About a Week Ago

Well, way more than a week ago at this point, but catching up on December!

Most years, marathon season has been wrapped up by Thanksgiving. People begin to hibernate, or start to look ahead to the spring. Three brave souls pushed their fall marathon season to the first weekend of December, and it was like hitting Triple 7s at the slot machine - money came pouring out!

First up was Erik T. Orberg at the Memphis Marathon. Erik came into the race with a 2:35 personal best from earlier this year at the Vienna Marathon. Prior to that, his 2:39 at Philly last fall had also been a personal best. Erik's been rolling for a couple cycles straight, but this time he took a vastly different approach. His run mileage decreased in favor of riding his bike more, and as a result I think the quality of his run workouts improved. Not that he wasn't putting forth his best effort before, but he seemed to have a level of focus I hadn't seen before. ETO went Walking in Memphis and absolutely owned the day, grabbing the win in addition to another new personal best of 2:33:40. Afterwards he must have been 10 feet off of Beale, because who wouldn't be after winning a marathon?! Here's a great Twitter conversation he had with hilarious Twitter entity @BMoreRunning:

@BMoreRunning 1. - check. Working on 2-4. 4 might be tricky, may have to pull the winner card
— Erik Ør (@matrixat) December 6, 2014

On Sunday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy, it was Dustin Meeker and Melissa Tanner's turn. They were taking on the fastest race in the west: California International Marathon. But just because it's a net downhill doesn't mean there aren't any hills to run up! The pair had both run big races in July at the Eugene Marathon; Dusty narrowly missed breaking 2:30 and Melissa dropped a 2:55. But at CIM, they were looking for more. Much more.

Dusty is one of the diligent workers we've ever seen. He has this amazing ability to go lap after lap at the same fast pace, and when it's time to work out, he is all in. His first marathon was just last fall at Philly, and when you start off with a great result, it can often be hard in your second and third tries to "just get faster." When you're fighting for seconds, so much is how you feel on that day. Dusty must have felt pretty good as he dropped a steady tempo, holding 5:34/mi for 20 miles. How would he respond in the final 10k? He was almost identical through 20 at CIM as he was at Eugene, but this time he demolished the final 6 miles and ran a 2:27:53 - good enough for a 2.5 minute PR and he became our 3rd runner under 2:30 for the year (first time that's happened!)

Melissa came into the race with a 2:51 lifetime best, but that was a few years ago, and has had mixed results over the past 2 years. Melissa is nothing if not patient, and her metronomic style allowed her to negative split her way to an insane new personal best of 2:47:24 - a 4 minute PR and the 2nd fastest in team history!

A 5k is on the opposite spectrum of a marathon, but it doesn't mean that performances are diminished. Lillian Pinault has been on fire all fall, and continued it with her 2nd win in a 5k at Charlie's Run 5k. Most notably, she ran 19:51, which is the first time since she's lived here (almost 7 years) that she's broken 20 minutes for the distance, and it's the first time she's done it on the road. That's awesome!

So it was a pretty incredible and amazing weekend thanks to these 4, but naturally it was a very difficult choice for the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week. In the end, I gave it to Melissa.

But, I awarded Dustin the AutoZone In the Zone Award and Erik earned the KC Masterpiece Award. Naturally, Lillian won the NOS Award. They were just too good to leave out!

Girls Chase Boys Chase Girls

Sunday was a day for the ages down on Rockville Pike! One of the largest crews of Baltimorons benefited from terrific conditions as a slight tailwind sent runners screaming down 355 from Rockville to White Flint. Or, as everyone who lives there calls it: "Bethesda"

Conrad Laskowski continued his domination of the DC-area racing scene as he was the first caucasoid finisher and 7th overall in a new personal best of 30:22. Dustin Meeker slid under 31 minutes with a 30:59 clocking. Andy Sovonick has found the key to success recently and ran a tremendous race, finishing at 33:29.

Next to cross the line was the top female - Chrissie Ramsey - in a new personal best of 34:41. She finished slightly ahead of Arjun Majumdar (34:59) who was quite ill last week and his racing status was TBD until race morning! From my position in the field I had a good view of the battle that unfolded between Melissa Tanner and Megan DiGregorio. Both donning vivid, pink singlets, I could see them racing nearly stride for stride the entire way. In the final mile, Melissa pulled away and held off Meg D for a 35:56 to 36:03 and the two finished 6th and 7th.

Jon Miller and Cory Donovan both had breakthrough days. Jon ran a very even race, coming through 5k in 18:25 and finishing at 37:09 for a 3 minute personal best. Cory, meanwhile, attacked the race, splitting a 5:24 first mile and coming through 5k under 18 minutes! He held on for dear life as he came through the finish in a new personal best (on his birthday) of 37:27.

Denise Knickman was our final finisher, and anytime that person is under 40 minutes, you know it was a good day! Big D ran 39:24 for 15th overall.

I also heard, well after the fact, that Tarala Majumdar, who had spectated during the 10k, ran her own race!

Then a hearty foursome of Conrad, Andy, Carlos and myself completed the Pike's Peek Double as we ran back to the cars, uphill, into the wind. With Conrad there, it was the fastest I've ever made it back to the car.

We had a couple of other race winners, including Fiana Kumm (Honolulu 5k for Kids) and Emma Jornlin in the Mulligan Half Metric. In that race, Sara Damiano finished 3rd.

Lillian Pinault won the Manor Tavern Oyster Fest 5k. The highlight was them giving out vodka miniatures PRIOR to the race. Let's just say errbody on the run was gettin' tipsy...even the little kids!

At the Port to Fort 6k newcomer Sean Caskey took the win, and Jen Sheely finished 3rd among women! Finally, in the Long Branch Half Marathon, Meghan McGrath cracked 2 hours going 1:58.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Arjun, and we had a NOS Button Award go to Jon Miller for his blazing final 2/10 at Pike's!

Stay tuned for some upcoming fun, including a post-FHR Cinco de Mayo celebration on Monday 5/5, and some other fun events that we've got in the works.

Callin' Baton Rouge

As Brennan Feldhausen toed the start line for his 2nd marathon (or longer) distance race in the past three weeks, I couldn't help but think:

Man, it was so much warmer and nicer in Louisiana!

The Mid Maryland 50k was held this past Saturday at Howard County's Rockburn Branch Park. The race was made up of five 10k "loops" and I can say that race director Phil Lang used every inch of available space at this park to create this course. We arrived just after 7 in the morning and found Alyssa Godesky, who had come up from her new home in Charlottesville to test her legs with an early season race before IM Los Cabos next month.

It was cold, the grass was frozen, there was mud and ice in parts, the course was silly, and it was five loops - but that didn't put a damper on the fun! Brennan quickly found 2:22 marathoner Kyle Stanton and the pair ran side by side the entire run. And I mean the entire run. 3 hours, 44 minutes and some change later, the duo crossed the line simultaneously to tie for the win. Most impressively, their lap splits were 45 minutes almost on the nose for all five laps.

Alyssa's race was fairly similar, although she had no competitors near her. Melissa Majumdar joined her for the first lap, and then I ran some of the back half with her. The way she was attacking this race though, Ironman pros better watch out! Her laps were also extremely consistent, starting right around 50 minutes and finishing with a split just over 52 minutes by the end, for a 4:16:16. That's a 40 minute distance best from her Holiday Lake 2009 time, and an hour faster than her last 50k (Rosaryville, 2010).

Steve Wancowicz was also out there, finishing at 6h23m.

I'll tell you though, that was a tough little race. It would have been cool as a 10k cross country course, but to do it five times, it really beat you up! As I mentioned in the email, Alyssa earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and rightfully so as a few hours after the race she was in the pool!

I also awarded KC Masterpiece Awards to Melissa and Terence for pacing and Christa for coming to spectate then leading a few girls on a second Club Challenge preview.

Brennan earned the first AutoZone In the Zone award as he rolled his 3rd race of 2014, and after watching the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix I decided to award the NOS Button award to Eric Sowinski, who anchored Team USA All-Stars to a new World Record in the 4x800m.

From the previous week, which I didn't write up on here, the PDAW went to Nate Brigham for his excellent 15:20 2nd place performance at the Pacers' First Down 5k in DC. As I mentioned, that's the fastest Nate's run with us, and it's one of the fastest early season performances we've ever seen. Great job Nate! Shout to Dustin Meeker (3rd, 15:40, while sick) and Melissa Tanner (2nd, 18:04) on terrific performances as well.

And of course last Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday, but it was also Graham's inaugural Tavern Run. We were blessed with good weather for it, and had a great turnout. Over a dozen people met at Mt. Washington Tavern, drinking and running their way back downtown with some incredible stops along the way at various Taverns.

Many the Miles

Scenario: a racing season that started with a half ironman in January. 3 Ironmans. 2 age group victories in said Ironmans. 10th place in the age group at the World Championship. Personal bests in every discipline, including a 15 minute distance best on the world's biggest stage. Qualifying to compete as a professional for 2014.

With all that, you'd expect that person's off-season to include a whole lotta nothing.

But Alyssa Godesky is anything but a typical athlete, and fueled by a desire to get back to her first love - racing ultras - she decided she had the legs to return to the JFK 50 Miler on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

When she first came to Baltimore at age 23 in 2008 she ran JFK in 8:05:18, and finished 5th. At the time it was her 4th consecutive finish and she'd gotten faster each year. In the 2009 edition, however, she had to withdraw during the race. Not long after that, she committed to full-time triathlon training and racing, and soon ultras took a bit of a backseat. Yearning for solo time on the trails she enjoys, the timing worked out to return to JFK for 2013.

In endurance events, finishes are never guaranteed. So much has to go right leading up to the race and on race day, and there's so much time for things to go wrong. Alyssa's recovery following Kona and subsequent JFK build-up had gone "perfect," she said, thanks to guidance from her coach, Hillary Biscay. And so, just 6 weeks after the Ironman, she was on the line in Boonsboro. She came off the Appalachian Trail at the mile 15.4 mark as the 3rd place woman, and was ahead of a lot of men. Clearly her trail running skills had not deteriorated. The next segment is a full marathon (plus a little) on the flat C&O Canal towpath. If I were racing, this is where I'd lose it. Every stride is the same, and after 2 hours getting beat up on the trails, it's got to be so painful. Especially when you see mile markers telling you exactly how much you still have left!

We caught up with Alyssa at mile 27, where she had slipped back to 5th. A couple of girls had passed her and were running together, dropping miles in the mid 7s. Finding the pace a bit unsustainable, Alyssa continued with her race plan. We saw her again at mile 41 and here is where we got a "why did I do this again?" The good news was that she didn't realize she had reached the end of the towpath, so that came as a pleasant surprise. Just 8 rolling road miles remained in the race. She was now in 6th, but headed to what was going to surely be a sub 7:40 finish. She blazed into the finish at Williamsport Middle School in 7:38:20 - 27 minutes faster than 5 years ago, and 6th among the women. It was an incredible race and she has certainly earned some downtime now.

Also competing on Saturday was Henry Peck. In case you weren't aware, Henry and his son Graham hold the World Record for fastest father-son marathon combo (at the same race) with their incredibly fast times at last year's Chicago Marathon. For Mr. Peck, races like this are kind of old hat, just another Saturday run for him. In fact, he had just run the Stone Mill 50 Miler the previous weekend, and Graham suggested that he'd run a bunch of long races recently.

Last year, Mr. Peck ran 7:47. Far from his best, but consider for a second this is a guy in his mid 50s who has run a lot of races over the years. He came off the AT behind quite a few people, but his confidence never wavered. He looked good, and ready to attack the towpath. By mile 27 he had started to pick off a bunch of people, and his pace was considerably faster than many in front of him. And he looked stronger than most as well. He just kept ticking away, running everyone in front of him down.

At mile 41, when the day had become cloudy, much windier, and a whole lot lonelier, he was still chugging along, raising his arms in the air and giving us thumbs up. He caught up to Alyssa right around here, and really started cooking on the road. In a car, the last 8 miles seemed much shorter, but I can only imagine how long they felt for the runners.

I'm not sure what place he was in off the AT, but he moved all the way up to 42nd at the finish, crossing the line in 7:33:20. That's a whopping 14 minutes faster than last year! He slammed a couple brews and looked like he hadn't even run 50 miles.

For their efforts, we awarded the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week to Alyssa, and the NOS Button Award to Mr. Peck. Congrats to you both on some amazing races this weekend!

T.K.O.

16. A number we associate with "candles" and "bars," but also with one word that could sum up the weekend of racing in Philadelphia:

SWEET

In March Madness, the Sweet 16 is the barometer, the measuring stick for success. To be among the final 16 teams playing at the end of the season means you've done something right: performed when it mattered, and executed a solid game plan.

In birthdays, the Sweet 16 is a coming-of-age recognition, a graduation to adulthood. No training goes into turning 16 per se, but the resulting celebration rewards the trials of growing up.

The reason for all the symbolism is that in Sunday's Philadelphia Marathon, we had 16 runners from our group out there competing. 16 people who have committed every day of the past few months to this one day. Outside of Boston, there's never been a weekend with so many people in marathon action. With that lengthy intro out of the way, I bring you Philthy Rich Race Weekend Recap Part 2.

As training partners, and Dragons, Dustin Meeker and Nate Brigham are seemingly inseparable in training and racing. They're also great leaders among the group, and have done an amazing job in setting up the fall for many of the folks racing this weekend. This marathon wasn't Nate's first rodeo, but for Dustin, as long as he crossed the finish he'd establish a best time. His previous marathon ended in a DNF, and after a tough fall last year he ended up not racing a marathon. Fueled by confidence in his fitness, Dusty went out fast on Sunday, leading the Falls Road train through the streets of Philadelphia. Admittedly his last 4 miles were pretty rough, but he crossed the line in 2:33:27, good enough for 18th place overall. Nate ran a little more conservatively. He discovered early on that his legs weren't responding the way he wanted, and as a veteran marathoner and patient runner, he maintained an effort that would leave him with enough in the tank to power through the end. It worked out, and while it wasn't his best time, it was a little faster than he ran at Boston back in April. 2:34:34 for 27th was Nate's result.

Phil Turner has run a few marathons before also, running mid 2:40s, before breaking out with a 2:40 earlier this year. Phil's 1:13 win at the NCR Half suggested that he was capable of running well under 2:40, and on Sunday he went out and executed. His slowest mile was a 6:06 mile 8 (which is not an easy mile). Everything else he kept in a 7 second range between 5:55 and 6:02 or so. Impressive. He ended up at 34th at 2:36:35 - averaging under 6 minute pace for the race. He's already plotting for Boston in the spring. Steve Febish has spent most of the fall running with Dusty and Nate, and on Sunday committed to going big. Steve's previous marathon was Eugene last spring, where he ran a little over 2:50. After winning the Baltimore Half a few weeks ago, he believed he could run a low 2:30. He went out on the pace, and paid for it a little in the back half - but finished up in 2:37:06 for 39th. Our 5th guy under 2:40 was Erik Orberg. Erik has the least running "pedigree," having only picked up running in the past couple of years, but has exceptional talent and drive, and above all an extraordinary work ethic. His 2:49 at Boston earlier this year motivated him to set his sights much higher, and the training he's put in this fall has been unbelievable. On Sunday, he executed one of the best plans I've ever seen, even-splitting his way to a 2:39:25 for 53rd.

David Cobb took a big chunk out of his previous marathon best - 6.5 minutes, to be exact - as he ran 2:51:16. He's had a great fall since he met up with us in early September, and is looking forward to 2014. Curt Forst, who I missed out on course, ran 2:52:20, which I'm pretty sure is a best time for him. I haven't seen Britt Kern in at least a few months, but I spotted him as he crossed the line. He looked pretty cooked, but he managed another sub 3 hour finish (2:58:59). On chip time he finished ahead of Megan DiGregorio, but technically finished just behind her, as she crossed in 2:59:09. Meg was far from pleased with the result, but it's important to have a little perspective. If blowing up and having a bad day results in a sub 3 hour finish (3 for 4 now since May 2012, with the one outside of 3 hours being just over 3), it's really not that bad of a day.

Nicole Wilson improved her Baltimore time by a couple of minutes, running 3:12:11, and Jeremy Gworek, who has had a tough fall, came through at 3:17:23. In his first ever marathon, Jon Miller found out that going out fast has its consequences as he crossed in 3:22:29. Aaron Thomas ran 3:41:42, and I mistakenly called this Lillian Pinault's first marathon but she corrected me that it's actually her second (but first in 5 years). She had a rough go out there, but got through it in 3:49:49. Sneaky Pete Mulligan ran, I didn't know that he was planning on it, and actually did it for him rather than his usual pacing gig. He finished at 3:54:57. And I'm guessing Jan Cook, who ran 5:23:03, had more than a few Guinnesses out there.

16 people. 9 under 3 hours. 5 under 2:40. 1 marathon. Wow. In all my years of watching races, I don't know if I've ever seen a more comprehensive performance from one team. And honestly, what's most impressive isn't that you finished, or ran well, but that you had the courage to try in the first place. A lot of runners don't even get that far.

In addition to the marathon, there was also the half on Sunday. Conrad Laskowski, aka Conrad the Barbarian aka Conrad the Destroyer, went out and did what Conrad does: run fast. A 4:50 first mile was a little ambitious, and most people would pay the piper soon after. But Conrad's not just anybody, and if anyone can endure a fast first mile and have the strength to keep going, it's him. He ran a lot of the race by himself, but in the end managed to hold off another runner in an epic battle for the line. They were awarded the same time (1:07:58) but Conrad took 12th to the other guy's 13th. The time was an 80 second PR, and 6 minutes faster than he ran at PDR in September. It's puts him at #2 now on our Top Ten list!

It seems like just last week that Nick Klastava ran his marathon, but it was over 8 weeks ago! Plenty of time to recover and build back up for a second fall race. A smart choice was a half rather than another marathon. On Sunday he wasn't able to get the result he'd expected, but a 1:22:06 is far from a bad time. Plus, he had great perspective about the year as a whole, which has been incredible. He's taken his fitness to a level he's never seen before, and had fun while doing it.

Some of our superstar ladies, Alley Firey and Grace Rochfort, both ran great races just a few weeks after running their first marathon at Baltimore. Alley went 1:49:14 and Grace narrowly missed breaking 2 hours, finishing at 2:00:11.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the terrific races at the "Who Knew Philly Had an 8k, Because Certainly None of Us Did" 8k on Saturday. Tim Burns and Andy Sovonick duked it out on the course, with both fellows running personal bests en route to 36th and 37th places, respectively. Tim ran 26:37 to Andy's 26:41.

As I mentioned in the email, it's not often that I award dual Purple Drink Athlete of the Week awards, but this week was too epic not to. 21 people ran a marathon, another 10 ran halves, and there were so many unreal races that I had to do it. So congrats to Carly and Erik, you guys definitely earned it!

We gave a KC Masterpiece Award to Christa for her efforts this weekend. A big half marathon PR followed by actively spectating the Richmond Marathon, then driving straight to Philly and watching everyone run on Sunday. Wow.

Conrad earned our NOS Button Award, and Sara D took home the AutoZone In the Zone award.

AND of course I can NOT forget the tremendous effort by the support crew: Molly and Dan at Richmond on Saturday, and then Cory, Christa, Meg M, Melissa T, PJ, Dave P, Joel, Sara B, Andy, Amy, and probably a few others I'm forgetting at Philly on Sunday. YOU guys are the difference makers! When the race gets tough, it's seeing those familiar faces, getting shouts of encouragement, or a reminder to stay relaxed, that can help getting to the end!

Cruel Summer

It's hot. It's cold. It's hot. It's cold.

Just when we thought summer was behind us, it kicked up again! After a cool Saturday morning, Sunday was warmer and much more humid. The Fantastic Ladies Day that was the Parks Half Marathon made the most of the conditions, and the unexpectedly challenging course. Megan DiGregorio paved the way in 4th at 1:25:25, and Meg McNew was just behind in 5th at 1:25:49. Carly Page had a strong 10 miles but had to fight the last 3, ultimately finishing in 9th at 1:28:30. Alyssa Godesky ran a season best - although all her other halves were after riding 56 miles - of 1:33:43. Julie Wolfe ran an open PR of 1:34:40. So a good day all around for the girls down in Bethesda.

Cory Donovan ran a half in Harrisburg, running 1:28:01, which I'm pretty sure has to be a PR for him. His watch might beg to differ (he had 1:27:30) but whatever, that's a good day! 4 weeks out from Chicago Marathon he's looking good for a solid race there.

Nick Klastava had the race of his life and probably the race of the year so far for our group. I'm not sure if Nick's run a marathon before or not, but if he has his 2:55:16 had to have blown out whatever previous best he'd run. He finished 26th at the Lehigh Valley Marathon. Shout to Dan Miranda, who was registered, knew he didn't have it in him to race due to some travel limiting his running over the past few weeks, and instead ran with Nick. Dave Ploskonka also raced with the sole goal of qualifying for Boston, and he ran 2:58:29 - his fastest time in quite some time.

We had double winners on Saturday at the Jessica Meredith Jacobsen Memorial 5k, with Steve Febish (16:46) and Meg D (19:28). Meg needs to stop racing twice each weekend!

Dave Berardi was 4th at the Police Pace 5k in 18:12, and Graham Peck ran a controlled 55:09 for 2nd at the Ithaca 10 Miler.

Christa Wagner was super speedy at the Run to Remember 5k, where she took 2nd in 20:25. You see kids, multisport training DOES make you fast! Denise Knickman was 3rd in 20:40.

Shout to Collin Anderson who ran the Downhill Dash 8k on Saturday (just a short while after a sub 18 minute 5k in another race). He ran 24:53 or something in the 8k, which featured a zillion feet of descent. But, as he noted, if he had been flat at sea level it probably would have been in the 27:xx range. The winner ran 20:44. Yowza!

In other overlooked races, Becky Parks was 7th at the Crystal Springs Invite, her first XC meet of the season. 6km in 24:40.

Then there was Ben Ingram at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships aka just call it the Half Ironman World Champs. In its 3rd (and last) year in Las Vegas, Ben said the course was every bit as difficult as advertised, and that the competition is no joke! They did have a little good fortune in that it rained, so while that made the bike a little tougher, it was at least a little cooler. Ben ran a 1:23 off the bike to finish 274th in the world at 4:46:34.

From earlier in the week, Kevin McGrath ran the Pier House 5k in exactly the same time (23:18) as he's been running, so I guess consistency is good! And at the Ravens Run 5k on Wednesday, Joel Gladfelter ran out-of-his-mind fast. He finished 3rd in 16:40. That's the first time Joel has broken 17 minutes, and he crushed it! We're hoping the course is legit, of course, and based on the other times it looks to be. Either way, it's fast. He said he's never felt that wasted immediately after the run so I don't think he could have squeezed another ounce out of himself. Timbo Slice Parker ran 17:52.

Awesome start to the almost-fall! Nick Klastava easily earned the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and a NOS Award was given to Joel Gladfelter.

I Woke Up in a New Bugatti

Unlike the weather, our Memorial Day Weekend of racing did not disappoint!

Dave Berdan, just a week off his Poconos Marathon win, scored double victories at the MCVETs 5k and 10k, in ridiculously fast times: 14:55 and 32:22. He was sitting a few seconds back of the two leaders at mile 2 in the 5k before unloading on them, burning them to a 15 second win. He was pretty tired heading into the 10k, and didn't want to have to run any faster than necessary. I thought 32:30 would be good enough to get the win, and I was right!

Steve Febish also doubled, finishing 6th in the 5k at 15:55 and 4th in the 10k at 33:18. In any given year, those times could win the race! Joel Gladfelter ran a 2 second PR in the 5k (17:08). He really had to dig for it. I see a sub 17 in his near future. Megan DiGregorio couldn't beat the Cali swag of Heather Tanner, but she was able to take the easy win in the 10k. Becky Parks also doubled, finishing 3rd (18:59) and 2nd (40:36). And of course Big D, Denise Knickman, doubled, finishing 4th and 3rd.

In Memorial Day racing action, Terry Decker finished 4th in 18:01 at the Special Ops 5k. This first year race was put on by Boston Street Running Company and got a solid showing! Terry broke 18 on the Shamrock course in March but was psyched about this "real course" PR. The day before he ran the BRRC Patapsco race, getting lost and running about twice as long as the actual race! Scott Boylan (15th) and Aaron Tripp (22nd) also raced Special Ops.

Andy "Drew" Thivierge and his wife recently moved to New Freedom, PA, which means we don't get to see him as much, but he at least let me know that he raced! Drew finished 3rd in 17:50 at the York Gold Star 5k.

Out in Colorado, Brennan Feldhausen was running the famed Bolder Boulder 10k. This is a super competitive event, but it's also a big one (like Peachtree) that attracts runners of all shapes and sizes. Brennan ran 38:35, but we figure that if it had been flat, and at sea level, he probably would have run 10 minutes faster and maybe been in competition for the win.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award this week went to Tom Stott, who ran his first race back since fracturing his foot earlier this year. Tom suffered a bad break (pun intended) in the trails at Patapsco on the FIRST weekend of the year. He was slated to run the Charlottesville Marathon in April, but that was out. So Tom's been working to come back and ran the Memorial Day 4 Miler in MoCo, running an awesome negative split race (5:40 last mile!).

It only seems right to honor the 6th installment of the Fast and Furious franchise that opened to huge box office numbers over the weekend with a NOS Button winner - and that's Dave Berdan. Dave sat comfortably in 3rd at mile 2 and pushed his NOS button at the right time to go flying by and take a huge win at MCVETs 5k!

Welcome to Earth

As we celebrated our Independence Day on Wednesday, many of you honored the birth of our nation by racing. The Arbutus Firecracker 10k used to be so low key that you had to FAX someone to get a registration form FAXED back to you. But, it had random money for age groups, so it was a diamond in a haystack. It's also not an easy course, and definitely not one that yields fast times.

Dave Berdan has returned fast and furiously to the race scene, and on Wednesday he finished 2nd to Ty Stump, running 33:25. Charles Larsen was 3rd in 33:53, and Tristram Thomas, in his last race as an American, was 4th in 34:09. How fitting was it that Tristram's last day here (before moving to Italy for grad school) was on the 4th of July? I didn't even know planes flew out on Independence Day.

Dan Miranda has been supplementing his run miles right now with a lot of time on the bike - and it seems to be working - as he ran 34:53 to finish 6th. Jack Flowers and Dave Berardi finish 9th and 10th, in 36:51 and 37:01. Then it was all ladies, as Jackie Truncellito trounced the field in 38:56. Lisa Ievers was up from Alabama and ran 41:36 for 3rd, while Denise Knickman finished 4th in 42:22. Emily Boss ran 48:21, and Karen Menge finished at 49:17.

Down in Atlanta, at THE Peachtree 10k, Jeff Rumbaugh ran 36:46 for 200th place (out of 57,000!).

Today, at another super large race, the Utica Boilermaker 15k in upstate NY, Mike Mashner finished 153rd in 57:19, while Aaron Tripp was 649th at 1:06:20. Jen Koshy ran 1:21:36.

In the scrum of Olympic Trials and a lack of events of our own, I forgot to mention them. Diane Heiser earned last week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week for her run at the Safaricom Marathon in Kenya. Honorable mentions were Brennan's race on Hayward Field, Dan Miranda's 16:51 5k in in Ellicott City, and Meg D/Amy Horst 1-2 at the BRRC 1500m.

For anyone who reads this today, you are privy to finding out THIS week's PDAW, and that goes to Jackie Truncellito. Denise said she was still in sight at 5k, and then blazed the 2nd half to run a seriously impressive time at Arbutus. She says she's just resumed training again, so expect to see more great results from her!

This week's NOS Award goes to Tyson Gay. Did anyone see how he burnt Justin Gatlin up at the end of the 100m in Paris? It was incredible. The time was "meh" (9.99) but he's really coming into race form.

And It's Not Even My Birthday

Well with no TRACK to watch tonight, I figured it was as good a time as any to get the weekend recap going.

Dreaded Druid Hills 10k was on Saturday morning, and you can click on a link to results on the right side. Jim and crew put on another great event, and special thanks to all the volunteers: Sara B, Fast Dan, Mike Zero, Dave P, my bro Kevin, Denise, Conrad, Amy, Cheese, Dan Goodman, Meg D, Pete, Karen, etc. This is a super tough race and the first thing I learned when I moved here in 2005 is that we don't run this one. Jim always used to think it was funny to have the faster folks out at the turnaround on top of the hardest hill handing out water. The conditions were pretty decent, but the times were not. Jack Flowers took 4th in 39:01. Jon Miller was 21st in 43:58, and Carla Williams finished 2nd among the women in 44:08. Madeline Tink Dulac was 5th in 46:21, and Sara Damiano was 12th in 49:04.

A result I missed in the email was the Spirit of Gettysburg 5k. Dave Berdan was 3rd in 15:18 and Tristram Thomas was 8th in 16:11. TT is certainly racking up the races before he heads out to Italy next week!

Sunday was the Baltimore Women's Classic 5k, and shout to our girls who all finished way up in the results, so I didn't have to look very far! Darcy McDonald finished 3rd to two foreigners, running 17:32. Megan DiGregorio, Liz Laseter, and Meg McNew went 5-6-7 in 18:35, 18:37, 18:42. For McNew it was her first run in the week since the marathon. Becky Parks was disappointed with her 19:33 result, but won't let it get her down, and Amy Horst is making some progress, as she went 19:45. Denise Knickman crossed in 19:56, and Lillian Pinault had a great race, running 20:11 - SO close to getting under 20! Marci Benda was just behind her in 20:14. Karen Menge had another consistent result, running 23:28.

Out in Columbia, another result I missed was the Celebrating Heroes Triathlon. Anthony van Lierop finished 2nd, Tom Stack was 5th, and Chris Scott was 41st. But the day's big story was the return to racing by Allison Gerbereux, who was 15th female and 2nd in her age group! She hasn't raced in years so it's cool to see her back. 3 small children will usually deplete your time and available energy.

Up in Philadelphia-town, a few of us were racing the PHLY Tri, part of the Toyota/Lifetime Fitness Series. Marc Malott overcame a slow swim with a monster bike, catapulting himself into a very high place in the amateur division, and finishing 31st overall. Mike Mashner had a very even race, and was just behind in 36th. Andy Sovonick fell ill just prior to the weekend, courtesy of Tom Stott, but managed to hold his own, finishing 46th I believe. Pro and former GRCer Lindsey Jerdonek finished 9th, but was then disqualified on account of a pack of women inadvertently cutting one of the buoys in the swim. A lot of weird rules things happened in triathlon this weekend, hopefully I'll have some time to address them this week.

The day's big performer - and earner of our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week - was Alyssa Godesky. Alyssa qualified for Ironman World Championships in Kona at her last Ironman in Arizona, so Ironman Coeur d'Alene was just to get one under her legs before her trip to the Big Island. With water temps in the 55 degree range and rain/chop to contend with, she recorded an IM swim PR at 1:04, and then overcame a 4 minute penalty on the bike to go from 8th out of the water (AG) to 2nd off the bike. For a little bit we thought she'd catch the leader on the run, but she just ran out of real estate. She still had the fastest run of the day in her AG (3:45) and went 10:50:44 on a tough course. She was 22nd F overall and had she needed it, would have earned a spot to Hawaii. Instead, the 3rd place girl was made very happy at rolldown. David Lee also competed, and had a very even race, only showing signs of fatigue in the last 7 miles (understandable!). He went 11:37:46.

Some tremendous displays of ballerness and sportsmanship landed pro athletes in our other award spots. Notably, Galen Rupp earned the KC Masterpiece Award for helping keep the tempo high to get his friend and training partner, Dathan Ritzenhein, to the Olympics in the 10,000m. Ashton Eaton - what else can you say about his performance - earned Baller of the Year. The NOS Award goes to Duane Solomon, as he finished 3rd in the 800m to punch his ticket to London - but ONLY because he also ran under the A standard, which he hadn't yet achieved.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

We're heating up...

In spite of unfavorably warm temperatures over the weekend, we had some terrific performances:

On Friday evening, Darcy McDonald was runner-up to GRC's Anna Holt-Gosselin at the PR Twilight 4 Miler, running 22:47. Up in PA, Drew Thivierge went head to head against Abiyot Endale, but it wasn't very close as Abiyot went onto win in an absurdly quick 19:09. Drew was 14th in 23:42. Side note: Endale THEN went onto win the Damien's Run 5k in a course record 14:23 or something on Sunday. If he were on our team, I'd probably have given him the PDAW...

Dave Ploskonka, just a week off his Old Dominion 2nd place, for some reason went out to the Maryville Marathon in Kansas or somewhere, and finished 9th in 3:32:32. Interestingly, elsewhere in Kansas or Missouri, Sara Breedlove ran the inaugural Pioneer 5k. Terence Baptiste posted up at Lawyers Have Heart 10k in DC, running 36:32 for 33rd place.

Sunday was a big day, one of my least favorites of June. At the 4.4 Mile Chesapeake Bay Swim, Brian Benda finished 4th in 1:32:18, which is obviously awesome. I wonder how long it would take Joel to swim 4.4 miles? Couple of days? Benda said the water was nice, no chop, but large swells. Going back inland, it was our men stealing the spotlight for once, going 1-2-3 at Survivor 7. Luke Belford and Elijah Kosgei ran side by side until 2k to go, when Luke was able to drop "the 40 Year Old" Elijah, winning in 39:09 to Elijah's 39:28. Jack Flowers was with them up to that point as well, when he must have gotten severely torched, as he finished in 40:54. Tom Stott ran a 7 mile PR at 42:58, and Bryn Burkholder finished 6th in 49:30.

The theme of the weekend was seriously Kansas, as Ben Ingram competed in his first official half ironman, the Kansas 70.3. A non-wetsuit swim, gusty winds, and high temperatures made for tough conditions, but Ben had a great race, finishing 43rd in 4:40:51, on the heels of a 1:19:28 run - one of the fastest of the day, including pros.

But out on the Eastern Shore it was the sufferfest known as Eagleman. Andy Sovonick, in his first long-distance race, had an awesome swim, a great ride, and then found out that running off the bike in 90+ temperatures can make you run slower. Andy finished 73rd in 4:31:37. OJ Keller had the 2nd fastest non-pro swim of the day, and rode just a minute off his fastest bike split there. He held on valiantly through 9 miles of the run before fading a little, and finished in 75th at 4:32:09. Marc Malott, another EM virgin, had a solid race all around, and finished safely in 4:35:32 for 92nd. Ashley Campbell made it through and lives to fight another day. She went 5:46:23.

The relay team of Alyssa Godesky and Carly Page (O Say Can You See Those Fast and Pretty Girls) won the female relay and was 2nd overall, nearly beating a team with 3 athletes, including two dudes. Alyssa swam and rode, and then poor Carly had to run a half marathon in the middle of the day after sitting in the heat all morning. She did it though, and now appreciates triathlon I think.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Andy Sovonick for his excellent first Eagleman, and our KC Masterpiece Award for coming through in the clutch went to Ed Aramayo. Ed was a great help on Sunday to not only us, but race winner and 3x Ironman Champ, Craig Alexander. Ed gave him time checks back to his competitors, which is pretty cool. The NOS Award went to Ben Ingram for his speedy run off the bike.

Set Fire to the Rain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posting Videos to Facebook

Do you guys know how to do this?  Anyone?

Consider this weekend recap part deux, the non-Forget Towson edition.  Early Saturday morning up in Hampstead, the multisport season kicked off with the St. Patrick's Day Duathlon.  Alyssa Godesky finished 2nd here a year ago, just as she was beginning her year-long assault on triathlon.  This year she was the clear favorite, armed with a significantly faster run and strong bike.  But "green"horn Christa Wagner was going to give her a run for her money, on the runs, at least.  Alyssa and Christa ran together for most of the opening 5k, before Christa took off down a steep hill and entered T1 with a few second lead.  Alyssa breezed through transition and out onto the bike course, and her split had her up by 7 minutes as she entered T2.  Christa, meanwhile, rode a great race in her first racing effort on a bike, and maintained her position.  While Alyssa cruised to the win, Christa blitzed the 2nd run (2.5 miles) and finished 2nd in her first ever duathlon.  Christa had the fastest runs of the day.

Out in Fredneck, PJ Anderer doubled down on racing action, running the Francie's Family 5k in the morning, placing 7th in 20:51, and later in the day running the Forest of Needwood (twss) 5 Miler, where he finished 17th in 37:11. 

Down in Florida, it was Becky Parks vs the Snowbirds at the Lehigh 4 Miler.  Following Lehigh's miraculous win over Duke on Friday night, Becky validated the race's namesake by snatching the W in 25:13.

DC was overrun by Rock n Rollers on Saturday morning, but at least a handful of people were out there to race.  Unlike years past, when the event has typically been contested in temps in the mid 30s to low 40s, conditions were downright mild, as morning temperatures were already in the upper 50s.  Terrific if you're out for a stroll along the Mall, checking out Cherry Blossoms, but potentially tough for a hard run.  Dan Miranda never found his rhythm, and ended up disappointed with his 1:22:17.  The good news: he's got time to figure things out ahead of Boston, but always tough to not have the performance you expected to have.  And somehow the mystical powers of going into races undertained led Sara Spears to a new half PR of 1:51:33 - way to go S.!

Sunday was a day of big races: the NYC Half and Shamrock Marathon in VA Beach.  Up in New York, Sam Wollner gave chase to the big boys for as long as he could - but after about a quarter mile they were out of sight and he just focused on his race (psyche - he just ran his race the whole time!).  Sam's winter of running was rewarded with a minute PR, 1:31:48.  Sara Damiano also PR'd, but just a couple of seconds, but took it nonetheless.  She ran 1:41:01. 

Down in Virginia Beach it was the Race That Almost Wasn't.  When I saw Conrad Laskowski at UMBC on Saturday morning I thought "hmm, interesting, doesn't Conrad have a race in Virginia Beach tomorrow?" and sure enough, he did.  His plan was to drive down at night, and have his packet delivered to his hotel.  Only that option closed two days prior, and his hotel was not eligible for drop-off.  Thanks to Dave Ploskonka, indirectly, the potential race-ending-before-it-started crisis was avoided, and C-rad made it down in time to toe the line.  He was rewarded with a 7th place finish and a new PR of 2:36:58.  Dave, pacing the marathon, ran 3:14:55.  Denise Knickman was 9th among women in 3:09:02.

Great racing all around, and a great weekend of basketball too!  I would like to commend myself for being spot on with some of my picks.  Unfortunately, Sunday was a rough day, but the good news for me is that I get to stay up really late watching heart-gnawing games from tomorrow through Sunday again this week!

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week was awarded to Sam Wollner.  Sam has been working very hard and it shows - he's keeping up with a speedier group on Mondays, and has been having some amazing Tuesday track workouts.  Sam has fins for feet, but, like Ariel, is starting to find his legs.  And he didn't even have to give up his Voice.  Mondays, on NBC.

And we gave our NOS Award this week to Christa, who seriously hit that button hidden in her ashtray on Saturday!

Track last night - good workout, but surprised by the small turnout.  With 70 degrees and daylight, you'd have thought more people would have showed!  We did, however, see the return of Rodney "Stick" Timpson (now 47 years old), Jordan Orr, and JOEL BRUSEWITZ.

Rack City

It was a day of amazing performances, with no fewer than 13 personal best times recorded on the streets of Baltimore.  Shortly before the St. Patrick's Parade took over the streets, the Falls Road Racing Team paraded around the Harbor, occupying 3 of the top 4 spots on the men's side, and 15 in the top 50 overall.  Green-clad revelers lined the streets, while green-clad runners lined up behind the "elite" field.  After the Whitney Houston version National Anthem, racers took off sprinting down Charles Street.  From my vantage point, I could see there was a formidable pack up front as they approached the 2 mile mark, with Carlos Renjifo, Conrad Laskowski, Dustin Meeker, Tristram Thomas, and Jake Klim all in close proximity.  As the fatigue built, it was Carlos who had the legs to take the win from Conrad, 15:04 to 15:09.  For Carlos, a great win.  Two weeks ago he was overwhelmed by the FRR contingent at Club Challenge, and raced hard to break things up.  Yesterday, he got his moment.  For Conrad, a terrific PR just a week out from his Shamrock Marathon.  Conrad has been on point this season.  The time makes him the 4th fastest in our history, and I think we might see a sub 15 this year from him.

Dusty ran an 11 second PR, but once again finished 4th as Tristram was able to overtake him in the closing meters, 15:18 to 15:22.  For Tristram, a 16 second PR.  The great Red Fox turned up next at 5th, running 15:28.  Dan Miranda and Brennan Feldhausen exchanged leads with one another, but Dan's foot speed was just a little bit better than Brennan's, as Dan finished in 16:12 and Brennan came across at 16:15.  For Dan, a 10 second PR, and for Brennan, a 20 second PR.  Great for both guys, neither of whom is training for this event right now!  Andy Sovonick, untimed because he was unsuccessful in attaching his chip properly, finished at 16:24, but has bigger fish to fry this year in the form of Eagleman. 

At 16:40, Kris Simms crossed the line.  Our very own Benjamin Button, Kris lowered his PR by a couple ticks and will be 40 next month.  Who runs faster at 40 than they ever have before?  That guy.  Mike Mashner came through in 16:49, a small improvement from last year, and Steve Febish, in his Shamrock debut, stopped the clock at 16:51.  Pat McLoughlin was running with those guys for a while, but faded in the last mile, finishing at 17:12.  Still, Pat gets less sleep and runs fewer miles than anyone here right now, so that's a good result. 

The next finisher for us was also the women's winner: Meg DiGregorio.  Meg D came into the race with a 17:53 PR, but has been crushing workouts lately, and if she didn't go under 18, I wasn't going to let her come back to track.  Meg ran a solid pace throughout, and said at the end that she felt strong.  She ran a huge new PR, 17:35, and earned a great win.  Andy Thivierge was right behind her, in 17:43.  Big Terry Decker broke 18 for the first time - a terrific accomplishment for him!  And hot on his heels was Lady #2, Meg McNew.  A day shy of her [redacted] birthday, Meg took her PR from 18:45 to 18:01 in one fell swoop.  Truly an awesome race for the Megs. 

Meg McNew, just before her 2nd place effort

Liz Laseter (now GRC) rounded out the podium, finishing in 18:23.  Melissa Tanner, a former winner of this event, is finding her legs again, running an 18:45, and Becky Parks finally cracked that 19 minute barrier, running 18:55, for 7th.  Great job ladies!

Jon Miller, running mostly for fun, finished at 19:35, but it was PJ Anderer who stole the show, running 19:45.  It was his first time under 20 since he was 20, which is awesome.  Aaron Tripp also cracked 20, running 19:48.  Kelly Meier ran a big PR of 20:41, and Patty Stott, running the race "without life inside of her" this year, ran a PR by a minute, 22:35. 

It was an awesome display of greatness, so congratulations to all of you.  And big thanks to the many, many supporters we had out there on the course: Nate, Pete, Ed (forgot he wasn't racing), BG, Prada, Alyssa, Christa, Chrissie, Amy, Arjun, Melissa, Dave P, Tim Parker, Tim Burns, Joel, Alex, Diane, Donna, Vivian, Haleigh, and the moms of Tom and Becky!

The other BIG race of the weekend was Joel Gladfelter's enormous, 90 second PR at the half marathon.  He ran the Chambersburg Half in 1:22:10, finishing 11th.  Terrific job.  And props to Christa, who supported Chambersburg on Saturday, then was back out there on Sunday for the rest of us!

It was a very tough week to decide the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.  So many PRs, so many terrific races, but to honor one who has worked tremendously hard over the past few months, it is going to PJ Anderer.  Way to go buddy, keep it up!

Meg McNew hit her NOS Button at the right time, and is being honored as such (happy birthday, BTW), and Meg D is In the Zone right now.  You two are running great!

(L to R): RM, Dusty, Pat, Steve, Dan

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. 

Conrad the Barbarian

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! 

This is what winning looks like. Photo via Amy Flashenberg.

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.

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.

All We Do is Light it Up

We were all there, or hopefully all read this morning's email, so rather than go through every single result from Celtic Solstice, I'll focus on the highlights:

Dave Berdan won his 5th Celtic Solstice, but it wasn't easy.  Coming off the best fall racing season of his career, "The Teacher from Garrison Forest" was set to defend his title, but not if the rest of the deep field had their way.  From the gun, HCS' Carlos Renjifo charged to the front of the race, and, joined by our own Tristram Thomas, the pair forged a small gap on Berdan.  Dave admitted after the race that he was hurting, and contemplated just letting it go.  But this is Celtic Solstice.  This is Dave's race.  You knew he wasn't going to race for 2nd or 3rd, he was going to go for the win.  Coming off the Mansion Loop and into the Conservatory turnaround, Dave moved past Tristram and sat just a few strides back of Carlos.  The race was now on, as Dave surged by Carlos to assume the lead, and he wasn't going to give it up.  They hit the Reservoir Loop and Dave's confidence built with each stride, but neither Carlos, nor Tristram, was done just yet.  With a quarter mile to go, runners turn down Wyman Park Drive towards the finish, and anything can happen on this downhill dash to the line.  But Dave made sure he was going to keep his crown as he set a new Course Record (because it was a new, harder course) in 25:47, with Tristram moving past Carlos to finish 2nd in 26:00.

Dustin Meeker, third a year ago in 26:13, finished 4th this year in 26:14.  Nate Brigham made his return to competitive racing, finishing 5th in 26:23.  Running a big PR, with some encouragement from Conrad Laskowski, Dan Miranda finished in 9th at 27:01.  Another one making moves was Seth Tibbitts, who received some pacing help from Alex Battaglino, as they finished at 27:22.  That's over a minute faster than last year for Seth, so I expect some big things from him at CC this year!  Rounding his fine 2011 out with another great Celtic Solstice performance was Tom Stott, who ran 29:16.

On the women's side, the race was all but determined as soon as Chrissie Ramsey made known she was running.  This Olympic Trials Qualifier, and perennial contender for the Brita Grothe Best Ass Award, set not only the Course Record, but the Team 5 Mile Record, as she cruised to the win in 28:27.  Second place went to Julia Webb, who as we all know is pregnant, showed that even soon-to-be-moms can still compete, as she ran a stellar 29:35.  In non-Chrissie years, that kind of time is good enough to win.  Denise Knickman was 6th, and first master, in 32:35, and one of the best performances of the day came from 8th place Christa Wagner, who ran 33:05.  This is equivalent to her 2011 best 5k pace, for another two miles, on a very difficult course.  Great job CW!  Jackie Truncellito, Madeline "Tink" Dulac, and Melissa Tanner all finished within a few seconds of one another around 33:30, and then an off-season Meg McNew ran 35:03.  Lillian Pinault had a great race as she ran a 35:42, which was 50 seconds faster than her best 5 mile time for the year.  Another super performance came from Patty Sweeney-Stott, who learned on Saturday that in order to run fast, you should feel uncomfortable.  She ran a 42:46, which is a big, BIG PR, for the woman who gave birth 6 weeks ago.

But as I mentioned in the email, the performance of the day, and the foregone conclusion for Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, went to Justin Gerbereux.  Big Pappa has not raced in 2.5 years (Rockville 09 was his last).  Fighting the back injury that nearly crippled him, and subsequent spine surgery, it was amazing and awesome to see him on the course on Saturday.  And, flanked by two great members of Falls Road Brown, Kris Simms and Terence M. Baptiste, Justin ran a 32:11.  That is insane.  For their efforts, Kris and T, who coincidentally also like BBQ sauce, earned this week's KC Masterpiece Award.  Christa Wagner earned a very well-deserved NOS Button Award.

It was the 12th year for Celtic Solstice, a race that Jim started with just over 100 people.  It has now grown to 35 times that size, with over 3500 registered for Saturday's race.  Most people do it for the premium.  Some like the course.  Some don't have anything else going on.  Whatever the reason, big shoutout to Jim, Karen, Pete, Dan, all the Falls Road staffers, and anyone else who lent a hand in the past week (or couple of weeks) to put this event on.  Now we just have to talk Jim out of trying to grow the race.  It's too big! (that's what I hope she said?)

This week we have our HEADLAMP night tonight at FHR, and tomorrow there will be people going to the track for various workouts.  Since this weekend is Christmas, after all, I don't necessarily expect anyone to be running around here, but if you DO stay in town, or are local, and want to get a run going, feel free to post on the blog.  We will be back in action over New Year's weekend with some runs. 

And a special tribute, to our GRC compatriot, and my friend, Jake "Red Fox" Klim, who announced over the weekend that he will be stepping down from his role as de facto captain of GRC's team... Jake was one of the first people I met when I arrived in 2005, in the faux parking lot at Patapsco following a run.  Jake, by his own admission, was a run-of-the-mill athlete in college, who took his passion and commitment to an incredible level, putting himself in the mix with athletes of "higher pedigree."  He has led by example, and with enthusiasm for the sport, and is largely responsible for the creation and cultivation of this amazing Georgetown Running team.  No leadership effort of a group is truly individual, and I'm sure Jake would be quick to credit some of the other folks who have played a part in developing and organizing the group, but he has always served as the point man for competitive DC running.  He knows everyone, is everywhere, and does it because he loves to run.  Jake will continue to train and race with the team, so it's not like we won't get to see him (or continue to read his fox-fetish of a blog), but I just wanted to take a minute to recognize this great asset of Mid-Atlantice running.  First Regis, now Klim...

And, in case you haven't read their 2011 Review blog, it's a good one!  Complete with pictures, a few jabs at Baltimore, some spelling errors...but I digress.  It is actually a good little read.  Even if they did all of a sudden start having awards night too...haha

Putting On For Our City

Full disclosure: Since no fewer than 50 of us competed in some way at the Baltimore Running Festival this weekend, not everyone's story will be highlighted in this recap.  You can see everyone's results on the side.

The 5k

Tristram Thomas won the 5k in 15:34, which was a 17 second improvement from his time last year, and a 17 second season best.  It also moved him from 9th to 5th in our Top Ten All Time list.  TT was disappointed the time wasn't faster, but put some of that on the lack of competition in the field.  In the women's race, Melissa Tanner was 2nd in 19:20, with New Becky Parks just behind in 3rd (19:29).  For NBP it was a season best.  She said she was going to try her best not to get drunk on Friday night, which could explain the performance.  But after the race, and Saturday night, and most of Sunday, she made up for all that she couldn't drink on Friday.  Erik Westlund had a cortisone shot prior to the race, which made his foot feel better, but also inhibited him from running too fast.  Christa Wagner ran 20:48, which was almost a minute improvement from her time last year, and I'm pretty sure a PR.  It also placed her 9th. 

The Half Marathon

A group of 8 blitzed from the gun, clipping the first mile in under 5:30.  Brennan Feldhausen made sure to dial back his effort, and it paid off for him as he began to reel everyone back in at Lake Montebello.  With sustained winds of 20mph, including a headwind for the final 5-6 miles, most recorded their slowest mile on the flat mile around the Lake.  Brennan finished 5th in 1:17:16, which while off his goal, didn't leave him feeling too concerned.  Tim Parker was coming off a fine finish at the Delaware Distance Classic 15k, and was looking to improve on last year's 1:22 low that he ran.  Unfortunately it wasn't his day, as he finished up at 1:26:31.  Another who had trouble finding his legs was Joel Gladfelter, who was hoping to go under his 1:23 time from a few weeks ago.  Joel finished up at 1:31:02, but as bad days happen, you just put it behind you and move on.  David Lee, better known for his monster skills on the bike, and Sam Wollner, the swimmer, both found their running legs as they finished in 1:31:14 and 1:32:51, respectively.  Jon Miller (1:38:42) and PJ Anderer (1:40:56) each ran fine races, and Colin Brooks had a good race, running 2:07:03.  I will keep telling this story for a while, but Colin thought that the mile markers indicated what mile you were STARTING.  In other words, he thought the race starts at Mile 1 (instead of 0) and that at mile 10 he still had 4 miles to go.  So he had a little too much left in the tank!

For the ladies, Jackie Truncellito ran a great race, improving by 1:40 on her 2010 time in her 3rd place effort (1:28:46).  Kelly Meier also ran a great race for herself, finishing in 1:39:15.

The Marathon

The laurels and praises for Dave Berdan's 2:21:19, 10th place effort, could not be higher or more plentiful, so we don't need to recap his performance.  I am confident that, at any race besides Baltimore, his effort would have resulted in a sub 2:19 time, and if he gives it a go again this fall, may the wind be at his back!

But there were others running this race, some for the first time, and some as their first marathon.  Conrad Laskowski shot out like a bullet, running most of the race by himself, and splitting 1:15:30 at the half.  He paid for it in the back half, as almost everyone does, but still finished up at 2:44:00, good enough for 27th.  Andrew Beef Jaffe always makes me scratch my head, as he muscles and bulls his way to great times.  He finished up at 2:49:01.  Pat McLoughlin, due to the forces of nature, decided to make Baltimore his first marathon.  Perhaps not ideal from a "fast race" perspective, it did allow him to train on the course and avoid traveling.  It also meant he was going to have support the entire way.  He didn't disappoint.  Running 1:23 at the half, he managed to hold himself together for a 1:27 back half and finish at 2:50:43 for 36th place.  A fantastic debut for Pat!

For the women, Denise Knickman finished 13th and was top master, claiming $1000 for her 3:09:45 effort.  Perhaps the surprise of the day was Meg McNew's 3:10:38, which, all things considered, is probably equivalent to her 3:06:43 from two weeks ago at Wineglass.  This is an incredible confirmation of her fitness, but now hopefully she'll take at least more than a couple of weeks off from serious running!

The Relay

We didn't have the numbers, or desire, to put together open men and open women teams, so it was just one co-ed team with Arjun (who hadn't really run in two weeks), Ed (who had just run his marathon 6 days earlier), Amy, and Meg D.  They won handily over Team Jaskot (2nd place co-ed) and finished 4th overall in the relay division at 2:42:12.  Apparently Meg D (4th leg) was enjoying the water stations. 

Andy Olson, and Nina Hartman, separately ran as individuals on the same team (inside joke) and established a team PR for themselves. Dave Berardi was on the 3rd place team, comprised of HCS masters. 

The Purple Drink Athlete of the Week

With many worthy performances on the docket, the PDAW showed its bias towards those competing in their first marathon, and with a 2:50 debut, it's one of the best debut marathons we've seen in our years here.  "Congrads" Pat!

But we weren't quite done with racing just yet!

Sunday was the Columbus Marathon and Half.  Although many were looking to run OTQ times, it appears as if, between both races, just a handful of women were able to do it - the half winner and a couple in the marathon.  The male marathon winner was 45ish seconds off and the half winner was even less than that.  Dustin Meeker wasn't interested in qualifying for the Trials, he just wanted to run a fast time.  He has been incredibly diligent in his preparations over the past few months, and he unleashed the fury on Sunday, covering the 13.1 mile course in 1:10:34 and finishing 13th out of nearly 10,000 runners.  For Dusty, it was a PR of 1:06, which is pretty insane.  It also helped him leapfrog Ben by 2 seconds to put him in 4th in our Top Ten All Time (in fairness, Ben has run 1:09 but it was before he met us so we don't count it. It also was before the internet, so there is no published record of it). 

Meanwhile, up in Detroit, Lauren Boof Dennisuk ran the Detroit Free Press Marathon, finishing 41st in 3:21:37.

Elsewhere in Michigan, Ryan Schmidt ran on a relay race at the Grand Rapids Marathon with his wife, his brother, sister, and sister-in-law.  They were out to have some fun, and for Sara, it was the first race I can remember her doing in a long time! 

This week we will honor Dusty with the NOS Award, for pushing his NOS button at just the right time.  He split 10k at 33:05 and zoomed past 4 people from 10k to the finish.

We will also honor the AutoZone In the Zone athlete, Dave Berdan, who seems to be firing on all cylinders following his great runs at PDR, Race for our Kids, and now Baltimore. 

I Believe I Can Fly

Under normal circumstances, comparing Pete Mulligan to Michael Jordan would be ludicrous, unless we were talking about the Michael Jordan that played minor league baseball for the Chicago White Sox.  But what Pete accomplished on Sunday was akin to all of MJ's career highlights, rolled into one.  Pete shaved 27 minutes off his previous personal best in the marathon, an astronomical improvement, and in the process, achieved the new (and more difficult) qualifying standard for the Boston Marathon.  Pete's time of 3:24:15 put him inside the 3:25 time limit for his age group, so, with some good fortune, Pete will be on the line in April 2013. 

Pete at the Hon Run 2007

That performance was enough to earn Pete the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, but it wasn't without some stiff competition.

Pete raced at the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY, a race known for its fast times and propensity for bestowing Boston Qualifying times upon its competitors.  A point-to-point, downhill race, this year's edition took place in wet, chilly conditions that seemed to be too much for some, but just right for others.  And apparently, the "others" were everyone that we run with.  Meg McNew's previous marathon best was a 3:17.  She lopped off 11 minutes, running 3:06:43 and finishing 8th among women. 

In the inaugural half marathon, Carly Page showed her fitness by not just winning the race, but doing it in style, and running a 6 minute PR (1:25:48).  I mistakenly cited her position on the Top Ten All Time list, supplanting Meg McNew's best, but was corrected and I apologize to both of them for the error! 

Terry Decker also competed in the half, but was a little disappointed with his result - a 1:29.  He felt he was better than that effort, and I think so too, so I hope he can get on track for his upcoming marathon.  His fiance, Molly Eagen, ran her first marathon and went 4:23, which is a great debut time.

Also earning wins this weekend were Arjun Majumdar and New Becky Parks, in two lowkey, local 5k's.  Arjun ran the Marian House 5k on Saturday at Lake Montebello.  The awful idea of having a two loop course led to Arjun and his main competitor having to weave through walkers towards the end of the race while engaging in a sprint to the finish.  Mostly, our biggest question was who is this guy that is able to keep up with Arjun in the last 400m of a 5k?  Apparently his balls were exposed, too, which had to have been quite a sight.  In any event, it was hard to tell who was going to win but in the last few strides, Arjun got him, running a great 16:39 and earning his first W in a long, long time.  For NBP, who ran the not-accurately-timed-or-measured Sowebo Landmark 5k on Sunday, she of course won and was not pleased with the effort.  Or the shoddy organization.  But what did you expect, it's a race in Southwest Baltimore!

The Falls Road 15k was held on Sunday and thanks to everyone who helped out, even if some of you were "on the clock" for the store.  Alyssa Godesky finished 2nd among women behind soon-to-be-newcomer-to-the-group Kellen McGee.  Alyssa had to run before the race, and then was supposed to pick up the 2nd half of the race.  She tackled the hills of the course and ran a great time.  Just behind was PJ Anderer, and then Kelly Meier in 3rd.  In 6th was Sara Damiano, who joined us for track tonight.  Christine Trzcinski and Karen Menge rounded our our troupe of ladies who stormed the race. 

Lillian Pinault ran the Freedom's Run Half Marathon in 1:42:45, about 7 minutes faster than she was expecting, and Dan Miranda doubled in back-to-back half marathons, running a 1:18:43 in a 2nd place effort at a half marathon in New Hampshire on Saturday, before flying back Saturday night and running the half marathon leg of a half ironman on Sunday in Columbia (where he ran about 1:20).  Not a bad weekend!

Out in Oregon, Matty Blaze Jablonski was racing in his first ever big boy college race, the Bill Dellinger Invitational, an 8k cross country race at U of O.  Matt finished 41st in a stacked field (every race will be stacked for him from now on) in a great debut time of 24:45.  At another college xc race, the Paul Short Invite, on Friday, Tristram Thomas finished 122nd in 27:39.

Our final competitor this weekend was Ben Ingram, who was looking forward to competing in his first ever half ironman at the inaugural Poconos 70.3.  The only problem was the river they were using to stage the swim was surging, and at 14 feet, the park said the swim was a no-go.  So the race became a bike-run, with a 55 mile ride and 13.1 mile run, and competitors were to go off every couple of seconds.  Ben wrote up his race report on his blog, but basically in this type of race he is going to crush almost every time, and his result was a 3rd place AG finish, which earned him a spot to next year's IM 70.3 World Championship!  However, since he just registered for IM Wisconsin, which is the same day, he had to pass.  Must be nice to have that option! 

As mentioned in the email, in addition to our PDAW, we have two new awards that will be popping up from time to time:

The NOS Award goes to the athlete who punched it at just the right time, and this week it went to Arjun.

The AutoZone "In the Zone" Award goes to an athlete who seems to be hitting his or her stride, and this week it went to Carly Page.

Good turnout at the track tonight, it was obviously pitch black just after we started the workout, which is unfortunate but we'll just have to get used to it!  Also as I put in the email, the next few weeks we are going to start winding down.  For the most part, the few of you that have marathons this fall know what you're doing, and there are enough of you to keep working out together for a while.  For everyone else, I think you're mostly satisfied just getting in some quicker running, so the workouts will be fun.  Also, somehow Space Jam was already a label for me to use.