is told by Steve Bence, a runner for the University of Oregon and lifelong Nike employee. Also playing a part in the story was Matt Centrowitz, Sr.
The story proves to illustrate that even for a runner with the accolades of Pre, the thrill is the joy of competing. A plastic trophy of insignificant value holds in it great memories like this one.
It kind of reminds me of this race we do every year in February...
Why do YOU compete?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Club Challenge is OPEN
Club Challenge has opened their registration (www.striders.net/races/rrca/2012/) so to avoid the issue of last year with registration closing, sign up early.
However, a warning: while we are happy to pick up the nominal entry fee for each runner for this event, if you do not show up, WE STILL GET CHARGED. So please, only sign up for this race if you are seriously going to do it. We historically have a very low no-show rate, and I know most of you wouldn't do that to me, but I have to say it. I WILL send a collections agency after you if you don't show up!
However, a warning: while we are happy to pick up the nominal entry fee for each runner for this event, if you do not show up, WE STILL GET CHARGED. So please, only sign up for this race if you are seriously going to do it. We historically have a very low no-show rate, and I know most of you wouldn't do that to me, but I have to say it. I WILL send a collections agency after you if you don't show up!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Falls Road on the WRR
If you go to the front page of the Washington Running Report, you will see a picture of 3 of our mooks running - Cheese, Triscuit and Dusty. Then if you click on this link it will take you to the article, which is basically the same thing as what was posted on the Striders' website, plus a picture of Alex B running super fast. It's pretty cool.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad
I'm sure everyone who raced on Sunday was just a little disappointed that we were unable to defend our men's team title, but when you look at the results, it's hard to be disappointed with the performances. Before I get into Club Challenge, however, I'll highlight other performances from the weekend:
Sean McCarthy ran the challenging Colonial Half Marathon in Williamsburg, taking 10th place in 1:17:14. Spider Sillery raced in Chattanooga's Scenic City Half Marathon, earning the win and running a very solid 1:16:37. Through the Grapevine, I may have also heard something about Spider entering the realm of fatherhood...Matty Blaze ran the Brooks PR Invite in Seattle, blazing the 2 mile to the tune of a 2nd place finish in 9:02.51. Steve Wancowicz raced the nearly 800 person Ugly Mudder 7ish mile trail race, taking 140th in 1:13:19.
Now for Club Challenge. Prior to the start of the race I offered a $100 bounty to anyone who could run faster than what Dave Berdan ran last year (51:43, CR). Me and my big mouth. From the gun, Alex Battaglino amassed a ginormous lead. The result was a 51:34 course record and the win, and my pocket a hundred dollars lighter! If Dave can race again next year, it could seriously be one of the greatest races of all time. Our posse of Tristram Thomas, Ed Aramayo and Dustin Meeker remained competitive with the two Striders, Matt Barresi and Carlos Renjifo. Those three each ran PRs at 53:51, 53:57 and 54:02, respectively, and took the 4th, 5th and 6th spots. Our middle pack was a little lighter than it was last year, but Garrett Ash finished at 56:00, and Seth Tibbitts came through with an incredible run - 57:29. He is going to do some serious damage at Boston. Phil Turner, who is running National Marathon in a few weeks, put in 25 miles on Sunday, running 58:12 for 10 miles in the middle. Arjun Majumdar, Mike Mashner and Brennan Feldhausen were running as a solid pack through 6 and change, before they split up. Arjun finished at 58:38, Zero was 59:02 (:12 PR) and Brennan finished at 59:25 and was our 10th scorer, and last person to get under the time of Susie from last year (59:27). Pat McLoughlin, still working through his persistent knee problem and fresh off a 4 hour ride on Saturday, came through in 1:00:53 - about 4 minutes faster than last year. Joel Gladfelter ran 7 and a half minutes faster than his CC10 time, running 1:01:02. Tim Parker came in at 1:01:37.
Following Tim was a strong run by Tommy McLoughlin (1:03:13), who has never raced an open road race that long, and then Tom Stott (1:03:50). Bob Harvey ran well at 1:05:19, and then Dave Ploskonka finished in the top 100 at 1:06:38. Chris Scott ran a 3+ minute PR at 1:15:49, and then Pete Mulligan also ran a PR at 1:17:57. Amazing - 20 guys, 18 of them under 6:40 per mile pace.
In men's team scoring, we finished 2nd behind Striders by 24 points. As I looked through their results, they lost some of their firepower from last year, with guys like Izzy, Graham, Kent, Tom Williams, Doug Mock, all not running. They had a few guys step up big, and then a few newer names to the Club Challenge ranks.
For our ladies, it was never even close. The traditionally strong team of Westminster just didn't show up at all. Howard County lost Pam Maldeis the day before the race due to injury, but benefited from a former RASAC member, Kara Waters, who came out and ran very well. Unfortunately for the other teams, our depth is, at this point, unmatched. Denise Knickman finished 2nd in 1:03:49, her fastest CC since 2002 and fastest 10 miler since 2006. Diane Heiser and Melissa Majumdar, who were 2nd and 4th last year, swapped positions this year, running 1:04:17 and 1:04:57, respectively. Then came a bunch of Club Challenge virgins - Suzanne Hurst (5th, 1:06:47), Jackie Truncellito (6th, 1:07:04), Megan DiGregorio (8th, 1:08:09) and Becky Parks (9th, 1:08:18). Alyssa Godesky's pre-race goal was to run fast, much different from her normal strategy of run long, and she was able to achieve that goal, running 1:12:19. Christa Wagner, looking for big things come May's Frederick Half Marathon, ran a great race, finishing at 1:15:53, and Juhie Kumar was right behind in 1:16:13. Kelly Meier ran a course best for her, 1:18:43. And our final finisher, Ms. Sara J. Spears, never ceases to amaze me. Her time was 1:22:25, which is 4 seconds better than her chip time from Army Ten Miler last year, and it's about 4 minutes faster than she ran at CC10.
The women scored 28 points to the Striders' 60.
In the co-ed/overall team scoring, we scored lower than all other teams and were fortunate to be able to bring home the trophy for the 3rd year in a row. Congrats to all of you on your amazing personal performances, and for helping the team's success! For our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, while there are many worthy performers, I felt the most impressive for the day went to Denise, who ran faster than she's run in a decade at CC.
I shot out a few numbers along in the email this week, about how our performance this year compared with other years. Last year we had 50 runners, of which only about 20 returned as we had 13 first-time CCers. Of our scoring 12 for men, we had only 5 return, and of our top 4, only 1 was back. We filled as many gaps as we could, but certainly losing guys like Berdan, Kyle and Ben hurt. But of our 32 runners, we had about 18 PRs, which is amazing on that course.
But, as we cooled down, I couldn't help to feel a bit saddened by the lack of sportsmanship by members of some of the other teams. The jeering comments of "Falls Road Ringers" have become entirely unappreciated, and I take a deep, personal offense to them. In general, it's not the more competitive members - guys we see frequently and race against. They understand it's a competition. In fact, if we didn't field a team, this race would no longer be a race. It's the old guard, people who forget that 20somethings live in Baltimore City. If there are people out there who think I'm pulling runners from the sky, I encourage them to come to Mondays. And Tuesdays. And Wednesdays. And Fridays. And weekends. Or, I can send the spreadsheet of attendance that I keep. I can also send my roster, email list, and race results for the past 6 years. Or anyone can come out to any of the myriad group functions we pull together. Like the 25 people (75% of our team) at Kisling's after the race. Just stop complaining about it, because we're not going anywhere.
Sean McCarthy ran the challenging Colonial Half Marathon in Williamsburg, taking 10th place in 1:17:14. Spider Sillery raced in Chattanooga's Scenic City Half Marathon, earning the win and running a very solid 1:16:37. Through the Grapevine, I may have also heard something about Spider entering the realm of fatherhood...Matty Blaze ran the Brooks PR Invite in Seattle, blazing the 2 mile to the tune of a 2nd place finish in 9:02.51. Steve Wancowicz raced the nearly 800 person Ugly Mudder 7ish mile trail race, taking 140th in 1:13:19.
Now for Club Challenge. Prior to the start of the race I offered a $100 bounty to anyone who could run faster than what Dave Berdan ran last year (51:43, CR). Me and my big mouth. From the gun, Alex Battaglino amassed a ginormous lead. The result was a 51:34 course record and the win, and my pocket a hundred dollars lighter! If Dave can race again next year, it could seriously be one of the greatest races of all time. Our posse of Tristram Thomas, Ed Aramayo and Dustin Meeker remained competitive with the two Striders, Matt Barresi and Carlos Renjifo. Those three each ran PRs at 53:51, 53:57 and 54:02, respectively, and took the 4th, 5th and 6th spots. Our middle pack was a little lighter than it was last year, but Garrett Ash finished at 56:00, and Seth Tibbitts came through with an incredible run - 57:29. He is going to do some serious damage at Boston. Phil Turner, who is running National Marathon in a few weeks, put in 25 miles on Sunday, running 58:12 for 10 miles in the middle. Arjun Majumdar, Mike Mashner and Brennan Feldhausen were running as a solid pack through 6 and change, before they split up. Arjun finished at 58:38, Zero was 59:02 (:12 PR) and Brennan finished at 59:25 and was our 10th scorer, and last person to get under the time of Susie from last year (59:27). Pat McLoughlin, still working through his persistent knee problem and fresh off a 4 hour ride on Saturday, came through in 1:00:53 - about 4 minutes faster than last year. Joel Gladfelter ran 7 and a half minutes faster than his CC10 time, running 1:01:02. Tim Parker came in at 1:01:37.
Following Tim was a strong run by Tommy McLoughlin (1:03:13), who has never raced an open road race that long, and then Tom Stott (1:03:50). Bob Harvey ran well at 1:05:19, and then Dave Ploskonka finished in the top 100 at 1:06:38. Chris Scott ran a 3+ minute PR at 1:15:49, and then Pete Mulligan also ran a PR at 1:17:57. Amazing - 20 guys, 18 of them under 6:40 per mile pace.
In men's team scoring, we finished 2nd behind Striders by 24 points. As I looked through their results, they lost some of their firepower from last year, with guys like Izzy, Graham, Kent, Tom Williams, Doug Mock, all not running. They had a few guys step up big, and then a few newer names to the Club Challenge ranks.
For our ladies, it was never even close. The traditionally strong team of Westminster just didn't show up at all. Howard County lost Pam Maldeis the day before the race due to injury, but benefited from a former RASAC member, Kara Waters, who came out and ran very well. Unfortunately for the other teams, our depth is, at this point, unmatched. Denise Knickman finished 2nd in 1:03:49, her fastest CC since 2002 and fastest 10 miler since 2006. Diane Heiser and Melissa Majumdar, who were 2nd and 4th last year, swapped positions this year, running 1:04:17 and 1:04:57, respectively. Then came a bunch of Club Challenge virgins - Suzanne Hurst (5th, 1:06:47), Jackie Truncellito (6th, 1:07:04), Megan DiGregorio (8th, 1:08:09) and Becky Parks (9th, 1:08:18). Alyssa Godesky's pre-race goal was to run fast, much different from her normal strategy of run long, and she was able to achieve that goal, running 1:12:19. Christa Wagner, looking for big things come May's Frederick Half Marathon, ran a great race, finishing at 1:15:53, and Juhie Kumar was right behind in 1:16:13. Kelly Meier ran a course best for her, 1:18:43. And our final finisher, Ms. Sara J. Spears, never ceases to amaze me. Her time was 1:22:25, which is 4 seconds better than her chip time from Army Ten Miler last year, and it's about 4 minutes faster than she ran at CC10.
The women scored 28 points to the Striders' 60.
In the co-ed/overall team scoring, we scored lower than all other teams and were fortunate to be able to bring home the trophy for the 3rd year in a row. Congrats to all of you on your amazing personal performances, and for helping the team's success! For our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, while there are many worthy performers, I felt the most impressive for the day went to Denise, who ran faster than she's run in a decade at CC.
I shot out a few numbers along in the email this week, about how our performance this year compared with other years. Last year we had 50 runners, of which only about 20 returned as we had 13 first-time CCers. Of our scoring 12 for men, we had only 5 return, and of our top 4, only 1 was back. We filled as many gaps as we could, but certainly losing guys like Berdan, Kyle and Ben hurt. But of our 32 runners, we had about 18 PRs, which is amazing on that course.
But, as we cooled down, I couldn't help to feel a bit saddened by the lack of sportsmanship by members of some of the other teams. The jeering comments of "Falls Road Ringers" have become entirely unappreciated, and I take a deep, personal offense to them. In general, it's not the more competitive members - guys we see frequently and race against. They understand it's a competition. In fact, if we didn't field a team, this race would no longer be a race. It's the old guard, people who forget that 20somethings live in Baltimore City. If there are people out there who think I'm pulling runners from the sky, I encourage them to come to Mondays. And Tuesdays. And Wednesdays. And Fridays. And weekends. Or, I can send the spreadsheet of attendance that I keep. I can also send my roster, email list, and race results for the past 6 years. Or anyone can come out to any of the myriad group functions we pull together. Like the 25 people (75% of our team) at Kisling's after the race. Just stop complaining about it, because we're not going anywhere.
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