HoCo at the A10 (Where the A stands for Awesome)

A couple weeks ago the Striders stepped up at one of the first major events of the Fall racing season, the Annapolis 10 Miler.  It's a challenging course and weather tends to be a factor, but it's a great chance to see how everyone's summer training has progressed.  The results were quite impressive:

Striders women swept the top three spots at the Annapolis 10 Miler a few weeks ago.
1st:  Caroline Bauer - 1:00:44
2nd:  Alex Wang - 1:02:33
3rd:  Beth Hannon - 1:05:29

Awesome job ladies!  That Caroline and Alex have run under 60 minutes before in a ten miler is a testament to the challenging conditions.  That just makes it all the more impressive!

Not to be outdone, the Striders men also had a top finisher in Andrew Madison, who claimed second in the men's race with a conveniently timed 55:55.

AG Domination:
Our masters weren't about to let the young guns have all the fun.  Linda-Lou O'Connor (2nd), John Chall (2nd), Ed Wilson (1st), Tunde Marakinyo (1st) and Conrad Fernandes (3rd) all rocked their respective age groups, taking top three honors.

Great job everyone!  If this is any indication, the Fall racing season is sure to be a fast one.

Fast Times at the Pike's Peek 10k

Several Striders toed the line on April 24th at the Pike's Peek 10k in Rockville, MD.  It's one of the fastest 10km races around, with a favorable elevation drop and a lot of strong local competition.  For the Striders who didn't run Boston, and at least one who did (Conrad Fernandes is bonkers) this race was a great chance to snag some fast times to round out the Spring racing season.

Another Team Record Falls:
Julia Roman-Duval lowered her own racing team record while running a PR of 34:21.  On the women's side, she lead the race from the gun and took the victory by a margin of almost 3 minutes.

A PR and Impressive Age Group Performances:

Carlos Renjifo was the first Strider to finish, with his blistering 31:35 performance good for 6th overall and 1st in his AG.  Kevin Ford was next in 33:26 en route to a huge (30+ second) PR.

Carlos heel-striking like a boss.

Kevin and his aerodynamic beard.

Our speedy grand-masters Tunde Morakinyo (3rd in AG) and Mick Slonaker (1st in AG) both ran great!

Tunde, trying to think back to happier times.

Mick keeping his eyes on the prize... probably.

In the Masters category Tammy Liu Hermstein knocked out a solid 42:51 (5th in AG), while Conrad Fernandes crushed a 38:45 after having run the Boston Marathon only 6 days prior!  Awesome job everyone!

Conrad taking himself very seriously.

Tammy closing out a great performance!

(Here are the rest of the Results)

More Pics:
There were several individuals who were kind enough to take photos along the race course and put them up online.  Here are a few of the photos that I grabbed from the PP web site.

(If you'd like these removed, please reach out to me)

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.

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)

Back in Action! Striders off to a Good Start in 2016

A Strider at the OT Marathon

This year the Striders got to watch as one of our own raced at the Olympic Marathon Trials in LA.  Julia Roman-Duval ran a solid race in hot and largely shade-less conditions, bringing home a very impressive 2:46:47.  That was good for 50th place against the best female marathoners the US has to offer, in weather which caused many strong participants to drop out.  Great job Julia!

RRCA Ten Mile Challenge

A year after a disappointing weather-based cancellation, the Ten Mile Challenge returned with several Striders achieving top performances as well as PRs.

In the team competition the HCS Elite Men, Women, and Combined teams performed admirably.  The Women's team had the top two overall finishers (Julia and Caroline Bauer) who helped drive the team to a second place finish.  The Men's team came in third against some very tough competition (Falls Road put runners in five of the top six spots) and the Overall HCS team also came in third.

Carlos Renjifo bringing it home in 7th as the first Strider

New Strider Eric Schuler takes 8th

Julia takes 1st place at the Club Challenge

Not far behind is Caroline, taking 2nd place in some sweet shades

Hats off to everyone who came out.  The weather was beautiful, but the course was as tough as ever!  Below are a few more photos from the race (credit to Mike Fleming for the photos in today's post).  Enjoy!

Members of the second place Women's team

Members of the 3rd Place Men's Team