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.

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

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

I don't know how Brennan Feldhausen even found this event (Oktober Lauf Fest Half Marathon), but it gave out pretty much the sickest swag of all time.  Not only was his finisher "medal" some kind of wood-whittled whistle, but his award for winning the event is this:

Pretty freaking sweet.

Races were limited this weekend, it seems as if nobody wants to put on races other than marathons in the fall.  The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Hunt Valley was the day's big event, not only by size (reports of 32,000 were scaled back to 23,000) but also by virtue of being televised.  So, at 8 o'clock in the morning, I was able to watch Dave Berdan get the victory (15:29ish) with a quickly-getting-into-shape Greg Jubb in 2nd about 20 seconds back.  Also on TV I spotted Jake Marren, who is just happy to be running again (he ran 18:10), and Lillian Pinault, who finished with a PCPR of 20:35.  Kelly Ort also ran, finishing 3rd in her age group.  Of course, results will likely never get posted, because this race is not about results.

Just down the road about 2 miles, at Oregon Ridge Park, the Dustin Bauer Memorial "Run for Life" 5k took place.  I thought the times seemed slow, and then was informed that it is a cross country run, up and down the hills of OR on the grass.  The times then made sense.  Rory Jenkins, former FRRS employee/lived in Alaska for a while, got the win in 17:30.  Jon Miller finished 13th in 20:03 (I inadvertently credited him with the time of 12th place previously) and PJ Anderer ran 22:28 for 32nd, which he was pleased with the day after a 14 mile run.

Saturday was the Princeton Running Club Invitational (8k XC), where Alex Waldt the young helped his Maryland team to a 2nd place finish, as he finished 3rd in a time of 27:20.  Great work dude!

This led to our decision for Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and as he has been super impressive of late, not even just running fast or getting wins, but his on-air presence when being interviewed ALL THE TIME, this week's honor goes to Dave "the teacher from Garrison Forest" Berdan.

In other news, Meg McNew, with her NFL pick of the week Cleveland Browns, improved her record to 2-2.  This week, she's upping the ante.  Not only has she provided us with her pick (Kansas City Chiefs) but she has provided a line (-10).  They play the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night.

Celebrate

So I was going to invite any/everyone who reads this out to celebrate my insignificant 32nd (yeah I'm practically Ben old) birthday but, instead we have a better reason to celebrate.
Our very own RYAN ELF RONALD MCDONALD MCGRATH for the first time ever flipping WON the Gen Smallwood 70.3 triathlon today.
He's way too humble to actually plan a gathering on his own so in the guise of my birthday, come to the Row House Grille in fed hill at/around 10 pm. Chaos to ensue forthwith.

All About the Benjamins

Megan DiGregorio has one goal for this summer: to buy a bike so she can compete in her first triathlon.  She kicked off Project Buy a Bike on Sunday, winning both the 5k and the 10k at MCVETs, earning herself a cool $250.  Meanwhile, down in Columbia, Diane Heiser made out like a bandit, only need a 19:03 to win a couple hundred bones at the Remembrance Run 5k.  This was DH's second win in as many weekends, as last weekend she won the From Blue Point to BULA 5k in NY for the infinity time in a row. 

MCVETs was an unfortunate race this year as there was a small glitch that added about .2 to the race distance.  So I will spot you all at least a minute from the time you ran.  Ed Aramayo took 3rd in 16:58, while Tristram Thomas and Brennan Feldhausen filed in 4th and 5th.  Kris Simms was 8th, and then came the women's podium of Meg D, Denise Knickman and New Becky Parks.  Lillian Pinault, on her birthday, was 5th, and then came Pete Mulligan in 37th.  Jimbo Adams, in his first race in what seems like forever, came across the line in 177th.

Shortly after the 5k, the 10k gets run.  The 10k is very unkind, as it makes runners run out to the Fort on the entirely unshaded Fort Avenue, and by this point of the morning, the sun is strong and the temp is high.  Once again our ladies went 1-2-3, with Meg D taking the top spot from Denise, making her move in the last two miles, and Jackie Truncellito taking 3rd after NBP had momentarily wrestled that away from her.  NBP was 4th.  Pete also doubled, finishing 43rd, and Dan Goodman raced for the first time in a while, finishing 100th. 

Memorial Day Monday, a couple of us were in Winchester, VA, for the Loudoun Street Mile.  Much different from the Westminster Mile, this event features 4 separate races.  Women went off at 9am, and Alyssa Godesky was going up against some fierce competition from the Riadha team.  She finished 10th, though, with a 5:48.1.  Kendra Ingram ran 7:52 last year, and was hoping to do a little better - which she did, to the tune of a 33 second improvement!  She was charged up in the last 500m, I thought it was Maurice or Remus out there running!

Following the women it was a heat of kids, then a slower heat of dudes.  At 10am, the fast heat of guys went off.  This race was stacked.  The course was a net downhill, but with a 500m long incline from 350m to just beyond the half mile, it wasn't necessarily the fastest course.  Former teammate and friend of Alan Webb's, Moise Joseph, won for the third year in a row, crossing in the unreal time of 4:06 (2:05-2:01 splits).  Ben Ingram, running for Runner's Retreat, was 16th in 4:42.9, and missed winning his age division by a lean.  Brennan Feldhausen, competing for the second time in two days, managed to run a 4:53.1.  

In other Monday action, NBP ran and won the 8th Annual Run on the Green 5k in 19:18, and was interviewed by the local TV station afterwards.  Dave Berardi was 6th at the Remembrance Run 5k. 

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award went to Meg D, and Jim Adams earned this week's KC Masterpiece Award, mostly for just being out there. 

Track tonight - don't forget we are still at Hopkins/Loyola track on 33rd tonight.  The workout is going to be 8x800, and for clarification, when I say "on" a particular time interval, that just means if you run 2:30 and we're doing them on 4:00, you have 90 seconds rest.  This is our first workout in REAL heat, so please remember to hydrate well throughout the day, pace yourself during the workout and know your limit.  The DBAP rule does not apply when it is this hot, nobody thinks less of you if you do fewer intervals or run a little slower. 

Also, we are timing the Charles Village 5k this Saturday morning, so if you can help, please let me know.  I've gotten a few responses so thanks!  Sunday is the Bel Air Town Run 5k for those of you looking for a race.  A week from Sunday is Survivor 7, now starting and finishing in Canton. 

Another thing I'm excited about is the influx of interest in the group over the weekend.  In the cyclical world of people moving to and from Baltimore, it looks like we finally may be picking up a few new folks at once, due to some graduations and whatnot.  On Sunday we met Vince Collins at MCVETs, and we have a couple new girls who will be coming out soon.  I will count tonight at track, but I think we are starting to have more chicks than dudes at these workouts!

Matt Jablonski Wins Penn Relays HS Mile

Matty Blaze pulls off potentially the biggest win of his young career, winning the High School Boys Mile Championship at the Penn Relays on Friday evening in the fantastic time of 4:10.37. 

What's more amazing is that he was in 4th place at 1400m, and overtook the three competitors ahead of him to win by the narrowest of margins - .01 seconds - over Chad Noelle, the youngster who has managed to clip Matt's wings the last few times they've raced head to head.



(We're unsure who took this video, the finish line is on the far side of the track so it's hard to see the end - but look close and you'll see an awesome finish!)

G.O.A.T.

9-time New York City Marathon Champion, Grete Waitz, died today, losing her battle with cancer.

Read the New York Times piece on her.

In addition, if you are thinking of running this year's New York City Marathon, and have run a qualifying time, you must register by 11:59pm tonight.  Go to http://www.nyrr.org/ for details.

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. 

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.