HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wishing all of you and your families a happy and healthy New Year!!! Certainly looking forward to it from a running perspective!

Washington Running Report - Fall Rankings

The January-February edition of the Washington Running Report has just been released.  In addition to featuring the Fall 2011 Rankings, it includes a page-long race report from the Metric Marathon (pg 45).  Click here to view the full report: WRR Digital.

Congratulations to the following Striders, who made the fall rankings:


Becky Gessler (8th, F19 & Under)
Kara Waters (4th, F35-39)
Robyn Humphrey (5th, F45-49)
Donna Wecker (7th, F45-49)
Marsha Demaree (49th, F45-49)
Pat Wilkerson (2nd, F50-54)


Jason Tripp (13th, M35-39)
Mike Colaiacovo (7th, M40-44)
Peter Keating (6th, M45-49)
Dave Berardi (4th, M50-54)
Jim Carbary (20th, M60-64)
Mike Fleming (10th, M65-69)

Rankings Link: http://www.runwashington.com/runner-rankings/2011-3.htm

SFO Men's Health Urbanathalon Video

Woohoo!! Special thanks to Jason for recording the Universal Sports showing of the Men's Health Urbanathalon in San Francisco, a 10.2mile race with lots of obstacles on 13 November 2011.

We've posted the video on YouTube as unlisted (meaning that you need the link to see it):
Part 1: http://youtu.be/zX-5krh8FxA
Part 2: http://youtu.be/sB5qbK7n9iA

Email howardcountystriders at gmail if you'd like the higher resolution version.

Our very own Carlos Renjifo (Captain of the Howard County Striders Racing Team) won the overall shindig. And his triumph over the obstacles is actually shown throughout this video, which also includes a finishing stretch-down with his brother Jorge. :oD

Previous blog entry with details: http://stridersracingteam.blogspot.com/2011/11/news-flash-renjifo-brothers-take-over.html

Kent's idea: Who's planning the Howard County Striders' subUrbanAthalon?

Great job, Carlos and Jorge! Thanks again, Jason!
Happy Holidays, everyone -- see you next year! ^_^

Men's Health UrbanAthlon on TV this Week

In case any of you are curious about the race I ran back in November (Men's Health UrbanAthlon), Universal Sports will be airing a 1-hour special about this year's races.  I did get interviewed after the race, so there is a chance that I might make a short on-screen cameo.  Here are the show times:

Tuesday, December 20 at 8pm
Wednesday, December 21 at 8pm
Thursday, December 22 at 8pm

Celtic Solstice 5M Results

The racing team finished a great year of running with some awesome performances at the Celtic Solstice 5M.  The race, organized by Jim Adams of Falls Road Running, continues to grow each year, which means that the competition grows, too.  This year, over 3000 runners participated, making the field quite competitive.

On the men's side, Carlos Renjifo took an early gamble and jumped into the lead a little over a mile into the race.  For a few miles, it seemed that he might have enough fuel in the tank to fend off perennial champion Dave Berdan; however, at mile three, Berdan asserted himself, took the lead, and never looked back, going for a record fifth win at the race and setting a record on the newly redesigned 5.1 mile course (25:47). Carlos continued to push for the next two miles, and had a close call, tripping near the slippery lake and almost falling. In the last 250 meters of the race, he was caught by Falls Road's Tristram Thomas, and had to settle for third.  The margin for the top three was the closest in race history, with the group separated by a mere 16 seconds.

Next up -- and arguably the most impressive performer of the day -- was Kent Werner, who ran on his own for most of the race and still blazed to 26:35, good for 6th place.  Kent's performance follows on the heels of his outstanding time of 2:45 at the Richmond Marathon one month ago. Despite numerous interruptions to his training due to medical residency interviews, his gutsy race performances have earned him a spot back on the racing team after a three-year hiatus.

Mike Colaiacovo, in great form as usual, easily took first in the master's category (27:04) and finished 10th overall.  He was followed by the most recent addition to the racing team, Keith Levasseur, who scored a 14th place finish with a time of 27:26.  Rounding out the men's competition for the Striders, Brian Fleming finished in 28:43 (21st), Jason Tripp ran a solid 28:42 (22nd) and John Chall finished 31:06 (40th).

With distinctive pink flair, Caroline Bauer represented the Striders women with an excellent time of 32:16, good for 4th place overall.  Janeth Scott also had a very solid performance, finishing 16th with a time of 34:36 (1st in the 45-49 category).

Many thanks to Issel Anne Lim for taking some great photos, posted here: Link.  Full results are available here: Link.

Happy holidays, and see you all on the roads in 2012!

Mini Race Recap (In Pictures)

The bagpipes sounded, the swords descended ...

...And they're off!

Near the lake, Carlos tries to keep things close as Berdan jumps to the lead.

Kent ran mostly solo, but that didn't appear to slow him down.

The spread between 1st and 3rd was pretty small.

Kent hammers home with a 26:35!

Mike Colaiacovo easily takes 1st Master, with a huge grin on his face.

Keith Levasseur runs a great time (27:26).

Jason Tripp finishes strong, with Brian Fleming close behind. Jason claims that he's looking forward to beating up on the masters runners next year.

Post-race photos!  Smiles for everyone!

...More smiles (and pink socks)!

Shamrock 5k Registration OPEN - Price increases later today!

If you want to run this race, I strongly recommend signing up very soon as it is guaranteed to sell out...

CLICK HERE

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Lottery Open

The lottery for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler is now open (http://cherryblossom.org/).  If you have not received some guaranteed form of entry (volunteer, charity, seeded runner, etc), please make sure to sign up by December 9th.  Once the lottery selection process is complete, I will send out a call for people interested in being part of a Howard County Strider team.

More details are available at: http://cherryblossom.org/generalinfo/entryinfo.php