Walking on the Sun

Ahh, the immortal words of Smash Mouth...

So I never got around to writing up last week, and here we are on Wednesday and I still haven't written up this past week. Darn not having a computer.

Quick highlights from the previous weekend:

Charles Street 12 Miler wasn't a complete debacle. Actually heard pretty favorable things about it, including the post-race celebree. But, people - complaining that it had too many hills (as in UP, because the net elevation was ridic), it's like AYFKM??

4 dudes in the top 8, Meg McNew got a big win, pretty cool.

The next day was the Falmouth Road Race. Ed Aramayo applied last year, didn't get in, so was guaranteed this year. When many others attempted this year, they didn't get in. So Ed went up and scooped up Ashley Campbell on the way. Ed ran better than expected, although is sour because they apparently are crediting his gun time and chip time as the same - and he says he started way, way back.

Meg McNew earned that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Then it was onto this past weekend. Bunch of so-so performances on Wednesday's BRRC Summer Meet (last of the summer) and they held a 3000m not a 5000m. Poor form, BRRC!

Some names in the results though that don't often appear, like Terry Decker, who drove all the way down to Luray by his lonesome to do the International Triathlon. Hasn't been swimming so that was pretty slow, but he had a strong ride and then a really good run! Under 40min for the 10k on a tough course.

Sara Damiano ran the Washington Crossing 15k in Bucks County, PA, finishing in 1:11:34 - about a minute faster than last year - so she's coming along nicely! And Dan Miranda went out and got his 2014 Boston Qualifier taken care of by running 3:01 at the Chasing the Unicorn Marathon the next day.

Matt Franco tried to cherry pick a win and some $ at the FEED Annapolis 5 Miler, ultimately finishing 3rd in a time (27:38) that was faster than his college XC personal best so he was pretty pleased. Tim Burns ran the Dog Days 5M up in LBI, finishing 3rd in 27:55. Great job guys!

Ben and Kendra Ingram were in Steamboat Springs, CO, for the Olympic distance triathlon there and both crushed! It was Kendra's 1st attempt at the distance and Ben finished 21st overall, breaking 2:10.

Terry was our PDAW this week.

The big event last week, though, was the IAAF World Championships of Track and Field. While attendance seemed about as lacking as Tom Hammond's ability to properly identify the finish line, I was psyched to have 10 days of track to watch. Here's some of my thoughts:

A lot of people were ragging on Mary Cain's tactics (or lack thereof) throughout the 3 rounds of the race. Once again, let's remember, she's freaking 17 years old. She had no shot at winning, and to think otherwise is completely unrealistic. Yes, I understand that technically anybody who qualifies for the WC, and particularly those who make the final, are capable of winning - but it wasn't going to happen. So people need to back off and let this young lady progress. She ran 3 of her fastest times ever at the distance in a style of racing that doesn't often see times even close to PRs. That's hard. She handled it well and is going to accomplish great things.

More significantly, most people glanced over Ajee Wilson. I know she's a couple of years older and eschewed college in favor of racing professionally, but she ran 3 remarkable rounds of the 800m to finish in a new PB (and near US Junior Record) in the final. Positions 3-6 were separated by a scant 0.30 seconds in the final. She's from Neptune (NJ) so I have to give her props. She may not have the range of Mary Cain, but I could see her owning this event as she is young.

Of course I have to shout out my close, personal friend Brenda Martinez. To toot my own horn, and Ed can confirm, but I said last year when I saw her crush at the Millrose Games that she was going to be the IT runner in the not-so-distant future. This year she has PR'd in the 800m, 1500m, and 5000m and raced a ton. I legitimately believed she would win the 800m, and while she narrowly medaled (3rd, only because Montano faded so hard and in her fatigue moved out of lane 1, leaving it open for BMart) I think this was a great race for her. Last place at the 100m but runs the fastest last 100m.

Matt Centrowitz is a stud. Think about it. Took bronze in the 1500m in 2011 at Daegu which, at the time, was a pretty big deal. By his (and our) now lofty standards didn't have a great Olympics, but what did he finish, 4th? Oh, and he had surgery in the spring that set him back months. The fact he even made the final last year was amazing. This year he improves one spot, and in a real deal race. There are championship runners, and he is one of them.

Nick Symmonds ran the best race of his life to earn silver in the 800m. He has outgrown his sit-and-kick self where he'd float way off the back for 3/4 of the race and then just try and run 200m fast. Instead he capitalized on Duane Solomon's front-running strategy and pulled up alongside him at 400m, blocking the rest of the field. He then went into his kick and seriously looked like he could pull it off, but it was obvious that Aman was just faster. Duane Solomon looked untouchable in the rounds but I think he ran them too fast. He'll learn.

Jenny Simpson ran an incredible 1500m and it's great to see her back to form. Aregawi wasn't going to be beat, but Simpson tried her damndest. Do you know how hard it is to lead for most of the race, get passed, fight to keep up, get dropped, and then still unleash a kick that if she had another 109 meters she would have won? Major props to Simpson.

It was good to see a return to some 400m "dominance" and nice that we at least broke up the Jamaican medal sweep with some podium finishers in the 100m and 200m events (men's and women's). Very sad to see Allyson Felix go down and miss the opportunity to compete for the win in the 200m.

And even though he's not American, what can you say about Mo Farah? Not surprisingly, he won the 10,000m. Somewhat surprisingly, it didn't look that easy. He then had to face, yet again, a whole new field of (fresh) opponents in the 5000m. I don't understand the tactics of other competitors. Mo has proven, time and time again, that he can (and will) beat you by running faster than you can over the last 800m. If he is in the lead with a lap to go, he will not let you go by him. Why chance that? I've seen the Kenyan and Ethiopian contingent all run under 13 minutes in the last 12 months. Some of them have PBs that are 9 seconds faster than Mo's. Just treat it like an invite, not a championship. Otherwise he's going to keep beating you. To me that says you fear him, and you don't believe you can win.

Start Your Engines

"What's the NOS button?!" - Coach Amy

This is the NOS button, Amy.

As I mentioned in the email, it was as if Coach Amy Horst hit her NOS button in Friday night's Grand Prix 5k, running a 17:25 for 2nd place.  Due to delays all day Friday, the course was not able to be certified and apparently it was too difficult to measure an accurate 3.1 miles on a 1.5 loop course on closed roads using Google Maps.  For Amy, this was just 6 seconds off of her PR for the distance, although she knows it was short.  Just how short, we'll never know.  Other finishers included:  Mike Rady (20:05), PJ Anderer (21:10) and Jan Cook (21:51).  The race was a lap and a half of the course they used for the Baltimore Grand Prix.  If you don't know what the Grand Prix is/was, it's that thing that caused all the traffic all summer.  "Ladies and gentleman, start your engines..."  (that's how they started the 5k, I heard).

Saturday was the Kentlands 5k, one of the faster 5k races of the fall.  GRC's Joe Wiggy Wiegner finished 3rd just under 15 minutes and HCS' Carlos Renjifo was 5th at 15:39.  Arjun Majumdar, in his first race since Rockville Twilight (I mistakenly said it was his first race since Peachtree in the email), ran a very good 16:51 for 11th place.

Megan DiGregorio hadn't won any money in a while, so she went on down to Ellicott City for the Knights of Columbus 10k and scooped up an easy win in 40:25.

At Sunday's Virginia Beach Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, Ed Aramayo had set out to run a confidence-building time ahead of next month's Chicago Marathon.  After a quick first mile, he backed off and then struggled to find his rhythm.  He finished 43rd with a 1:16:38, well off any goal he could have set for himself, but also realizing that he's in the middle of his biggest training weeks, so after he starts bringing it down, he'll find his legs again.

Garrett Ash won the Larry Noel Greenbelt 15k, which was Sunday night and had a small showing of just 68 finishers. 

At the Charm City 20 Miler, Dan Miranda finished 2nd in 2:02:02, and Patrick O'Rourke, who we haven't seen in results in quite some time, was 4th in 2:07:44.  Denise Knickman finished 2nd among women in 2:19:27, and Jackie Truncellito was 4th in 2:29:19. 

Our final racer of the weekend was Julia Webb, who finished 4th in 1:21:48 at the Eugene Women's Half Marathon.

For the week, our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Jenny Barringer Simpson, who won the gold in the women's 1500m at the World Championships last week.  It was an amazing win, aided perhaps in part by an unlucky and untimely fall to race favorite Morgan Uceny, but nevertheless announced Simpson as a favorite heading into next year's Olympics. 

Earning a KC Masterpiece Award was American sprinter, Allyson Felix, whose 4 medals put her in rare air - she is just the 4th person to accomplish that a World Championships in history.  Her lifetime medal count is now at 10 (at WCs) and she is just 25 years old.  Hopefully she'll focus on the 200m for next year and get the gold finally!

Track tonight - weather looks iffy all day, but obviously we'll be there tonight.  The workout is going to be mile (1600) repeats, basically as much as you want.  If you don't feel like doing miles, you can do 800-400 with rest of about 90 seconds.  We will also discuss details for this Sunday's RM Classic 5k, and then I will post those to the blog.

Party in the USA

America had a much better showing at the World Championship meet than they did at Beijing last year. We advanced 3 runners in both the men's and women's 1500m to the finals, taking 3rd in both (Shannon Rowbury's bronze was on a disqualification). We won the men's long jump and shared silver in the women's pole vault. The men's 5000m had 3 runners and they did amazingly well. Teg was right there with 150m to go and you could see how badly he had been spiked during the race as his shins were bleeding. Lagat took 2nd in that one, getting outkicked by Bekele.

4x400m relays both went well as we owned them pretty hard, but both 4x100m relays continued their woeful ways, getting DQ'd in the semi-finals. Nick Symmonds ran out of gas in the 800m, and I suppose our sprints at 400m and below were good.

But how did WE do this past week? Well there weren't many events but those that raced did particularly well.

Spider has been on a tear lately, with recent 2nd place finishes in a 5 mile trail race and the next day in a sprint tri. He then went on to win the Fall Creek Falls Olympic Tri by a margin of 9 minutes. This past weekend he headed to Alabama for the USAT Age Group Nationals, where he was 38th overall and 5th in his age group, so he punched his ticket to the WC next year in Hungary.

Collin Anderson, a week out from his 100 miler at Cascade Crest, was looking to try and sneak another short distance win at the Race For Recovery 10k. He didn't win (2nd) but he ran some good negative splits, which for him is a win in itself.

Lee DiPietro has been pretty quiet this year and absent from TNT, but I remembered she was doing Parkersburg Half in WV. Last year there was $1000 on the line for first grandmaster I believe (50+) so she went out and won it. This is a randomly competitive race and yields some fast times. It's not often that you'll run a 1:25:39 and be the 10th woman to cross the line, but that's exactly what Lee was. It was a minute and a half faster than she was last year and while she wasn't the first master, she was again the first grandmaster (setting a record) so hopefully she got that grand in her hand. Cynthia Evans also ran here, helping MD represent in WV. As an FYI, I hate WVU, even though one of the hottest girls I've ever known in my life went there. Back to Cynthia, who ran a PR of 1:46:00 and is clearly setting herself up well for next year's Boston Marathon.

Jeff Gaudette finds some random races, let me tell you. He ran (and won) the Larry Noel 12k. I feel like this race is in Greenbelt, and I also thought it used to be a 15k, but I could be mistaken about that second one. Anyway he won by almost 3 minutes and I just figured out the pace and it was 5:24. Pretty darn good. He is on the roster for the RM Memorial 5k.

Orla Walsh moved up to Vermont this summer to continue her ascent to nursedom, but she hasn't let that get in the way of competing. She's taken on biathlons, where you run around and then shoot rifles, and has gotten quite good at it. She's competed in 3 of the 6 summer events put on by the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club. After they compete they sit around and make some really nice (albeit expensive) furniture.

Finally, Julia Rudd competed in the Hartwood 10 Miler. Not sure where this race is, I guess VA somewhere. 1200ft in elevation, there's one 600ft climb. Last year, US Olympic Marathon Trials competitor Veena Reddy ran 59:50 here (she ran a 2:38 at Oly Trials). Julia, who is preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon in October, has been doing some monster runs lately and won the event in a runaway at 1:00:10. Her next closest competitor was 3 minutes back, and that girl ran a 2:51 marathon. Even more impressive is that Julia was 6th overall. It's also a new TWSS 10 Mile Record.

Those are some baller results my friends, you should all be impressed that we're lucky to know such gifted and talented athletes. But each week there can only be one Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and this week the honor goes to Lee DiPietro. To compete at that level at an age that is just a few years older than most of us is pretty unbelievable and she never ceases to amaze.

Workout for this week!

2 x (1k-2k-1k) w/ 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 after the 1, 2 and then set.