Hot in Beantown

This is the sequel to the hit Nick-at-Nite television show, "Hot in Cleveland," starring Betty White.

According to circulated reports, due to the anticipated weather conditions for Monday's race, the B.A.A. is allowing runners to defer their entry to the 2013 race, provided they pick up their packets this weekend and do not take part in Monday's race. This may be helpful to some, as the qualifying standards become harder for next year. Assuming everyone of our folks is still racing, just be smart about your effort and you'll be fine.

In other news, at today's Loyola/Hopkins Invite at the 33rd Street track, Ed Aramayo used his monster kick from 300m out to overtake 2nd and 1st, winning the race and cutting 2.3 seconds out of his previous PR. Ed ran 3:56.99 for the win, while Tristram Thomas took 3rd in 3:57.76, a season best. Arjun Majumdar was a little off his game today, running 4:17, and Tim Burns wasn't feeling it either - he ran about the same time. Congratulations on the great racing!

Rack City

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

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

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

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

Meg McNew, just before her 2nd place effort

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Young, Wild, and Free

Last week was a fun week: we held the first ever, and as far as we know, ONLY Leap Day 4k on the PLANET; we saw some amazing personal bests; we experienced a lot of rain, thunder, and lightning. 

At the RunningSkirts.com Albany (GA) Marathon, formerly the SNICKERS MARATHON Energy Bar Marathon, athletes were treated to tornado sirens blaring, instructing them to seek indoor shelter immediately.  And, like true runners, these warnings went unheeded, as Lisa Ievers cruised to an 8 minute PR and a 5th place finish (3:09:20).  Pete Mulligan was back to pacing duties, but instead of the 4:30 group, he now commands the 4:25 Boston group.  They ran through driving rain, thunder, and lightning (much like our Leap Day race), but Pete still brought them in on time.  Pete even wore a skirt to pay homage to the new race sponsor.

At the Columbia Last Chance Meet (seriously, is indoor OVER yet??) at the Armory, Greg Jubb was putting it all on the line.  His gaze fixated on breaking 4 by 2013, he showed he's better than ever, running an indoor PR of 4:06.96 to finish 18th.  Brian Leiter ran 4:07.17.  These times should strike fear in the heart of the Westminster Main Street Mile record...

It may not be quite an "ultra" but Dave Ploskonka loves his Seneca Greenway 50k.  This year, thanks to a lot of rain, the conditions were quite muddy, but Dave persevered, finishing 2nd.  Meg Harnett, a newcomer to the long distance game, also finished 2nd.

Sunday was Fantastic Lady Day as our ladies went out and smashed stereotypes.  Carly Page proved in her 2nd place at the B&A Trail Half that you CAN run fast in a skirt (interesting she and Pete had the same wardrobe).  Carly ran a great race, running 1:26:45, negative splitting and exacting revenge on her legs for a disappointing performance last week.  Alyssa Godesky showed that girls CAN behave like boys, as she hurled the second her feet crossed the line.  But, with a 6 minute PR (1:30:24) and 6th place finish, I'd say it was worth it.  Still, very gross.  And Nina "Van Winkle" Hartman illustrated that girls CAN oversleep and not show up to races, just like the guys!  Don't worry Nina, we've all done it!

Out on the Eastern Shore, Denise Knickman once again ran the Tim Kennard 10 Mile River Run, running one second faster than she did last weekend at Club Challenge.  Ms. Consistent.  The stars of the show were the Peck siblings, as Graham Peck ran an incredible 53:xx to win, and Kaylyn got the win easily ahead of Big D. 

Shouts to the posse of folks that showed up to the B&A Trail race to support: Joel, Christa, Dave, Becky, Meg H!

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Carly Page, this very good result hopefully erases the frustration from Club Challenge. 

And our AutoZone In the Zone Award goes to Greg Jubb, who has been on a roll recently, running a 1:53 800 and <4:07 mile indoors.  Outdoor tracks beware!  Greg's also been killing it as co-host of the Runaround on ESPN radio, the ONLY radio show dedicated to our sport.  It's on Mondays from 5-6pm, and if you can't make it to a radio, you can listen online here: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/station/espn-1300/

Some important notes:

1. See Justin's post below concerning helping out at a race in April.  It's on a Friday night at Lake Montebello.  If you can help, please let me know.

2. Outdoor season is just around the corner which means if you are planning on racing, start contacting the Meet Directors!  There are a few open race opportunities, including our own Forget Towson Invite (Saturday, 3/17), and a bunch of others in the spring before we get to the summer season. 

3. Track tonight - The longer race crew will be doing 6x1600, the shorter race crew will be doing 5x(800-400) I think. 

Jarf Goes Big at BRRC Meet #2

Obviously see the post below for the weekend long run plans, but now that that's settled, I wanted to highlight the performance(s) of our very own Joel Barfolomew Gladfelter at the BRRC Summer Track Meet #2.  Joel has been on a mission for the past few seasons to break the 5 minute mile barrier, and while we all know he has the speed to do it, for some reason or other he just didn't have the right opportunities.  Coming into this year, his PR was a 5:08 I believe from a few years ago.  He wanted to get under, but his focus couldn't have been solely on running the mile, as he has bigger fish to fry.  At the Meet of Miles just 2 weeks earlier, he came pretty close - running a 5:01 (their time)/5:02 (his watch).  But, since he hasn't done any workouts since then, he wasn't sure how it would go.  When the meet started at 6:30 (on the dot, unfortunately, for me and Ed, who were very, very late) with the mile, Joel was ready to go.

He got out hot, leading the pack through 200, before settling into a pace by the 409m.  From my perspective as last in the race, I could see that he was on pace through 1209m, but he also appeared to be tiring.  Could he get it done?  It looked like he just needed to make sure he ran at least a 77 and he would have been okay.  Up front, Ed took over the lead after helping set the pace for Joel, and ran away with the victory over some high school kids, easily running a 4:45 (with just a 40 second warmup from the car to the track).  And then there came Joel - 4:57 on their time and a watch confirming no worse than 4:58.  It had to have been a great feeling, and a major relief, to finally crack that barrier. 

Now he was on a roll.  "Should I run the 800m?" he asked.  I replied, "Joel you're on a roll."  With a very soft PR (his only outdoor 800m was a 2:22 from many, many years ago), the race was his for the taking.  He had a more conservative start this time, allowing Remus to set the pace.  Remus came through, pumping his arms in the air, at 60/61.  Joel was middle of the pack around 64.  From 400 to 500, though, Joel exploded, passing almost everyone that was ahead of him until he sat right on Remus' heels.  We're not sure if Remus even knew he was there, and Joel looked comfortable.  It looked like he could make a race of it, but he kept looking at his watch, and with 200m to go, Remus opened up a bit.  With 100m to go, Joel was really straining, but he came through in 2:09 for 2nd place.  Amazing!

Having no 2 Mile PR, and only a 13:03 indoor 3200m PR, he had yet another opportunity for a personal best.  I thought we were running a 32, but they changed it to 2 miles at the start.  Joel went out a 6:01, and, undoubtedly fatigued from the evening's monster efforts, slowed to a 6:35, to finish up at 12:36.  Even though that pace is about what he ran for a marathon just a few months ago, it was another PR for the man from Hughesville PA.

Finally, he still had enough in him to run a 4x100m relay.  The team was Ed, RM, Hollywood and Barf, eerily reminiscent of a day a few years ago where me, Hollywood, Barf and Andy were in a little relay race with a thousand dollars on the line, and Barf lost it for us.  Well, today it was my turn to F it up, as I cannot run 100m.  Ed handed off to me and I promptly got toasted by some little girls and a really old dude.  I handed off to Hollywood, who gave it to Barf in poor position.  Barf lit up the home stretch, moving up a spot I think and bridging the gap to 2nd and 3rd to at least make it look close.  In the process, we established a 4x100m record for our team at a blazing...55 seconds.  I'm pretty sure at least Ed and Barf would have done better had they just run 400m on their own. 

Nevertheless, it was a great night on the track.  The weather was manageable and for Joel, it was a magical night of light, quick feet.  In addition to Joel's great run, Denise and Hollywood each ran the mile, neither one getting any warmup either (6:17 for D, 5:0x for H-wood, both in the 2nd heat because they were late).  Meg D showed up in time for the 800m and walked to the win in 2:33, with Denise coming through in presumably what she runs for intervals.  In the 2 mile, Ed negative split to the win in 10:08, with Louis finishing just inside 11 minutes and Hollywood finishing just outside of it.  Denise won in 12:05 (both miles were faster than her one mile race) and Meg D was right behind her.  There are two BRRC Meets remaining: the 2 Person-10 Mile Relay on Saturday, August 6 I believe, and the Summer Track Meet #3 on Wednesday, August 17.  This will feature a 5000m event as well as a 4x400m relay. 

In The Streets of Philadelphia

So after a miserably wet and cold ride this morning in Frederick, I return to my car to see a number of texts from everyone running at Broad Street and man, was I blown away:

Dave Berdan, who just two weeks ago said he wasn't racing Broad Street, ran a 31 second PR, finishing 7th overall in 49:20.  Said he came through in 24:20 (24:26) at the half, ran the entire way by himself.  Splits to come...

Garrett Ash ran 53:59 after coming through the half in 25:50.  I'm sure he'll be a little disappointed with the result, but that's still a great effort out there.

Chrissie Ramsey was like "it's Chrissie, bitch" as she went on a tear in the last 3 miles to finish in 56:54, demolishing her previous best/team record 59:11, set last year on a hot day at Broad Street.  According to eyewitness accounts, her booty looked fine.  Psyche, I don't know that for sure, but I bet it was - and Zero was 15yd behind her until 7, when she turned on her little afterburners, rolling the last two miles in 5:32/5:32.  Incredible.  6th place overall, 2nd American behind ZAP Fitness runner Esther Erb (56:34).

Mike Zero Mashner, who I believe attended the Mets-Phillies game yesterday and then watched the Flyers in a bar next to the stadium, and then was kept up until 4am by some hippie art festival, confirmed his Cherry Blossom performance by running a 58:13.  Through the half in 28:48, he worked to hold on and finished 95th overall.

Chris Benassi started off conservatively, splitting 5 in 30:06, before going on a negative split mission to finish in 59:23 (29:17 last 5).  Really awesome!

Nina Hartman also negative split, finishing in 1:07:41, so all in all it looks like a great day out there!  Conditions from the course suggested that it was between "perfect racing conditions" and "a little warm out there with the sun" - but a slight headwind and temps in the 60s made for good efforts for all.  Interesting to point out that the winning times were quite slow - 46:32 for the winner.  The year Kip ran 49:04 there I believe was the year the winner dropped the fastest 10 mile time on American soil in the super low 45 range.  That makes your performances even greater!

UPDATE FROM BIG SUR:

Tom and Patty Stott headed out to the "most beautiful marathon in the US", Big Sur, today.  Due to a section of road falling into the Pacific Ocean, the course had been rerouted to now be an out and back, and apparently that meant it was even more challenging than the old course.  Tom had gotten shut out of the marathon, but was able to sign up for the 21 miler (they have weird distance races all at the same time).  So he just ran the marathon instead.  While it won't count officially as a marathon, he improved upon last fall's marathon debut BIG TIME by running a 3:07:14.  Wife Patty ran the 10.6 miler and was under her goal of 1:45, which is terrific!

Pike's Peek on FIRE

Rockville, MD: A course record was set today as Julius Kogo of Chapel Hill narrowly misses breaking 28 minutes on the fastest course this side of the Mississippi.  14 runners in all broke the 30 minute barrier, including our own DAVE BERDAN, who ran a blazing 29:30 to finish 12th (12th...insane). 

From the mouth of Dave: "Surprised myself, probably could have run faster had I been more confident.  I was running 4:44-:46 and was worried I was going too slow.  Had a lot left.  Here are my splits: 4:51, 4:47, 4:46, 4:44, 4:47, 4:44, :50 (last 0.2)".  Absolutely terrifying splits.  He was 23:55 at 5 miles.  This also supplants his track time of 29:36 as his 10k PR.

Dustin Meeker was the opposite of what his last name might imply, as he tore into the net downhill course, aided by a frighteningly fast wind, and torched a 31:34 for 24th place.  He, like Dave, also negative split the run.  Old Man Berardi had an amazing day.  Not only did he run an incredible 34:43, but he came from at least 10 seconds back of Greg Cauller at mile 4 to beat him by...one second.  The last time Kris Simms ran here, he ran a 35:59 and said he was working hard for it from the gun.  Today, a few years later, he comes in with new legs and new confidence, and rocked it to the tune of a 35:08.  Mike Zero Mashner, in what may actually be his first open 10k (he would likely know better than I), was right behind Kris, crossing the line in 35:13.  On the women's side, again a very fast race for the leaders, with 6 women under 33 minutes.  Big D, Denise Knickman, has run 37:58 here in 2009, but since she's been racing so well lately, the sky was the limit.  With great conditions, she averaged UNDER 6 minute pace, running a 37:01, for 17th place.  New Becky Parks also ran a huge PR, and won her age group, finishing 25th in 39:14.

Big ups to our Georgetown Running Company friends, who also fared well to quite well, putting a number of dudes under 32 minutes, and having some really fast ladies.

Enjoy those times, certainly the conditions may never be that dope again!

From what we are hearing, Boston Marathon tomorrow may also benefit from a sick tailwind, so be on the lookout for very quick times!  Big shout out to Seth, Dave P, Suzanne, Harvey, Carly, Meg McNeezy - all racing tomorrow. 

TONS of other racing, which I'll go into depth in the email but here are a few of the highlights:  OJ Keller is 2nd (again) at yesterday's Rumpus in Bumpass Triathlon under miserable conditions.  Miserable.  Fastest swim of the day, solid bike and only lost it on the run.  Alyssa Godesky sets a new Olympic Distance PR at 2:25:50, 3rd fastest bike of the day and 9th best run.

Victim's Fund Run 5k was yesterday in Patterson Park, and normally this is one of those races, because there is money, that random Moroccans will show up and cherrypick the victory.  Well, after running into Chris Nowakowski on Friday, he said he might do it, despite being out of shape - and wouldn't you know it, he wins!  16:26, very good time in there.  And quite significantly, Terry "Upper" Decker finishes 2nd in 18:17, a HUGE PR (TNT...it works) and picking up some dollar dollar bills.  Jared Jaskot takes 6th in 19:09.  Yesterday was also the Hopkins/Loyola Meet, where Chrissie wiped everyone up amidst atrocious conditions (17:09.52) and Meg D, in her 4th race of the week, ran 18:45.72.  Out in TN, Cheese ran the Moosic City Dairy Dash 5k, once again coming in 4th and missing out on the opportunity to win a year's supply of ice cream.  Kevin McGrath runs the Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon, only it became a 10 miler when massive flooding (a common occurrence in Piscataway) turned the park into a bayou. 

We Did It...For Jason!

Here we are, wearing our race day t-shirts (cotton) and the longest shorts we all own, on our way to Port to Fort on Sunday.  We are all also wearing some kind of hat, except Ed, whose hair is dark enough to look like Brennan's skully.  For results, read on...

Dave Ploskonka had a great race at Bull Run 50 Miler on Saturday, finishing 10th in a new PR of 7:28:50.  With his strength and his speed on the track as of late, I'm sure he's going to do quite well at Boston a week from today!  Jared Jaskot ran 18:59 on the undulating hills of Patterson Park at the College Bound Foundation Race for the Future 5k, earning 3rd place and marking the first time he's gotten under 19 minutes on a road 5k.  T. Baptiste ran what sounded like a terrible race at Kent State.  It was supposed to be 25k (15.5 miles) but was longer (16 miles) due to a change in start venue.  Terence came through in 3rd in 1:41, but after the 4th finisher, there was nobody for a real long time.  Apparently a volunteer left their post and runners got lost, some potentially running 22 miles!  At the Cary Long Course Duathlon, Chris Scott went 26th place.

On Sunday, at Port to Fort, we had our largest contingent ever for this race.  Garrett Ash led all runners from wire to wire, finishing in a new team record 19:02.5 (eclipsing Kyle Smits' 19:08 from 2007).  Dustin Meeker was hot on his heels, running in 2nd place through 3 miles, before getting passed by Luke Belford.  Dusty finished 3rd in 19:09.  Ed Aramayo, racing for the second day in a row, got out hot before feeling the effects of two great races on Saturday.  He finished 4th in 19:24.  Max Hacker, in his first race in Baltimore, was 5th in 20:04.  Then came the pack - Pat, Zero and myself, with Brennan (bandit) and Tristram (who jumped in at mile 2).  We fanned out across the road so that if anyone attempted to pass us, they "would not be able to" [Pat McLoughlin].  As Brennan and Tristram peeled off before the narrow finish line, the three of us remaining held hands above our heads, proclaiming that we "did it for Jason!" and that we, much like the sponsor of the race, in fact "Believe in Tomorrow."  Meg McNew was just behind us in 23:14 for 3rd F, and Steve Wancowicz was there but I suspect he was also banditing.

At the Women's 5k by the Bay, where there was some decent money on the line, Diane Heiser was back to defend her title.  She ran 18:10 - 2 seconds faster than last year - in a 2nd place effort.  This is a PCPR for Diane.  Denise Knickman ran great, going 18:38 for 5th.  Meg DiGregorio, living that college life, had a rough morning, running 18:54 for 7th.  The best story from this, however, is that Hirut Mandefro was back from Flagstaff for this race.  She left DC at 3am, taking 3 trains and walking 5 miles just to get to the start to earn a $500 payday.  Then, Diane had to drive her back to Baltimore and get her on a train.  Ha.

The GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler was on Sunday, and what would you know, Sara Spears ran a PR.  1:19:40 (sub 8s!).  Pretty amazing considering she was in Kreplachistan for 2 weeks, did no running, was jetlagged and they had lost her luggage on both ends of the trip.  This was a near 3 minute PR for her. 

And that was good enough for Sara to earn this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week! 

I also see that Julia Webb ran a 4:42.46 for 20th place at the Mason Spring Invite (1500m).

THIS WEEK is a really cool week, with Wednesday's Westminster Main Street Mile.  The event starts at 7pm, and Westminster is neither particularly close nor against traffic.  So plan accordingly as far as getting out there.  Following the race, we can decide on a place to chomp up some food.  Ice cream sandwiches are given out following the run.  This means, however, that TNT will be pretty light.  I'm going to go up still and do my run, and there will still be people doing a workout so don't let it deter you if you planned on going.  The workout will be a simple ladder, 800-1200-1600-1200-800 with 4x200 on the end. 

The Final Countdown

To 21224's new Chipotle!

Following tomorrow night's track session, Pat and I will be bailing on the abhorrently crowded Charles Village Chipotle (CVC) and will be instead heading down our way to the new Canton Can Company Chipotle (hereafter referred to as C4).  Speaking of tomorrow's track workout, in honor of the "Strides of March", the workout is going to be 15x200, so really just 200 on, 200 off type thing.  It will be a low key workout for those who raced this past weekend, and for those just getting back onto the track.

Yesterday was a tremendous day of racing.  Yet again we had some amazing individual performances, including what I believe to be SIX 5k PRs set at Shamrock, out of 18 runners.  More impressively, we had 9 in the top 21 of the race (3902 finishers) and each of those 9 was under 17 minutes.  Dustin Meeker paved the way, finishing in a new PR (by 12 seconds) of 15:33, and, more importantly, earned the ignominious distinction of being first-man-out-of-the-money in 4th place.  Ed Aramayo had high hopes going into this race, looking to not only rock his PR (15:36) but possibly compete for the win.  With an abundance of extremely talented GRC guys in the field, it was by no means an easy task, but after a solid indoor season he felt confident.  After a hot first mile (something in the 4:35 range) a gap grew and Ed came across the line in 5th, in 15:40.  A great time for most, but left Ed feeling a little disappointed. 

Following that group was young Alex Waldt, who took 14th in 16:36, and then the six-pack that included Pat McLoughlin (15th, 16:42), Seth Tibbitts (17th, 16:47), Tom Stott (18th, 16:48), Mike Mashner (19th, 16:51), Brennan Feldhausen (20th, 16:53) and Kris Simms (as Joel Gladfelter, 21st, 16:56).  Let's see: 9 second PR for Pat, 28 second PR for Seth, 3 second PR for Tom, 26 second PR for Zero.  Kris ran an inspiring race, as if the pyramids he once helped build were lifted from his shoulders.  Decades of suffering led to this day of glory, where for those 3.1 miles, he was free.  It was at Shamrock 2008 where Kris first broke the 17 minute barrier, and exactly one month to the day before he turns 39, once again willed his body to do the same.

In 29th place, Joel Hollywood Brusewitz ran a 17:32.  I was impressed by this because I really didn't know if he had even been running.  The next runner I know has not been running much, instead he's been struggling with a chronic foot injury for almost the entire last year - but Jake Marren still came out and put his best foot forward, running 18:05 for 37th.  Almost right behind him was Diane Heiser, our speed demon with a lab coat, who recorded a great win over perennial powerhouse, and defending champ, Sherry Stick.  Diane's time (18:13) was just off her PCPR (post-collegiate PR) and showed that she is working her way back into great form.  Thomas Stewart was hoping for a better day than he had, but still managed to put down an 18:27, which is pretty excellent for a guy who just turned 50.  Meg DiGregorio was just after him, in 18:34, and finished 3rd for women, earning herself some extra money to put towards a map of the city.

Some of the other notables were Tall Matt Augustin (19:09), David Lee (19:20), Mike Niebrzydowski (19:37) and Kelly Meier, who ran a PR of 21:27 (22nd F). 

There were a few other highlights from the weekend, including Garrett Ash's 17th place (27:01) DC Shamrock 8k (great pic of him rocking the maroon FRRS singlet on the Washington Running Report); Alyssa Godesky broke into competitive short-distance duathloning, finishing 2nd in the St. Patrick's Duathlon (2.5mi run/14mi bike/2.5mi run); Matty Blaze and Tink (I realized I keep calling her Twink in the email, I think I'm thinking of Twink Caplan) each ran well at the NB Indoor National Championship, finishing 8th and 16th, respectively in their divisions of the Mile; and Julia Webb ran a 10:25.3 in a 2-person heat of the 3000m steeplechase in a meet in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. 

It was a difficult decision for Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, as another 6 PRs, a 2nd place finish in the duathlon and some all-around great efforts were up for consideration, but, the PDAW and Charlie Sheen have one thing in common, "Winning," and therefore the honor goes to Diane Heiser. 

The North Invades Richmond

While I hardly consider Maryland "the North," it'll do for now.

Check out these BIG race results from the capital of the Confederacy:

SunTrust Richmond Marathon - Melissa Majumdar, looking for a little redemption, set out with a modest goal. She didn't put much into her training following Chicago, and was going into this on whatever fitness she had accrued. According to on the scene reporter Brennan Feldhausen, she was running sub 3 hour pace through 20 miles, and was sitting just outside the top 5 (the money spots). With 2 to go she had moved to 3rd, but a severe hitting of the wall occurred and she stumbled into the finish. She managed a 6th place finish - which is awesome - and her time was 3:05:07. This is 3 minutes faster than she ran at NYC last November, and considerably faster than her time from Chicago a month ago. Awesome job Melissa!

McDonald's Half Marathon - Tim Parker has been searching for this race for as long as he's been running. Which is to say, basically the last 7 or 8 years, when he started running. Coming into this race he had never broken 1:20, and after some flatlining, wasn't sure if he'd get there. Recently, since working with Jeff Gaudette, he's seen a resurgence. His half marathon at the much more difficult Baltimore race was a sign that he was fit and ready to tackle Richmond, and what do you know? 1:19:49. One of, if not THE best race of his life. He finished 27th overall.

HCA Virginia 8k - Brennan's sister Erin was in town visiting, and I'll take credit for getting her ready for today with our bike ride Thursday. She ran 34:13, an 8k PR, and finished 2nd in her AG. Nina Kristina Hartman was running with her pops - don't worry, normally she wouldn't run an hour on her own accord!

Also happy birthday today Chrissie!