Visually Impaired Runner Proves to be True Powerhouse (via Runner's World)

Amy McDonaugh with Andy Sovonick, Boston Marathon 4/15/13

This article was printed in Runner's World's online publication. Andy Sovonick ran with Amy from the 10k mark of the 117th Boston Marathon all the way to the finish, where she stopped the clock in 2:52:05. Andy plans on guiding Amy at the California International Marathon in December in Sacramento, where Amy will look to break her PR.

Many runners have done “repeats” now and then. But the term means more to the visually impaired marathon runner Amy McDonaugh, of Irmo, South Carolina, than it does to many others. Without being able to find guide runners on a regular basis, McDonaugh has to rely on more familiar ground, her one and a half mile neighborhood loop, for instance. When she does long training runs alone, she covers that loop repeatedly, but she never gets bored.

On those rare occasions when she has a guide and can run somewhere else, the change of scenery makes no difference to her because it does not look special or new. Her vision is quite blurry. “I like where I run because I know the loop so well and it’s safe and nearly traffic free,” said McDonaugh. “I never get bored with it.”

To understand what McDonaugh can see, cover your right eye and then press a paper towel tube into your left eye. That’s how McDonaugh sees the world. She cannot always see the runners in front of her, but she can usually identify their shirt colors and she can tell if a runner has long hair. She found that running alone has given her independence from not having to rely on guide runners, and a perfect example was when she ran the 2013 Boston Marathon. Her first guide, who was supposed to run with her to the 10K mark, dropped out after four miles because she was too fast for him. From that point to the 10K, she had to rely on herself. She met the challenge with no problem. Challenges are not a new phenomenon for McDonaugh.

The first 10 years of her life were completely normal. "I had friends and I was happy," McDonaugh remembered. Then one day, she developed a serious toothache. Her family thought that a trip to the dentist would solve the problem. To their horror, doctors found that she had an arteriovenous malformation, an abnormal tangle of blood vessels, in her right cheek. For the next 18 months, McDonaugh had 18 operations. She went from having 20/20 vision to having partial sight in her left eye and being blind in her right eye. Doctors also removed the middle of her tongue.

After all the surgeries, "My friends from before were now uncomfortable around me," said McDonaugh. "Their moms told them to still be nice, so they said `hi' but nothing beyond that. I felt like nothing, nothing but a medical case." Kids who didn't know her made fun of her and called her names. Emotionally hurt, depressed, and without friends, she cried a lot.

At age 20, she met her future husband, Jim, a volunteer who gave her frequent rides to the community college. It turned out he was incredibly shy like her, so they hit it off.

After giving birth to her third child nine years ago, McDonaugh was depressed and overweight. "I was stuck in the house all the time with three kids, so I had to get out and do something," she remembered. She began running 20 minutes three times a week and liked it. "That was the first time in my life I did any type of sport." With practice, her endurance and speed improved, and her depression began to lift.

She found herself getting fitter and faster. She knew that she had a future as a runner.

After winning local races in her area, the United States Association of Blind Athletes read about her and invited her to compete with some of their top athletes. She accepted their invitation and was glad she did.

To date, her best marathon time is 2:49.28, which she clocked at the 2011 California International Marathon. At the 2013 Boston Marathon, she was slightly off the mark, 2:52:05, but it was fast enough to be the first female visually impaired finisher. The second female visually impaired runner was Lisa Thompson of Texas who clocked 3:21:46.

After the two bomb explosions, McDonaugh no longer thought about failing to achieve a new personal best. Instead, she thought about her friends who were running the Boston Marathon and prayed that they were all safe. She also alerted her family via email that she was okay and returned home the next day.

The tragedy in Boston fueled McDonaugh with determination to run the Boston Marathon next year. She said she would have probably run the marathon again, eventually, but as a result of the tragedy, she left Boston knowing she would definitely come back in 2014. “If I were to be discouraged about racing or returning to Boston, then I’d be discouraged about going to movies, or sending my kids to school,” said McDonaugh. “Something like that (the explosions) can happen anywhere. We can’t live in fear.”

On May 18, nearly five weeks after the Boston Marathon, McDonaugh competed in the Desert Challenge - a competition for athletes with disabilities - in Mesa, Arizona. There, she won the 1500-meter, 5:19.65, against other female sight impaired runners. Her performance qualified her to compete at the Paralympic Nationals on June 16 in San Antonio, Texas. A possible goal for her is to qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in the 1500.

McDonaugh is also training for the 2013 California International Marathon this December and after that, the 2014 Boston Marathon.

David Block is a legally blind documentary producer/director/freelance journalist based in Ardmore, PA. To learn more about him or to review some of his films, go to www.blindfilmmaker.com

Headlamp Run

- - Federal Hill Runners - - TONIGHT - -

Dress bright

Wear a headlight

Look ridiculous

Shortest 'day (light)' of the year is tomorrow - it's gonna get brighter from here folks!

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!

Passages of Greatness, vol. 1

Here is an excerpt from Ploskonka's Western States race report. As you are all aware by now, Dave had a pretty baller race and was named this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Overall, I felt good about my performance. My goals were to put in a solid effort, finish under 24 hours and get the silver sub-24-hour buckle, and not wreck myself before Badwater. While the success of the last one remains to be seen, I definitely accomplished the first two.

I will preface by saying that the Western States course includes 18,000 feet of climb, and 23,000 feet of loss. Because Badwater is the focus race, I didn't do nearly the amount of training on downhills that I did on uphills. As a result, the downhills wrecked my quads, and I wound up speed-walking most of the last 15 miles to come in under 24.

The upside is that my climbing was really strong, and what put me under 24 in spite of being wrecked from all of the downhill. I'm particularly proud of reaching the "Escarpment" aid station in under 36 minutes by fast-hiking, and barely feeling fatigued at the top- this is the first aid station in the race, 3.5 miles from the start, with a climb from about 6,000 feet to nearly 9,000 feet elevation. So clearly, my uphill training on the treadmill paid off.

Ultimately, my finish time of 23 hours, 34 minutes and some-odd seconds was, in some ways, my most painful, hardest-fought finish. With the variability in weather and trail conditions, from 35 degrees and snowy at Emigrant's Pass, to 100 degrees, dry, and sunny in the canyons, not to mention numerous stream/river crossings that pretty much guaranteed that your feet would never dry (I have the blisters to prove it), this race more than any I've run so far tested my environmental conditioning (happy to report that the heat didn't affect me, but running on snow, well, I fell down a lot). This race also had the most downhill of any of these races that I've run, and I've never been a good downhill runner, so it definitely hurt a lot towards the end (although even in that state, I was still able to walk a little over 4 miles per hour on the flats and uphill). Downhill running is definitely something I want to work on in the coming months to take my ultrarunning to the next level.

In addition to Western States, there were some good performances elsewhere, including Dr. J's 1:36:02 half marathon at Seattle Rock n Roll Half, Alex Viana's 3rd place at Brownsville to put him within 3 points of catting up, and Alex Battaglino's 4th place (16:11) finish at Damien's Run 5k in Columbia.

In the world of triathlon, Spider won the Panther Prowl Sprint Tri in Knoxville, while Ben Winterroth took 3rd in the Celebration Sprint in Columbia. Out at Ironman Couer d'Alene, David Lee finished in 11:21:43, while Scott Boylan finished 2nd in 55-59 and picked up a coveted slot to Kona! This is the 2nd year in a row he's qualified (maybe we all just need to get old). Last year he qualified at Louisville so only had a 6 week turnaround, this time he's got 14 weeks.

Final event of the weekend was Baltimore Women's Classic, where our Tuesday Night Track ladies went 2, 3, 5! Megan DiGregorio, Meg McNew and Suzanne Hurst.

But the most important event of the weekend was Hubs of Fury 6: Trail of Beers. We assembled our crew at the Fort and headed to some hole in the wall in Locust Point, where draught beer was but a dollar and a quarter. It was a good stop. Sly Fox was #2, which was cool, and then we went to The Nest on Pratt (it smelled bad). Rolled over to Whistling Oyster in Fells before eating hot dogs next door at Stuggy's, then went to Bartenders (probably the least fun of the night). From there we headed up to Claddagh's and partied til close. Some impressive performances included Eric Benjamin and Spence, who attended their first ever HOF, Denise - who stayed out all night, Steve Wancowicz who showed up towards the end...and Lauren Boof Dennisuk who was MOVING to Michigan the very next morning, yet she was dancing the night away. And finally Pat McLoughlin, who had just gotten back from a vacation to Hawaii and was completely wiped but he made it out. Awesome effort everyone!

Freaks Come Out at Night

Twilight...no, not the super sexy vampires, but the place to be on the anniversary of the first sub 4 minute mile (Sir Roger Bannister, 1954). A hearty crew made the trip in an absurd number of vehicles to my alma mater to compete in the 2nd Annual Maryland Twilight Meet. We arrived to find out they bumped all the events up, so thankfully we got there when we did.

Men's 800m: Jordan raced first at 6:50pm. The wind had just started to settle. Jordan was sitting in the middle of the field for the first lap, but then used a strong 2nd lap to really move up. I can't remember what his position in the heat was, but he finished 10th overall in a NEW TWSS record, 1:58.01. This represented a drop of 3.76 seconds from the MSU meet. AND he blew chunks after the race again. I got pics. Lots of chunks. Ate two double cheeseburgers and fries beforehand. Louis Foudos ran to a 2:06.64 which was 6 seconds faster than his previous best this season!

Women's 1500m: In a pretty competitive field, Diane ran one of the smartest races I've ever seen. I figured she'd have some tired legs after the amount she ran Sunday, but apparently not tired enough to go 75-75-72-51. Yeah, negative splits the 1500m. She made up so much ground that for a second we thought she might catch the leaders. She finished 3rd overall and was just a shade over 2 seconds over her PR! Since nobody has ever raced an outdoor 1500m, this is a new team record as well.

Men's 1500m: Ed, Arjun and Louis were all in the same heat. Ed got out well, and sat on the outside of lane 1 in about 3rd position. His pace was solid, and he kicked hard to run a 4:02.54. This is the 2nd fastest time he's ever run by 3 seconds, and achieved his goal for the season! Arjun's goal was to run under 4:10, and he ran a very strong race, looking more focused than some previous races. He finished at 4:07.60 which is 4 seconds faster than his previous time this season. Louis, just shortly after the 800, managed to run 4:40.40.

All in all it was a great meet in College Park, truly amazing performances and already putting pressure on the weekend's festivities for PDAW. Afterwards our crew of Pat, Melissa and Diane's friend Mark headed down to Route 1. AND promptly got shut out of the bars because we were too OLD. Student night everywhere we went, no entrance without student ID.

WHAT THE F***!!!

RESULTS

Results posted on the right side from today's various racing action. Stories to follow, but here's some highlights:

Ben Ingram runs 52:47 at Cherry Blossom to finish 30th

Kevin McGrath crushes 7min pace average, runs 1:08:56 thanks to some help from Cheese

Melissa Majumdar murders Blue Jay 5k, runs 17:54 (36sec PR) for the win

Kipchirchir returns to racing, defends title at Cherry Pit, while Dusty takes 2nd

C'mon Rude Boy

CAN YOU GET IT UP?!

Shamrock Half Marathon, Virginia Beach

After yesterday's blazing fast times in the 8k, (22:55/22:57 1st and 2nd), I was hoping that whatever conditions prevailed there would exist today for the half. Dave Berdan has his sights set on sub 1:05, but the time "went out the window" when the winds were gnarly and in the runners' faces. A number of Kenyan and Russian elites dropped out because they didn't like the wind, which allowed Dave to finish 3rd in 1:06:16. That is INSANE.

He cooled down with race winner, Mike Morgan (1:04:56) and Keith Hanson. Morgan is in 1:03 shape and Hanson estimated the wind cost the elites up to 90sec.

But no excuses for today, it's just a great time and we're all proud of you Dave!

Dave Berardi also returned to racing, placing 43rd in his usual 1:19:08.

Caesar Rodney Half Marathon, Wilmington DE

Meg McNew took on this race as part of her preparation for Boston Marathon. She is still mostly coming back from her fall setback, but according to her FB status it appears as if this was just 20 seconds off her PR - she finished 16th at 1:31:06.

New York City Half Marathon

Moving from its previous date on the calendar (August), the change proved to be great as the men's winner was UNDER an hour (59:52) and the women's winner was 1:09:17. This meant times were fast for everyone, as my brother Kevin McGrath lopped another 6:40 off his PR and ran in the 1:32:57. This is 30 minutes faster than when he did NYC Half last year in August. Unreal!

Lil' Miss Sara Spears ran 1:53:58 and "felt like [garbage]". That is a 2 minute PR (1:55:58 @ Brooklyn Half last year). For never feeling like she's in that great of shape, she never ceases to amaze and routinely drops PRs!

You are all defying the convention that would suggest a winter such as the one we endured would lead to spring PRs - so keep doing whatever you're doing! People may have to start readjusting their goals soon...

SPECIAL NOTE about NYC Half. This may be a race to consider for next year. Today's weather up there was great, which certainly helped the race be fast. Brennan's 1:13:40, which earned him 18th at DC, would have been 56th at NYC. So many people finishing each minute, no way you'd be running solo. Super Runner Mike Wardian, who WON the National Marathon yesterday in 2:21:58, traveled up to NYC and ran 1:09:37 today. The guy is unreal. And you all remember Mike Smith, who snatched 3rd at the RM Memorial - he ran 1:10:07. Great job local runners!

And big shout to today's Super Spectators, Tom and Mary McGrath. They made their way into the City at the asscrack of dawn to watch Kevin and of course Sara Spears (they even snapped a camera phone pic, it was a booty shot, I must get it from them).

Spring has SPRUNG

Or, more appropriately, folks like BRENNAN J FELDHAUSEN and DIANE SASHA HEISER have sprung!!

Led by these two monster performances, TWSS rolled down to DC with more spectators than participants and took advantage of the most beautiful day in 6 months with the following performances:

Dustin "Dusty" Meeker: 1:12:38 for 16th place overall. A phenomenal time this early in the season.
Brennan Feldhausen: 1:13:40 for 18th place overall. A nearly 2 minute PR from Richmond Half (also a SunTrust race) in November.
T. Baptiste: 1:18:36 for 47th place overall. A 20 second PR from his Strong Isle Half Marathon last May.
Mike "Zero" Mashner: 1:23:44 for 101st place overall. He raced as Philip Flaherty and the luck of the Irish led him to a 2:10 PR.

Diane Heiser: 1:22:58 for what I believe to be her first half marathon, and one of the fastest half marathons any of our girls has ever run. She was 10th overall, not far behind Joan Benoit Samuelson.
Nina Kristina Hartman: 1:32:39 for 47th, 6 minutes faster than her Miami time.

These performances are not just noteworthy, they're SICK. It made the drive down from NJ worth it to see you all out there. Mile 10 is my favorite spot to be and not one of you looked dead at that point. The weather was probably a little too warm even for most people's preference, but how could you complain when it just looked so nice!

Dave Ploskonka was running as a pacer in the marathon, rolled to a 3:15:30.

Rebecca DuRivage-Jacobs ran the 8k at Shamrock in VA Beach, 14th woman in 33:22.

And in his first ever attempt at mountain bike race, hereafter referred to as MTB, Alex Viana WON the AFC Sugar Hill XC Beginner race at Patapsco!

Of course special acknowledgements to be made to the following amazing spectators, some of whom ran many miles to view at a multitude of spots along the course:

Ed Aramayo, Alyssa Godesky, Pat McLoughlin, Ben Ingram, Joel Gladfelter, Chrissie Ramsey, Jen Koshy, Elise + Ruth, Brennan's friend Jack, Melissa and Arjun Majumdar

Baller Status, Attained

"The team did awesome yesterday - tell everyone I said great job! Baller status, attained." ~ Kevin McGrath

The 2010 edition of the RRCA Club Challenge 10 Miler became the Falls Road show. Led by course records for both men and women, the team scored the fewest points it has ever scored for men's team and combined team, at 165 and 382 respectively. HoCo was 2nd on the men's side at 270 and in the combined at 725. Before the race I did a little mock scoring and "predicted" the men would score 163 and narrowly hold off HoCo. For the women, I felt like Westminster was too loaded and could put 3 in before our first. I was very pleased to be proven wrong.

Dave Berdan looked like an absolute monster out there, and crushed everyone. His lead was 1:40 by the end, and his time of 51:43 on the newly certified course is the fastest ever run here. I knew HoCo would have two guys up there in Graham and Izzy, who did come through in 2nd and 3rd, but the next person coming through was none other than Ben in 54:08. He ran 54:05 at Army 10 in the fall, so this was pretty awesome. Ben's previous times here have been 1:00:47 and 56:25. You can read more about his race on his blog. Dusty came through just behind Ben in 54:23, and we're all glad he's made himself part of the group. Kyle is a new dad and has just a few months left before he's officially a dentist and back to Seattle, but came out on minimal training for one last go at CC. He ran 55:01 for 7th. A couple surprises from RASAC popped up next, if they were to ever get more people up there they could become a force to be reckoned with. Then came Brennan, running 55:42 for 12th. Last year, when he ran 56:39, I thought it was unreal. I felt like he was capable of 56:00 this year, so it was a great surprise to see him that far up.

We had 4 people come through under 57, and I didn't have them on my predictor under 57. Jake Marren came through in 56:09 - his previous best here was from 2006 where he ran 1:01:47 I think. Conrad Laskowski, a CC first-timer, ran 56:20 and then Phil Turner, who emailed me on Friday to see if it was cool if he could run on Sunday, dropped a 56:30. Stay Tuned - Phil and Will may be getting together to run this weekend, so I'll let you know about it. Cheese, who has been sick for like 10 months, and didn't feel like he was in great shape, ran 56:58. With the exception of Phil, these were all 10 mile PRs.

Ashish came up from Austin to help the squad, just a week after his 1:16:06 half marathon. He ran 57:14 and slotted in at 19th. Arjun, who hasn't been training the same way he was last year, ran 57:47 and was our number 11. Think about that - 11 people under 57:47. My original guess was we'd have our scoring 12 under 58:30, and if Will had shown up, we would have accomplished that. Steve Levin came up big as #12, 59:36. Haven't seen him run since Baltimore half in the fall, so this was a good result. Jeff Rumbaugh came up from ATL for this year's race, and ran a course best here at 59:36.

Some other notable male performances - Tim Parker's 1:00:43, which is a great time for him, who has been training inside most of the winter. Eric Benjamin claimed that his 1:01:50 was his best time here. Tom Stott ran 2.5 minutes faster than last year at 1:02:11. Barf's 1:08:43 was run both exceptionally smart, and with a tremendous amount of guts. For his effort, he earned the KC Masterpiece Award. Truly a gritty effort. Tank, who I missed in the email, dragged his fat ass around the 10 mile course for the longest he's run since he did that marathon a few years ago.

On the ladies' side, boy oh boy, I did not expect some of these performances! We showed up to the race with a scant 41 runners. This was maybe something like 28 or 29 guys and 12 or 13 ladies. Small in quantity, but deadly effective. Susie came flying up the road and finished in 59:27. The 2nd time I ran this race I ran 59:25. Ouch. Her nearest competitor was her own teammate, Melissa Majumdar, who ran 1:03:24. Her previous best here was about 5 minutes slower than that. After Laura O'Hara came through 10 seconds back, Diane Heiser was hot on her heels, finishing in 1:03:51. This was a 6 minute 10 mile PR and a 21 minute course best for her. Eileen Fleck finished 6th overall but 4th for us at 1:05:30. Unbelievable.

Instead of scoring 4 women, they scored 6 - I guess the smallest team had 6 so that's what they do. That meant our next two scorers were Denise, at 1:08:04, and Nina at 1:09:32. Nina - good thing we didn't need you to run a little faster! Lauren aka Boof ran 1:10:11, great time for her first CC, and Dr. J was sick but still came out, and the result was a time not much off what she ran last year. So I'd say that was pretty good. Meg McNew (running for RASAC) seems to be on the path back to being injury-free, and Alyssa, who had run the course backwards before we got there, and then ran 8 more miles after we were done, dropped a personal best 1:19:30. Sara Spears, at 1:26:16, was over a minute faster than last year, when she felt she was in better shape.

There has never been a greater team from Baltimore than this one. Even with some people missing we still proved to be so deep in talent, it really is amazing. You have all dealt with the worst winter ever quite well, and your fitness shows it. Be confident going into the spring, you are all stronger than you think after last year's great successes.

Oh, and the course was 300 feet longer than last year - they had it certified. So if you ran last year, your time this year was automatically a few seconds slower.

Finally, I would have liked to have given the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week to everyone, but I felt that the award needed to be singular. So, because he set the course on fire, and more importantly helped the team in his first ever running of CC, Dave Berdan owns this week's award.

IRONMIKE

Zero swam, biked and ran one of the smartest races of all time and his results reflected it:

1:02:49 swim

5:41:43 bike

3:30:42 run

10:22:58, 28th in his age group and 226th overall!

Unbelievable. Swim was cold, felt long and 2500 people starting at once is insane. Bike had some wind. Run was warm but not overly hot, but the sun is strong here. We were super pumped to see him do so well, and he's not even feeling that bad right now.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia...

Mary Bertram finished 3rd overall in the insane time of 2:49:35. Jackie Truncellito, who just ran insane at Baltimore, took 10 minutes off her time and finished 10th in 2:58:30. Amazing girls!

The Ass-Man Cometh!

JFK50 RESULTS

Ben Ingram had a plan and executed it out there on the Appalachian Trail today. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and when he wanted to do it. So when he came out of the first 15 mile trail section behind 4 women, he played it cool. He saw Brennan, Arjun and Melissa and let them know it was time to get moving. And moving he did. He systematically picked the race apart and dispatched runner after runner, eventually moving into the top 20 and then 11th. He was rolling now, and knowing the course fairly well, he rocked the last couple of miles. His final 36 miles were run in 4 hours. SICK. He finished in 8th overall in a new TWSS record of 6:21:45. Booyah.

Claire Lears was also taking part in her first ultra marathon; after a move and a few months of difficult trail and altitude running she hoped for the best. The squad was out there supporting her and watched her as she finished in 10:23:33. Boom.

Pete Mulligan fell twice in the early stages of this race, and between miles 21 and 38 had a bloody nose as a result. He looked like he participated in a secret underground fighting society not known as Fight Club (sshhh!). In the end he ran a 21 minute PERSONAL BEST in 10:33:46 for 506th place overall. Great job Pete!

Molly Hyde had a great debut ultra as well, rolling to an 8:07/14th place Female finish. Awesome job Molly!

Alyssa Godesky wasn't far behind Ben after the trail section, but around 27 miles she just knew it wasn't going to be her day and wisely stopped. While it pains every athlete to have to drop from a race, having just competed in the Half Ironman World Championships LAST weekend, she just wasn't recovered yet. None of us would have been bold enough to even attempt!

Great job everyone, heard the weather was pretty dece. Things are shaping up for a good day tomorrow in Tempe. Air temps are chilly in the morning and the water is SUPER cold. The sun is obviously quite strong and while the temp hovers around high 70s during the day, it feels a little warmer. It's a great venue for the event, and we even walked right past Ironman champ Chris McCormack (who went relatively unnoticed). Fingers crossed for a great day for Z tomorrow, you can follow live online at ironman.com. We're two hours behind so we start at 9am for y'all. By the later part of the day it starts to cool down and get a little breeze going.

I Can Run...A Long Time

I don't like to run fast...I like an 8 to 9 minute mile

Our very own Irongirl back in the rags today on the FRONT cover of that "B" Daily or whatever it's called. So go out and pick one up!

But if you can't get to it, check out the link to the article here.

TWSS in the News

First of all, if you haven't seen this, it's amazing. Go and pick up a copy of the Sun today (do they still print newspapers?)

Alyssa in the Sun

Also my buddy Kevin Kendro gets some quotes in there. He donated one of his kidneys to his father and is still a pimp.

Second, newest issue of Washington Running Report has some great rankings for the summer-ish portion of the year!

OPEN WOMEN

2. Chrissie Ramsey
8. Julia Rudd
29. Melissa Bosslet

OPEN MEN

3. Jeff Gaudette
6. Kipchirchir Bitok
8. Dave Berdan
30. Greg Jubb (Greg was also 2nd in the 19 and under)
38. Ben Ingram (allegedly)

Other notables were Denise and Dave Berardi making the top couple in their respective age groups.

That's really awesome, way to go everyone!

Also really awesome, if you haven't seen this, Lisa found it while scoping some pics of the New York Marathon, it's our very own Christine Ramsey as Meb and Cheryuiot pass her...in the exact spot Meb makes his winning move!

Empire State of Mind

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York

Let's hear it for our little queens (and king) of the Empire State - Christine Ramsey, Melissa Bosslet and Andrew Jaffe, who all ran amazingly well at the NYC Marathon. It truly is the biggest stage in the world, there is just no other race like it.

I was getting psyched to see the email alerts from Chrissie's splits, where she was hovering around 6:16/mile for the first half (1:22:13), and then from 25k-30k where she must have been ripping low 6's because she dropped her average from 6:16.xx to 6:14.xx. Then my phone died, as it usually does these days, and we just had to wait. We could count the number of women on pretty much two hands before Chrissie came blazing by. As we stood at the 400m to go banner, cheering endlessly for our girl, people around us were amazed we knew someone who was that far up. Godsey said he saw Chrissie as she got passed by Meb on the TV feed (hey - he did that to most of us this year at XC Nats!).

She finished at 2:44:37, easily crushing her previous best of 2:52:34 from Philly Marathon 2007. More importantly, she finished 12th Female OVERALL and was the 4th American woman to cross the line. This immediately put her into "baller status" and gave her the hands down win for Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

With the 30 minute head start that she received being an elite athlete, we had almost exactly 30 minutes to wait until Andrew "Beef Strokemoff" Jaffe came through at 2:45:36. Another PR -7 minutes, to be exact - in just his 3rd marathon. He finished 236th overall.

Melissa Bosslet/Majumdar was racing her first marathon in YEARS, and after her spectacular half in September, was really looking to make big things happen. She continued training well in light of a wedding and honeymoon, but she picked up one of those little nagging injuries, and it curtailed her training for most of the last month. She went into the race positive, however, and while it wasn't quite what she expected of herself, she ran a 3:08:30, finished 87th Female and we were all super psyched to see her go by. We are often our toughest critics, but I know she is pleased with the effort.

Believe it or not, other people raced this weekend too! Here's a recap:

Helen Klein 50 Mile: I don't remember what time Collin called me on Saturday, but I was out celebrating my favorite holiday and listened to the 10 minute long voicemail the next day. He's not just a long typer, my friends. But from the sound of it, it was as good a race as he's had this year - running to a 6th place finish. The course is long, don't ask me how, when it's a road course, but about a mile and a half extra.

Crossroads at 95 5k: Last year Brennan went to this lowkey race, ran okay and snatched up some loot. Apparently the memo got out this year, because the times were ABSURD. Pat McLoughlin did all he could on what I presume to be a sloppy and also dumb course, and took 11th in 17:52. Dustin Meeker, whom some of you met in September at track, was 5th in 16:22.

Run Through the Grapevine 8k: This is the hardest race I'd ever done, and that was in good weather. Can't imagine how tough it must have been in the weather of Sunday morning! Tom Stott sweats this race's nuts, and despite the conditions ran a course best at 33:07 and took 16th place!

Dino Dash 5k: Cheese has barely been hitting 40mpw and hasn't done any workouts so he went into it unsure of himself. But, if he wanted a shot at winning anything, he knew he'd have to chase the lead pack. BALLER. "Unfortunately for me, 10 guys dropped me before a half-mile came, gapping me by quite a bit. I still came through at 5:03 and quickly realized how big of a mistake I had made." Out of great fear for getting girled, he managed to hold off the femmes and finished 12th in 16:52. Winner was 14:24 and a 13 year old kid ran 16:03. Ouch.

ACC Championships: Down in NC, Greg Jubb was 71st in 25:38, about what he ran on the same course earlier this month. He helped the TERPS to a 7th place finish in the conference meet, where we used to finish 9th (out of 9, now at least there are 12 teams). So awesome job Greg, and thanks for making us not look terrible.

I was hoping to have NCOTB's race results, but I haven't heard from him and I don't know what the race was called. And I've looked up races in Kentucky but there are no results for any of them. Damn Kentucky.

Make My Bottle Pop

First, I don't intend to bump Megan's post so make sure you read below about a race this weekend up in Harford County area.

Second, I always feel bad when I just forget to put things in the email, knowing there are many people that only read the email, SO with that in mind I'm going to start with the one I forgot:

Nike 5k for Kids: Ryan Schmidt, who recently moved with wife Sara and daughter Claire to Hawaii, has used the move as a catalyst for getting back into shape. It's awesome to hear the excitement back in his voice as he told me about the race, which had a huge number of participants. With no mile markers, no clocks and no watch, he had no idea how fast he was going until they announced his time at the awards. 4th place, 17:16. Awesome!

Hidden Peak Challenge: Collin Anderson did this race in Utah that started at 8000' elevation and went straight up to 11,000' for 4.5 miles. It took him almost an hour and he was 6th. That sounds hard.

Diane Geppi-Aikens 5k: Kristen Till took 2nd here in 18:59. I'd like to do this race one time, Ms. Aikens was the Loyola women's lacrosse coach and passed away of cancer I believe a number of years ago.

Navy 5 Miler: You can read the race report over on Ben's blog, but his thoughts were mine as well - he won a race today not against a kid with Celiac Disease, but against the Navy XC asst coach. I know the time wasn't blazing, but a win is a win!

Fort McHenry Tunnel 5k: I was mostly upset about this one because me and Zero have a way better idea for this event, but Charm Shitty obviously has more pull than we do. Chris Nowakowski took 2nd, Mellow Mike took 7th, David Ploskonka was 10th and Dean Jagusch was 19th.

Philly Distance Run: This is the big one, the best event in September. I don't know why more people don't come to this one as it is not only the best race but a fun weekend. The weather was perfect and I really appreciated the little party thrown for me by Arjun, Melissa, Nina and Jen. And then they went out and killed it. The results you can read for yourself on the side, but consider this: Andrew BEEF Jaffe was under 1:18 and that had to have been a huge PR. Joel Brusewitz ran 1:18:00. Lee DiPietro was 2 minutes faster than last year and was 26th. Melissa was also 2 minutes faster than last year and was 27th. Amazing that both years they've finished within a few seconds of one another. For Melissa it was a huge PR and faster than she anticipated. Nina and Megan ran strong race, and my brother wound up with a nearly 12.5 minute PR at 1:39:01. That's almost a minute per mile faster than his best time. Amazing. Jennifer Rachel Koshy loves running and it showed, as she went 1:42 which I don't think is her best but not bad for not a ton of training. Tom Stewart was there, I know he loves Philly, and he went 1:22:54 and then I figured he was there but neglected to look up to see - and he ran a PR:

Rodney Taylor, 1:24:50, PR. Awesome job!

Then our friend Funnyrunner ran a PR at 1:44 and Alix Ruth, 3rd race in 8 days, 5 minute PR at 1:53. Awesome job!

So our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week really could have been a number of people from PDR, but Melissa's 2 minute improvement from last year and PR was pretty amazing considering she just got back from basically 3 weeks dealing with her wedding and honeymoon. Looking forward to NYC!!

Chrissie Runs 1:16:30!

Taking just about 3 minutes off her previous best half marathon time, Christy today dropped it like it was scalding hot and, in her effort, put many of our half marathon times to shame.

Booty Sweat

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What a bunch of ballers we are. Let's do a quick rundown of the highlights:

Kentlands 5k: Chrissie wins in 16:35. Lowers her like 45 seconds over the past year. Getting sickeningly fast.

Knights of Columbus 10k: Jeff Gaudette burning up the dance floor, wins in 31:05. Note: Ben won this event last year in 34:57. Guess the prospect of $500 brought some people out this year because Kip was 5th in 31:55. Brennan took 12th in 36:00. Berardi 15th in 36:43. Eileen was 3rd for ladies in 39:26 and Lauren BOOF Dennisuk took 7th in 44:09.

Virginia Beach Half Marathon: Julia Rudd was debilitated by illness and ran without a chip so her time of 1:23:15 is unofficial, but officially Will Knox took 22nd in 1:13:30. Pulling himself back into marathon shape just in time for Marine Corps.

NCR 20 Mile: Joel Hollywood Brusewitz, not having run more than 12 miles this year, starts off conservatively at 7:00/mile before bringing it down to finish at 2:07 (6:22/mile I think that works out to). Denise wins for the ladies, Christine Trzcinski 5th, Cynthia Evans 14th and Alix Ruth runs 3:07:59 so the prospect of a 4 hour marathon is real for her in a few weeks!

Despite the insane 5k PR/win for Chrissie and the tremendous 10k time/win for Jeff, I was really impressed by Brusewitz this week so he has earned what I believe may be his first ever Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award.

Also this week in sports, another American has gone under 13:00 for 5000m. Matt Tegenkamp held on in a small, elite group of athletes at the final Golden League Meet in Brussels to go 12:58, just a few seconds behind race winner and WR holder Kenenisa Bekele. I'm not sure what his finish time was, but Chris Solinsky wasn't super far back. Things are looking better and better for American distance running. Teg looked like a monster compared to the slight Africans.

And former Terp football player Shawne Merriman allegedly beat up Tila Tequila. I'm not a fan of beating up chicks, but if someone were to do something to deserve an ass-whooping, it would have been her. Plus the truth shall prevail and I don't think he did anything.

TNT this week! The workout is 8x600 @ 5k pace. Recovery is 400m jog. You have to jog because I don't want you getting more than 2:30 recovery. I won't be there this week.

Winter 2010 Destination Race: We are going back to Miami, January 31 2010 is the race date. The Pro Bowl is that day in Miami so hotels are pricey but I found a sweet deal. However, I have to pay some of it upfront so I am going to do that this week. If you are interested in going with us I need to know by the end of this week. Note: I will not chase people down because I am only concerned about making sure I am squared away. It is too much work for me to plan these trips to have to deal with indecisiveness. So if you don't tell me that you're coming by the end of this week, you will have to find your own accommodations.

Two Days Late, a Buck Short

After a long couple days in ChiTown and Louisville, I'm finally getting around to doing this portion of the weekly results wrapup.

FIRST, take a look at the post below this one from Zero. He has a 20 mile run on tap for TONIGHT and would probably enjoy some company. If you want to meet up with him, holler at him.

SECOND, awesome job to everyone who came out to the workout last night. Really great workout, one of the hardest ones you can do. The weather was perfect for it at least. From here on out we start doing shorter stuff, more turnover related. If you need longer intervals you should probably be getting them from tempo runs/long runs, or other means. Track will now be turnover time, save maybe one workout left.

Celebrate Your Style 5k - Jake and Dr. J swept up the men's and women's titles (and $100) for running this tiny race. Always good to remind people that if you want to win something you've got to work for it. Never assume you can just win a race!

Cascade Crest 100 - our resident ultra dudes, Collin and Dave P, headed out to do this race in the Pacific Northwest. Unfazed by the threat of running into Bigfoot (or more appropriately, his dick) these two harriers ran together at a baller pace for 74 miles. Then the wheels came off. Dave sprained his ankle or something and fell off pace a little, but still finished 25th at 24h45m. Collin had a few more troubles, and wound up spending quite a bit of time laying on the ground at aid stations. But he finished, and did it in 26h55m.

Chicago Triathlon - It was funny that this race was going on the same weekend a few of us were IN Chicago. I signed up for this race last year on the premise that I was going to go with Ryan Schmidt, but when he bailed, so too did I. I just didn't want to go by myself. This year I had no plans to do it, but Spider did. Back in the day he was a winner here, and more than a decade later, showed he still had the forms to come close. He finished 3rd in the International Amateur Division in 2:04:47 or something, with the 6th fastest run of the day (34:11). GRCer Matias Palavecino won the International Elite Amateur Division in 1:56.

Annapolis 10 Miler - This is the biggest race around this time of year, but it's also not very fun. Normally it's a billion degrees or super humid and times are real slow. Well, not the case this year. The winning time was under 50, which is awesome, and Matty Blaze ran 56:31 for 7th. Nina took 5th for the ladaaaays in 1:07:23 and Meg McNew was 15th at 1:09:48.

5k in La Crosse, WI - Now, I'm not sure which one she did, the French Island Lions Club 5k or the Central HS Alumni 5k, but Julia apparently won the overall title (men and women!) in 17:05.8 which is just 0.2 seconds off her all-time track PR! Quite amazing. She is clearly in bangin' shape for this fall.

Ironman Louisville - Brennan and I were fortunate enough to be on hand for this one. If you've never been to a triathlon, you need to see an Ironman. Talk about tough. We were at mile 90 of the bike course and then followed the entire marathon on our bikes and it was just amazing to watch these athletes. All different sizes and abilities, and you wouldn't even think some of them could walk let alone swim, bike and run. Alyssa did pretty awes, finishing 7th in her age group in 11h51m, hitting most of her pre-race objectives AND doing it with a slow leak in her tire the entire race. She had to stop no fewer than 3 times to fill it back up. And Scott Boylan, who ran with us during the winter at Fed Hill once or twice, raced to an 11h36m and 4th place AG finish (55-59) which earned him a slot to Kona! Great job.

Purple Drink Athlete of the Week - there were tons of great performances this week, with the tying essentially of a 5k PR, two 100 mile finishers, and a Kona slot, but like I said when Barf did his first tri: until you've done one, you haven't done one. Alyssa, by virtue of swimming 2.4 miles, riding 112 miles and running 26.2 miles and hearing "Alyssa Godesky, you are an Ironman" for the first time, you earned it this week.

Party in the USA

America had a much better showing at the World Championship meet than they did at Beijing last year. We advanced 3 runners in both the men's and women's 1500m to the finals, taking 3rd in both (Shannon Rowbury's bronze was on a disqualification). We won the men's long jump and shared silver in the women's pole vault. The men's 5000m had 3 runners and they did amazingly well. Teg was right there with 150m to go and you could see how badly he had been spiked during the race as his shins were bleeding. Lagat took 2nd in that one, getting outkicked by Bekele.

4x400m relays both went well as we owned them pretty hard, but both 4x100m relays continued their woeful ways, getting DQ'd in the semi-finals. Nick Symmonds ran out of gas in the 800m, and I suppose our sprints at 400m and below were good.

But how did WE do this past week? Well there weren't many events but those that raced did particularly well.

Spider has been on a tear lately, with recent 2nd place finishes in a 5 mile trail race and the next day in a sprint tri. He then went on to win the Fall Creek Falls Olympic Tri by a margin of 9 minutes. This past weekend he headed to Alabama for the USAT Age Group Nationals, where he was 38th overall and 5th in his age group, so he punched his ticket to the WC next year in Hungary.

Collin Anderson, a week out from his 100 miler at Cascade Crest, was looking to try and sneak another short distance win at the Race For Recovery 10k. He didn't win (2nd) but he ran some good negative splits, which for him is a win in itself.

Lee DiPietro has been pretty quiet this year and absent from TNT, but I remembered she was doing Parkersburg Half in WV. Last year there was $1000 on the line for first grandmaster I believe (50+) so she went out and won it. This is a randomly competitive race and yields some fast times. It's not often that you'll run a 1:25:39 and be the 10th woman to cross the line, but that's exactly what Lee was. It was a minute and a half faster than she was last year and while she wasn't the first master, she was again the first grandmaster (setting a record) so hopefully she got that grand in her hand. Cynthia Evans also ran here, helping MD represent in WV. As an FYI, I hate WVU, even though one of the hottest girls I've ever known in my life went there. Back to Cynthia, who ran a PR of 1:46:00 and is clearly setting herself up well for next year's Boston Marathon.

Jeff Gaudette finds some random races, let me tell you. He ran (and won) the Larry Noel 12k. I feel like this race is in Greenbelt, and I also thought it used to be a 15k, but I could be mistaken about that second one. Anyway he won by almost 3 minutes and I just figured out the pace and it was 5:24. Pretty darn good. He is on the roster for the RM Memorial 5k.

Orla Walsh moved up to Vermont this summer to continue her ascent to nursedom, but she hasn't let that get in the way of competing. She's taken on biathlons, where you run around and then shoot rifles, and has gotten quite good at it. She's competed in 3 of the 6 summer events put on by the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club. After they compete they sit around and make some really nice (albeit expensive) furniture.

Finally, Julia Rudd competed in the Hartwood 10 Miler. Not sure where this race is, I guess VA somewhere. 1200ft in elevation, there's one 600ft climb. Last year, US Olympic Marathon Trials competitor Veena Reddy ran 59:50 here (she ran a 2:38 at Oly Trials). Julia, who is preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon in October, has been doing some monster runs lately and won the event in a runaway at 1:00:10. Her next closest competitor was 3 minutes back, and that girl ran a 2:51 marathon. Even more impressive is that Julia was 6th overall. It's also a new TWSS 10 Mile Record.

Those are some baller results my friends, you should all be impressed that we're lucky to know such gifted and talented athletes. But each week there can only be one Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, and this week the honor goes to Lee DiPietro. To compete at that level at an age that is just a few years older than most of us is pretty unbelievable and she never ceases to amaze.

Workout for this week!

2 x (1k-2k-1k) w/ 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 after the 1, 2 and then set.

Chrissie, TWSS Rock Rockville

Holy crap, I don't even know where to start. I guess first of all I was really excited to make it back to Baltimore to see all of you race so incredibly well. I was also touched (not in the Joel Brusewitz way) to see some of the gang wearing pieces of blue painters tape with my initials on it on their singlets. It was like we were in the NFL or NBA or something.

The weather couldn't have cooperated better, in fact I was sad because I know if I do this race next year it will go back to normal conditions. Temperature was cool, there was a slight breeze and very low humidity. This enabled the race to start precisely on time for the first time I've ever seen.

Kipchirchir and I settled in to watch the start and then all we had to do was turn around and wait as the race passed by us again at mile 2. Daniel Too, the eventual winner, came blazing through in 9:20 and had a huge lead. To my surprise, Baltimore newcomer Jeff Gaudette was hot on the leaders heels. Before the race he said he was just hoping to run "around 26." Next through were Greg Jubb and Ryan Stasiowski, local college studs and FRRS employees. Then the unmistakable dayglo yellow singlet of NCOTB. I spotted Justin and Brennan running near each other, and then Kris, Hollywood and Berardi. Then all the ladies - Denise, Eileen, Melissa.

At the finish line there was excitement as Daniel Too came through in a very swift 23:51, with a huge gap to 2nd. Jeff Gaudette came rolling through in 24:51 for 5th place, which is an incredibly strong finish and it's amazing to see how quickly he's pulling himself back into his old form. Greg and Ryan came through in 12th and 15th, respectively, in great summer training times of 25:41 and 25:55. NCOTB was next in 28th at 26:36, which was well under his pre-race goal of 27.

Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the tiny little shape of one Christine Ramsey. I realized that no other ladies had gone through yet - which meant Chrissie was WINNING this race. I looked at the clock and as she crossed it read 27:12 (later it became 27:15). She put 20 seconds into DC/NoVA standout Samia Akbar and ran one of the fastest times seen at this race. She obliterated her PR and TWSS record (formerly 29:31, Rockville Twilight 7/21/07) by almost 2:20. That's absurd. Unfathomable even.

Putting a dollar in the pot will be Justin (27:18) and Brennan (27:22), who finished strong right behind Chrissie. Justin's was a post-collegiate best and Brennan's was an all-time PR. Kris Simms, so glad to see him finally exorcise the Rockville demons and put down a stellar 28:23. He can never do this race again now and be happy. Hollywood was right behind in 28:28, and Old Man Berardi wasn't too far back in 28:43. Amazing times from all the guys.

For the ladies, after Chrissie we had an incredible pack - really incredible, actually. Denise, 13th (30:46); Eileen, 15th (30:49); Melissa, 17th (30:59). It was awesome seeing the three come into the finish boom-boom-pow. For Melissa, it represented a 40 second improvement from last year. For Eileen it was welcome back party - she's really back in shape. Christine Trzcinski ran great too, 34:19. And Joel's better half, Alix, ran a solid 40:32.

It was, by far, the best team performance I've seen us pull together. Truly amazing. I am going to file a formal protest with the race management because we did not show up in the team results, which we would have won by a margin of :35. I sent in the team app (plus the reg fee) last week and emailed the guy to let him know it was on its way. So that pisses me off. But we don't need confirmation of us being awesome.

I'll be sure to post a little more on the results from the weekend tomorrow, when I find out about David Ploskonka's 100 miler and Ben's Great Lakes Relay. But really there was no denying this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week: Chrissie "Christy" Ramsey. That was one of the finest performances I've ever seen in my life and we are all super psyched for your great successes this year.