So I'm calling a false start on spring. Anyway, it was our first weekend of outdoor track and we had some terrific early season results!
At the Maryland Invite, Graham Peck and Dustin Meeker tackled the 5000m. While Dustin is a kid of the early 80s and Graham was born sometime during the television series LOST's tenure, the two formed a symbiotic relationship during the 12.5 laps around the track in College Park. The pair split the work, and ran even splits to a 15:26.95 for Graham and 15:29.92 for Dusty. That's a track PR for Dustin, and just 7 seconds slower than what he ran at Shamrock last year. Like I said, I've always spotted Shamrock 7 seconds over a flat 5k, so I'd say that puts Dusty in a good place.
In the women's race, Liz Laseter broke 18 minutes for the first time, which is a huge accomplishment. Her time of 17:59.41 was good enough for 4th place. Her Hopkins teammate, Josey Mintel, was 7th in 18:54.13 after her shoe came untied in the first mile.
Out in California, Matt Jablonski ran the 1500m at the Stanford Invite, clocking a 3:51.69. This was definitely the meet to be at, as Shalane Flanagan absolutely devastated the women's 10,000m field, lapping everyone but her teammate and BFF Kara Goucher. Things are looking good for her as she is two weeks out from Boston. I certainly hope we see an American winner!
In Michigan, Lauren Boof Dennisuk ran her first race in about a year she says, recording a 5k PR (19:29) and finishing 2nd in the Bunny Rock 5k.
Our final racer for the weekend was...Emily Hurley?! Emily's back, healthy, and running well again. She jumped in the Spring Forward 15k in Rochester, NY, and finished 7th in 1:05:33. Pretty soon I expect Emily will be back to 100% and totally crushing.
For getting back out there after a long, long layoff (think her last race was Boston last year), Emily has earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
