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.

Circle Gets the Square

The opening weekend of March for racing is a lot like the opening weekend of March for movies.

The Oscars are over so nothing good comes out for a little while, and the blockbusters all wait til spring or early summer.

And that's where Collin Anderson comes in.

Derrr I'm Collin

Collin ran the Phoenix Marathon, finishing 12th in 2:50:00.1. Yes, it's critical to the story that you understand that 0.1. Because you see, Collin's watch had him at 2:49:59.x and he was sure he had broken 2:50. Not just that, but his (and other) GPS watches clocked the course at 26.36 miles (or longer). Afterwards the explanation that was given was that the course (USATF Certified) was measured on the shortest possible line - which is S.O.P. - but the route was contained within cones that were not the shortest lines.

So we salute you, Collin, for always providing a lengthy reason behind every race. Ha! I jest. But seriously, job well done on your near 3 minute PR, and we look forward to hearing about your next race - and it's lengthy story - soon.

As appropriate, Collin won this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Welcome to March, everybody.