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!
We've finally made it to March! This warmer weather couldn't come a moment too soon. Hats off to our runners who braved record-breaking cold temperatures and snowy/icy conditions (or terminally boring treadmills) this winter to keep their spring racing goals alive.
The RRCA Ten Mile Challenge was postponed due to weather conditions and may (or may not) be rescheduled in the coming months. But don't let that get you down, there are still some awesome races (and nicer racing conditions) coming soon. The Boston Marathon is just around the corner and Clyde's 10k, the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Race and many more are coming up even sooner.
Some Striders did manage to get a race (or three) in last month. Here's the rundown:
Nick Grossi and John Chall entered the Penguin Pace 5k, running 18:43 for 4th and 20:19 for 9th overall, respectively.
One week later Nick entered another 5k and bettered his previous time, running 18:01 for 22nd place at the Love the Run You're With 5k. He was joined by Linda Lou O'Connor who ran 20:40 for 14th (she also won her age group!).
Less than a week after that, the flurry of 5k performances continued, with Linda Lou and Mark Eagles running 20:51 for 4th and 17:53 for 6th, respectively.
Kevin Ford made a trip out to Pasadena, CA to visit family and ran the Race on the Base 10k in 34:01 (a PR), coming in 1st. On the same day, Mark Eagles ran the Sykesville Shiver Shuffle 5k in 18:33 for 3rd while Carlos Renjifo destroyed the Color Your Heart 5k, running 16:01 for 1st by a sizable margin.
For the loyal blog followers, you have probably been asking yourself if this blog even still exists. Well, I'm here to tell you that it does and it will be operating in full force from here on out! I've got a lot of catching up to do since 2013 arrived, so here goes nothing....
The first performance of the year will undoubtedly be one of the craziest ones ever! Keith flew to Hawaii, not to enjoy the beaches, sun, or coconuts, but to run one of the most challenging races the planet has to offer....HURT 100. After experiencing Leadville with him last summer, I thought for sure he wouldn't be dumb enough to do another one of these, but I was wrong. I don't believe anyone had ever cracked the 24 hour barrier before this year. Our boy persevered, saw the sun rise twice, crossing the finish line in 32:37:00!!
Keith needs to see a psychiatrist...
Jessica kicked off the New Year running her longest race ever...the High Cloud Snapple Half. Of course she PR'd, but cracked 90 minutes in her debut...1:29:43 in snowy conditions. Meanwhile, in Lexington, KY, Conrad repped it hard at the USATF XC National Championship. On a tough 12k course, he finished 89th in 43:20 and was the first Master in the open men's race.
Superbowl Sunday meant is was Penguin Pace day. We had a small group run it this year. I wonder why...oh yes, the course is hilly, it's usually cold as shit, and the competition is PATHETIC. Weems was the lone wolf on the men's side, running 19:58 for 7th. The ladies cleaned house. Tiffany won in 20:06, with Robyn not far behind in 3rd (20:54) after a rough night with a bottle of wine so I've heard....
Saturday February 9th was filled with ultras. Keith partook in the Holiday Lake 50k, finishing 5th in 4:02:10. Meanwhile, in Rockburn Park, Adam ran the Mid-Maryland 50k, coming in 3rd in 4:09:10 with sloppy trail conditions on the 5-loop course.
And now to the Main Event, a week ago was everyone's favorite race...Club Challenge. Though the course is awful, I gotta tell you the weather was unbeatable for this time of the year. Temperature was in the mid 30s and the winds were light (except along Freetown Road). I had a good feeling about our team this year, with most everyone healthy and running well. The gun went off and we shot down Hickory Ridge like bats outta hell. The lead pack went through Mile 1 in +/- 4:45. We had a couple PRs (that I am aware of)....Kevin (57:28) and Steve (57:36). The men's and women's teams won but we were edged 559-557 by Falls Road in the coed competition (with the large, but ugly trophy). That has to be the closest margin of victory in race history! After the race, people were complaining about the scoring. The fact is Howard County has hundreds of runners and many of non-scoring males displaced many of our women scorers which costs us. However, many of the top Falls Road ladies were down in New Orleans kicking it at the Rock 'N Roll New Orleans half. Had they been in Columbia on Sunday, we still would have lost and the scoring wouldn't have been as close. Congrats to our I-95 rivals! We'll get 'em next year. Here's a summary of the Striders results:
Mark Buschman 54:14 4th Andrew Madison 55:36 8th Kevin Ford 57:28 14th Steve Olenick 57:36 15th Kent Werner 57:59 17th Seth Geoghegan 59:04 21st Jason Tripp 59:38 26th Craig Lebro 59:48 29th Keith Levasseur 59:59 31st Maurice Pointer 1:05:08 85th Weems McFadden 1:05:39 95th Phil Lang 1:06:11 105th Tunde Morakinyo 1:07:42 127th Mick Slonaker 1:08:15 136th
Shout out Brian Harvey and Kyle Stanton for being in town and helping us out. Brian, last year's New England Runner of the Year, set a course record in 51:00 while Kyle, closing out a 140 mile week, came in 2nd in 52:25. Also, congrats to Jessica for running an amazing race and qualifying for the elite team! She's going to be a force to be reckoned with this Spring and into the Fall...WATCH OUT LADIES!!!
Here's some photos (thanks Denise) and a video (courtesy of Carlos) put together of the finish...
Brian running alone crushing the course record
Yours truly
Madison had a rough 2nd half, but he's tough as nails
Steve....pronator?
Seth regretting he didn't wear a singlet
Jason wasn't the first master in this one...guess they finally drug tested him...
Keith ran 6:00 pace to the 'T' today
Kelly is pretty fast...don't you think?
Is that a smile Jess?
Robyn in professional running attire
I know Mick has been dreaming about running this course again since he's been back in the States
Tiffany kicking it in
Dorothy in beast mode!
AWESOME JOB EVERYONE!!! It will only get warmer and we'll be kicking some ass come April!!!
