Holding On For Life

So as not to deny Andy Sovonick of his due, before we get to Marathon Weekend 2k13 I will honor his accomplishment at the Veterans Day 10k with this post.

Andy ran 34:00 on the nose and finished 9th.

Although it's the 3rd fastest he's covered the distance, he felt that, once again, Hains Point got the better of him. I said it was a necessary cobweb-sweeper heading into this weekend's Rothman Institute 8k (yo you hear Philly got an 8k?).

Since there wasn't a lot of other racing, it was enough to clinch last week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

It also served as a reminder that sometimes when we race, it's a matter of holding on for life. We all want to have results that match our level of effort, which requires smart training, smarter racing, and, of course, the 3 C's (good courses, good conditions, and good competition). But it also takes guts - the guts to sometimes go out too fast and blow up. Andy, who, much like Dominic Toretto, lives his life a quarter mile at a time, went out and raced. He put himself in a position to run fast. It didn't work out for him the way he wanted, but tomorrow I believe it will. Because after all

YOU HAVE TO RUN FAST, TO RUN FAST.

Va Va Voom

There was a flash of summer over the weekend as temperatures soared into the upper 60s, even low 70s. This made for some great outside time, and, a number of excellent race performances.

Brennan Feldhausen kicked things off in southern MD, running the Rosaryville 50k. It was Brennan's first attempt at the "marathon +" distance, and he nailed it! Consistent splits the whole way led him to a 3rd place finish in 3:36:33 - 6:59/mi average. Shout to Ed Aramayo who ran the first 12 miles and set up an ideal pace on the trails.

A number of people marched south to Richmond, for the Redemption Marathon. Phil Turner was one of the runners displaced by the NYC Marathon's cancellation last weekend, and he had a banner day, running a 5 minute PR (2:42:37) and finishing 28th. Phil said he went out a little aggressively and paid for it at the end, because he felt he was capable of breaking 2:40. Phil is running Boston so I'd expect we can count on him being in pretty good shape this winter. Megan DiGregorio was also slated to run New York, but a nagging Achilles injury has hampered her running since Baltimore. The extra week of recovery helped her out, and she cruised to a 3:01:50 9th place finish, just 2 minutes off what she ran on the flat-as-a-pancake NJ Marathon course earlier this year!

The day didn't turn out as well for some. Dan Miranda and Meg McNew weren't on their best form, but got through another day at the office and have had great seasons - don't let this one day define you! Sara Damiano ran a 5 minute PR, at 3:36:50. She said she realized Boston qualifying was out around mile 18, but soldiered on. Kelly Meier was going to run New York, was also injured, and, like Meg D, crushed, running a 3:47:26.

In the half marathon, Tim Parker blazed to a 1:18:59 major PR. Tim loves Richmond, and loves the half marathon distance. This is 45+ seconds faster than he ran there in 2010 (his PR) and a minute faster than last year. Tim is always very consistent, but this is a remarkable result for him. It was also good enough to earn him a Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Also on Saturday, Terry Decker (Turtle Trek 5k) and Collin Anderson (Spectrum Academy Turkey Trot) snagged wins. For Terry, it was his first ever win, and that's got to feel good. For Collin, the race wasn't quite 5k so he was bummed to not get a complete idea of his fitness, but he felt good shattering the dreams of some special needs kids.

Sunday was the Harrisburg Marathon, which normally checks in around 700 or 800 runners. After the cancellation of THE marathon, the quiet race blew up, and saw nearly 1800 finishers. Patrick O'Rourke didn't mind, it meant he had some more people to run with. Patrick dropped a 2:45:27 to finish 13th. And Pacer Pete Mulligan brought his gang home in 4:29:06.

Lillian Pinault ran the Lehigh Valley Road Runners' South Mountain 10 Miler - a race that apparently goes up for 5 miles and then down. She finished 7th in 1:15:50, and was mostly pleased to not hurt herself running down the hill.

An entire race I missed was the Cardinal 5k in Kensington. I've heard of this race before, it's one of those "I hope nobody knows about it because it's low-key but there's money on the line" events. Allison Letourneau took the win (and 5th overall) in an impressive 18:09, narrowly edging out Matt Franco who was 6th in the same time. Fiana Kumm, our terrific Chrissie-replacement relay runner, was 4th in 19:52.

Jim Adams ran the Trout Unlimited Restoration Run 5k (results on the right side), finishing 32nd in 25:34. 

Finally down in DC, Liz Laseter blitzed the flat Veteran's Day 10k to the tune of 38:33 (15th) and PJ Anderer went big, running 5 minutes faster than last year, and 3 minutes faster than his MCVETs time from earlier in the year. He was disappointed he couldn't have gone 17 seconds faster though - he ran 40:16.

Great job everyone, surprisingly big race weekend for November! We'll have about a dozen or so Philly performances to report on this coming Monday. We also held our last official Tuesday Night Track workout of the year last night, thanks for coming out. It was pretty cold. 

Now Make That ... Hammertime

Kris Simms vividly recalls what it was like to be a member of the entourage of once-upon-a-time rapper, M.C. Hammer: "It was like we were living a dream, every day.  You know the music videos you see today, with the rappers rappin' about blunts and bras, menage-a-trois, sex in expensive cars?  Well, it was exactly like that, except in real life."  Sadly, the million-dollars-a-day spending could only last so long.  When the money ran out, so did Kris.  He spent the next few years bouncing around the entertainment industry, finding moderate success as a professional wrestler, and being tossed an occasional role in a Disney movie.  There was also good money in stunt appearances, as The Kris eerily resembles the President.  He has been approached by one filmmaker, whose name rhymes with Skyler Berry, to re-make the Kevin Kline classic, "Dave."  Except this would be called "Barry and Madea Go To Washington."

Kris' true passion, however, lies in the sport of footracing, and this past weekend, he tested himeslf by running the SunTrust Richmond Marathon.  The last time Kris laced his sneaks up to run 26.2 was in the fall of 2008, when he ran the Marine Corps Marathon on a warm October morning, to the tune of a 3:02, which, at the time, was a PR.  While on a ski trip that next January, in the middle of preparing for Boston, he had to have an emergency appendectomy, and poof, there went Boston.  And for the next few years, the marathon just hasn't been a priority for Kris.  Until NOW.

We knew he was in good shape, but the marathon is a crazy event.  I followed his splits: 40:19 at 10k.  1:24:55 at the half.  2:09:40 at 20 miles.  He was running an amazing race, but could he hold it over the last 10k?  Cramping set in.  The Kris stopped and worked it out.  He fought on.  In the end, the cramping would cost him time, but it wouldn't stop him from running a huge new PR - 2:53:40 - as he finished in 39th place.  Truly amazing stuff!

Also in the race, Dave Ploskonka ran 3:46:17.  At first, I saw his fast half split and thought maybe he was pacing a group and then decided to drop off, but apparently he ran the entire marathon course before the actual marathon, in reverse, for 52.4 miles (minimum) on the day. 

Some of the other Saturday results included Tim Parker's 1:20:00/36th place finish in the half marathon at Richmond.  Tim always runs well at Richmond, so it was no surprise to see him redeem his lackluster Baltimore performance.  Julia Webb finished 4th among women in her 2nd fastest time ever, 1:20:17.  I believe she negative split the race.  Also on Saturday, in Georgia, Lisa Ievers ran a PR at the Soldier Half Marathon, finishing 3rd in 1:27:59.  It was 4.5 minutes faster than her time there last year, and a really impressive result!  At the Rosaryville 50k, Bob Harvey came twice...across the finish line (no inuendo there).  I don't know why they have him listed twice, but he finished 9th in 4:26:34. 

Sunday's big event was the Veteran's Day 10k down on Hains Point.  As you can see it was largely the GRC Show, with their runners putting on a little How-To Clinic in West Potomac Park, but I was more than pleasantly surprised to see how well Tristram Thomas ran.  Tristram is in great shape, as he prepares for this weekend's half in Annapolis, but to finish 5th in 31:50 was really great to see.  It moved him to 8th on our all-time list, bumping off Ben Ingram.  Ben traded leads with Alex Waldt in the last two miles of the race, before Alex managed to find that little bit extra in his legs at the end.  They finished 21st and 20th, respectively, in 34:08 and 34:05.  Liz Laseter, who was traded to GRC for perhaps a runner to be named later, if anyone ever moves from DC to Baltimore, ran a solid 39:27 in finishing 20th.  David Lee, ahead of the Las Vegas Marathon, got under 40 (39:32) and Jon Miller ran a de factor PR (40:26).  PJ Anderer...ran. 

At the Metric Marathon in Columbia, Meg McNew ran with Kelly Meier, in Kelly's first run over 15 miles.  She nailed it, as the pair crossed the line together in 2:12:28 (13th and 14th).  Sara Damiano was 22nd in 2:14:46.  In the 5k, Eileen Fleck did battle with New Becky Parks, as the duo went 1-2.  Eileen took the W in 19:12 to Becky's new PR of 19:14.  Great work ladies!

As mentioned in the email, it was a tough week for Purple Drink Athlete of the Week considerations, but in the end, it favored the huge marathon PR of Kris Simms, so congratulations buddy!

And there was an AutoZone In the Zone award winner this week - Tristram Thomas.  He has been flying sky high lately and we hope to watch that continue this weekend!

Tomorrow will be the last official night of TNT.  Gilman, 6:30pm, the usual.  The guys doing Annapolis have their workout, and if anybody shows up who is running Philly this weekend you will be doing very light stuff.  I myself will probably go out for the NP-Charles-ColdSpring-Roland loop run and then do some easy stuff on the track.  Winter track will start up after the break - I think I am going to mandate a week off from track for EVERYONE next week so you can chill out in advance of Thanksgiving.

Still to come this week on the blog, a preview of this weekend's racing action and instructions on how to follow it all!