Well, May came and went, and, outside of my overly lengthy Alumni Mile recap, I just didn't get around to getting weekly recaps posted. Now that we're into June it seems silly to try and do individual ones, so I'm just going to recap the weeks in this post.
The first weekend of May was indeed a busy one. Besides the renowned Alumni Mile, it's the traditional weekend for Broad Street up in Philly (fastest 10 mile course in the US) as well as Frederick Half, Flying Pig in Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh Marathon.
Over the years, Mike Mashner's nickname has caused some confusion. When Mike started running with us in 2007, we already had a few other Mikes, so we needed a way to distinguish them. We started calling Mike "New Mike" - which reminded us of New Coke, and then Coke Zero, and voila - we had Mike Zero. Or just Zero. Or simply Z. So no, his last name is not actually Zero. Mike has not finished an open marathon since Boston 2009, when he ran 2:55, which was a 7 minute PR at the time. Over the next few years his training focused primarily on Ironman, and in the past few years attempts at the distance were repelled by plaguing injuries. One year it was a DNF halfway into Philly Marathon; the next was a DNS. Heading into this year, with the Achilles/calf injury still nagging, Z made the switch to Hoka and - no joke - things started to get better. His weeks rarely exceed 40 miles, in fact many were under 30, but he's always done well in spite of lower volume. His 1:22:20ish half marathon tune-up in late March was enough to let him know he was ready for a marathon a month later. Tracking his progress during the race, his execution was fantastic. Splits were all incredibly consistent, and he ended up nearly even-splitting his way to a 2:45:39 for 31st overall. A huge PR and one of the best races we've ever seen! It was more than enough to earn him that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
In the not-too-distant-past, Broad Street was the shit. Point to point and net downhill, it's the site of the fastest 10 mile race ever run in the US. It is a huge participation race, but you used to be able to register the day before the race, entry fee was cheap, and it was a fun event. Then they decided they would put a cap on participants and that somehow caused the race to begin selling out. Entry fee increased. I think the organization just isn't as committed to bringing the same firepower as Cherry Blossom is, because winning times for the past few years have been in the 47s. I think the race was pretty stingy with their prize money, if I recall correctly. Anyway, still a fast race, and Nick Klastava ran a solid 57:12 (which may have suffered from a few second clock to chip discrepancy and actually been closer to 57:02). New Haven resident, Christy Ramsey, was 10th F in 57:31.
Out in Frederick, Dave Berdan finished 3rd in 1:10:37, while Nicole Wilson also finished 3rd in 1:23:58.
The following weekend was mostly a bunch of rinky dink races. But they randomly had money, and the Pecks exploited the shit out of them. First up was the Run For Their Lives 5k, where Graham Peck took top prize ahead of Chris Beck, and Kaylyn Peck took 2nd ahead of Justine DiGregorio in 3rd. Cha-ching. Then the Pecks drove the couple of miles across the valley for the St. John's Run in the Valley 5k, where Graham took 2nd to a foreign talent who somehow found out about this very small event, and Megan DiGregorio won ahead of Kaylyn. Dolla dolla bills y'all.
Dave Berdan was 5th at the Delaware Half Marathon in 1:13:52. But our PDAW this week went to Jeff Rumbaugh.
The third weekend in May also features a bunch of events, and we had a lot of folks racing. At the Brooklyn Half, Jason Farber ran a sizzling 1:14:08 and Terence Baptiste finished up at 1:19:26. Jeff Rumbaugh won the Firefighters 5k in Tampa, and took home an actual (heavy) fireman helmet as his prize.
Chrissie Ramsey came to town for the weekend and popped off an impressive 28:29 to win the Germantown 5 Miler on a hot and humid morning. On Sunday, Brian Benda ripped a 2:07:52 to finish 4th at the Columbia Triathlon. Suzanne Hurst put her triathlon legs back on and went faster than her previous Olympic distance best by 8 minutes. Conrad Laskowski and Amy Flashenberg competed in their first ever triathlon at Cascade Lake, while seasoned triathlon veteran Christa Wagner ran a faster run split than the overall winner. Graham and Meg D each came away with wins at the Dirty German 50k in Pennypack Park (PA). Graham kept his PR streak alive (has PR'd in a race every spring/fall since he was 12) which was particularly impressive given a) how warm it was that day and b) he was at a wedding on the Eastern Shore until well after midnight the night before.
That week's PDAW went to Brian Benda.
Then it was onto Memorial Day Weekend, and we couldn't have asked for nicer weather. Cool mornings with low humidity meant fast racing. Conrad and Dustin Meeker went 1-2 in the MCVETs 5k in 15:09/15:12, and Meg D led a string of Falls Road finishers with Amy Horst in 2nd, Justine in 4th and Christa in 5th. In the 10k, Graham took out another win while Nicole W also notched the victory. Also, the tunes at the finish were bumpin'.
Erik T. Orberg ran a PR 1:12:22 to finish 4th at the Buffalo Half Marathon, and in the marathon, Carly Page didn't have her best day, but still managed a 10th place 3:17:09.
Ben and Kendra Ingram ran Bolder Boulder 10k again on Memorial Day, and Sean Caskey and Steve Febish went 2-3 at the Special Ops 5k here in town. Our PDAW went to Erik this week.
Since May did have 5 weekends I'll do a separate post for this past weekend. Also, I'm pretty surprised I hadn't used this blog post title before, considering the song came out in 2006 I think.
Showing posts with label PDAW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PDAW. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Who Runs the World?
The ladies have ruled the roost in 2015, so it came as no surprise that on International Women's Day they would once again provide some top performances.
The Cupid's Crush 10k was originally scheduled for February 14th, but due to that week's super freeze the event was postponed to this past weekend. Mother Nature seemed hellbent on making sure it didn't happen as she dumped another substantial snow on the area on Thursday. Fortunately, the race was able to be held - but it was shortened due to a last minute course change. As such, I won't be counting these performances for our Top Times list because the race was significantly and admittedly short.
No matter though because everyone runs the same course! Ryan Stasiowski took the overall win in 34:30, and then Lillian Pinault finished 2nd in 41:08, ahead of Denise Knickman (3rd, 41:51) and Sara Damiano (4th, 42:18). Jen Sheely finished 7th in 45:07.
For the week, Lillian earned the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award.
Kind of hard to believe that Club Challenge was only supposed to be two weeks ago. Last weekend, on the 1st of March, in addition to enduring a sleeting/ice storm, we had some folks go down to Salisbury to rep at the Tim Kennard River Run 10 miler. Graham Peck earned his first W of the year, running 54:54, besting runner-up Steve Febish (56:11). Terence Baptiste nearly finished 3rd, but I hear he tried to take a Gu in the last mile, couldn't open it because his hands were too cold, got passed and couldn't catch back up. He finished 4th right on 1:00:12. Matt Franco had a tummy-ache and ran an even split 1:03:56, somehow still finishing 10th. Kaylyn Peck was 2nd (to HCS Tori Berard) and Denise Knickman was 4th in 1:13:50.
The race of the day, and his first PDAW ever, went to Thom Ripley, who broke 70 minutes. Awesome work!
The Cupid's Crush 10k was originally scheduled for February 14th, but due to that week's super freeze the event was postponed to this past weekend. Mother Nature seemed hellbent on making sure it didn't happen as she dumped another substantial snow on the area on Thursday. Fortunately, the race was able to be held - but it was shortened due to a last minute course change. As such, I won't be counting these performances for our Top Times list because the race was significantly and admittedly short.
No matter though because everyone runs the same course! Ryan Stasiowski took the overall win in 34:30, and then Lillian Pinault finished 2nd in 41:08, ahead of Denise Knickman (3rd, 41:51) and Sara Damiano (4th, 42:18). Jen Sheely finished 7th in 45:07.
For the week, Lillian earned the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award.
Kind of hard to believe that Club Challenge was only supposed to be two weeks ago. Last weekend, on the 1st of March, in addition to enduring a sleeting/ice storm, we had some folks go down to Salisbury to rep at the Tim Kennard River Run 10 miler. Graham Peck earned his first W of the year, running 54:54, besting runner-up Steve Febish (56:11). Terence Baptiste nearly finished 3rd, but I hear he tried to take a Gu in the last mile, couldn't open it because his hands were too cold, got passed and couldn't catch back up. He finished 4th right on 1:00:12. Matt Franco had a tummy-ache and ran an even split 1:03:56, somehow still finishing 10th. Kaylyn Peck was 2nd (to HCS Tori Berard) and Denise Knickman was 4th in 1:13:50.
The race of the day, and his first PDAW ever, went to Thom Ripley, who broke 70 minutes. Awesome work!
Thursday, February 26, 2015
I Wanna Rock With Somebody
Man, what a bummer about Club Challenge, huh?
As I trudged home from Mt. Washington on Saturday afternoon, the cancellation seemed validated - unlike that one year they canceled and no snow came. Indeed, it was a serious storm! Of the dozen or so of us who made it up to the store for Tom Stott's Running Clinic, most of us had to abandon our cars and take the Light Rail downtown and walk home from there. Unless you're a badass like TD, who ran back from Mt. Washington. Boss.
But without the race, there went 50 results for this week!
On Presidents Day, Fiana Kumm raced the Great Aloha Run in Honolulu (must be nice). In the 8.15 mile race she finished 6th in 50:24 - an astounding 6:12/mi!
Out in Wisconsin, snow was welcome for Erin Feldhausen and her American Birkebeiner 50k cross country ski race. She completed the event for the 4th straight year, finishing in 4:10:23.
And down in Birmingham, Alabama, Liz Laseter won the Superhero 5k (part of the Mercedes Marathon weekend) in 19:14. Great job!
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Erin Feldhausen!
There hasn't been much racing going on lately, and a lot of events have been postponed or canceled, but in the previous two weeks of PDAW awards, they've gone to Jen Koshy and Kaylyn Peck. The ladies are certainly rocking it in 2015, having taken home 6 of the 8 available PDAWs!
For the second year in a row we seem to really be taking it on the chin with a late and extended winter. Fortunately, the end should be soon (or so some of you try to reassure me). And it better be, because spring racing is just around the corner. In fact, this weekend is MARCH! So we have some events happening and the forecast looks like it will cooperate.
And if you want to see some pics from the little Snow Day adventure that Graham, Ploskonka and I had on Saturday during our long trek home, check them out!
As I trudged home from Mt. Washington on Saturday afternoon, the cancellation seemed validated - unlike that one year they canceled and no snow came. Indeed, it was a serious storm! Of the dozen or so of us who made it up to the store for Tom Stott's Running Clinic, most of us had to abandon our cars and take the Light Rail downtown and walk home from there. Unless you're a badass like TD, who ran back from Mt. Washington. Boss.
But without the race, there went 50 results for this week!
On Presidents Day, Fiana Kumm raced the Great Aloha Run in Honolulu (must be nice). In the 8.15 mile race she finished 6th in 50:24 - an astounding 6:12/mi!
Out in Wisconsin, snow was welcome for Erin Feldhausen and her American Birkebeiner 50k cross country ski race. She completed the event for the 4th straight year, finishing in 4:10:23.
And down in Birmingham, Alabama, Liz Laseter won the Superhero 5k (part of the Mercedes Marathon weekend) in 19:14. Great job!
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Erin Feldhausen!
There hasn't been much racing going on lately, and a lot of events have been postponed or canceled, but in the previous two weeks of PDAW awards, they've gone to Jen Koshy and Kaylyn Peck. The ladies are certainly rocking it in 2015, having taken home 6 of the 8 available PDAWs!
For the second year in a row we seem to really be taking it on the chin with a late and extended winter. Fortunately, the end should be soon (or so some of you try to reassure me). And it better be, because spring racing is just around the corner. In fact, this weekend is MARCH! So we have some events happening and the forecast looks like it will cooperate.
And if you want to see some pics from the little Snow Day adventure that Graham, Ploskonka and I had on Saturday during our long trek home, check them out!
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Surf City, USA
Besides the Matchbox 20k "race" we held over the weekend, we did actually have people racing.
Nicole Wilson ran a 3:03:53 at the Columbus Marathon back in October, at the time a personal best. She didn't take much of a break after that, going onto run a 1:23 half in mid December. Nicole's goal was the Surf City Marathon on February 1st, an unusual time of year for East Coast runners to look to peak.
Her training paid off on Sunday in a big way - not only did she finish 2nd, but she ran a 2:54:34! A 9+ minute PR, and it landed her at #5 on our Top Ten list!
As if there was going to be any competition, she easily earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
Interestingly, the DiGregorios also chose the Surf City race for a family race-cation. Meg D ran 1:27:19 and Justine, in what may have been her first half (at least to my knowledge) ran a 1:32:33. Then I'm sure they got more than a full day's supply of Vitamin D.
Tom Stott ran the Country Roads 5M in MoCo, finishing 19th in 32:24.
Meanwhile, at Sunday's Katy Perry concert, this happened:
Nicole Wilson ran a 3:03:53 at the Columbus Marathon back in October, at the time a personal best. She didn't take much of a break after that, going onto run a 1:23 half in mid December. Nicole's goal was the Surf City Marathon on February 1st, an unusual time of year for East Coast runners to look to peak.
Her training paid off on Sunday in a big way - not only did she finish 2nd, but she ran a 2:54:34! A 9+ minute PR, and it landed her at #5 on our Top Ten list!
As if there was going to be any competition, she easily earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
Interestingly, the DiGregorios also chose the Surf City race for a family race-cation. Meg D ran 1:27:19 and Justine, in what may have been her first half (at least to my knowledge) ran a 1:32:33. Then I'm sure they got more than a full day's supply of Vitamin D.
Tom Stott ran the Country Roads 5M in MoCo, finishing 19th in 32:24.
Meanwhile, at Sunday's Katy Perry concert, this happened:
 |
| Left Shark looks quizzically as Katy Perry makes a hand gesture |
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
All About It
Another week gone in January and all of a sudden we're almost in February! We're a month into official winter and compared to 2014, it really hasn't been that bad.
2015 is off to an amazing start. We've seen some of the best early-season performances we've ever seen. One that I missed last week was Matt Jablonski's WIN at the University of Washington Preview meet in the 3000 meter race. In this YouTube video posted by Loyola Blakefield, you can watch the last 45 seconds or so of the race, where Matty Blaze unleashes a massive kick that helps him take down none other than German Fernandez as he crosses the line first:
Then it was onto this past weekend, where I should have gone to Miami. Indeed, not only is the Miami Half Marathon one of my favorite weekends of the year, but Miami was also host to the MISS UNIVERSE pageant. Kicking myself for not going.
Pete Mulligan ran the marathon there, and I assume he was pacing the 4:40 group as he finished at 4:38 something. Then there's Megan DiGregorio. Earlier in the week I thought Meg D was coming to our Club Challenge workout. When I asked her if she was coming on Saturday, she replied with "I'm actually in Miami running the half tomorrow" - ?!?!?! Our little jetsetter friend must have booked a last minute flight and decided she needed a little Vitamin D. She finished 4th in the half in a perfectly fine time of 1:23:53 (chip), but still complained about it.
A Miami veteran himself, Terence Baptiste ran the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park. The conditions were cold and there was plenty of snow on the ground, but T ran a 1:22:16 - a great January time for him! And it was good enough to earn him this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
Saturday we saw the return of Denise Knickman to competitive racing, as she won the BRRC Frozen Fingers 5M in 34:10.
And out in Green Bay, a result I forgot to include in the email, Brennan Feldhausen was racing a marathon relay on Saturday. It was originally slated to take place on a 450m indoor track (it's around an ice skating track). Teammates could swap out whenever they felt like it. I think he said that they were going to do it on an outdoor track after the temperature hit 46 that day (warmer than here!)
2015 is off to an amazing start. We've seen some of the best early-season performances we've ever seen. One that I missed last week was Matt Jablonski's WIN at the University of Washington Preview meet in the 3000 meter race. In this YouTube video posted by Loyola Blakefield, you can watch the last 45 seconds or so of the race, where Matty Blaze unleashes a massive kick that helps him take down none other than German Fernandez as he crosses the line first:
Then it was onto this past weekend, where I should have gone to Miami. Indeed, not only is the Miami Half Marathon one of my favorite weekends of the year, but Miami was also host to the MISS UNIVERSE pageant. Kicking myself for not going.
Pete Mulligan ran the marathon there, and I assume he was pacing the 4:40 group as he finished at 4:38 something. Then there's Megan DiGregorio. Earlier in the week I thought Meg D was coming to our Club Challenge workout. When I asked her if she was coming on Saturday, she replied with "I'm actually in Miami running the half tomorrow" - ?!?!?! Our little jetsetter friend must have booked a last minute flight and decided she needed a little Vitamin D. She finished 4th in the half in a perfectly fine time of 1:23:53 (chip), but still complained about it.
A Miami veteran himself, Terence Baptiste ran the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park. The conditions were cold and there was plenty of snow on the ground, but T ran a 1:22:16 - a great January time for him! And it was good enough to earn him this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
Saturday we saw the return of Denise Knickman to competitive racing, as she won the BRRC Frozen Fingers 5M in 34:10.
And out in Green Bay, a result I forgot to include in the email, Brennan Feldhausen was racing a marathon relay on Saturday. It was originally slated to take place on a 450m indoor track (it's around an ice skating track). Teammates could swap out whenever they felt like it. I think he said that they were going to do it on an outdoor track after the temperature hit 46 that day (warmer than here!)
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Uncharted
To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before; Uncharted territory.
On Sunday, in Phoenix, that's precisely where Alyssa Godesky went as she ran a 3:04:31 marathon and finished 5th in the process. As I sifted through our historical records, I found that's the 13th fastest time run by any of our women. Over the past couple of seasons we've come to expect big performances from Alyssa, but this one truly is next level when you consider that her best time coming into this race was 3:26, run off the bike this past fall.
The last time she ran an open marathon? Marine Corps 2008, where I think she finished ahead of The Bachelor, Andy Baldwin (who is in Baltimore quite a bit these days) and ran a 3:31.
So a 3:04 is kind of a big deal. And she pretty much even split the race. Really great stuff!
Also in Phoenix, our old friend Julia Webb ran a terrific half - 1:18:07 for 5th herself!
Down in Clearwater, PJ Anderer tackled an early season 50k. That's a tough distance any time of year, but especially when it's January in a place that's much warmer than here, for a person who doesn't like running in the warm. PJ did well to finish 12th in 4:27:34.
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Alyssa.
CLUB CHALLENGE WORKOUT is THIS SATURDAY!
We will be starting the workout on the start line at 8:30am. Warm up and do whatever you need to prior to that. The suggested workout is:
1 mile easy
3 miles up
1 mile easy
2 miles up
1 mile easy
1 mile up
10 total. Good workout, then we'll go eat somewhere.
Also, don't forget to sign up for Club Challenge on Striders' website. Fill it out, make sure you select Falls Road as your club and mark that you are "elite." Yes, I realize you don't think you're elite. Not my rules. Just do it.
On Sunday, in Phoenix, that's precisely where Alyssa Godesky went as she ran a 3:04:31 marathon and finished 5th in the process. As I sifted through our historical records, I found that's the 13th fastest time run by any of our women. Over the past couple of seasons we've come to expect big performances from Alyssa, but this one truly is next level when you consider that her best time coming into this race was 3:26, run off the bike this past fall.
The last time she ran an open marathon? Marine Corps 2008, where I think she finished ahead of The Bachelor, Andy Baldwin (who is in Baltimore quite a bit these days) and ran a 3:31.
So a 3:04 is kind of a big deal. And she pretty much even split the race. Really great stuff!
Also in Phoenix, our old friend Julia Webb ran a terrific half - 1:18:07 for 5th herself!
Down in Clearwater, PJ Anderer tackled an early season 50k. That's a tough distance any time of year, but especially when it's January in a place that's much warmer than here, for a person who doesn't like running in the warm. PJ did well to finish 12th in 4:27:34.
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Alyssa.
CLUB CHALLENGE WORKOUT is THIS SATURDAY!
We will be starting the workout on the start line at 8:30am. Warm up and do whatever you need to prior to that. The suggested workout is:
1 mile easy
3 miles up
1 mile easy
2 miles up
1 mile easy
1 mile up
10 total. Good workout, then we'll go eat somewhere.
Also, don't forget to sign up for Club Challenge on Striders' website. Fill it out, make sure you select Falls Road as your club and mark that you are "elite." Yes, I realize you don't think you're elite. Not my rules. Just do it.
A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes
"Well c'mon Cinderella, we gotta get you ready for the ball!" - Dumb and Dumber
Every good Cinderella story contains a couple of things: a fat mouse, a pair of shoes, a nice old lady, a bunch of mean girls, a really naive person, a dude with money and a castle.
In this fairytale, Sean Caskey was the "wide-eyed Disney ingenue" who, for some reason, committed to doing the Dopey Challenge. What is the Dopey Challenge, you ask? Well a few years ago the folks down at Walt Disney World decided it would be cool to package their half marathon and marathon together and call them the Goofy Challenge. The half was on Saturday and the marathon Sunday, making for a tough two-day double.
Then they realized, in an obvious way that only Disney would, that they could stretch out the magic by a few more days, add a 5k on Thursday and 10k on Friday, and call it the Dopey Challenge if you completed all 4 races. More money in their pocket and more medals for you.
Anyway, the interesting thing about this whole process was that, despite nobody from our group ever having done this challenge, Sean wasn't the only one who was - Ryan Stasiowski was racing as well!
Rather than fill it with fluff, I'll get to the point. Stas finished 2nd overall in the Dopey Challenge standings we believe, as he closed things out with a 2:48:22 marathon. Meanwhile the Prime Minister of Swag, Sean Caskey, fell ill following the Thursday 5k and overcame this sickness by doing an around-the-world at EPCOT and closing his weekend out with a 2:55:13 marathon - pretty awesome all things considered. We think he was 7th in the overall standings.
Great job to both, but Stasiowski took this event way serious and Caskey had fun, took fun pictures and entertained, so he won that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
Every good Cinderella story contains a couple of things: a fat mouse, a pair of shoes, a nice old lady, a bunch of mean girls, a really naive person, a dude with money and a castle.
In this fairytale, Sean Caskey was the "wide-eyed Disney ingenue" who, for some reason, committed to doing the Dopey Challenge. What is the Dopey Challenge, you ask? Well a few years ago the folks down at Walt Disney World decided it would be cool to package their half marathon and marathon together and call them the Goofy Challenge. The half was on Saturday and the marathon Sunday, making for a tough two-day double.
Then they realized, in an obvious way that only Disney would, that they could stretch out the magic by a few more days, add a 5k on Thursday and 10k on Friday, and call it the Dopey Challenge if you completed all 4 races. More money in their pocket and more medals for you.
Anyway, the interesting thing about this whole process was that, despite nobody from our group ever having done this challenge, Sean wasn't the only one who was - Ryan Stasiowski was racing as well!
Rather than fill it with fluff, I'll get to the point. Stas finished 2nd overall in the Dopey Challenge standings we believe, as he closed things out with a 2:48:22 marathon. Meanwhile the Prime Minister of Swag, Sean Caskey, fell ill following the Thursday 5k and overcame this sickness by doing an around-the-world at EPCOT and closing his weekend out with a 2:55:13 marathon - pretty awesome all things considered. We think he was 7th in the overall standings.
Great job to both, but Stasiowski took this event way serious and Caskey had fun, took fun pictures and entertained, so he won that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
On a Tuesday
The first post of 2015!
After the hustle and bustle of mid December, it really gets quiet. There aren't a ton of races around Christmas, and even if there were, most people are a little preoccupied. For us, we fill the time with our favorite Christmas tradition: the #TWSSChristmas photo contest!
Click here to see the gallery
It's always fun to see how folks are spending their Christmases, running or not, and we had a lot of submissions this year. Naturally, it appears as though hardly anyone voted, which means they either didn't care to or didn't know how to. I'll declare a winner this week.
My trip home to New Jersey was pretty balmy, enough so that I was able to make it into the chilly Atlantic Ocean following each of my 3 runs. The 3rd was part of the Polar Bear 5k in Asbury Park. I could hardly believe it had been 4 years since I last did this year, but indeed it was December of 2010 that I last ran it. It was still a 5 miler back then, although race day featured an incredible Nor'easter that shortened the race to a 5k. The sea looked angry that day and I made the decision to not go in.
This year was much milder and after my amazing 19:11 5k (gun time, 9th place) in which Conrad basically lapped me (3rd, 17:44, after stopping and waiting for me at the turnaround), he and I ran into the ocean and dunked ourselves. Not to be outdone, Amy and my little sister, Meghan, accepted the challenge and also went in the water after the race. For their terrific race AND getting in the water, they each earned a share of the final Purple Drink Athlete of the Week of 2014.
That brought us to the final week of the year, split between 2014 and 2015. In 2014's waning moments, Erik T. Orberg recorded the last race result - an 8th place at the Vienna Silvesterlauf (5.33km) race in Austria. A couple spots and 12 seconds faster than 2013!
A number of people kicked off the new year in style:
At the Resolution Run 5k in Patterson Park, Justine DiGregorio took the team's first win, Jen Sheely was 6th and Karen Menge laced up her shoes and did her first race in who-knows-how-long.
Down in MoCo, Conrad Laskowski was 4th at the New Year's Day 5k, while Andy Sovonick made a return to running and Tom Stott picked up where he left off at the end of the year.
On New Year's Day we also bid adieu to our dear friend Brennan, who, after 7.5 years in Baltimore, moved to Milwaukee to begin a new job with the Brewers. It was a sad day and he will be missed, but his spirit lives on every time you make a memory. Or send a text.
In a year that was truly full circle, I was glad I was able to spend New Year's Eve with the same crew as last year (Brennan, Zero and my brother) when we went up to New York for the Central Park Midnight 4 miler.
Over the weekend there was a heated battle at the Frozen 5k in Virginia, featuring Team HPB athletes Alyssa Godesky and Leslie DiMichele. Alyssa fought bravely for the win, but in the end Leslie's final move proved enough for the win (19:27 to 19:34). Stephanie Granlund also raced, starting the year with a strong 28:11.
Earning our first PDAW of the year was Karen Menge - it's unnerving sometimes to jump in a race after a long hiatus, but we respect the gumption of getting back out there!
After the hustle and bustle of mid December, it really gets quiet. There aren't a ton of races around Christmas, and even if there were, most people are a little preoccupied. For us, we fill the time with our favorite Christmas tradition: the #TWSSChristmas photo contest!
Click here to see the gallery
It's always fun to see how folks are spending their Christmases, running or not, and we had a lot of submissions this year. Naturally, it appears as though hardly anyone voted, which means they either didn't care to or didn't know how to. I'll declare a winner this week.
My trip home to New Jersey was pretty balmy, enough so that I was able to make it into the chilly Atlantic Ocean following each of my 3 runs. The 3rd was part of the Polar Bear 5k in Asbury Park. I could hardly believe it had been 4 years since I last did this year, but indeed it was December of 2010 that I last ran it. It was still a 5 miler back then, although race day featured an incredible Nor'easter that shortened the race to a 5k. The sea looked angry that day and I made the decision to not go in.
This year was much milder and after my amazing 19:11 5k (gun time, 9th place) in which Conrad basically lapped me (3rd, 17:44, after stopping and waiting for me at the turnaround), he and I ran into the ocean and dunked ourselves. Not to be outdone, Amy and my little sister, Meghan, accepted the challenge and also went in the water after the race. For their terrific race AND getting in the water, they each earned a share of the final Purple Drink Athlete of the Week of 2014.
That brought us to the final week of the year, split between 2014 and 2015. In 2014's waning moments, Erik T. Orberg recorded the last race result - an 8th place at the Vienna Silvesterlauf (5.33km) race in Austria. A couple spots and 12 seconds faster than 2013!
A number of people kicked off the new year in style:
At the Resolution Run 5k in Patterson Park, Justine DiGregorio took the team's first win, Jen Sheely was 6th and Karen Menge laced up her shoes and did her first race in who-knows-how-long.
Down in MoCo, Conrad Laskowski was 4th at the New Year's Day 5k, while Andy Sovonick made a return to running and Tom Stott picked up where he left off at the end of the year.
On New Year's Day we also bid adieu to our dear friend Brennan, who, after 7.5 years in Baltimore, moved to Milwaukee to begin a new job with the Brewers. It was a sad day and he will be missed, but his spirit lives on every time you make a memory. Or send a text.
In a year that was truly full circle, I was glad I was able to spend New Year's Eve with the same crew as last year (Brennan, Zero and my brother) when we went up to New York for the Central Park Midnight 4 miler.
Over the weekend there was a heated battle at the Frozen 5k in Virginia, featuring Team HPB athletes Alyssa Godesky and Leslie DiMichele. Alyssa fought bravely for the win, but in the end Leslie's final move proved enough for the win (19:27 to 19:34). Stephanie Granlund also raced, starting the year with a strong 28:11.
Earning our first PDAW of the year was Karen Menge - it's unnerving sometimes to jump in a race after a long hiatus, but we respect the gumption of getting back out there!
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
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:
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!
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!
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Smoother Than a Fresh Jar of Skippy
I've got a confession:
I only have access to a computer and the Internet when I'm at work now that my laptop crashed and I have no Internet at home. So I typically piecemeal writing these things when I have a few minutes here and there. But, since it's the day before Thanksgiving and it's slow, I'm getting a lot done!
Last year, Richmond and Philly Marathons were the same weekend, which made for one awesomely exhausting road trip. This year they were back to having 8 days of separation, and it was back to the typical JFK50-Philly double. Saturday was the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the race's namesake, whose legacy of encouraging fitness as a lifestyle led ultimately to the creation of this race. It's the oldest continually run ultra in the US. In the town of Boonsboro, 15 miles west of Frederick, the race begins by climbing up South Mountain, before hitting the Appalachian Trail. This section is incredibly rocky, and staying upright is a challenge. After about 15 miles the runners exit the AT and pick up the C&O Canal towpath for a straight (flat) marathon. The last 8+ miles are on the road, and seem excruciatingly long. This year it was 16 degrees and the start. Graham was on scene supporting his dad and sister. Mr. Peck is a beast and finished in 7:42, beating his age (he finished 56th) and running not much slower than he did last year. Kaylyn struggled in the middle but stayed tough and found that little bit extra to finish strong in 8:33 for her first 50 miler. Josh Dawson had an excellent day, finishing 23rd in 7:02 (big PR) and Wookie Kim ran 8:17 for his first 50 miler.
Meanwhile, up in Philadelphia, a couple of the guys took to the streets for a fast and furious 8k. Once again they were led by Steve Febish, who finished 39th in 26:47. Tim Burns was 47th (27:49) and Dan Miranda and Nick Klastava were 49th and 50th, both in 27:58. Febish became the first person to complete the Philly Marathon trifecta, having run the marathon (2013) and half marathon (2012) in the past two years. He also raced Broad Street this year. Man really loves Philly!
The weather performed a little better by Sunday morning, with a race-time temperature of around 42 for the marathon and half. For those of us standing on the street, sun blocked by buildings and wind barreling down the avenues, it felt much colder. In a bit of a change-up, we didn't have anybody racing the half - it was all marathon or bust! First through was Sean Caskey, who was dripping with swag. Hitting the half in 1:17 high, the piano then fell squarely on his head as he ran a 1:30 back half to finish in 2:47:39 for 103rd place. Still, a 10 minute PR for him on just his 2nd attempt! Emily Hurley is a PTPer. Brings her A game whenever she steps out for a big one. I haven't seen much of her this year but always assume she's gonna bring that Uptown Funk. She ended up running 2:57:06 - missing her PR by just 13 seconds. When I looked back at the splits from MCM 2011, she hit the half in 1:27:06 and 20k in 2:04:27. In Philly she was 1:27:46 and 2:05:25, so she ran her last 8 miles faster by 45 seconds this time around. Incredible. And amazing! She was 21st.
Dr. Emily Shin, who in early October ran 3:10 at Twin Cities, pulled off something I haven't seen done very often: ran her second fall marathon faster than her first. She finished 53rd in a new PR of 3:06:45. Jackie Range was all smiles on her way to a negative split 3:09:05, and PJ Anderer muscled through a 3:12:32 - not what he was hoping to run but all things considered, a pretty good day.
Bryn Burkholder came into this race with a whole lotta doubt. She didn't know how fit she was, her knees have been giving her a hella hard time, and she didn't expect she had any shot at being closer to her PR of 3:21. But she loves Philly. She used to live here, go to school here. Played basketball on the courts in West Philly. This year was her 10th time running the Philly Marathon, and you know what they say - 10 times is more of a charm than 3! Bryn hit the half in 1:41 before going on a rampage, negative splitting the second half and absolutely burning up the final 5k to finish in a new PR of 3:20:08. So close to that sub 3:20!
Elsewhere, Kevin McGrath ran 36:37 at the Manasquan Turkey Trot 5M, which is the fastest he's run in a couple of years. It may legitimately be faster than I can run right now. He and I will do battle this weekend as the Terps take on their new B1G rival, Rutgers, in College Park.
Diane Heiser scored a win at the Portola Turkey Trot 5k, and Brennan Feldhausen "won but lost" a prediction race in Wisconsin. The race got taken out by a 6th grade girl, and Brennan decided he would rather be way off on his prediction than get beat by an 11 year old.
Just a week off her fantastic half marathon, Lillian Pinault was right back at it, winning the Columbia Turkey Chase 10k in a 2 minute PR of 41:03. She had to stop to tie her shoes in the first mile, which probably cost her those precious couple of seconds. At least it wasn't 40:03. And Max Hacker won the Run for Shelter 10k in NoVA in 34:20, by 70 seconds. Wow!
The Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Emily Hurley.
I only have access to a computer and the Internet when I'm at work now that my laptop crashed and I have no Internet at home. So I typically piecemeal writing these things when I have a few minutes here and there. But, since it's the day before Thanksgiving and it's slow, I'm getting a lot done!
Last year, Richmond and Philly Marathons were the same weekend, which made for one awesomely exhausting road trip. This year they were back to having 8 days of separation, and it was back to the typical JFK50-Philly double. Saturday was the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the race's namesake, whose legacy of encouraging fitness as a lifestyle led ultimately to the creation of this race. It's the oldest continually run ultra in the US. In the town of Boonsboro, 15 miles west of Frederick, the race begins by climbing up South Mountain, before hitting the Appalachian Trail. This section is incredibly rocky, and staying upright is a challenge. After about 15 miles the runners exit the AT and pick up the C&O Canal towpath for a straight (flat) marathon. The last 8+ miles are on the road, and seem excruciatingly long. This year it was 16 degrees and the start. Graham was on scene supporting his dad and sister. Mr. Peck is a beast and finished in 7:42, beating his age (he finished 56th) and running not much slower than he did last year. Kaylyn struggled in the middle but stayed tough and found that little bit extra to finish strong in 8:33 for her first 50 miler. Josh Dawson had an excellent day, finishing 23rd in 7:02 (big PR) and Wookie Kim ran 8:17 for his first 50 miler.
Meanwhile, up in Philadelphia, a couple of the guys took to the streets for a fast and furious 8k. Once again they were led by Steve Febish, who finished 39th in 26:47. Tim Burns was 47th (27:49) and Dan Miranda and Nick Klastava were 49th and 50th, both in 27:58. Febish became the first person to complete the Philly Marathon trifecta, having run the marathon (2013) and half marathon (2012) in the past two years. He also raced Broad Street this year. Man really loves Philly!
The weather performed a little better by Sunday morning, with a race-time temperature of around 42 for the marathon and half. For those of us standing on the street, sun blocked by buildings and wind barreling down the avenues, it felt much colder. In a bit of a change-up, we didn't have anybody racing the half - it was all marathon or bust! First through was Sean Caskey, who was dripping with swag. Hitting the half in 1:17 high, the piano then fell squarely on his head as he ran a 1:30 back half to finish in 2:47:39 for 103rd place. Still, a 10 minute PR for him on just his 2nd attempt! Emily Hurley is a PTPer. Brings her A game whenever she steps out for a big one. I haven't seen much of her this year but always assume she's gonna bring that Uptown Funk. She ended up running 2:57:06 - missing her PR by just 13 seconds. When I looked back at the splits from MCM 2011, she hit the half in 1:27:06 and 20k in 2:04:27. In Philly she was 1:27:46 and 2:05:25, so she ran her last 8 miles faster by 45 seconds this time around. Incredible. And amazing! She was 21st.
Dr. Emily Shin, who in early October ran 3:10 at Twin Cities, pulled off something I haven't seen done very often: ran her second fall marathon faster than her first. She finished 53rd in a new PR of 3:06:45. Jackie Range was all smiles on her way to a negative split 3:09:05, and PJ Anderer muscled through a 3:12:32 - not what he was hoping to run but all things considered, a pretty good day.
Bryn Burkholder came into this race with a whole lotta doubt. She didn't know how fit she was, her knees have been giving her a hella hard time, and she didn't expect she had any shot at being closer to her PR of 3:21. But she loves Philly. She used to live here, go to school here. Played basketball on the courts in West Philly. This year was her 10th time running the Philly Marathon, and you know what they say - 10 times is more of a charm than 3! Bryn hit the half in 1:41 before going on a rampage, negative splitting the second half and absolutely burning up the final 5k to finish in a new PR of 3:20:08. So close to that sub 3:20!
Elsewhere, Kevin McGrath ran 36:37 at the Manasquan Turkey Trot 5M, which is the fastest he's run in a couple of years. It may legitimately be faster than I can run right now. He and I will do battle this weekend as the Terps take on their new B1G rival, Rutgers, in College Park.
Diane Heiser scored a win at the Portola Turkey Trot 5k, and Brennan Feldhausen "won but lost" a prediction race in Wisconsin. The race got taken out by a 6th grade girl, and Brennan decided he would rather be way off on his prediction than get beat by an 11 year old.
Just a week off her fantastic half marathon, Lillian Pinault was right back at it, winning the Columbia Turkey Chase 10k in a 2 minute PR of 41:03. She had to stop to tie her shoes in the first mile, which probably cost her those precious couple of seconds. At least it wasn't 40:03. And Max Hacker won the Run for Shelter 10k in NoVA in 34:20, by 70 seconds. Wow!
The Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Emily Hurley.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Go Bananas
When the Richmond Marathon comes around, you know they 'bout to go bananas!
Dubbed "America's Friendliest Marathon," Richmond never lets you down. It's quietly moved its way up as one of the fall's premier races for our group, and you can see why: 90% of those who participate set PRs there.*
* I pulled that number out of the air, but it's actually probably pretty close based on the last 5 years' of results.
This year was no different, as we had two huge performances in the marathon and one gigantic race in the half!
Sara Damiano ran 3:31:04 last year, which was a 5 minute PR and resulted in her first ever Boston qualifying time. This year, unbeknownst to the city of Richmond, former capital of the Confederate, Sara D was about to go...bananas. Like Sherman marched through Atlanta, burning it to the ground, so too did Sara D blaze Richmond. She ran 3:22:51 - an 8+ minute improvement. It was simply incredible. And amazing.
In her 5th marathon, Stephanie Granlund was looking to go...bananas. Stephanie has improved by leaps and bounds this year, getting her half marathon time down to 2:00, which gave her the confidence to go out and run fast at Richmond. She even split her way to a 4:23:58 – over 16 minutes faster than her previous best!
Running the half was a determined Lillian Pinault. For those of us who have seen her progress at TNT over the past couple of months, you just knew she was going to go - you guessed it - bananas. But remember that rinky dink 5k she ran the week before? Well she did something to her foot in that run, and wasn't able to run all week leading up to the race. She bit the bullet and went out with the 1:35 group, until mile 8 when she thought "this feels too easy, and if I'm injuring myself, I'm already going to be hurt - may as well let it ride." And ride she did, all the way to a 3.5 minute PR of 1:32:28! Her last 5k was faster than the 5k she raced the previous weekend. Incredible! And amazing!
The effort was good enough to earn Lillian the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week!
But there were a few other races that happened in the first half of November as well:
Downs Park 5 Miler has become a fall favorite. This low key event put on by the Annapolis Striders has produced a number of our fastest 5 mile times. We've had a grasp on the W here for the past few years, and this year it was Steve Febish's turn to get the win. He won in 26:51, ahead of runner-up Sean Caskey in 27:24. Nick Klastava was 6th in 28:27 and Josh Dawson ran 28:45 for 8th.
In the Rockville 5k, Tom Stott ran 19:28 for 10th, but it was wife Patty who stole the show, running one of her fastest 5k races in years, 24:01 for 9th. In the 10k, Dan Miranda and Sara Damiano were both first-losers (JK), finishing 2nd.
PJ Anderer ran the "inaugural" Across the Bridge 10k, which was really just the old Bay Bridge 10k making a return. Said it was a pretty good race, and he ran well, finishing 26th in 38:34. Fellow Penn State alum, Mike Mashner, finished 13th at the THON 5k in Happy Valley.
PJ and Bryn Burkholder also ran the Oktober Lauf Fest Half Marathon in Pennypack Park (outside of Philly), keeping that little tradition alive. In the first of his November 50 milers, Mr. Peck ran the Stone Mill 50 in 8:27:58, with Pete Mulligan coming in at 11:32:49. Josh Greenberg finished at 11:38:22. I also saw Jeff Rumbaugh ran the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon (3:18:07) and Tristram Thomas (7th) and Jon Miller (8th) ran the Dustin Bauer Memorial 5k.
Dubbed "America's Friendliest Marathon," Richmond never lets you down. It's quietly moved its way up as one of the fall's premier races for our group, and you can see why: 90% of those who participate set PRs there.*
* I pulled that number out of the air, but it's actually probably pretty close based on the last 5 years' of results.
This year was no different, as we had two huge performances in the marathon and one gigantic race in the half!
Sara Damiano ran 3:31:04 last year, which was a 5 minute PR and resulted in her first ever Boston qualifying time. This year, unbeknownst to the city of Richmond, former capital of the Confederate, Sara D was about to go...bananas. Like Sherman marched through Atlanta, burning it to the ground, so too did Sara D blaze Richmond. She ran 3:22:51 - an 8+ minute improvement. It was simply incredible. And amazing.
In her 5th marathon, Stephanie Granlund was looking to go...bananas. Stephanie has improved by leaps and bounds this year, getting her half marathon time down to 2:00, which gave her the confidence to go out and run fast at Richmond. She even split her way to a 4:23:58 – over 16 minutes faster than her previous best!
Running the half was a determined Lillian Pinault. For those of us who have seen her progress at TNT over the past couple of months, you just knew she was going to go - you guessed it - bananas. But remember that rinky dink 5k she ran the week before? Well she did something to her foot in that run, and wasn't able to run all week leading up to the race. She bit the bullet and went out with the 1:35 group, until mile 8 when she thought "this feels too easy, and if I'm injuring myself, I'm already going to be hurt - may as well let it ride." And ride she did, all the way to a 3.5 minute PR of 1:32:28! Her last 5k was faster than the 5k she raced the previous weekend. Incredible! And amazing!
The effort was good enough to earn Lillian the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week!
But there were a few other races that happened in the first half of November as well:
Downs Park 5 Miler has become a fall favorite. This low key event put on by the Annapolis Striders has produced a number of our fastest 5 mile times. We've had a grasp on the W here for the past few years, and this year it was Steve Febish's turn to get the win. He won in 26:51, ahead of runner-up Sean Caskey in 27:24. Nick Klastava was 6th in 28:27 and Josh Dawson ran 28:45 for 8th.
In the Rockville 5k, Tom Stott ran 19:28 for 10th, but it was wife Patty who stole the show, running one of her fastest 5k races in years, 24:01 for 9th. In the 10k, Dan Miranda and Sara Damiano were both first-losers (JK), finishing 2nd.
PJ Anderer ran the "inaugural" Across the Bridge 10k, which was really just the old Bay Bridge 10k making a return. Said it was a pretty good race, and he ran well, finishing 26th in 38:34. Fellow Penn State alum, Mike Mashner, finished 13th at the THON 5k in Happy Valley.
PJ and Bryn Burkholder also ran the Oktober Lauf Fest Half Marathon in Pennypack Park (outside of Philly), keeping that little tradition alive. In the first of his November 50 milers, Mr. Peck ran the Stone Mill 50 in 8:27:58, with Pete Mulligan coming in at 11:32:49. Josh Greenberg finished at 11:38:22. I also saw Jeff Rumbaugh ran the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon (3:18:07) and Tristram Thomas (7th) and Jon Miller (8th) ran the Dustin Bauer Memorial 5k.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
No Mediocre
As per usual, time has gotten the better of me over the past, oh, 3 months – and as a result I’ve done a pretty poor job posting race recaps. And then, once you’re a few weeks behind, it’s hard to get back on track. Consider this post a catch up from the end of August through October!
Ironman Louisville was the week before Labor Day. 3 of us went, 1 of us survived. The summer had been so mild until that week, when the temperature and humidity skyrocketed. I knew it would be a tough day for me, so I adjusted my plan accordingly. Dehydrated and overheated, I called it a day at mile 14 of the run. I don’t think I could have done anything different and had a better result, just wasn’t my day. Mike Mashner was the unfortunate recipient of a senseless take-down on the bike. Triathletes tend to be piss-poor bike handlers (but they all think they’re Eddy Merckx) and Mike got wiped out 70 miles into the bike. He made it to the run, but called it a day after the first lap.
So that left Terry Decker, and in his first – and possibly only – Ironman, he endured a long, hot day to finish in 14:06:02. His wife Molly was there to greet him at the finish, along with my parents and brother, who had come out to watch. If just one of us had to finish that day, we were glad it was TD!
September came, and Labor Day weekend saw Conrad Laskowski and Graham Peck run the USATF 20km Championship, held in New Haven (CT). Once again heat was an issue, but the pair finished 28th and 35th, respectively. Graham went onto run the Twin Cities Marathon a month later in Minnesota, where he crossed the line in 2:28:31. Great time, for sure – but it wasn’t enough to knock himself off the Top Times leaderboard for the year as he ran 2:26:36 at Boston. Two sub 2:30 clockings in a year, incredible. Unfortunately, that would be the last Graham would run for the fall, as a likely stress fracture has sidelined him since. But boy, was his run glorious.
Not to be outdone, Conrad ran the Chicago Marathon a couple of weeks later, where he ran a 9+ minute PR of 2:27:14. He thought he might have a 2:26 (or faster) in him, so he went for it. Can’t be mad at that. In the same race, Amy Flashenberg ran a big PR and truly fantastic 3:50:17. That’s something to write home about! Other notables from Chicago: newcomer Lisa Uible ran her first marathon, finishing in 2:50:59. Not a shabby debut. And maybe the toughest person around, Trisha Feldhausen competed just a couple of months after fracturing her skull. She had a cone around her head like a dog all of August, and was only able to start running a few weeks out from the race. Amazingly, she ran 3:22:44, which isn’t far off her PR.
Hopping back to Twin Cities, Chrissie Ramsey ran one of the greatest performances of all time – surely one of the top races we’ve ever seen – as she ran a 5 minute personal best of 2:39:31 and finished 7th in what served as the USA Marathon Championship. Simply incredible. I talked to Chrissie the other day and sounds like she’ll be running the USA Half Marathon Champs in Houston, followed by a little marathon in Boston.
Megan DiGregorio runs – and wins – a lot of races, but one of her best of the year was her win at the Parks Half Marathon, where she ran 1:23:37. She then went onto run the Wineglass Marathon, where she finished in 3:06:59, but was left pretty banged up and, like many of us, hasn’t been able to run much this fall.
Another first timer in the world of Ironman was Jackie Range. She was originally planning on doing Louisville, but when Chesapeakeman was absorbed and became Ironman Maryland, the timing and proximity was more palatable for Jackie. The swim was a little tough, but favorable wind and not obscene heat made for an incredibly quick bike split and enabled her to drop a great run to finish her first IM in a jaw-dropping 11:07:42.
You want to see what busy’s like, have a look at Brennan Feldhausen’s fall: first he tackled his first half ironman at the Waterman’s Tri. He blew it out of the water. Swam fast, rode fast on a seriously windy day, and had one of the fastest runs of the day to finish under 5 hours and finish 27th overall. Two weeks later, he jumped in the Baltimore Marathon as his long run. Two weeks out from the NYC Marathon he wasn’t looking for anything big, but realized that if he was going to run a marathon he sure as hell better make sure he gets something out of it. Running a 3:05:xx or slower would have been a waste of time. It probably wasn’t easy by the end, but he finished right on 3 hours and made sure he knocked out a qualifying time for Boston 2016. With that he fired a warning shot right across the bow of the SS Arjun: pressure’s on. Brennan wasn’t finished there – two weeks later he lined up on the Verrazano Bridge – but more on that later.
So many people ran an event of the Baltimore Running Festival, but a highlight was how our Ladies’ team did. Featuring Carly, Emily Shin, Suzanne and Emily Hurley, the team formerly known as “Shorties on Your Left” wiped up the competition, thanks in large part to Emily Hurley’s blistering final leg. We had a lot of great team performances, and in the half marathon I was particularly impressed by Michael and Kayla Hughes – two “non-runners” who trained for and nailed their first half marathon!
We have a lot of triathletes (and people who occasionally dabble in triathlon) and over the years we’ve seen some incredible performances. Getting a win at an iron distance race is a big deal, and at the Beach2Battleship Triathlon in North Carolina, Alyssa Godesky did just that. Swim times benefited from a rather generous current, but a good day is a good day. Alyssa came out of the water just a couple of minutes behind another local pro, Suzy Serpico, who extended that lead a little bit on the bike. Alyssa’s bike split was a distance PR, and once she was on the run, it was go-time. She burned up the pavement, cutting into Suzy’s lead with each stride, ultimately taking the lead somewhere around mile 15. She went onto record a marathon personal best 3:26:16 – 5 minutes faster than her open marathon best – and won the race in a scintillating 9:22:57. Wow.
At the Columbus Marathon, Nicole Wilson finished 23rd in a PR 3:03:57 (23rd really?? That’s a competitive race!) In the half marathon, Dustin Meeker ran a terrific 1:09:09 for 10th – not far off his personal best set there last year.
The Downs Park 5 Miler has become a fall favorite, and our guys usually clean up there. This year it was Steve Febish claiming the win and keeping it in the family with a season best 26:51. Sean Caskey was just behind in 2nd at 27:24, and Nick Klastava ran a fine race at 6th in 28:27.
And because we love the race so much, shoutout to PJ Anderer and Bryn Burkholder, who kept the Oktober Lauf Fest Half Marathon tradition alive. Unfortunately no cuckoo clocks, but I believe Bryn won some kind of weather thing. To see the full list of Purple Drink Athlete of the Week winners and more results, click on the "2014 Spreadsheet" on the right hand side.
Ironman Louisville was the week before Labor Day. 3 of us went, 1 of us survived. The summer had been so mild until that week, when the temperature and humidity skyrocketed. I knew it would be a tough day for me, so I adjusted my plan accordingly. Dehydrated and overheated, I called it a day at mile 14 of the run. I don’t think I could have done anything different and had a better result, just wasn’t my day. Mike Mashner was the unfortunate recipient of a senseless take-down on the bike. Triathletes tend to be piss-poor bike handlers (but they all think they’re Eddy Merckx) and Mike got wiped out 70 miles into the bike. He made it to the run, but called it a day after the first lap.
So that left Terry Decker, and in his first – and possibly only – Ironman, he endured a long, hot day to finish in 14:06:02. His wife Molly was there to greet him at the finish, along with my parents and brother, who had come out to watch. If just one of us had to finish that day, we were glad it was TD!
September came, and Labor Day weekend saw Conrad Laskowski and Graham Peck run the USATF 20km Championship, held in New Haven (CT). Once again heat was an issue, but the pair finished 28th and 35th, respectively. Graham went onto run the Twin Cities Marathon a month later in Minnesota, where he crossed the line in 2:28:31. Great time, for sure – but it wasn’t enough to knock himself off the Top Times leaderboard for the year as he ran 2:26:36 at Boston. Two sub 2:30 clockings in a year, incredible. Unfortunately, that would be the last Graham would run for the fall, as a likely stress fracture has sidelined him since. But boy, was his run glorious.
Not to be outdone, Conrad ran the Chicago Marathon a couple of weeks later, where he ran a 9+ minute PR of 2:27:14. He thought he might have a 2:26 (or faster) in him, so he went for it. Can’t be mad at that. In the same race, Amy Flashenberg ran a big PR and truly fantastic 3:50:17. That’s something to write home about! Other notables from Chicago: newcomer Lisa Uible ran her first marathon, finishing in 2:50:59. Not a shabby debut. And maybe the toughest person around, Trisha Feldhausen competed just a couple of months after fracturing her skull. She had a cone around her head like a dog all of August, and was only able to start running a few weeks out from the race. Amazingly, she ran 3:22:44, which isn’t far off her PR.
Hopping back to Twin Cities, Chrissie Ramsey ran one of the greatest performances of all time – surely one of the top races we’ve ever seen – as she ran a 5 minute personal best of 2:39:31 and finished 7th in what served as the USA Marathon Championship. Simply incredible. I talked to Chrissie the other day and sounds like she’ll be running the USA Half Marathon Champs in Houston, followed by a little marathon in Boston.
Megan DiGregorio runs – and wins – a lot of races, but one of her best of the year was her win at the Parks Half Marathon, where she ran 1:23:37. She then went onto run the Wineglass Marathon, where she finished in 3:06:59, but was left pretty banged up and, like many of us, hasn’t been able to run much this fall.
Another first timer in the world of Ironman was Jackie Range. She was originally planning on doing Louisville, but when Chesapeakeman was absorbed and became Ironman Maryland, the timing and proximity was more palatable for Jackie. The swim was a little tough, but favorable wind and not obscene heat made for an incredibly quick bike split and enabled her to drop a great run to finish her first IM in a jaw-dropping 11:07:42.
You want to see what busy’s like, have a look at Brennan Feldhausen’s fall: first he tackled his first half ironman at the Waterman’s Tri. He blew it out of the water. Swam fast, rode fast on a seriously windy day, and had one of the fastest runs of the day to finish under 5 hours and finish 27th overall. Two weeks later, he jumped in the Baltimore Marathon as his long run. Two weeks out from the NYC Marathon he wasn’t looking for anything big, but realized that if he was going to run a marathon he sure as hell better make sure he gets something out of it. Running a 3:05:xx or slower would have been a waste of time. It probably wasn’t easy by the end, but he finished right on 3 hours and made sure he knocked out a qualifying time for Boston 2016. With that he fired a warning shot right across the bow of the SS Arjun: pressure’s on. Brennan wasn’t finished there – two weeks later he lined up on the Verrazano Bridge – but more on that later.
So many people ran an event of the Baltimore Running Festival, but a highlight was how our Ladies’ team did. Featuring Carly, Emily Shin, Suzanne and Emily Hurley, the team formerly known as “Shorties on Your Left” wiped up the competition, thanks in large part to Emily Hurley’s blistering final leg. We had a lot of great team performances, and in the half marathon I was particularly impressed by Michael and Kayla Hughes – two “non-runners” who trained for and nailed their first half marathon!
We have a lot of triathletes (and people who occasionally dabble in triathlon) and over the years we’ve seen some incredible performances. Getting a win at an iron distance race is a big deal, and at the Beach2Battleship Triathlon in North Carolina, Alyssa Godesky did just that. Swim times benefited from a rather generous current, but a good day is a good day. Alyssa came out of the water just a couple of minutes behind another local pro, Suzy Serpico, who extended that lead a little bit on the bike. Alyssa’s bike split was a distance PR, and once she was on the run, it was go-time. She burned up the pavement, cutting into Suzy’s lead with each stride, ultimately taking the lead somewhere around mile 15. She went onto record a marathon personal best 3:26:16 – 5 minutes faster than her open marathon best – and won the race in a scintillating 9:22:57. Wow.
At the Columbus Marathon, Nicole Wilson finished 23rd in a PR 3:03:57 (23rd really?? That’s a competitive race!) In the half marathon, Dustin Meeker ran a terrific 1:09:09 for 10th – not far off his personal best set there last year.
The Downs Park 5 Miler has become a fall favorite, and our guys usually clean up there. This year it was Steve Febish claiming the win and keeping it in the family with a season best 26:51. Sean Caskey was just behind in 2nd at 27:24, and Nick Klastava ran a fine race at 6th in 28:27.
And because we love the race so much, shoutout to PJ Anderer and Bryn Burkholder, who kept the Oktober Lauf Fest Half Marathon tradition alive. Unfortunately no cuckoo clocks, but I believe Bryn won some kind of weather thing. To see the full list of Purple Drink Athlete of the Week winners and more results, click on the "2014 Spreadsheet" on the right hand side.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Boom, Clap
Next up in the series of race weekends was the last weekend of July, which served as a random mid-summer's marathon weekend.
Out in Oregon, Dustin Meeker and Melissa Tanner had quite the adventure to get to the Eugene Marathon, but once they did it was business time. Dusty, clearly in the marathon shape of his life, had ambitions of a sub 2:30 time. His setup was perfect: chill first 10k, started to pick it up to 20, incredibly consistent splits. The last 10k - as they often do in a marathon - got tough, but he held on and finished up in 5th overall at 2:30:32. Huge new PR and a fantastic result for him. In the women's race, Melissa finished 9th and ran her miles like clockwork, basically even-splitting her way to a 2:55:20.
On the exact opposite end of the continent, Matt Franco and Allison Letourneau were tackling the Nova Scotia Marathon, putting their eggs in the "Canada is cool in July so it'll be easier to qualify for Boston" basket. Franco's story has made the rounds by now, but we'll just say it featured a solid 20 miles, and really tough last 10k after he stopped to go to the bathroom. Speaking from experience, unless you feel absolutely amazing, going to the bathroom that late in the race does nothing but drop a piano on you. While Franco had a rough go, Allison shuffled her way to a 3:33, good enough for 4th and a Boston qualifying time!
Other recent results included:
Megan DiGregorio's Rosaryville 50k win (and course record); Conrad Laskowski finished 14th at the Crystal City Twiligher 5k (15:26) and Andy Sovonick was 36th in 16:22 - side note, this race, a week after Rockville Twilight, is probably one we should look into. Very good competition and hear it's well-organized.
And of course a shout to Brennan Feldhausen, who tore up the Diamond in the Rough Triathlon a week or two ago.
This week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Dusty.
Out in Oregon, Dustin Meeker and Melissa Tanner had quite the adventure to get to the Eugene Marathon, but once they did it was business time. Dusty, clearly in the marathon shape of his life, had ambitions of a sub 2:30 time. His setup was perfect: chill first 10k, started to pick it up to 20, incredibly consistent splits. The last 10k - as they often do in a marathon - got tough, but he held on and finished up in 5th overall at 2:30:32. Huge new PR and a fantastic result for him. In the women's race, Melissa finished 9th and ran her miles like clockwork, basically even-splitting her way to a 2:55:20.
On the exact opposite end of the continent, Matt Franco and Allison Letourneau were tackling the Nova Scotia Marathon, putting their eggs in the "Canada is cool in July so it'll be easier to qualify for Boston" basket. Franco's story has made the rounds by now, but we'll just say it featured a solid 20 miles, and really tough last 10k after he stopped to go to the bathroom. Speaking from experience, unless you feel absolutely amazing, going to the bathroom that late in the race does nothing but drop a piano on you. While Franco had a rough go, Allison shuffled her way to a 3:33, good enough for 4th and a Boston qualifying time!
Other recent results included:
Megan DiGregorio's Rosaryville 50k win (and course record); Conrad Laskowski finished 14th at the Crystal City Twiligher 5k (15:26) and Andy Sovonick was 36th in 16:22 - side note, this race, a week after Rockville Twilight, is probably one we should look into. Very good competition and hear it's well-organized.
And of course a shout to Brennan Feldhausen, who tore up the Diamond in the Rough Triathlon a week or two ago.
This week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Dusty.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Just One of the Guys
As it's been pointed out, the blog has been quiet recently. Not because people haven't been racing, but honestly because I haven't had time. SO GET OFF MY BACK.
Just kidding. But seriously, I just haven't had the time. And then you know how it goes when you miss one week, it's easier to just miss a bunch of weeks. What I'm going to do is a series of hopefully reasonably short posts with just the highlights, let them hang out up top for a day and then push them down.
This is going to be all about Rockville Twilight 8k. A longstanding tradition among our group in particular, it really is one of the best summertime races out there. With the exception of one year when a tri I was doing conflicted, I've been out there since 2005 - but have only run it 3 times. The race is generally associated with oppressive heat and humidity, and last year's event was canceled after a lightning storm wouldn't move out of the way.
Like the rest of this summer has been, race day came and the forecast was for temps in the low 80s, and by race time it was maybe the 2nd nicest day I've seen in the last decade (behind 2009). This meant fast times were on tap!
Up front, Conrad Laskowski looked determined to race hard from the gun. With a handful guys faster than him, he gritted out a 25:25 8th place finish. Graham Peck, who seemingly never runs this fast in training, blasted a near-PR 25:44 for lucky #13. Our third finisher was Nick Gehlsen, who ran a solid 26:33. Now that should have been our scoring three but apparently in the team results C-Rad was conveniently left off...get to that later.
Next 3 were Andy Sovonick, who ran an absolutely great race to run his fastest time on the course (26:59) followed closely by the Prime Minister of Swag himself, Sean Caskey, in 27:05. That's a great first crack at Rockville, and a fine Falls Road debut. There were a few other notable male performances: Erik T. Orberg, in off-season form, ran a solid 27:37; the wolfpack of Ed Aramayo, Terence Baptiste and Brennan Feldhausen all...finished; and to toot my own horn, I ran 30:11. Not that this is spectacular, but my times here have been: 30:24 (2005), 30:03 (2007), 30:03 (2008). So, at least I'm pretty consistent, and technically I ran faster at 32 and broken than I did at 23 and slightly less broken.
Once upon a time, I actually used to beat Chrissie Ramsey...
Now she wipes the floor with me. Fortunately, I'm not the only one. In 2009 Chrissie won Rockville in a PR of 27:15. It was easily one of the best performances I've ever seen, maybe for her only topped by a 1:14:57 half marathon and 2:44 NYC Marathon. Earlier this year she won the other Rockville-based race, Pike's Peek 10k, and despite moving out of Baltimore we'd hoped she would come race again to cement her status as Queen of Rockville Pike. Just a day before the race I finally found out that she was racing (don't get me started on this!) so I couldn't make sure she was added to the team roster, but she looked ready to go on the start line. She also started campaigning for the Brita Grothe B.A. Award, wearing the tiniest Brooks bottoms we've ever seen.
Chrissie ripped along the course, ultimately finishing 3rd but in a very good time - 27:25, just 10 seconds off her fastest 8k time. For team purposes, Kiera Harrison was our first finisher, 8th in 30:16, and then we had what I thought was the surprise performance of the day come from Kaylyn Peck. Kay ran 31:32 for 11th, which was about a minute faster than I realistically thought she might run. With teams scoring 5 (3M/2F), Kaylyn helped seal our team victory!
As always, it was a fun night down in Rockville, and many thanks to our hosts Montgomery County Road Runners. This race is one of my favorites and is one I always look forward to each summer. Post-race was much less congested this year, and a bunch of us went to Ted's Big City Diner afterwards for late night breakfast food. It ends up being a pretty late night by the time we get back to Baltimore, but it's worth it for a race that brings the team together!
Earning the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week was Chrissie, and Kaylyn won the KC Masterpiece Award this week.
Just kidding. But seriously, I just haven't had the time. And then you know how it goes when you miss one week, it's easier to just miss a bunch of weeks. What I'm going to do is a series of hopefully reasonably short posts with just the highlights, let them hang out up top for a day and then push them down.
This is going to be all about Rockville Twilight 8k. A longstanding tradition among our group in particular, it really is one of the best summertime races out there. With the exception of one year when a tri I was doing conflicted, I've been out there since 2005 - but have only run it 3 times. The race is generally associated with oppressive heat and humidity, and last year's event was canceled after a lightning storm wouldn't move out of the way.
Like the rest of this summer has been, race day came and the forecast was for temps in the low 80s, and by race time it was maybe the 2nd nicest day I've seen in the last decade (behind 2009). This meant fast times were on tap!
Up front, Conrad Laskowski looked determined to race hard from the gun. With a handful guys faster than him, he gritted out a 25:25 8th place finish. Graham Peck, who seemingly never runs this fast in training, blasted a near-PR 25:44 for lucky #13. Our third finisher was Nick Gehlsen, who ran a solid 26:33. Now that should have been our scoring three but apparently in the team results C-Rad was conveniently left off...get to that later.
Next 3 were Andy Sovonick, who ran an absolutely great race to run his fastest time on the course (26:59) followed closely by the Prime Minister of Swag himself, Sean Caskey, in 27:05. That's a great first crack at Rockville, and a fine Falls Road debut. There were a few other notable male performances: Erik T. Orberg, in off-season form, ran a solid 27:37; the wolfpack of Ed Aramayo, Terence Baptiste and Brennan Feldhausen all...finished; and to toot my own horn, I ran 30:11. Not that this is spectacular, but my times here have been: 30:24 (2005), 30:03 (2007), 30:03 (2008). So, at least I'm pretty consistent, and technically I ran faster at 32 and broken than I did at 23 and slightly less broken.
Once upon a time, I actually used to beat Chrissie Ramsey...
Now she wipes the floor with me. Fortunately, I'm not the only one. In 2009 Chrissie won Rockville in a PR of 27:15. It was easily one of the best performances I've ever seen, maybe for her only topped by a 1:14:57 half marathon and 2:44 NYC Marathon. Earlier this year she won the other Rockville-based race, Pike's Peek 10k, and despite moving out of Baltimore we'd hoped she would come race again to cement her status as Queen of Rockville Pike. Just a day before the race I finally found out that she was racing (don't get me started on this!) so I couldn't make sure she was added to the team roster, but she looked ready to go on the start line. She also started campaigning for the Brita Grothe B.A. Award, wearing the tiniest Brooks bottoms we've ever seen.
Chrissie ripped along the course, ultimately finishing 3rd but in a very good time - 27:25, just 10 seconds off her fastest 8k time. For team purposes, Kiera Harrison was our first finisher, 8th in 30:16, and then we had what I thought was the surprise performance of the day come from Kaylyn Peck. Kay ran 31:32 for 11th, which was about a minute faster than I realistically thought she might run. With teams scoring 5 (3M/2F), Kaylyn helped seal our team victory!
As always, it was a fun night down in Rockville, and many thanks to our hosts Montgomery County Road Runners. This race is one of my favorites and is one I always look forward to each summer. Post-race was much less congested this year, and a bunch of us went to Ted's Big City Diner afterwards for late night breakfast food. It ends up being a pretty late night by the time we get back to Baltimore, but it's worth it for a race that brings the team together!
Earning the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week was Chrissie, and Kaylyn won the KC Masterpiece Award this week.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Sky Full of Stars
The last weekend in June means we've reached (and passed) the halfway point in the year! As I'm writing this today with a temperature over 90 degrees and "real feel" of approximately 273 Kelvin (science nerds, is that a lot?) it would be hard to believe that at one point this year we had a polar vortex.
On one of the greatest days of the year (Indiana Jones Day) we also saw the running of Dreaded Druid Hills 10k, and what great conditions we had for that! Jim and the Falls Road crew put on another fantastic event and thanks to so many of you who came out and volunteered in the morning. Races can't go on without your help!
In the race, Ian Clark finished 4th in 37:34, and Cory Donovan surprised himself after a week on antibiotics for an infection. He finished 9th in 42:24. Johnny Lyons was just behind in 42:45, and PJ Anderer came through at 45:14. Sara Damiano was our top (and only) lady and she finished 3rd!
Sunday was the inaugural Challenge USA in Atlantic City. It's an ironman distance, without being an Ironman. #Politics #amirightbros. Alyssa Godesky had a terrific race, posting her fastest iron distance bike and run splits (3:36 marathon) en route to an overall distance PR of 10:09:25. Most important, by finishing 4th she earned her first prize purse paycheck as a professional triathlete! Pretty cool, and that was good enough to earn her this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
As mentioned in the email, we had two different workouts for the track yesterday: one if Team USA won, one if they lost. Ultimately due to the incredibly hot and humid conditions we opted for the shorter workout (despite the Team USA loss). I have to say, don't think it was any easier really as people were pretty wiped by the end!
On one of the greatest days of the year (Indiana Jones Day) we also saw the running of Dreaded Druid Hills 10k, and what great conditions we had for that! Jim and the Falls Road crew put on another fantastic event and thanks to so many of you who came out and volunteered in the morning. Races can't go on without your help!
In the race, Ian Clark finished 4th in 37:34, and Cory Donovan surprised himself after a week on antibiotics for an infection. He finished 9th in 42:24. Johnny Lyons was just behind in 42:45, and PJ Anderer came through at 45:14. Sara Damiano was our top (and only) lady and she finished 3rd!
Sunday was the inaugural Challenge USA in Atlantic City. It's an ironman distance, without being an Ironman. #Politics #amirightbros. Alyssa Godesky had a terrific race, posting her fastest iron distance bike and run splits (3:36 marathon) en route to an overall distance PR of 10:09:25. Most important, by finishing 4th she earned her first prize purse paycheck as a professional triathlete! Pretty cool, and that was good enough to earn her this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.
As mentioned in the email, we had two different workouts for the track yesterday: one if Team USA won, one if they lost. Ultimately due to the incredibly hot and humid conditions we opted for the shorter workout (despite the Team USA loss). I have to say, don't think it was any easier really as people were pretty wiped by the end!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
How many PBJs can you eat in a day? When you ride north of 125 miles with 16,500 feet of climbing, apparently a lot.
It looked like an Alpine stage of the Tour de France, but it was right here in Maryland - the Garrett County Gran Fondo featuring the Diabolical Double. And while it may have just been overcast here in Baltimore (and at least 70 degrees), out in the mountains it was wet and cold, with extended periods of cold rain and generally very high humidity. This made for not only a long, soggy day, but also a dangerous one on the slick, twisty descents.
For both Mike Mashner and Andy Sovonick, this ride would be the longest they've ever ridden, and easily the hardest. Up and down, up and down, all day long. Over the course of a day like that, you're bound to run the gamut of physical and mental well-being. While the event was not officially a "race" they did time 5 climbs for the KOM competition. The climbs were brutal, unrelenting, and when you thought you were done with one, it kicked up some more. The last 1.5 miles or so were beyond vertical as riders ascended back to the top of the Wisp ski resort. A tough way to finish, for sure, but that's how a boss would do. After many, many hours, the ride was over and the 3 hour drive back to Baltimore commenced.
In the KOM competition, Andy finished 55th and Mike was 86th out of 576 or so. Our friend Michelle Miller was the 3rd fastest female in the ride, and had the fastest split among the ladies on the final climb (by nearly 30 seconds!).
Props to these guys, who earned the Dr. K Toughness Award.
Other events from the weekend included Stephanie Granlund's great half ironman at Syracuse. A couple of months ago the idea of a half ironman seemed like a daunting task. With distances that long, it's never an easy day, and her preparation for it had to be focused. She nailed it, and finished the race strong. Also in Syracuse was Jon Michel, who was marginally disappointed to not earn a slot to the 70.3 World Championship, but was pleased with how the race went. I saw him on the street yesterday morning and his comment was that his butt was sore.
The Baltimore Women's Classic boasts a big field and often quite competitive one. Kiera Harrison took 3rd in 18:09, and Carol Smith finished 4th at 18:22, just a split second ahead of Megan DiGregorio. Christa Wagner ran a terrific race, running an even 20:03 - bummed that she didn't slip under 20 minutes! She led in Denise Knickman (20:13) and Marci Benda (20:19). Kate Finley crossed at 20:38 and Jen Sheely finished in 21:29.
But our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Joel Gladfelter. For as long as I've known Joel, there have only been two races that have mattered: Boston Marathon (which he has no shot of ever winning) and Z's race. Named after Joel's running mentor, the Irv Zablocky Memorial Run is an annual footrace held in Hughesville (or wherever), Pennsylvania. For years it was Joel's white whale; the race he could never seem to win. He would finish in the top 5, maybe as high as runner-up to his friend, but could never get across the line first. As he got older, the light he was chasing dimmed. Until last year, when the race moved from its previous 3.55 mile distance to a 5k. Now, I don't know if it was that, or divine intervention, but whatever got into Joel that day propelled him to the win.
Joel was back this year to defend, but realized he wasn't in great shape. On Tuesday he ran a 5k in 18:21. No way that would be good enough on Saturday. Battling a rising high school senior with a 10:10 3200m PR, Joel got dusted at the start. It took him 2.5 miles to claw his way back to evens with the youngster, and it was Joel's racing savvy that opened the door for the win in 16:48. Awesome, awesome job. And if you've seen any of the pictures (all on the race's FB page) you can see just how hard he was working. That's how hard he is always working, I've never seen anyone able to turn themselves inside out like Joel. Great job buddy.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Bring Out the Big Balloons
Saturday was Graham's 25th birthday, and as Brennan pointed out, boy have things changed since most of the rest of us turned 25. None of us ever had the thought to run our age in miles. My 25th birthday was a dual-themed party, starting with a Pirates vs Ninjas Extreme Laser Tag Challenge and ending at the old 802 S. Eaton house with a Miami Vice (1984) theme party. Now, us old folks don't really celebrate birthdays, other than perhaps with a burger at Kooper's.
But for Graham, we were excited to get this one going. The plan was to start with a big group trail run at Patapsco. We left at 7:30 and got in a solid 15 miles on a beautiful morning before Graham, Conrad and Franco intrepidly headed back to Baltimore via Wilkens Ave. Immediately Graham and Conrad dropped "Flip" and after 4 miles, Matty Francs opted for a ride home in my whip. The other two were running so fast it took me to Carroll Park to finally catch them! 26+ miles later, the day was in the books.
We were also celebrating Chrissie's last day in Baltimore. She is getting her own separate post because she deserves it.
Meanwhile, there was some hot racing going on. Sunday was the Bel Air Town Run 5k, and I just checked and noticed everyone's times have been adjusted down - good news for you!
Dustin Meeker was the top dog as he soloed to the win in 15:27. He was almost a minute up on 2nd place, Rory Jenkins, who ran 16:21. Next through for us was Melissa Tanner, who had a decisive margin (17:37) over 4-time BATR champ, Megan DiGregorio (2nd, 17:55). Nick Klastava slotted in at 17:38. Jon Miller had a great race, coming oh-so-close to breaking 18 (18:05) and Dave Ploskonka also had one of his best 5k races, running 18:31. Carly Page rounded out the ladies' podium in 3rd at 18:50. Next up was Denise Knickman, 5th in 19:46, and then Julie Wolfe, who I missed initially, ran 20:23 for 10th. Jordan Dillen ran the fastest he's gone in quite some time (21:37) and Alley Firey had a great run, crossing the line at 23:22.
In the multisport world, Kendra Ingram rocked the Omaha Women's Triathlon, coming in 84th in 1:51:56. Tom Stack was 3rd at the Rock Hall Sprint, a very solid all-around race for him a week out from Eagleman. But the best part of his day was recording the fastest run of the day at 17:47 - the only athlete to break 18 minutes for the 5k run. I noticed Diane Heiser ran the Pacific Assocation USATF Championship meet (1500m) where she finished 8th in 4:48.05, which is about a 5:06 mile. Very speedy!
Finally, down in Raleigh at the Ironman 70.3 there, Brian Benda finished 52nd in 4:46:40. Naturally he had one of the fastest swims of the day (24:17) before riding strong (2:35) and holding on for a 1:42 half marathon. David Lee bounced back from his day at Columbia a few weeks ago to swim a terrific 31:30, ride a 2:40 and also ran a 1:42 to finish 152nd in 4:59:56. Just scooting under 5 hours, I'll take it!
The performance of the day, and our clear Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, went to Suzanne Hurst. Suzanne did her first triathlon last summer. Obviously she is a very fast runner, but the swim and bike are quite foreign. She managed a 40 minute swim, which was a fantastic start to her day, and she rode an eye-popping 2:57 bike split! Let me tell you, racing your bike for 56 miles is far from easy. To only be 30 minutes slower than the top female pros on the bike is pretty impressive. Once she was on the run, Suzanne went to work, scorching the earth to the tune of a 1:35:57 half marathon split. She went from 130th F to 59th over 13.1 miles. She negative split the run, ripping a 6:50/mile average over the last 5k. She finished 8th in her age group in her first ever half ironman in a time of 5:19:48. WHAT?! That's 90 minutes faster than I went in my first half ironman. Absolutely incredible, this performance will easily go in as one of our best of the year.
But for Graham, we were excited to get this one going. The plan was to start with a big group trail run at Patapsco. We left at 7:30 and got in a solid 15 miles on a beautiful morning before Graham, Conrad and Franco intrepidly headed back to Baltimore via Wilkens Ave. Immediately Graham and Conrad dropped "Flip" and after 4 miles, Matty Francs opted for a ride home in my whip. The other two were running so fast it took me to Carroll Park to finally catch them! 26+ miles later, the day was in the books.
We were also celebrating Chrissie's last day in Baltimore. She is getting her own separate post because she deserves it.
Meanwhile, there was some hot racing going on. Sunday was the Bel Air Town Run 5k, and I just checked and noticed everyone's times have been adjusted down - good news for you!
Dustin Meeker was the top dog as he soloed to the win in 15:27. He was almost a minute up on 2nd place, Rory Jenkins, who ran 16:21. Next through for us was Melissa Tanner, who had a decisive margin (17:37) over 4-time BATR champ, Megan DiGregorio (2nd, 17:55). Nick Klastava slotted in at 17:38. Jon Miller had a great race, coming oh-so-close to breaking 18 (18:05) and Dave Ploskonka also had one of his best 5k races, running 18:31. Carly Page rounded out the ladies' podium in 3rd at 18:50. Next up was Denise Knickman, 5th in 19:46, and then Julie Wolfe, who I missed initially, ran 20:23 for 10th. Jordan Dillen ran the fastest he's gone in quite some time (21:37) and Alley Firey had a great run, crossing the line at 23:22.
In the multisport world, Kendra Ingram rocked the Omaha Women's Triathlon, coming in 84th in 1:51:56. Tom Stack was 3rd at the Rock Hall Sprint, a very solid all-around race for him a week out from Eagleman. But the best part of his day was recording the fastest run of the day at 17:47 - the only athlete to break 18 minutes for the 5k run. I noticed Diane Heiser ran the Pacific Assocation USATF Championship meet (1500m) where she finished 8th in 4:48.05, which is about a 5:06 mile. Very speedy!
Finally, down in Raleigh at the Ironman 70.3 there, Brian Benda finished 52nd in 4:46:40. Naturally he had one of the fastest swims of the day (24:17) before riding strong (2:35) and holding on for a 1:42 half marathon. David Lee bounced back from his day at Columbia a few weeks ago to swim a terrific 31:30, ride a 2:40 and also ran a 1:42 to finish 152nd in 4:59:56. Just scooting under 5 hours, I'll take it!
The performance of the day, and our clear Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, went to Suzanne Hurst. Suzanne did her first triathlon last summer. Obviously she is a very fast runner, but the swim and bike are quite foreign. She managed a 40 minute swim, which was a fantastic start to her day, and she rode an eye-popping 2:57 bike split! Let me tell you, racing your bike for 56 miles is far from easy. To only be 30 minutes slower than the top female pros on the bike is pretty impressive. Once she was on the run, Suzanne went to work, scorching the earth to the tune of a 1:35:57 half marathon split. She went from 130th F to 59th over 13.1 miles. She negative split the run, ripping a 6:50/mile average over the last 5k. She finished 8th in her age group in her first ever half ironman in a time of 5:19:48. WHAT?! That's 90 minutes faster than I went in my first half ironman. Absolutely incredible, this performance will easily go in as one of our best of the year.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Jumpin' Jumpin'
What am I, two weekends behind on race results? I'll try to sum it up succinctly:
For 30 years, the Columbia Triathlon has been a fixture in Mid-Atlantic multisport. It was the first triathlon I ever competed in and some of the greatest triathletes of all time have come to race here. This year, all that changed when Columbia Triathlon Association, the NPO responsible for organizing the race, folded, leaving the race in a lurch. Ultimately, Ulman Cancer Fund came to the rescue and allowed the race to continue as planned. However, Mother Nature had other plans. A serious deluge in the days leading up to the race caused the bacteria level in the lake to go through the roof, meaning the swim had to be canceled. Rather than change the race to a duathlon (run-bike-run) it became just a bike-run. Still plenty of challenge to be had, we saw some great performances from Brian Benda (30th) and Christa Wagner (27th). David Lee, Chris Scott and Stephanie Granlund all competed, as did Jen Sheely in her first multisport race ever!
With the pro race effectively canceled, Alyssa Godesky had a change in plans. Instead of racing at Columbia, she headed down to REV3's Knoxville race. Coincidentally, this would be REV3's final pro race too. What is happening in triathlon?! The unique distance for this event (1.2 swim, 40 bike, 9.8 run) provided a nice blend of an Olympic and half iron. Just two weeks after Wildflower, Alyssa said she felt good and came out of the cold water in good position before riding and running her way to an 11th place finish.
Elsewhere in the triathlon world, Mike Mashner, who has been dormant for this entire year due to an injury, emerged like a caterpillar from its cocoon to race his hometown tri - the Upper Dublin Sprint. It's a race he knows well; after all, he's won the only 3 editions of the event. But how would he fare this year with severely restricted running since October? Mike legged out a second place finish, which was pretty impressive!
Andy Sovonick won the Run for the Animals 5k, his second race win in the past couple of weeks. Andy's had a great season and is shutting down for a week or two to collect himself before beginning a build to late summer and fall racing season.
Christa Wagner earned that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week after running an incredible 44:43 on the challenging Columbia Tri course.
Then it was time for Memorial Day, time to usher in summer. After a week of more rain, the weekend started a little chilly on Saturday but progressed nicely into what was legit warmth by Monday! Took some by surprise I'm sure.
The BRRC Patapsco Trail 4 Miler was apparently more appealing than winning money at the MCVETs 5k/10k, as Graham Peck finished 3rd to Ryan Stasiowski (2nd) and Gabe Rodriguez (1st). Terry Decker raced, following a monster day of training on Saturday, and Doug Ripley finished just behind him. Ryan Dietrich also raced, and so did Mr. Peck. So Patapsco was basically a huge sausage-fest, while MCVETs was a serious clam jam.
Chrissie Ramsey was the OVERALL winner at the 5k, running an unrivaled 17:19. Carly Page was 2nd F in 18:53, and Amy Horst took 3rd in 19:31. PJ Anderer was the lone male in 20:13.
In the 10k, Terence Baptiste finished a respectable 5th in 37:27. Recent Loyola grad and superstar Kiera Harrison took the win in 38:xx, while Amy finished 3rd again in 41:40. Eileen Fleck must be feeling pretty good because she ran, finishing 5th in 42:42. Great to see you out there Eileen!
The Vermont City Marathon took its toll on a number of people, including Megan DiGregorio, who had a rare off day as she finished 22nd in 3:17:59. A race I missed in the email, Jen Sheely ran an apparent marathon PR at the Bob Potts Marathon in PA at 3:29:45.
Monday was Memorial Day, of course, and Ian Clark took 2nd in the Special Ops 5k, put on by the Boston Street Running Company, in a very good time of 16:41. Ben and Kendra Ingram drove out to Bolder Boulder 10k on a whim - Ben ran 34:32 for 71st (out of 50,000+!). A couple others I missed in the email: Diane Heiser ran a 10k PR at the Marin 10k (25th F, 38:52) and Robyn St. Laurent ran the Remembrance Run 5k in Howard County (20:46, 5th).
We awarded this week's PDAW to Amy, who raced twice on Sunday, and had also competed the previous weekend at Bike Jam (a real deal bike race)!
For 30 years, the Columbia Triathlon has been a fixture in Mid-Atlantic multisport. It was the first triathlon I ever competed in and some of the greatest triathletes of all time have come to race here. This year, all that changed when Columbia Triathlon Association, the NPO responsible for organizing the race, folded, leaving the race in a lurch. Ultimately, Ulman Cancer Fund came to the rescue and allowed the race to continue as planned. However, Mother Nature had other plans. A serious deluge in the days leading up to the race caused the bacteria level in the lake to go through the roof, meaning the swim had to be canceled. Rather than change the race to a duathlon (run-bike-run) it became just a bike-run. Still plenty of challenge to be had, we saw some great performances from Brian Benda (30th) and Christa Wagner (27th). David Lee, Chris Scott and Stephanie Granlund all competed, as did Jen Sheely in her first multisport race ever!
With the pro race effectively canceled, Alyssa Godesky had a change in plans. Instead of racing at Columbia, she headed down to REV3's Knoxville race. Coincidentally, this would be REV3's final pro race too. What is happening in triathlon?! The unique distance for this event (1.2 swim, 40 bike, 9.8 run) provided a nice blend of an Olympic and half iron. Just two weeks after Wildflower, Alyssa said she felt good and came out of the cold water in good position before riding and running her way to an 11th place finish.
Elsewhere in the triathlon world, Mike Mashner, who has been dormant for this entire year due to an injury, emerged like a caterpillar from its cocoon to race his hometown tri - the Upper Dublin Sprint. It's a race he knows well; after all, he's won the only 3 editions of the event. But how would he fare this year with severely restricted running since October? Mike legged out a second place finish, which was pretty impressive!
Andy Sovonick won the Run for the Animals 5k, his second race win in the past couple of weeks. Andy's had a great season and is shutting down for a week or two to collect himself before beginning a build to late summer and fall racing season.
Christa Wagner earned that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week after running an incredible 44:43 on the challenging Columbia Tri course.
Then it was time for Memorial Day, time to usher in summer. After a week of more rain, the weekend started a little chilly on Saturday but progressed nicely into what was legit warmth by Monday! Took some by surprise I'm sure.
The BRRC Patapsco Trail 4 Miler was apparently more appealing than winning money at the MCVETs 5k/10k, as Graham Peck finished 3rd to Ryan Stasiowski (2nd) and Gabe Rodriguez (1st). Terry Decker raced, following a monster day of training on Saturday, and Doug Ripley finished just behind him. Ryan Dietrich also raced, and so did Mr. Peck. So Patapsco was basically a huge sausage-fest, while MCVETs was a serious clam jam.
Chrissie Ramsey was the OVERALL winner at the 5k, running an unrivaled 17:19. Carly Page was 2nd F in 18:53, and Amy Horst took 3rd in 19:31. PJ Anderer was the lone male in 20:13.
In the 10k, Terence Baptiste finished a respectable 5th in 37:27. Recent Loyola grad and superstar Kiera Harrison took the win in 38:xx, while Amy finished 3rd again in 41:40. Eileen Fleck must be feeling pretty good because she ran, finishing 5th in 42:42. Great to see you out there Eileen!
The Vermont City Marathon took its toll on a number of people, including Megan DiGregorio, who had a rare off day as she finished 22nd in 3:17:59. A race I missed in the email, Jen Sheely ran an apparent marathon PR at the Bob Potts Marathon in PA at 3:29:45.
Monday was Memorial Day, of course, and Ian Clark took 2nd in the Special Ops 5k, put on by the Boston Street Running Company, in a very good time of 16:41. Ben and Kendra Ingram drove out to Bolder Boulder 10k on a whim - Ben ran 34:32 for 71st (out of 50,000+!). A couple others I missed in the email: Diane Heiser ran a 10k PR at the Marin 10k (25th F, 38:52) and Robyn St. Laurent ran the Remembrance Run 5k in Howard County (20:46, 5th).
We awarded this week's PDAW to Amy, who raced twice on Sunday, and had also competed the previous weekend at Bike Jam (a real deal bike race)!
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Not the Mama
A humble tribute to the classic 1990s prehistoric sitcom, Dinosaurs, the phrase "Not the Mama" became embedded in our vernacular for at least a year or two.
The whole point of that was to a) add an image to a post and b) use a phrase involving mothers for Mother's Day.
Due to the holiday, there wasn't much racing available on Sunday. Most of it came on Saturday, and from one race in particular: the St. John's Run in the Valley 5k. Run on an out-and-back course in scenic Butler or whatever it's considered, there was a small prize purse that attracted a couple of our folks. Graham Peck rode his bike up there (has to be close to 25 miles) and then ran on tired legs, easily winning in a slow 17:16. Megan DiGregorio was 2nd overall and 1st woman in 18:41. Kaylyn Peck was celebrating her birthday that day and came in 2nd at 19:57. Emma Jornlin rounded out the sweep in 20:08. Brendan Woulfe ran 20:37 and Lillian Pinault was 4th in 20:58.
At the Maryland Half Marathon, Tom Stack finished 3rd in 1:26:42, a solid time for a guy who doesn't tend to race that long, and Cory Donovan brought his 1:40 pace group in over 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Those that survived were probably pretty psyched.
Out in Cali, Diane Heiser ran the 5k4Play, finishing - get this - 26th F in a 19:09. Pretty remarkable competition. There were just over 200 competitors and she was the median finisher. Top 3 guys were under 15. More stacked than any race I've seen.
Also in California, Alex Battaglino set a personal best in the 5000m run at the USF Last Chance Meet. He ran 15:06.51, which lowered his PB by almost 2 seconds. What's most impressive is that time was set 8 years ago. As we all know, it's way hard to run PRs in short distances as we get older, especially when some ran as fast as they did in college.
Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Kaylyn Peck.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Who'll Stop the Rain
The opening May weekend is typically rife with awesome racing action. Some are hitting their peak while others are getting their seasons ramped up, but with good spring conditions, fast courses and good competition - big races abound! Of course we earned it after 3 straight days earlier in the week of the hardest rain I've ever seen!
We kicked things off Friday night down in College Park. For the 6th year I got to head down to the ol' alma mater and "race" the Alumni Mile. And by that I mean I technically covered 1609 meters. We've been fortunate to have terrific weather every year for this event, and it makes for an enjoyable night. The foursome of myself, Conrad Laskowski, Tom Stott and UMD coach Danielle set out at Conrad's easy pace (my race pace) and for two laps, held it together. Then Tom made a move, and the race was on. I got my doors blown off. Conrad was racing Sunday so he kept the effort to a minimum and let Danielle cross the line first. Scott aka Scotty had a solid day running 5:27. I ran 5:32. Ha! It could have been worse I suppose. Denise Knickman ran well, scooting under 6 minutes.
In the actual Terp Twilight Meet, we were treated to some very fast racing from our friends at GRC. They brought a stellar squad and lit up the otherwise quiet track. Our own Chrissie Ramsey took the women's 5000m (field of 3) in a solo 17:04.82.
Saturday was the Fiesta 5k in Baltimore. Dan Miranda suffered an untimely injury in his run-up to Boston, and wasn't able to compete as a result. He's been staying in shape by riding his bike, but went out on Saturday and cruised to a 2nd place finish in 17:42! Evan Burros was 3rd in 18:15 and Cory Donovan, in his 3rd straight weekend of racing, was 7th in 18:33.
In evening action, as evidenced by the photograph two posts down, Andy Sovonick had a great win at the Frederick 5k. He ran 16:31, easily outdistancing 2nd place.
Alyssa Godesky had that Cali swag going at Wildflower, one of triathlon's most iconic events. As I mentioned in the email, this year was a unique situation: due to some serious drought conditions, the normal swim venue was all dried up, forcing the race to migrate a couple of miles away to a lake that had some water left in it. This meant a 1.2 mile swim followed by 2 mile run to get to transition, then the 56 mile challenging bike course. Race organizers didn't want to make the total run mileage 15, so they took 2 miles out of the half marathon at the end, so the final run was about 11 miles. With that lengthy explanation, onto the race. Alyssa posted a half iron swim best (29:12) and rode a strong bike leg. She's a consistent racer and there isn't a weakness in any of her disciplines, so her speedy run put her in 16th in the women's pro field at 5:08:43.
The sun went down and the moon came up, and then the sun rose again and it was Sunday.
Pennsylvania racing was plentiful with Steve Febish covering the Pittsburgh Half course in 1:16:02 and Megan DiGregorio racing in Philly at the Broad Street 10 Miler, crossing in a new personal best of 1:01:34 (and 17th!)
We were expecting some fireworks out in Frederick at the half marathon, with Dave Berdan and Conrad racing, along with a couple of GRCers and a Pacer. In the end it was Dave with a comfortable margin of victory in 1:07:17 - well off his insane 1:05:40 best there, but a great tuneup ahead of Vermont City Marathon. Conrad, racing for the 3rd time in 5 weekends, said he just felt "empty" as he finished up in 4th at 1:10:03. Jon Miller had a big race on the heels of his awesome Pike's Peek last weekend. Jon ran 1:23:24 for 30th place, which I mistakenly announced as a 6 minute PR but he reminded me it was more like 20 seconds or something.
Some big results you might have missed in the box scores: Carly Page ran the Frederick Half Relay with her friend, and they crushed as usual. At the Race for Hope 5k, Terence Baptiste finished 8th in 17:52 and Brennan Feldhausen showed off his fine form as he burnt up the streets of DC, running a 22:07. Angela Vavasori ran an excellent 1:49:12 at the Flying Pig Marathon.
And in multisport action, Christa Wagner was 2nd and Amy Horst was 4th at the Devilman Sprint Duathlon in New Jersey. Chilly, windy conditions down in the flat south Jersey landscape made for a tough bike, but both ladies rolled the runs pretty hard.
So many fine choices but there could only be one Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and that went to Jon Miller!
Don't forget to check out the post below for Sunday run plans.
We kicked things off Friday night down in College Park. For the 6th year I got to head down to the ol' alma mater and "race" the Alumni Mile. And by that I mean I technically covered 1609 meters. We've been fortunate to have terrific weather every year for this event, and it makes for an enjoyable night. The foursome of myself, Conrad Laskowski, Tom Stott and UMD coach Danielle set out at Conrad's easy pace (my race pace) and for two laps, held it together. Then Tom made a move, and the race was on. I got my doors blown off. Conrad was racing Sunday so he kept the effort to a minimum and let Danielle cross the line first. Scott aka Scotty had a solid day running 5:27. I ran 5:32. Ha! It could have been worse I suppose. Denise Knickman ran well, scooting under 6 minutes.
In the actual Terp Twilight Meet, we were treated to some very fast racing from our friends at GRC. They brought a stellar squad and lit up the otherwise quiet track. Our own Chrissie Ramsey took the women's 5000m (field of 3) in a solo 17:04.82.
Saturday was the Fiesta 5k in Baltimore. Dan Miranda suffered an untimely injury in his run-up to Boston, and wasn't able to compete as a result. He's been staying in shape by riding his bike, but went out on Saturday and cruised to a 2nd place finish in 17:42! Evan Burros was 3rd in 18:15 and Cory Donovan, in his 3rd straight weekend of racing, was 7th in 18:33.
In evening action, as evidenced by the photograph two posts down, Andy Sovonick had a great win at the Frederick 5k. He ran 16:31, easily outdistancing 2nd place.
Alyssa Godesky had that Cali swag going at Wildflower, one of triathlon's most iconic events. As I mentioned in the email, this year was a unique situation: due to some serious drought conditions, the normal swim venue was all dried up, forcing the race to migrate a couple of miles away to a lake that had some water left in it. This meant a 1.2 mile swim followed by 2 mile run to get to transition, then the 56 mile challenging bike course. Race organizers didn't want to make the total run mileage 15, so they took 2 miles out of the half marathon at the end, so the final run was about 11 miles. With that lengthy explanation, onto the race. Alyssa posted a half iron swim best (29:12) and rode a strong bike leg. She's a consistent racer and there isn't a weakness in any of her disciplines, so her speedy run put her in 16th in the women's pro field at 5:08:43.
The sun went down and the moon came up, and then the sun rose again and it was Sunday.
Pennsylvania racing was plentiful with Steve Febish covering the Pittsburgh Half course in 1:16:02 and Megan DiGregorio racing in Philly at the Broad Street 10 Miler, crossing in a new personal best of 1:01:34 (and 17th!)
We were expecting some fireworks out in Frederick at the half marathon, with Dave Berdan and Conrad racing, along with a couple of GRCers and a Pacer. In the end it was Dave with a comfortable margin of victory in 1:07:17 - well off his insane 1:05:40 best there, but a great tuneup ahead of Vermont City Marathon. Conrad, racing for the 3rd time in 5 weekends, said he just felt "empty" as he finished up in 4th at 1:10:03. Jon Miller had a big race on the heels of his awesome Pike's Peek last weekend. Jon ran 1:23:24 for 30th place, which I mistakenly announced as a 6 minute PR but he reminded me it was more like 20 seconds or something.
Some big results you might have missed in the box scores: Carly Page ran the Frederick Half Relay with her friend, and they crushed as usual. At the Race for Hope 5k, Terence Baptiste finished 8th in 17:52 and Brennan Feldhausen showed off his fine form as he burnt up the streets of DC, running a 22:07. Angela Vavasori ran an excellent 1:49:12 at the Flying Pig Marathon.
And in multisport action, Christa Wagner was 2nd and Amy Horst was 4th at the Devilman Sprint Duathlon in New Jersey. Chilly, windy conditions down in the flat south Jersey landscape made for a tough bike, but both ladies rolled the runs pretty hard.
So many fine choices but there could only be one Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and that went to Jon Miller!
Don't forget to check out the post below for Sunday run plans.
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