Monday, March 17, 2014

WELCOME TO 2014....FINALLY!!!

This blog's manager has been absolutely horrendous at developing posts so far in 2014 but rest assured, that will change.  Unfortunately, there's been so many past performances thus far, I'm forced to summarize or else this would be a book...

This winter has been a nightmare for training.  Bitter cold, above average snow, and lots of wind have made it much tougher to log the miles and get in some quality work along the way.  However, with the conditions the way they've been, it has made it that much more satisfying to enter the spring racing season with a solid fitness level.

So here we go, here's a summary of results since the New Year:

1/26/2014BRRC GPS 8 MilerPhil Lang53:166th1st (M40-49)






2/2/2014Penguin Pace 5kConrad Orloff17:203rd1st (M40-49)


Nick Grossi18:475th2nd (M30-39)








Robyn Humphrey21:123rd1st (F40-49)






2/8/2014Mid-Maryland 50kAdam Wytko4:08:494th






2/9/2014Love the Run You're With 5kNick Grossi17:5922nd






2/22/2014Gasparilla 15kMick Slonaker1:01:5476th1st (M60-69)

February 23rd featured the first big team race of the year and I know it's everyone's favorite....RRCA Club Challenge.  The Georgetown Running Company (GRC) showed up for the first time this year which I was personally very happy to see.  They have many talented runners on both the men's and ladies side (though they didn't field a complete women's team this year) and should make this race much more competitive in the coming years.  Falls Road took the overall crown once again, with a narrow one point victory in the men's team race.  Conditions were near perfect for a late February morning.  As for us, the men's team took 3rd.  Mark led the way in 54:25, followed closely by Madison (54:32; PR) and Carlos (54:34).  David had a great race, running a PR by roughly 2 minutes in 57:05Steve was next in 57:41 with Conrad right behind (57:52, a PR)Craig (59:12) and Peter (59:51) closed out the sub-60 performances.  Dave ran a solid race in 60:56.  Phil clocked a 62:52 as he battles his on-going nagging injuries and Tunde was 64:28.

The ladies team was 2nd.  Tori led the way and had the race of the day, running 63:06 in her first 10 mile race EVER!  She has a chance to run around an hour at Cherry Blossom in a couple weeks.  Julia finished in 64:37, right in front of Jess (64:49).  Kelly ran 66:25, Tiff was 68:58, Robyn cracked 70 (69:40), and Dorothy wrecked her AG (75:51).

A few pics (courtesy of Denise Hyde):

Mark
Carlos
Steve
Jason
Dave
Tunde
Tori
Kelly
Jess
Fast forward to March 9th, Mick and Tiff took to the streets of DC for the St. Patrick's Day 8kMick took 2nd in his AG in 31:39 and Tiff ran a PR in 31:17.  She's looking good for Boston!

Kevin, also returning from an achilles injury and training for Boston, clocked a solid effort of 76:04 at the Rock 'N Roll USA Half this past Saturday.

And finally, yesterday was the Kelly's Shamrock 5k in B-more.  Carlos led the way running 15:26 for 3rd.  Steve ran a PR (16:37) by a fraction.  Seth, who hasn't ran much as of late was next in 16:41.  Craig broken 17 (16:54), Jason in 17:15, Nick was 17:32.  Dave ran 17:44, Tunde ran 18:07, and Phil was right on his heels in 18:10 the day after an 18.5 mile long run.

Julia ran a NEW TEAM RECORD in 17:45 for 3rd!  Kelly had a nice day as well in 18:54 for top Master.  Vicki made her return to the racing scene winning her AG in 20:52, and Dorothy followed suit in 21:26.

I nabbed a couple race photos from Pete Mulligan:

Carlos rounding the last turn
Phil's finishing kick