Monday, April 18, 2016

HoCo Striders In Boston!


The Boston Marathon draws some of the best runners from all over the world to one place so that they can run gradually downhill for a really long time, then uphill for a few brutal miles, and then downhill again once their legs are completely thrashed.  Boston is truly its own beast, and there's nothing quite like the journey from Hopkinton to Boyleston Street.  With Spring marathons the weather can present a unique challenge...will we get 35 degrees with wind and rain, or 80 degrees of muggy sunshine?  That's to say nothing about the weather during the months of Winter training leading up to the race.

Taking all these factors in stride, many of our Striders worked their butts off this year to prepare for Boston and we are proud of them!  This year it was a pleasant start which developed into a warm finish.  Despite this, several Striders knocked out impressive performances and even a PR on this difficult course.

On the Men's side, Andrew Madison held on after a quick start to lead the team in at 2:37:11 (good for 80th overall).  Mark Buschman (2:46:34) and Conrad Orloff (2:46:46) cruised in with respectable times, especially considering the former battled injuries all season and the latter struggled with illness in the days leading up to the race.  Ed Wilson (3:04:20), Conrad Fernandes (also 3:04:20), and Sean Costello (3:25:02) rounded out the Mens' performances.  Great job guys!

Beth Hannon blazed the trail for the women, setting a PR in 3:09:20 (209th female)!  Tiff Hevner rocked a 3:20:14, while Noel McCracken brought home a 3:23:27.  Kelly Westlake (who holds a sub-3:10 PR) toughed out a 3:31:41 to bring the Striders home.  Hats off to our awesome ladies!

It's wonderful that the Striders can send a strong contingent of runners to this historic race each year.  Congratulations on keeping up the tradition everyone!

Runners (and Cherry Blossoms) in the Wind

Spring 2016's weather so far has proven volatile.  About a week before the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in DC it was apparent that we were in for a cold, windy race morning.  With steady winds at 20+ mph and gusts up to 40mph, the going was definitely tough in several sections of the race.  Competitors experienced some of the worst winds in the final two miles while making their way back from Hains Point.

Despite the sub-optimal weather conditions, many Striders came out to throw down impressive performances against stiff competition.

Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run

Team Competition:

Julia Roman-Duval (95th overall - 58:30) and Caroline Bauer (117th overall - 59:25) led the Striders women with crazy sub-hour performances.  Beth Hannon (64:18), Alex Wang (64:18), Tiffany Hevner (69:04) rounded out this impressive team.  Somehow they were the only open ladies team, so they won!  With performances like these it's likely they would have run away with the victory anyway.

Carlos Renjifo lead the men in with his 26th place finish in a time of 53:14.  The Striders men stacked up three more runners in 54th (Kevin Ford - 56:11), 63rd (Eric Schuler - 57:10), and 64th (Ryan Bull - 57:13).  The unofficial results have this group in second place!




Additional Notes/PRs:
Julia and Caroline were the 4th and 5th American women across the line, respectively, and both achieved PRs.

Beth Hannon and Mark Loeffler both achieved PRs, running 58:42 and 64:18, respectively.

(Photo Credits:  Greg Schuler via facebook)