TEAM

Sunday's Club Challenge 10 Miler was the most successful showing from our team in its history, as we kept hold of our RRCA-MD 10 Mile Team Challenge title in a strong, to quite strong, display of team running. 

I will never apologize for the pride I feel when our team is successful, both individually, and of course, as a team.  The recipe for success is no secret: set a goal, make a plan, prepare, execute.  You were out there on two of the coldest, windiest days of this winter running yourselves into the ground on the course.  You have been coming, in droves, to the track each week to hammer yourselves.  You talk about this race to others like you expect them to understand, or at least know, what the race means.  You demand greatness of yourselves, and expect it of your teammates.

And for those reasons, and a million more, our team won yesterday.  Many of you ran PRs.  You helped make this race the most competitive in its existence.  Even those who had "bad" races didn't make excuses, didn't stop working hard. 

For me to go through and write a post mentioning every person's performance would take up the entire length of the page, so I'll let you read my thoughts in the email, and of course you can see results any time.  Instead, I'm going to highlight just some of the plethora of great performances from the day.

We have a grand tradition of laying claim to the overall race winner, but interestingly, none has ever won twice.  Keeping the streak going (4th straight year) was Conrad Laskowski.  Conrad put everyone on notice that he's here to play, running 52:55 (3rd fastest in our history).  The only other time he ran here was 2 years ago, when he went 56:20.  He runs fearlessly, and with his heart.  He is not a follower; he doesn't know how. 

Conrad the Barbarian

Not to be outdone, it was a remarkable race for Nate Brigham, who finished 2nd in 53:04 (4th fastest all-time for us).  Nate has pedigree, and desire: two traits that will lead to greatness.  No stranger to setbacks, Nate has rediscovered his passion for the sport, and has been a motivating factor in the recent success of the team.  We love having him around, and if this race is any indication, he's put himself in a position to have a great year. 

Dustin Meeker is an historian, and as such, prefers order to chaos.  He prepares diligently for all of his goal races, and has established himself as a leader of this team.  He overcame a disappointing 5k last weekend to take 25 seconds out of his 2011 Club Challenge time (and, 10 mile PR) as he finished 4th in 53:37.  Dustin later reveled in the folly of anarchy at Kisling's.  And thanks to his lovely wife, Ellen, for once again sending down some delicious muffins.

Vince Collins and Jesse Jaeger were running CC for the first time, but these two long-time buddies and training partners were almost inseparable on the course.  The trio of Tristram Thomas, Alex Battaglino, and Ed Aramayo came through next, a little off what they did last year, but their focus hasn't been on the 10 mile distance, and with a strong kick by Ed, he ensured 8 of our team in the top 9 of the race.  Just our great rival, Carlos Renjifo, was able to break up the mix.  He, too, ran a PR, shaving 7 seconds off his time from last year in another 3rd place effort. 

Seth Tibbitts led a strong contingent in the 57th minute, as he ran a bit faster than last year.  Chris Snyder led 3 others across in just 4 seconds, as Dan Miranda, Brian Godsey, and Brennan Feldhausen rounded out our top 12 (scorers) in under 57:30.  That was good enough to solidify the men's team victory.  4 guys came through next, all running their first Club Challenge: friend of the program Andy Sovonick, Andrew Beef Jaffe, Tim Burns, and Steve Febish.  Kris Simms finally broke that hour barrier, running 59:37. 

On the women's side, there was going to be no challenge to superstar Chrissie Ramsey.  She cruised to a 1:01:36 victory.  But running super aggressively behind was Megan DiGregorio, who raced to a 1:02:53 2nd place.  This is a PR of 2:22, and some 5 or more minutes faster than she ran here last year.  Meg D looks super fit, and has been running great lately.  Emily Hurley completed the podium sweep as she ran 1:04:07.  All of our scoring 6 were under 1:06:40 and inside the top 10, as Denise Knickman, Becky Parks, and Meg McNew made up that group.  For Becky, it was an all-time PR, and for Double M, I'm pretty sure the fastest she's run at CC.  Carly Page took it to the streets in her first CC, and we had a surprise rockstar performance by Sara Breedlove.  Christa Wagner took a full 7 minutes out of her 2011 time, which is incredible, and Eileen Fleck wasn't even running a few weeks ago and came out to rock.  Alyssa Godesky, 19th a year ago, was 20th this year with a time 3 minutes faster than last year. 

When results were announced, we had earned the men's, women's, and overall team titles.  This is a testament to your hard work, and for another year we will get to claim the "Ugliest Trophy in the World." 

There were a number of other impressive PRs and first-time performances:  Louis Foudos (PR), Tom Stott (PR), Dave Ploskonka (PR), Terry Decker (1st time, great race!), Jon Miller (1st time), PJ Anderer (1st time); Lillian Pinault (1st time), Alyssa Doyle (1st race that long), Kelly Meier (BIG PR!), Jen Mitton (1st time), Sara Damiano (1st time), Fraley Coles (1st time), Emily Boss (1st time), Karen Menge (PR), and Steph Sudbrook ran her first race ever, and her first time over 8 miles.

We did on-the-spot Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award(s) at Kisling's after the race, and it went to the two runners-up, Nate Brigham and Meg D.  Joel Gladfelter earned the KC Masterpiece Award.  His race not going as he'd hoped, he realized he could help set a tempo and clear a path for Meg D.  Great teamwork!  And the NOS Award goes to Conrad, who sneakily didn't mention he ran a 4:29.26 Mile last weekend indoors at the Monmouth Invite.

And a special shout to the great support we had on course.  Of course Jim was out there, and Melissa was great, navigating the course on Chrissie's bike, and being in a number of spots to cheer.  It was awesome to see Justin out there with a half mile to go, and nice of him to run it in with me.  Patty Stott and baby Haleigh were out there, braving the cold.  Amy Flashenberg was there, and maybe next year we'll get her to run!  And another local stud, Michelle Miller, was out snapping some photos.  She said since there were just so many of us, and we stood out so splendidly in our new singlets, it was easy to get a lot of shots of us.  She conveniently put them into Flickr, so here they are for you to see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77415518@N08/sets/72157629459890307/

How did we fare in our Project 2012 goal?  18 guys, 11 girls.  I think this is awesome!  A couple of outlier performances by some guys (myself included) and the late departure of a few girls made it a very challenging goal, and now it leaves us with something to strive for next year.  It will help us stay sharp and not become complacent!

In the intrasquad scrimmage between Team Edward and Team Jacob, it was incredibly close - almost unbelievably.  I tallied the scores and Team Jacob, captained by Dusty and Alyssa, had won by a scant 3 points!

It was a great effort by everyone, and the post race atmosphere at Kisling's was great.  I hope you enjoyed the rest of your day there! 

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

sunday mOnin run

need to be back at my crib in MOCO BY 10ish, so it's gonna be an earlyearly start for me - 7am departure from rolling rd into patapsco for no more than 2hours - prob a little less cuz my legs are pretty beat-up

comment if you care to tagalong (like the girlscout cookie)

Project 2012

By now you have probably read the email, but as we are now a month out from Club Challenge, we have unveiled a new mission: Project 2012.

Project 2012 represents the goal for our team, which is to put at least 20 men under 60 minutes, and 12 women under 70 minutes.  The team we have assembled appears to be the most talented we've ever fielded, and perhaps one of the strongest in Club Challenge history.  However, the nature of Club Challenge is to never assume, and results are never given, but rather earned, on the streets of Columbia.

Looking back in the record books, you will see that only once in the history of Falls Road Running competing in the event has it put all of its male scoring members under an hour (2010).  It is no coincidence that the team placed first among the male teams.  The Howard County Striders are more than prepared to protect their turf, and I expect they will have a formidable team ready to go on February 26th. 

For the women, I erroneously stated the only 4 count - instead, 6 women comprise a scoring team.  This makes our task no easier, as there is less margin for error.  One "off" day can mean the race, especially when the teams of Westminster RRC, Montgomery County, and the Striders, will all be gunning for us.  Our women have a target on their back, and it will take a number of PR performances to capture the title again.

It is no secret that this race is very important to our group, and that our goal each year is to win it.  And each year, the race gets faster and deeper.  It is the most competitive race of its distance, pound for pound, in the area.  By now, most of us have raced it at least once, but there will be a number of CC virgins competing this year.  The important thing to remember is that every runner counts.  In this cross-country style scored event, low score wins.  Every runner you can push back from an opposing team is less points in their pocket, even if you're not one of the scorers for our team. 

Our team is about as full as its going to get, I don't see too many names missing from the list, and based on who we have, the goal of Project 2012 appears to be something we can achieve, but far from easy.  We will need some women to step up big, as well as some men who have not historically run fast there. 

For those of you who feel that you are "too slow" and that you will hurt the team, that is absolutely FALSE!  You cannot hurt the team, believe me, I do the hypothetical scoring scenarios for this race well in advance.  It is, however, a great team event and a chance for you to bond with your other teammates over the challenging hills of the Columbia neighborhoods.  Besides, you never know what you're capable of until you get out there and do it. 

PROJECT 2012!

And now, a quick review of the races from over the weekend.  Chris Snyder and Tim Burns each doubled in the Mile/800m at the Bucknell Bison Open Meet.  Chris ran 4:29.96 and 2:01.28, while Tim ran 4:39.04 and 2:06.81.  At the Hagerstown Community College Invite, Alex Battaglino, fresh off a birthday, ran a 4:35.88 mile to finish 3rd.  And while we took a year off from the craziness of the Miami Marathon weekend, Emily Boss ran a 1:48:56 in the half.  We hope you enjoyed the trip, Emily!

While these performances were all perfectly fine, I had to stray from the beaten path a bit for this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.  The lowly Towson Tigers Men's Basketball team had lost 41 straight games - an NCAA D-I record - that is, until Saturday.  They were victorious by I think one basket, and snapped their supreme losing skid.  All it takes is one, fellas.  Great job, Towson, you are our PDAW for this week!