Show Me Love

These are trying times for our city.

Regardless of personal opinions, it's a fact that things are broken here, and have been for a long time. One can only hope that some real change can occur as a result of what we've seen these past few days.

We're taught that all of us are created equal, and thanks to the efforts of those before us, every American deserves the same opportunity to live a life of liberty and of happiness. And, above all, to have their voice heard.

In Baltimore, and in virtually every other city and town throughout our country, this isn't always the case.

I think we can all agree that in times like this, the best rule to follow is quite simple: treat others the way we'd want to be treated. You never know what someone else has gone through to get where they are. Be thankful for what we have.

I'm thankful to have a great family, and a family of friends that have allowed me to call Baltimore "home" for the past decade. Yesterday, a few of us gathered at Patterson Park to do our workout. The park was full of people highlighting the spirit of the city. Those of us doing the workout had fan support from others hanging out, and then we ate pizza in the neighborhood. It's an amazing community we've built. Never forget it.

It's Going Down For Real

For the 5th straight year, a group of us headed out to Westminster after work on a Wednesday evening in April to run a mile, downhill, as fast as we could.

The Westminster Main Street Mile became an immediate team-favorite and over the years we've seen some massively impressive performances from the likes of Ed, Jubb, Berdan, Diane, and others. Last year just 4 of us made the trip and this year, which yielded the slowest winning time in the years we've been going. This year would be even slower.

Indeed, when your team consists of 3 slow dragons, a kid who just ran the marathon of the century 2 days earlier, and three others dealing with minor injuries, you can't expect to light the streets up. Add in a stiff headwind and a weak field and poof - you have a high school kid winning the race in 4:26.

But what you can always count on with this group is a fun time, hard effort, and being the first to consume our ice cream sandwiches after the race.

Snake Hill Bandits enjoying their post-race ice cream sandwiches

So here's how the evening went:

Graham and Christa rode the Metro to Owings Mills. Props to both of them, especially Christa, who rode it end-to-end. In all my years I believe Brennan is the only one who's done that. Me and Bish met them in OM, and we drove through some rain out 140 to Westminster. The sun came back out and dried up the roads, but it was definitely a cool night, and we saw that we'd have a headwind in the race.

We met Jon, PJ, and Meg D, and warmed up - as a team - around the McDaniel campus. A quick stop at the cars and we were off, up the hill, to the start. Up there we saw former Falls Road employee, Rory Jenkins, who just happened to be home. The initial drop is pretty steep, which is where I hobble down the hill and watch the race unfold. I had a good view of the women's race. Susan Hendrick of GRC took it out hard, a tactic that worked for the win, as the distance that Meg D had to try and close was just not manageable. Susan took the W in 4:51, with Meg D in 2nd at 4:57. Christa was just off her time from last year, taking 3rd in 5:09. At the awards, they announced that a Kyle Grimm, alleged 27 year old female, had won the race. We (I) stomped up to Nut Hall and said there was no way unless Kyle was pulling a Bruce Jenner that was the case. Upon video review, results were adjusted.

Since I get dropped like one of the cluster flies in my house from the initial downhill, I can't really see what's going on up front, but after the race we heard Rory finished 2nd to the high schooler, in the slowest winning time since prior to 2011. In 3rd was Timothy Snyder, from Frederick. Our first finisher was Steve "Bish" Febish, in 6th at 4:37. Graham, who trotted down the hill and, despite marathon soreness, could easily have gone faster, ran 4:47. Jon ran 5:01 and PJ finished at 5:04, before yours truly huffed and puffed across the line in 5:08 - the same time I ran last year. Graham and I then hustled over to the gym to be the first ones to get our ice cream sandwiches, which we consumed before anyone else even got there.

Then it was awards time, and with Meg D and Christa generating positive cash flow, it was a pretty good day already. Febish and Graham were 2nd and 3rd in their respective age group so they got medals (although technically Kyle Grimm should have then bumped Graham, but we're taking him out of the equation for foolishly saying he was a girl). Then it was the best category, Men 30-39, which we swept.

Thug Life

Before we left we each had another ice cream sandwich, then Graham dunked a piece of paper on a 10 foot rim. We got back to Canton where we had a late-night dining session at La Tolteca, which I paid for the next day.

For next year I hope more of you come out. I've got to say, it was more fun when we had a ton of people there and everybody did fun things and was cool. There's not a lot of that going on these days. C'mon people, loosen up!

119th Boston Marathon

Photo credit: Sean Caskey via Instagram

 Graham Peck with the race of the year so far!

1:12:30 at the half, 2:26:09 at the finish for 45th overall. "I don't know how I felt so good," he said. 27 seconds faster than he ran last year on what was definitely a windy day. Graham was the top Maryland finisher, and top from DC/MD/VA as he finished about a minute ahead of Michael Wardian. It was also pointed out that Graham's bib was #119 and it was the 119th edition of this race. Coincidence? I think not. Nick Gehlsen was 2.5 minutes faster than last year.

Bethany Caldwell negative split 1:40 to 1:35 for a huge PR of 3:15:23 in her first Boston. Bryn Burkholder finished just 1 second off her PB, but a huge Boston best in 3:20:09. Sara Damiano holds onto finish in 3:24:24 in her first trip here. Jen Sheely ran a minute personal best of 3:28:51, flew home and went straight to Pasta Mista.

Here are a few of the messages I received after the race:

Graham: "I don't get how I felt so good. Shaking my head man...0 calories or ounces of water after 19. Just ripping so hard. I knew I'd have ag ood last 10 in me just didn't think I had 57:30 in me for 10.2. Shocking. [About the wind] Yeah it was tough. At one point near 7 there is big visibility ahead and I could see like 40 of us in a single file line. Only got windier from there going towards the ocean. Some rain, not a ton though."

Dave: "Dropped a Jackson at the Shake Shack at the Boston Marathon finish line. It tastes better after running a lot of miles ;)"

Bryn: "Hot damn! I ripped shit up out there!!"

Phil: "I decided last second to do it. Been so busy since our third baby. I ran 22 miles after teaching one day 5 weeks ago and booked a flight. Glad I did it. Basically ran like 7 miles a day all winter and three 20 plus runs and just got out there. Ugh!"

Graham Peck, 2:26:09
Nick Gehlsen, 2:40:39
Phil Turner, 2:49:23
Will Knox, 3:03:47
Katie Ainsley, 3:07:22
Russell Buescher, 3:12:38
Bethany Caldwell, 3:15:23
Dave Ploskonka, 3:16:08
Bryn Burkholder, 3:20:09
Ian Clark, 3:21:39
Henry Peck, 3:21:56
Sara Damiano, 3:24:24
Marci Benda, 3:25:15
Marie France-Penet, 3:26:30
Jen Sheely, 3:28:51
Russell Snyder, 3:34:45
Joanna Laboue, 3:39:25
Leigh Peck, 3:59:21

Don't do this.

Remember people, the race isn't over until you cross the finish line.

Sick Bike Skills

Hey Zero, we think Dave Mirra has some sick skills? (Funny enough, we already had a label to use for this one)

Unbelievable skills in this clip from 1965
Posted by Bikemap on Monday, November 17, 2014

Who Runs the World?

The ladies have ruled the roost in 2015, so it came as no surprise that on International Women's Day they would once again provide some top performances.

The Cupid's Crush 10k was originally scheduled for February 14th, but due to that week's super freeze the event was postponed to this past weekend. Mother Nature seemed hellbent on making sure it didn't happen as she dumped another substantial snow on the area on Thursday. Fortunately, the race was able to be held - but it was shortened due to a last minute course change. As such, I won't be counting these performances for our Top Times list because the race was significantly and admittedly short.

No matter though because everyone runs the same course! Ryan Stasiowski took the overall win in 34:30, and then Lillian Pinault finished 2nd in 41:08, ahead of Denise Knickman (3rd, 41:51) and Sara Damiano (4th, 42:18). Jen Sheely finished 7th in 45:07.

For the week, Lillian earned the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week award.

Kind of hard to believe that Club Challenge was only supposed to be two weeks ago. Last weekend, on the 1st of March, in addition to enduring a sleeting/ice storm, we had some folks go down to Salisbury to rep at the Tim Kennard River Run 10 miler. Graham Peck earned his first W of the year, running 54:54, besting runner-up Steve Febish (56:11). Terence Baptiste nearly finished 3rd, but I hear he tried to take a Gu in the last mile, couldn't open it because his hands were too cold, got passed and couldn't catch back up. He finished 4th right on 1:00:12. Matt Franco had a tummy-ache and ran an even split 1:03:56, somehow still finishing 10th. Kaylyn Peck was 2nd (to HCS Tori Berard) and Denise Knickman was 4th in 1:13:50.

The race of the day, and his first PDAW ever, went to Thom Ripley, who broke 70 minutes. Awesome work!

I Wanna Rock With Somebody

Man, what a bummer about Club Challenge, huh?

As I trudged home from Mt. Washington on Saturday afternoon, the cancellation seemed validated - unlike that one year they canceled and no snow came. Indeed, it was a serious storm! Of the dozen or so of us who made it up to the store for Tom Stott's Running Clinic, most of us had to abandon our cars and take the Light Rail downtown and walk home from there. Unless you're a badass like TD, who ran back from Mt. Washington. Boss.

But without the race, there went 50 results for this week!

On Presidents Day, Fiana Kumm raced the Great Aloha Run in Honolulu (must be nice). In the 8.15 mile race she finished 6th in 50:24 - an astounding 6:12/mi!

Out in Wisconsin, snow was welcome for Erin Feldhausen and her American Birkebeiner 50k cross country ski race. She completed the event for the 4th straight year, finishing in 4:10:23.

And down in Birmingham, Alabama, Liz Laseter won the Superhero 5k (part of the Mercedes Marathon weekend) in 19:14. Great job!

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Erin Feldhausen!

There hasn't been much racing going on lately, and a lot of events have been postponed or canceled, but in the previous two weeks of PDAW awards, they've gone to Jen Koshy and Kaylyn Peck. The ladies are certainly rocking it in 2015, having taken home 6 of the 8 available PDAWs!

For the second year in a row we seem to really be taking it on the chin with a late and extended winter. Fortunately, the end should be soon (or so some of you try to reassure me). And it better be, because spring racing is just around the corner. In fact, this weekend is MARCH! So we have some events happening and the forecast looks like it will cooperate.

And if you want to see some pics from the little Snow Day adventure that Graham, Ploskonka and I had on Saturday during our long trek home, check them out!

Club Challenge Canceled!

I sent an email to the folks who had registered for Club Challenge earlier today, informing them that the decision has been made to cancel the race. No word on whether it will be able to be rescheduled, or when that could possibly be. The decision was made by the Howard County Striders and the Howard County Police. Based on the anticipated weather conditions I'd say it's the right call. At this point we're able to at least make backup plans.

I'm bummed because I was looking forward to racing personally, but also because I love this team event AND we were going to get to debut our new singlets.

But don't fret, because there's always a Plan B!

Nothing can make up for the atmosphere of a race - but we're going to try. Since we had all planned on running 10 hard miles on Sunday, for those who are up for some fun, here's what we're going to do:

• Meet at the Trade Center, warmed up, at 9:00am
• Based on the numbers, we'll break into teams of 2-4, evenly split between M/F
• Race a 6 mile, out-and-back course through the Harbor, Key Highway and out to the Fort
• Fastest aggregate time will be our Champions
• Go home, warm up and regroup for a celebratory brunch like we otherwise would have!

Now I realize that some of you may not want to do this, or may have other workout plans in mind - totally fine. This is optional and if the weather happens to be actually bad, check back here to make sure we're still a go. But I figure you're going to run that day anyway, may as well have some fun with it!

Coach's Corner: Remember to Enjoy It

Most of you are probably not familiar with Brett Sutton, and you'll likely never hear his name come up in conversation. He's a triathlon coach, known for pushing his athletes really hard, his occasionally abrasive personality, and his nearly indecipherable language skills. He's coached some of the world's top triathletes to amazing results, while others have not responded as favorably to his program.

His CV is neither here nor there; the only reason I bring it up is because I think his recent post, Triathlon Training: Consistency vs Adaptability, is something we should all take a couple of minutes to read and absorb.

Here are a few of the main takeaways:

• Being hyper-focused on achieving our sporting goals can have a negative impact on us, particularly if it's causing anxiety.
• Consistency is important, but adaptability is the critical element in a training plan.
• Missing a training session (or two) has no negative effect on the long term plan, and that "pushing through" offers little to no benefit.
• Don't cram missed sessions in elsewhere.

The last paragraph really struck a chord

[Don't] be slaves to anything. Enjoy your chosen sport. It’s a great one. But to be successful you need to work with your circumstances, not fight them. Because if you’re fighting them they’ll eventually win and one day you’ll be with a group of people and the subject of triathlon will come up and you will say, ‘yeah, I used to do that!’ instead of still enjoying your hobby.

I'll be the first to admit I'm guilty of this. I've treated this sport - which is a hobby I choose to do - as if it were the only thing in the world. I've tied my self-worth to it, I've been depressed because of it. I've felt like a piece of shit for missing an arbitrary training session and have used the words "I have to do XX" more times than I would care to count.

I bring this up today because I see a lot of people heading down that same road - and sometimes we need to hear it more than once, and from people other than our friends and training partners. The cool thing is, none of us is every going to make our living solely from racing and training, so that's one less thing to worry about!

If you're not enjoying what you're doing - don't do it!

It's great to have goals; I have plenty. It's important to have them, and to challenge yourself to be the best you that you can be. But you've got to be reasonable, too. Beating yourself up because you didn't hit an arbitrary time goal for your hobby just isn't productive.

Like Coach Sutton says, there's consistency, and there's adaptability. Every workout/session should have a purpose. It's good to be consistent, but missing a session isn't the end of the world - nor should you cram to make it up. If you wanted to run 6 miles today and you ran 4, don't tack on 2 extra miles to your run tomorrow. They're gone. Let it go.

And if you want to go to a happy hour, or hit the Tiki Barge, or shoot just want to take a nap after work one day - do it. If you feel it's more productive for you to do that than burn another match and put yourself in a hole, who's stopping you?!

Surf City, USA

Besides the Matchbox 20k "race" we held over the weekend, we did actually have people racing.

Nicole Wilson ran a 3:03:53 at the Columbus Marathon back in October, at the time a personal best. She didn't take much of a break after that, going onto run a 1:23 half in mid December. Nicole's goal was the Surf City Marathon on February 1st, an unusual time of year for East Coast runners to look to peak.

Her training paid off on Sunday in a big way - not only did she finish 2nd, but she ran a 2:54:34! A 9+ minute PR, and it landed her at #5 on our Top Ten list!

As if there was going to be any competition, she easily earned this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Interestingly, the DiGregorios also chose the Surf City race for a family race-cation. Meg D ran 1:27:19 and Justine, in what may have been her first half (at least to my knowledge) ran a 1:32:33. Then I'm sure they got more than a full day's supply of Vitamin D.

Tom Stott ran the Country Roads 5M in MoCo, finishing 19th in 32:24.

Meanwhile, at Sunday's Katy Perry concert, this happened:

Left Shark looks quizzically as Katy Perry makes a hand gesture

Matchbox 20k

Typical 90s band album cover

The first, and last, Matchbox 20k took place this past Saturday. A hearty group of 15 gathered for what was essentially a hard long run at Patapsco. The trails were generally less covered in snow and ice than I thought they might be, but MTB tracks had frozen to form ankle-breaking ruts and left all of us feeling pretty beat up by the end.

In the car ride down, we listened to a MB20 mix-tape, and when the girls rolled up, Meg McNew had an autographed, framed head shot of Rob Thomas. At the moment they arrived, "Smooth" came on (although technically not an MB20 song).

We jogged over to the start at Gun Road and after a few words we got going. Halfway down the first trail, a couple of people took off while the rest of us formed into little groups. The first challenge came just after a mile in when we had to climb Bull Run. Graham was carrying little speakers with him and had tried to force MB20 to play on a Pandora station by "thumbs-upping" similar songs. As we finally got to Vineyard Springs, 2 miles in, once again we heard "Smooth."

THERE ARE OTHER MATCHBOX 20 SONGS!

We headed across the river and up into the Orange trail, popping back out at the swinging bridge before entering the Dragon's Spine (note: this is not my name but it sounds cool, apparently it's the name of a Strava segment according to Zero). We came back down via the waterfall and then re-entered the Orange trail.

Finally, it was time for Gun Road. I was pretty cooked at this point and managed a 7:44, which, all things considered, wasn't too bad. Far from my best this year but not a bad run. In the end, we'd all been torched by Jeff Rumbaugh, who took the lead early and never relented. Then it was Nick Gehlsen and Graham Peck. The ladies took a little detour so they did a slightly different route and were next through.

Shout to all who came out and ran this fun little race: Brian Benda, Mike Mashner, Will Thompson, Terry Decker, Matt Franco, PJ Anderer, Jon Miller, Suzanne Andrews, Meg McNew, Bryn Burkholder, and Thom Ripley. Special shout to Nick Klastava who was our on-course cheer section slash photog. Breakfast at the Taneytown Deli afterwards hit the spot, and guess what? We heard "Smooth" again.

Here's some links to my photo album on Flickr and the YouTube Playlist.

Rob Thomas Says...

Come on over! Down to the corner, my sisters and my brothers, of every different color

"I can't wait for the Matchbox 20k tomorrow!" ~ Rob Thomas

Celebrating 20 years of one of America's - nay, the world's - greatest bands, Matchbox Twenty.

The start time is 8:30am at the intersection of S. Rolling Road at Gun Road. Make sure you have your trail legs because it's a really challenging route, and we're not sure of the condition of the trails. We have over a dozen registered so far and while I expect groups to form, this will be much more of a "hard long run" than a "race."

Breakfast to follow at a TBD location, probably in Catonsville.

All About It

Another week gone in January and all of a sudden we're almost in February! We're a month into official winter and compared to 2014, it really hasn't been that bad.

2015 is off to an amazing start. We've seen some of the best early-season performances we've ever seen. One that I missed last week was Matt Jablonski's WIN at the University of Washington Preview meet in the 3000 meter race. In this YouTube video posted by Loyola Blakefield, you can watch the last 45 seconds or so of the race, where Matty Blaze unleashes a massive kick that helps him take down none other than German Fernandez as he crosses the line first:


Then it was onto this past weekend, where I should have gone to Miami. Indeed, not only is the Miami Half Marathon one of my favorite weekends of the year, but Miami was also host to the MISS UNIVERSE pageant. Kicking myself for not going.

Pete Mulligan ran the marathon there, and I assume he was pacing the 4:40 group as he finished at 4:38 something. Then there's Megan DiGregorio. Earlier in the week I thought Meg D was coming to our Club Challenge workout. When I asked her if she was coming on Saturday, she replied with "I'm actually in Miami running the half tomorrow" - ?!?!?! Our little jetsetter friend must have booked a last minute flight and decided she needed a little Vitamin D. She finished 4th in the half in a perfectly fine time of 1:23:53 (chip), but still complained about it.

A Miami veteran himself, Terence Baptiste ran the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park. The conditions were cold and there was plenty of snow on the ground, but T ran a 1:22:16 - a great January time for him! And it was good enough to earn him this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Saturday we saw the return of Denise Knickman to competitive racing, as she won the BRRC Frozen Fingers 5M in 34:10.

And out in Green Bay, a result I forgot to include in the email, Brennan Feldhausen was racing a marathon relay on Saturday. It was originally slated to take place on a 450m indoor track (it's around an ice skating track). Teammates could swap out whenever they felt like it. I think he said that they were going to do it on an outdoor track after the temperature hit 46 that day (warmer than here!)

Club Challenge Workout Postponed

Due to the predicted wintry mix for tomorrow (Saturday), I'm going to postpone our Club Challenge workout. It's one thing to go for a run in it, it's another to put a bunch of cars on the road unnecessarily.

A few of us are planning on just bumping back by a day and running the workout on Sunday. Depending on the output of tomorrow's weather, this may end up just being canceled as Howard County tends to stay a little icier than we do.

From my early conversations it looks like the girls are going to aim for a February 7th (Saturday) workout down there and I've suggested to the guys we could put something on that day.

Uncharted

To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before; Uncharted territory.

On Sunday, in Phoenix, that's precisely where Alyssa Godesky went as she ran a 3:04:31 marathon and finished 5th in the process. As I sifted through our historical records, I found that's the 13th fastest time run by any of our women. Over the past couple of seasons we've come to expect big performances from Alyssa, but this one truly is next level when you consider that her best time coming into this race was 3:26, run off the bike this past fall.

The last time she ran an open marathon? Marine Corps 2008, where I think she finished ahead of The Bachelor, Andy Baldwin (who is in Baltimore quite a bit these days) and ran a 3:31.

So a 3:04 is kind of a big deal. And she pretty much even split the race. Really great stuff!

Also in Phoenix, our old friend Julia Webb ran a terrific half - 1:18:07 for 5th herself!

Down in Clearwater, PJ Anderer tackled an early season 50k. That's a tough distance any time of year, but especially when it's January in a place that's much warmer than here, for a person who doesn't like running in the warm. PJ did well to finish 12th in 4:27:34.

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Alyssa.

CLUB CHALLENGE WORKOUT is THIS SATURDAY!

We will be starting the workout on the start line at 8:30am. Warm up and do whatever you need to prior to that. The suggested workout is:

1 mile easy
3 miles up
1 mile easy
2 miles up
1 mile easy
1 mile up

10 total. Good workout, then we'll go eat somewhere.

Also, don't forget to sign up for Club Challenge on Striders' website. Fill it out, make sure you select Falls Road as your club and mark that you are "elite." Yes, I realize you don't think you're elite. Not my rules. Just do it.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

"Well c'mon Cinderella, we gotta get you ready for the ball!" - Dumb and Dumber

Every good Cinderella story contains a couple of things: a fat mouse, a pair of shoes, a nice old lady, a bunch of mean girls, a really naive person, a dude with money and a castle.

In this fairytale, Sean Caskey was the "wide-eyed Disney ingenue" who, for some reason, committed to doing the Dopey Challenge. What is the Dopey Challenge, you ask? Well a few years ago the folks down at Walt Disney World decided it would be cool to package their half marathon and marathon together and call them the Goofy Challenge. The half was on Saturday and the marathon Sunday, making for a tough two-day double.

Then they realized, in an obvious way that only Disney would, that they could stretch out the magic by a few more days, add a 5k on Thursday and 10k on Friday, and call it the Dopey Challenge if you completed all 4 races. More money in their pocket and more medals for you.

Anyway, the interesting thing about this whole process was that, despite nobody from our group ever having done this challenge, Sean wasn't the only one who was - Ryan Stasiowski was racing as well!

Rather than fill it with fluff, I'll get to the point. Stas finished 2nd overall in the Dopey Challenge standings we believe, as he closed things out with a 2:48:22 marathon. Meanwhile the Prime Minister of Swag, Sean Caskey, fell ill following the Thursday 5k and overcame this sickness by doing an around-the-world at EPCOT and closing his weekend out with a 2:55:13 marathon - pretty awesome all things considered. We think he was 7th in the overall standings.

Great job to both, but Stasiowski took this event way serious and Caskey had fun, took fun pictures and entertained, so he won that week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

On a Tuesday

The first post of 2015!

After the hustle and bustle of mid December, it really gets quiet. There aren't a ton of races around Christmas, and even if there were, most people are a little preoccupied. For us, we fill the time with our favorite Christmas tradition: the #TWSSChristmas photo contest!

Click here to see the gallery

It's always fun to see how folks are spending their Christmases, running or not, and we had a lot of submissions this year. Naturally, it appears as though hardly anyone voted, which means they either didn't care to or didn't know how to. I'll declare a winner this week.

My trip home to New Jersey was pretty balmy, enough so that I was able to make it into the chilly Atlantic Ocean following each of my 3 runs. The 3rd was part of the Polar Bear 5k in Asbury Park. I could hardly believe it had been 4 years since I last did this year, but indeed it was December of 2010 that I last ran it. It was still a 5 miler back then, although race day featured an incredible Nor'easter that shortened the race to a 5k. The sea looked angry that day and I made the decision to not go in.

This year was much milder and after my amazing 19:11 5k (gun time, 9th place) in which Conrad basically lapped me (3rd, 17:44, after stopping and waiting for me at the turnaround), he and I ran into the ocean and dunked ourselves. Not to be outdone, Amy and my little sister, Meghan, accepted the challenge and also went in the water after the race. For their terrific race AND getting in the water, they each earned a share of the final Purple Drink Athlete of the Week of 2014.

That brought us to the final week of the year, split between 2014 and 2015. In 2014's waning moments, Erik T. Orberg recorded the last race result - an 8th place at the Vienna Silvesterlauf (5.33km) race in Austria. A couple spots and 12 seconds faster than 2013!

A number of people kicked off the new year in style:

At the Resolution Run 5k in Patterson Park, Justine DiGregorio took the team's first win, Jen Sheely was 6th and Karen Menge laced up her shoes and did her first race in who-knows-how-long.

Down in MoCo, Conrad Laskowski was 4th at the New Year's Day 5k, while Andy Sovonick made a return to running and Tom Stott picked up where he left off at the end of the year.

On New Year's Day we also bid adieu to our dear friend Brennan, who, after 7.5 years in Baltimore, moved to Milwaukee to begin a new job with the Brewers. It was a sad day and he will be missed, but his spirit lives on every time you make a memory. Or send a text.

In a year that was truly full circle, I was glad I was able to spend New Year's Eve with the same crew as last year (Brennan, Zero and my brother) when we went up to New York for the Central Park Midnight 4 miler.

Over the weekend there was a heated battle at the Frozen 5k in Virginia, featuring Team HPB athletes Alyssa Godesky and Leslie DiMichele. Alyssa fought bravely for the win, but in the end Leslie's final move proved enough for the win (19:27 to 19:34). Stephanie Granlund also raced, starting the year with a strong 28:11.

Earning our first PDAW of the year was Karen Menge - it's unnerving sometimes to jump in a race after a long hiatus, but we respect the gumption of getting back out there!

No Flex Zone

Two years ago, 10 intrepid souls, all members of the Falls Road Racing Team, boarded the aptly dubbed "Sausage Wagon" and traveled from Baltimore to Lexington, Kentucky, for the 2012 USATF Club Cross Country National Championships. For 9 hours we endured fog and rain. We had no radio (the antenna was broken) and just two compact discs (John Denver and Ke$ha). I powered the 15 passenger van through the mountains. We stopped in Morgantown, West Virginia, home of the WVU Mountaineers, for lunch at the Black Bear Cafe. A few sipped moonshine. We continued on, finally arriving at our destination. The next day the team raced, and finished 31st out of 42 teams. Conrad was our top runner, finishing 145th in 33:11. The only time it didn't rain the entire weekend was for the couple of hours around the race. The Fellowship of 9 who raced vowed to one day return, in better shape, and do this race again.

Fast forward 2 years. The 2014 USATF Club XC Champs were in Bethlehem, PA, at Lehigh University. The field was enormous, and incredibly competitive. The nation's top teams were taking a crack at bragging rights, along with a top prize of $5000 for the fastest team. It was a 1:30 start, which meant I could go to Celtic Solstice in the morning and then drive there to see the guys race.

It had somehow gotten colder since the morning, and the wind made it feel even chillier. But the course was in good condition, and it was quintessential cross country weather. I made it in time to catch the very end of the women's 6km, where our friend Julia Webb finished 39th in 20:46. Then it was onto the men's race, with a field of about 600.

If you've never watched a cross country race, or it's been a while, you definitely need to check it out. It's so exciting, and because it's a long race run in a relatively small area, spectators get a similar rush running from spot to spot to cheer. While I wish it had been a bit warmer, it was fun watching our guys race. No surprise, Conrad was again our top finisher. He ran 31:51, which is insane, and that was only good enough for 156th place, which is even more insane. 155 dudes running faster than 5:07 per mile for 10k on grass. John Ealy, who I'm very excited is getting a chance to run with us more (not to mention was instrumental in getting the team outfitted with Under Armour singlets and shorts!), had an awesome race. It's easy to forget that NYC Marathon was just 6 weeks earlier, but John came out of that and got himself into pretty mean shorter distance shape. He was our #2 guy at 32:34 (222nd - so 70 people in 40 seconds).

Steve Febish was our 3rd guy, running 34:36. Interestingly, he ran 34:43 2 years ago. So that's cool. His locks were flowing in the wind. He looked glorious. In a bit of a surprise, Tim Burns aka Bethlehem Steel or Lehigh Thunder, came in at 35:06, ahead of Ed Aramayo (35:40). If we had a most improved from 2012, that would go to Ed. That year he ran 37:26 for 310th - beating just 28 people. This year he was almost 2 minutes faster, but finished 452nd! Sean Caskey did pretty well. He was hilarious at the end, with about 200m to go he put his head down and tried to outkick this guy. It was a serious push of the NOS button. Unfortunately, he pushed it too early and got dusted at the end. 36:01 for Sean.

Newcomer Will Thompson was a wildcard. I'm pretty certain he's never run cross country, and rather than warm up with the team, he took a nap in his car. Comes to the line wearing this vest and carrying a GoPro, which he claimed he was going to race with (fortunately, he didn't). Will was even-Stevens out there, steadily moving up as others blew up. He ended up finishing in 37:47, which was a distance PR.

Matt Franco died a slow and steady death out there. I had high hopes for him since he was the only one to do an XC race prior to this race. But he ran 37:56. Not to be outdone, Nick Klastava was the Ed Aramayo of 2014. Nick ran 38:44 and finished 538th. He beat 34 people or something. But hey, he didn't finish last. That honor would definitely have gone to me had I raced, so kudos for racing.

In the end, Falls Road finished 47th out of 68 teams (official), with an average scoring time of 34:09. That's not too bad! I mean, it was no ZAP Fitness scoring 61 points, but c'est la vie.

John Ealy earned his first ever Purple Drink Athlete of the Week honor after his awesome performance.

Next year's race is out in San Francisco, and I hear some momentum building to go out and race. For now, enjoy the photos from the day!

2014 USATF Club XC Nationals Photos

The Cool Kids

Celtic Solstice is Baltimore's premier winter event. Some may say it's the year's best race, in large part due to the party under the tent. In its 15th edition, Jim and the gang went bananas on the race premiums - insane Brooks jackets.

Of course it's also a very competitive race, which there aren't many of this time of year. Our own stock of runners was a bit depleted; a bunch of the guys were up in Bethlehem racing the USATF Club XC Nationals that day, and a few of our other fasties were laying low following their marathons last weekend. With past winners Brian Godsey and Dave Berdan nowhere in sight, the door was open for Carlos Renjifo of Howard County Striders to take his first win in 7 tries. He not only one, he decimated the field with a 90 second margin of victory.

Our first runner was Nick Gehlsen, who finished 3rd in 27:24. Then I saw that his chip time was just a second or two behind 2nd place and I thought START ON THE LINE!! After Nick it was the ageless wonder, Elijah Kosgei, in 4th at 28:24. I haven't seen Elijah in probably a couple of years. Dude's got a metric ton of children and is taking classes again I think, so it was nice to see him back out there. He hates the cold but got it done, and I was glad to see him racing as his actual age (46) instead of his usual "I'm 40 every year." PJ Martinez ran a fine 29:02, Jeremy Gworek got into sneaky shape (29:14) and Terence Baptiste surprised us with a 29:43.

Coming in a little over 30 minutes, showing some excellent December fitness, were Mike Zero (30:16) and old man Steve Levin (30:25). Tom Stott had one of his best Celtics, running 30:51. Brennan Feldhausen just missed breaking 31 minutes (31:03, although I doubt he cared too much) and Bobby Van Allen continued his trail to former glory, running 31:21. Cory Donovan finished at a solid 31:32 and PJ Anderer came in at 31:45.

Then it was time for some fast ladies to finish! Carly Page and Suzanne Andrews ran most of the race within a few seconds of one another, and while Suzanne got her on gun time, Carly had the faster chip - 32:09 to 32:12. Great race for both! For Carly, nearly a minute faster than her spring 8k, and Suzanne just always surprises me with how fast she is when I think she's not running. Little Justine DiGregorio finished 10th in 33:09, and Eileen Fleck, who I missed out there, was 15th in a really strong 34:20. Sara Damiano came in at 34:53, Meg McNew strolled across at 35:56, and Patty Stott finished a strong fall campaign, running 40:17.

The morning was a little brisk, but not anything we're not accustomed to on Celtic Saturday. Brennan got to "take the walk" at the beginning of the race, wearing a Bart Starr Green Bay Packers' jersey (courtesy of Jim). The tradition is that bagpipers and Irish wolfhounds lead out the couple of folks who have done this race every year, and with Brennan leaving Baltimore, Jim asked him to be an honorary leader of the procession. Very cool.

Many thanks to Jim, Karen, Pete, Meg D, Dan, Amy, all the Falls Road staff, and especially all of you who came out and volunteered. This race is no small undertaking, and it requires a lot of help. I know they all appreciate your efforts, so thanks!

About a Week Ago

Well, way more than a week ago at this point, but catching up on December!

Most years, marathon season has been wrapped up by Thanksgiving. People begin to hibernate, or start to look ahead to the spring. Three brave souls pushed their fall marathon season to the first weekend of December, and it was like hitting Triple 7s at the slot machine - money came pouring out!

First up was Erik T. Orberg at the Memphis Marathon. Erik came into the race with a 2:35 personal best from earlier this year at the Vienna Marathon. Prior to that, his 2:39 at Philly last fall had also been a personal best. Erik's been rolling for a couple cycles straight, but this time he took a vastly different approach. His run mileage decreased in favor of riding his bike more, and as a result I think the quality of his run workouts improved. Not that he wasn't putting forth his best effort before, but he seemed to have a level of focus I hadn't seen before. ETO went Walking in Memphis and absolutely owned the day, grabbing the win in addition to another new personal best of 2:33:40. Afterwards he must have been 10 feet off of Beale, because who wouldn't be after winning a marathon?! Here's a great Twitter conversation he had with hilarious Twitter entity @BMoreRunning:

@BMoreRunning 1. - check. Working on 2-4. 4 might be tricky, may have to pull the winner card
— Erik Ør (@matrixat) December 6, 2014

On Sunday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy, it was Dustin Meeker and Melissa Tanner's turn. They were taking on the fastest race in the west: California International Marathon. But just because it's a net downhill doesn't mean there aren't any hills to run up! The pair had both run big races in July at the Eugene Marathon; Dusty narrowly missed breaking 2:30 and Melissa dropped a 2:55. But at CIM, they were looking for more. Much more.

Dusty is one of the diligent workers we've ever seen. He has this amazing ability to go lap after lap at the same fast pace, and when it's time to work out, he is all in. His first marathon was just last fall at Philly, and when you start off with a great result, it can often be hard in your second and third tries to "just get faster." When you're fighting for seconds, so much is how you feel on that day. Dusty must have felt pretty good as he dropped a steady tempo, holding 5:34/mi for 20 miles. How would he respond in the final 10k? He was almost identical through 20 at CIM as he was at Eugene, but this time he demolished the final 6 miles and ran a 2:27:53 - good enough for a 2.5 minute PR and he became our 3rd runner under 2:30 for the year (first time that's happened!)

Melissa came into the race with a 2:51 lifetime best, but that was a few years ago, and has had mixed results over the past 2 years. Melissa is nothing if not patient, and her metronomic style allowed her to negative split her way to an insane new personal best of 2:47:24 - a 4 minute PR and the 2nd fastest in team history!

A 5k is on the opposite spectrum of a marathon, but it doesn't mean that performances are diminished. Lillian Pinault has been on fire all fall, and continued it with her 2nd win in a 5k at Charlie's Run 5k. Most notably, she ran 19:51, which is the first time since she's lived here (almost 7 years) that she's broken 20 minutes for the distance, and it's the first time she's done it on the road. That's awesome!

So it was a pretty incredible and amazing weekend thanks to these 4, but naturally it was a very difficult choice for the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week. In the end, I gave it to Melissa.

But, I awarded Dustin the AutoZone In the Zone Award and Erik earned the KC Masterpiece Award. Naturally, Lillian won the NOS Award. They were just too good to leave out!