Saturday, April 30, 2011

BIG CITY: 1:55.99!









SHIPPENSBURG, PA --

FLASH: Chuck Kacsur smashes club record in the 800m run with a sub-1:56 effort.


BIG CITY: "I spent a lot of the race in lane 2. Great competition and good weather. Deciding if I should race at Maryland on Thursday"

DEVELOPING...

Women's Club Records

Added: http://www.grcrunning.com/womens-club-records.html

Sunday Long Run: Old Anglers Inn (9:00am)

Friday, April 29, 2011

Reminder! Team Meeting Saturday

Please try to attend a meeting RE: this year's Father's Day 8K after the store run.  The meeting will begin at about 10:45-11:00 at Dean and Deluca.

PART TIME WORK

If anyone who looks at the blog wants to serve fellow runners via a running retail store, let me know ASAP. I am looking for a mature professional salesperson who wants to wine and dine customers and adhere to their needs.

Most of the job entails working with folks to ensure they get the proper fitting shoes, are provided insightful council on their running and subsequent advice on apparel and accessories and their value to the sport of running and endurance sports.

We pay decent and provide very good employee discounts on products.

This a fun job and allows you to be creative, pleasant and service oriented.

Locale is the Chevy Chase store.

Need some help on Saturdays and Sundays and weekday mornings.

Max.lockwood@gmail.com

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Hanson - 14:41, Luff - 30:13


PHILADELPHIA, PA --

BREAKING NEWS: Sam Luff recorded his second personal best in 6 days, running 30:13 for 10,000m early this morning at the Penn Relays, arguably the greatest track meet east of the Mississippi River. Luff, gunning for a sub-30 race, hit 5,000m in 14:56 but then struggled for a few laps before hitting 8,000m in 24:05. This PR comes right on the heals of a 14:15 last Friday night in Princeton. Luff topped Ryan Foster from PACERS who finished in 30:41 and his younger brother, Tommy Boy, who runs for Penn State. Luff now leads GRC in both the 5k and 10k distances.

Also
in the City of Brotherly Love, Ryan Hanson fought long and hard in the 5,000m run and bested his PR in that distance with a time of 14:41. Hanson split 4:36 and 9:18 for one and two miles, respectively. His last mile was run in 4:49.

DEVELOPING...

MORE TRACK: On Saturday Chuck Kacsur will make his season debut in the 800m at Shippensburg...aims for 1:56.15 a new club record. Last week Chuck time trialed a 1:59.

ON THE ROADS: Dickson Mercer returns to his alma mater to run the inaugural Gettysburg North-South Marathon, competing for the Yankees (?).

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

FD8K Blitz this Saturday

 Team,

As most of you are aware, our team's big fund raiser of the year - the Father's Day 8K - is coming up soon.   Since the funds from this race go towards team gear, travel to out-of-town races, race entries, and other team operating expenses we all benefit from, it is imperative that everyone chip in.  Several of us have worked diligently over the past few months to set up the infrastructure for this year's race, and now we're ready to publicize the race and solicit sponsorships.  Please plan to attend a team meeting after the Saturday store run (9am at the Georgetown Store) where we will fill you in on details about the race and coordinate publicity and sponsorship outreach.  Please plan to meet at Dean and Deluca's at 10:45.

From Jerry Outlaw:  Saturday morning I will be working out doing a cut down long run. The workout is going to go 11-12 miles at comfortable running starting, to about medium effort(low 6s) then running from the capital crescent doing 5 miles (from 5-10) back getting hopefully down to a little faster than goal 25k pace. Hopefully looking like this 5:15-5:10-5:10-5:05-5:05 or around that. then cool down an easy mile or two. I plan to start this at 8AM from the store if anyone is interested post up.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wednesday Workout - AU

From Coach Jerry:

Note that this week and next week we are at American
due to conflicts at BCC. Let’s try to get started as close to 7:00 as possible on Wednesday, as there are no lights at AU and we will get kicked off the track by the campus police when it gets dark.
On the men’s side, we’re going to have a very small A group presence again this week. The workout for the B group will be 8 x 1200 with a 400 jog. Target paces are 2 @ 76s, 2 @ 75s,, 2 @ 74s, 2 @ 73s. If anyone wants to make adjustments based on imminent races, let me know. Also, Dickson will be doing his 3 mile tempo at marathon goal pace prior to his imminent triumph in Gettysburg, and if anyone wants to join him, I’m sure he’d enjoy the company.

For the women, we’ll do 4 x 2k with a 3 minute rest. We’ll shoot for going through the 1600 in 6:00, 5:55, 5:50, 5:45. I’ll see you at AU on Wednesday.

POST RACE ANALYSIS FROM COACH JERRY: What an amazing run by Sam on Friday at Princeton! To put Sam’s accomplishment into context, consider that while Sam ran 14:15.2, our own Dave Nightingale won in 13:58.6, running what track-side observers unanimously agreed was an excellent race. Dave has qualified for the Olympic Trials in the marathon and ran 48:39 at Cherry Blossom. Sam was less than 17 seconds behind Dave on Friday. And consider that on Friday Sam was less than 7 seconds behind Lucas Meyer, who ran 48:26 at Cherry Blossom and was the first American. Sam went head to head with an elite field on Friday and proved that he belonged out there with them. Major breakthroughs like that do not happen by accident, and Sam has worked extremely hard to put himself in a position to run with the big boys. And Sam is just getting started on the Luff triple crown, as he is shooting for a big 10k PR on Thursday at the Penn Relays and will then take his shot at a fast half marathon at Grandmas in June. I'm looking forward to more great performances from him, starting this week! On a personal level, it was a thrill for me to be there to see Sam's race. Over my 20 plus years in coaching I've given many, many pep talks after races to disappointed runners and it is a rare pleasure indeed to have the opportunity to greet a runner after a race who has exceeded his own expectations. The look of pride and accomplishment on Sam’s face after the race is precisely what motivates me to find the time to continue coaching despite all of my other personal and professional obligations. One final observation is that it has become clear to me in the last several weeks that at our level it is critical to choose races carefully. It is no accident that Ryan's 3k club record and Sam's 5k club record occurred at very competitive meets, and that we had a slew of PRs at Pikes Peak, an extremely fast race. Running against good competition is no guarantee of success, but it is important to put yourself in a position to succeed by running races where there will be others out there to push you out of your comfort zone. I'm enjoying this string of PRs too much to not make sure that we keep them coming, so let's all make the sacrifices necessary to get into races where the competition is there to allow you to run well.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Jessica Goodbye Happy Hour!

Jessica is leaving the Georgetown Store! Word is that she is heading to work in one of the RunCo's New England locations but before she drives north on the Jersey Turnpike, we want to send her off.

Join us tomorrow, Monday, at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont circa 6pm for a farewell gathering. Spread the word.

Friday, April 22, 2011

LUFF - 14:15!

"Luff was Brilliant!" - Coach Jerry Alexander

PRINCETON, NJ -- Running in the fastest of 5 heats in cool conditions, Sam Luff crushed the GRC record in the 5k at the Larry Ellis Invite with a time of 14:15.2 last night. Luff was attempting to run 4:35 pace and finish just south of 14:20. This is a 20-second PR for Luff and it smashes the previous 5,000m track club record of 14:46 by 26 seconds.

REPORT: Luff hit 3200m in 9:08.

MORE: North Bethesda Distance Project projected Luff at 14:17 as late as Thursday.

Wiegner has off day, runs 15:05


ALEXANDER: "Pace was slow (for Wiggy), like 9:26. (He) made a big move to open up the pack but the move hurt him bad and he struggled last mile. He fought very very hard but was not fully recovered from Pike's Peek. The effort was there and tactics were right on. I'll call the night a huge success though--Luff was brilliant!"

Hanson - 3:54.7I (eq 4:12 mile)...just .4 seconds off GRC record!

ALEXANDER:
"60.8 at 4, very slow second lap, 63 on 3rd and strong finish, 45.3 appx on last 3. He caused race to be called back with an NHL caliber check on a guy who cut him off. He said race felt too easy. He'll be ready for big PR at Penn."

Section  1                                                               
1 Nightingale, David Unattached 14:00.00 13:58.58N
2 Rome, Cody Navy 14:00.00 14:01.81N
3 Cheserek, Edward Graybee Track Club 14:42.00 14:02.33N
4 Edelman, Nate Cornell 13:50.00 14:06.00N
5 Snyder, Paul Columbia 14:05.00 14:07.81N
6 Rop, Glarius American Int'l 14:06.66 14:07.88N
7 Meyer, Lucas Boston Athle 14:00.00 14:08.68N
8 Quinn, Tim Richmond 14:08.00 14:08.96N
9 Bendtsen, Chris Princeton 14:04.00 14:09.40N
10 Martin, Brendan Columbia 14:10.00 14:09.77N
11 Murray, Kyle Unattached 14:10.91 14:09.91N
12 Gibson, Robert Boston U. 14:18.73 14:09.94N

13 Hackett, Everett Unattached 14:11.03 14:11.34N
14 Medrano, Tito Syracuse 14:00.00 14:12.79
15 Williams, Lex In the Arena 14:10.00 14:13.99
16 Luff, Sam Georgetown R 14:08.00 14:15.20
17 Veiga, Jeff Umass Lowell 14:09.11 14:15.70
18 Lowry, Dan Brown 14:00.00 14:16.27
19 Murphy, Mike Columbia 14:10.00 14:18.26
20 Frankin, Michael Princeton 14:12.00 14:19.44
21 Corcoran, Paul Columbia 14:10.00 14:19.52
22 McDonnell, Kevin St. Joseph's (Pa.) 14:15.07 14:19.64
23 Composto, Nico Columbia 14:05.00 14:22.29
24 Schmidt, Michael Middlebury 14:17.00 14:27.15
25 Weeks, Steven Syracuse 14:10.00 14:28.11
26 Poland, Tom Columbia 14:12.00 14:30.23
27 Veilleux, Ben Columbia 14:00.00 14:31.96
28 Keefe, Sean Syracuse 14:18.00 14:38.57
29 Bloomberg, Evan Georgetown 14:18.00 14:40.70
30 Escareno, Christian Brown 14:00.00 14:42.09
31 Koloseus, Jay Syracuse 14:18.00 14:47.53
32 Kaulbach, Max Princeton 14:12.00 14:53.92
33 Ryan, Nick Northeastern 14:18.00 15:04.06

Meet the GRC: An Interview with Sam Luff

By Dickson Mercer

Georgetown Running Company’s Sam Luff will attempt to settle some “unfinished business” tonight at Princeton University’s Larry Ellis Invitational. Luff and teammate Joe Wiegner are slated to run the 5,000, which is set to start at 9:50 p.m. Luff is also scheduled to race the 10,000 at the upcoming Penn Relays.

Luff’s running career began at Emmaus High School, where he was coached by Craig Souders and Eileen Shovlin. The Pennsylvania native was a two-time state runner-up, once in cross country and another time his senior year in the 3200 (9:10). That same year, he posted 8:33 for 3K at the Penn Relays.

Comparing it to what he achieved in high school, Luff, 24, said his four years at Cornell University were a bit of a letdown. In his freshman and sophomore years he struggled to adjust to the new lifestyle, he said.

Cornell’s assistant coach of cross country and track and field, Robert Johnson, the co-founder of Lets Run, had laid out his training during his freshman year. What Luff ultimately learned, though, was that you have to do more than just follow a training plan. You have to own it. He ultimately posted personal bests of 3:52 (1500), 9:06 (3K steeplechase) and 14:35 (5,000).

After he graduated from Cornell in 2009, Luff looked for a job and eventually found some good runners to train with in his native Lehigh Valley. In September, he PRed for 10K in winning the Great Race in Pittsburgh in 30:34.

A month later, Luff moved to Rockville and began a job with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), not long after he returned from racing in Japan. After being put in touch with GRC’s Karl Dusen, he was quickly absorbed into the team’s North Bethesda Distance Project.

In March, he won Baltimore’s Kelly Shamrock 5K in 14:51. In April, he ran a personal best of 50:45 at the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run.

Q: What’s a typical week in training for you right now?
A: I’ve tried to be in the mid 80s in singles. I’ve felt pretty good doing that. These next three weeks [he wrote this on April 16], with two races coming up, I'll bring it down to the lower 70s.

Q: You broke 15 on the roads for 5K in March then broke 51 at Cherry Blossom. Which distance did you feel most competitive at?
A: I think at this point I skew a little lower, like 5K or 10K, just because I haven’t consistently run those 100-mile weeks. I’m racing [the half marathon] at Grandmas in June with Karl [Dusen] and “Texas” Paul [Guevarra], so hopefully that will give a better indication about my potential in longer races. I’m also a bit heavier for someone as short as myself [he is 5'5 and 132 pounds], so the marathon might be too long for me to lug myself around out there.

Q: How has working with Georgetown Running Company’s racing team and its coach, Jerry Alexander, refocused your running?
A: I would say that Coach Jerry and the team have attributed to 99% of the success I've had so far down here. Group training has huge benefits, and just having the motivation to go and meet people for an easy run is great. At our Wednesday workouts we have a huge train of dudes rolling around the track at a good clip – and it's fun to be a part of. Coach Jerry basically does all the thinking; he lets me just go out and run. I've over-thought things in the past, so to be able to just trust him and see results has been great. He does a great job working with our schedules, demands, etc. And he’s fun to be around, even though he went to Columbia.

Q: Are you doing a second workout in addition to track stuff on Wednesdays? How have you been approaching Sunday long runs?
A: We’ve been doing a tempo-style workout on Saturdays. On Sundays, I try to keep the long run easy, especially after a Saturday workout. But we can get moving by the end sometimes.

Q: What are your chances of taking care of some of this unfinished business in your next two races on the track? Rumor has it you have been quoted as saying you’re in the best shape of your life.
A: I think I have some soft track PRs, and I hope these two races give me the chance to lower them a bit. I may have said I’m in the best shape of my life - that might be true. But it's also sort of a meaningless thing to say. For one, it's easy to say without backing it up - so in two weeks we might have a more definitive answer. Also, it's relative: I don't think I'd PR for 1500 right now, but I doubt I could have run that race at Cherry Blossom at any point earlier in my career.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Weekend

Races-
Sam Luff, Joe Wiegner (5k) and Ryan Hanson (1500) are headed to Princeton Friday for the Larry Ellis Invitational. The first 5k heat promises to be a scorcher, courtesy of a rabbit.

Saturday morning workout-
I am bird sitting for a friend who lives in Bethesda Saturday, so I'll be doing a workout that morning at BCC, if anyone wants to join me. It's the Four Mile Special, and it is as such:
1.one mile hard
2.400 recovery, the pace one minute per mile slower than the preceding mile.
3.repeat twice
4.all out 400
I will be warming up at 9:30 am. Comment if I should wait for you.

Jake will be running 14-15 from the store.


UPDATE: Luff's turn to turn heads...Hanson wants redemption...DEVELOPING...

RESULTS will be flashed on GRC blog circa 9pm on Friday.

HEATS:


Section 1 of 5 Finals
1 Nightingale, David Unattached
2 Smith, Max Puma Philli
3 Kaulbach, Max Princeton
4 Corcoran, Paul Columbia
5 Gibson, Robert Boston U.
6 Martin, Brendan Columbia
7 Escareno, Christian Brown
8 Poland, Tom Columbia
9 McKeeman, Michael Bryn Mawr Ru
10 Bloomberg, Evan Georgetown
11 Frankin, Michael Princeton
12 Murray, Kyle Unattached
13 Meyer, Lucas Boston Athle
14 Schmidt, Michael Middlebury
15 Weeks, Steven Syracuse
16 Murphy, Mike Columbia
17 Composto, Nico Columbia
18 Keefe, Sean Syracuse
19 Hackett, Everett Unattached
20 McDonnell, Kevin St. Joseph's
21 Edelman, Nate Cornell
22 Bendtsen, Chris Princeton
23 Rome, Cody Navy
24 Veiga, Jeff Umass Lowell
25 Luff, Sam Georgetown R
26 Medrano, Tito Syracuse
27 Veilleux, Ben Columbia
28 Koloseus, Jay Syracuse
29 Lowry, Dan Brown
30 Dusen, Karl Georgetown R
31 Rop, Glarius American Int
32 Quinn, Tim Richmond
33 Ryan, Nick Northeastern
34 Snyder, Paul Columbia

Section 3 of 5 Finals...(Event 8 Men 5000 Meter Run)
1 Polito, Steve Stonehill
2 Posch, Billy Marist
3 Arbuckle, Luke Unattached
4 Johnson, Kevin Umass Amhers
5 Murner, Dan New Balance
6 McGee, Brandan UMBC
7 Sanderson, Tom Columbia
8 Pyle, Nick Unattached
9 Laemel, Ryan Yale
10 Burmeister, Taylor Unattached
11 Marcello, Richard Sacred Heart
12 Pickhaver, John Villanova
13 Palmer, Will Williams
14 Lipari, Tom Marist
15 Thwaites, Matt Yale
16 Wiegner, Joe Georgetown R
17 Kenworthy, John Cptc New Bal
18 Rowe, Garrett Princeton
19 Miehe, Nick Rutgers
20 Lindner, Michael Unat-Rider
21 Becker, Brady Syracuse
22 Houghmaster, Steve Buffalo
23 Johnson, David Umass Amhers
24 Moss, Joel Marist
25 Summers, Dylan Dartmouth
26 Donohue, Sean Rider
27 Hagen, Jacob Buffalo
28 Penetar, Eddie Temple
29 Rand, Matt Tufts
30 Rolek, Michael Marist Alumn
31 Walshak, Ken Marist
32 Wilson, Jon Richmond
33 Santana, Alfredo La Salle
34 Pannulla, Thomas La Salle

Section 4 of 7 Finals
1 Rushing, David George Mason
2 Schurz, Anthony Brown
3 Hanson, Ryan Georgetown R
4 Wang, Daniel Umass Lowell
5 Zillmann, Ryan Buffalo
6 Gentsch, Joe New Paltz St
7 Yochum, Will Amherst
8 Chylak, Matt Penn
9 Lloyd, Macky College of S
10 Arnold, Eric Haverford
11 McDonald, Eric Umass Lowell
12 Casey, Matt Columbia
13 Mallon, Sean La Salle
14 Perozze, Vince Unattached
15 Cooper, Kevin Brown

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Falmouth Road Race - Aug 14


Many of you have hinted that you'd like to race the Falmouth Road Race this summer. Again, I offer up my home (my parents will not be there that weekend - whoohoo) in Massachusetts if we can get a posse of people together who want to journey to Cape Cod for a great race and a little RnR. I will "see what I can do" with the race directors, but in order to do that I need a rough idea on a roster along with your respective 10k PRs.

Falmouth is a point-to-point 7 miler along Nantucket Sound in the same professional vein as Cherry Blossom, Bix and Peach Tree.

Wednesday Workout

From Coach Jerry:

It was an amazing day at Pikes Peak. I'm no GRC historian, but I have to think that Sunday was the best five-man performance for a 10k in club history. And when you consider the athletes who are race fit who did not run--Karl, Sam, Outlaw, Ryan--and throw in the athletes who are going to be race fit soon--Paul, Jake--it's obvious that we are making significant progress. As for the men who did run, we had great performances across the board. Wiggy showed that he is back to peak form and ready to tear it up the rest of the spring. Dirk continues to amaze me with his superb times off of almost no running-specific training. Burnham not only ran his best race in years, he was disappointed that he didn't run faster, which to me is a great sign that the competitive fire is back. Dickson ran a very nice PR as he preps for a strong marathon in Gettysburg. Dave Wertz continues to improve by leaps and bounds (see below for my detailed breakdown of Wertz's incredible PR from the NOVA newsletter). Andy ran a tremendous PR, exceeding his lofty goals. Murph shook off some disappointing workouts to run his best race in a long, long time, and this confidence boost will go a long way towards getting him ready to PR this spring. And Jordan showed that he can run better injured than healthy.

On the women's side, we had four excellent performances. Michelle ran a big PR and reinforced the conclusion I reached after watching her run one workout, which is that she's got Olympic Trials qualifier written all over her. Susan made a solid debut, and we're going to see much, much faster runs from her in the very near future. Beth ran a huge PR--80 seconds, to be exact--and is getting ready to kill it in Green Bay on May 14. And Emily ran an astounding time considering that she has not done a single track workout since her return to running. When we add in Lindsey and Kate, we've got ourselves a women's team that can compete on the national level!

The workout this week is at BCC. Note that next week we will be at AU. We'll have one men's group this week, as most of the A group is working out tonight to prep for Princeton on Friday (Karl, Luff, and Wiggy in 5k, Hanson in 1500). We'll do 5 x mile with a 400 jog, 5:15, 5:10, 5:05, 5:00, 4:55.

See you at BCC tomorrow.

Jerry

Dave Wertz's race was truly amazing. In the coaching business we talk about athletes having breakthrough races, and while I've been in the game for over 25 years, I'm hard pressed to recall many bigger breakthroughs than Dave had yesterday. His previous PR, which itself was a major breakthrough, was 33:32. Dave absolutely destroyed that time yesterday. Indeed, Dave ran a 5k PR en route, then ran the second half faster than the first half, thereby running a second 5k PR in the second half of the race. It's not like Dave is some jogger who just took up the sport--he had already established himself as one of the better local runners in the fall, but this performance is an improvement by an order of magnitude. And the fact that Dave has done this at age 35 is nothing less than remarkable.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Introducing...

Iris Hopkinton Jarrin

Born at 12:33pm.

7 lbs, 3 ounces

NEGATIVE SPLIT BAIN - 2:37:30!!






BAIN (at 0636hrs): "stong (tail)winds and good temp"


BAIN RUNS 2:37:30 AFTER SPLITTING 1:21 AT WELLSLEY...

KOONCE RUNS 2:53!

FLASH: former GRCer Caroline White runs 2:37!!

BREAKING NEWS: JARRIN boards 6:00am flight from Boston back to Washington DC...

UPDATE: JARRINS welcome beautiful, 7lb, 3 oz girl into the world at 12:33pm, just 4 mins before Bain crossed the finish line.

DEVELOPING...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

UPDATE: WEEKEND RESULTS

FINAL....

ROCKVILLE, Md -- The Georgetown Running Company had a fantastic showing this morning at the highly competitive Pike's Peek 10k on Rockville Pike. A strong tail wind and near-perfect racing conditions made this year's race the fastest in recent memory. The course record was smashed when Chapel Hill area Kenyan Julius Kogo ran 28:06.

"Twinbrook" Joey Wiegner teared through mile 1 in 4:38 and never looked back. Although attempting to run 30:30, Wiegner, who hit 5k in 15:11, still set a personal best with a time of 30:40. The Beastman, Dirk de Heer (31:01), wasn't far behind his teammate after hitting the halfway mark in 15:16. Dave Burnham, who is getting faster by the week, was just a few seconds back in 31:13.

Dickson Mercer broke through a series of frustrating weeks and notched personal best of 31:38. The Chicken Tender Runner bested his pre-race goal of 32:20 running alongside Dave Wertz. Patrick Murphy also had his best race in awhile after recording a time of 32:26. Frank bests his 10k my one minute.

Masters runner Jordan Snyder dipped under the 34:00 mark with a 33:52. He finished 4th in 40+.


Michelle Miller led the women with a time of 35:40.Susan Hendrick was next up at 37:07, just a ahead of teammate Beth Young in 37:30. Emily Dusen has returned from maternity leave and mustered up 6:09s for a 38:11.

MORE: Wilson Komen, now running for Reebok, ran 30:18 just ahead of marathon man Michale Wardian (who PR'd today by 15+ seconds). Benedict Sloane ran an extremely impressive 31:24 - perhaps the race of his life.


OFFICIAL MEN:
WIGGY - 30:40 PR!
DIRK - 31:01
BURNHAM - 31:13
DICKSON - 31:38
PR!
WERTZ - 32:03 PR!
TENDER - 32:16 PR!
MURPHY - 32:26
JORDAN - 33:52
FUNG - 36:52

OFFICIAL WOMEN:
MILLER - 35:30
HENDRICK - 37:07
YOUNG - 37:30
DUSEN - 38:11


BOSTON, Mass ---

Ban runs 16:00 at B.A.A. 5k in nasty conditions.

"Perfect" conditions, including a 20mph tailwind, predicted for Boston tomorrow.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Time trial

Guys I missed my race after it took nearly four and a half hours to drive to VCU, and I really need to get in a full 800 before I show up for my bigger race in two weeks. Can someone do part of a time trial with me? Ideally someone would take me out in 56/57 seconds for 400 meters, and if anyone wanted to jump in the second lap I'd appreciate that too, but the second lap isn't responsible for hitting a specific time, more just to keep me competitive.

If anyone is willing/able to do this, please let me know

Friday, April 15, 2011

Cherry Blossom 2011 Trailer


Trailer for the forthcoming documentary of this year's epic race.

"For optimal viewing, watch the the video on the Vimeo site, in HD"
-Towpath

FLASH: Hanson runs 3:56


LEWISBURG, PA - This evening, "track specialist" Ryan Hanson will attempt to break the GRC record in the 1500m run at the Bison Outdoor Classic.

The current record, 3:54.35, held by one Joey Wiegner, was set at the Sam Howell Invite in April, 2007. Hanson is in quick company: UMBCer Snyder ran 4:08 indoors last month.

UPDATE: Hanson runs 3:56..."not happy" with race, but ran well tactically after a 61-second 3rd lap.

1 Behre, Chris St. Francis 3:51.34
2 Hahn, Ben Edinboro 3:52.56
3 Anderson, Scott Edinboro 3:53.12
4 Fischer, Luke St. Joseph's 3:53.22
5 Christmas, Michael UMBC 3:53.37
6 Snyder, Chris UMBC 3:53.51
7 Caroleo, Mark Unattached 3:53.93
8 Zondlo, Nathan Lock Haven 3:53.94
9 Keebler, Michael Boston Colle 3:55.49
10 Connell, Brendan Binghamton 3:55.96
11 Hanson, Ryan Georgetown R 3:56.96
12 Shrawder, Adam Duquesne 3:57.55
13 Bice, Eric Cornell 4:03.30

MORE...

SATURDAY: BIG CITY (Chuck) to make season debut in 800m at VCU

SUNDAY IN ROCKVILLE: GRCers are set to race Pike's Peek, arguably the fastest 10k from Richmond to Baltimore...and maybe beyond. Wiegner, Murphy, Sovonick and Michelle Miller look to PR on the roads. Dusens, Burnham, Dickson, Daly and Jordan are also donning the Store singlet. Beth Young will also be racing.

UPDATE:
Team will meet at 6:40 at the overpass on Redland Rd, behind the start line. And even though we don't appear on the entry list on the Pike's Peek website, we are on the master entry list at packet pickup today (10-4 @ White Flint Mall, AKA Wiggy's Place).

SUNDAY IN BOSTON: Ban to race B.A.A. 5k, hopes to run a time that would place him inthe top half of the women's 5k at Mt. SAC... and to not be outkicked by Charlotte Koonce

MONDAY IN HOPKINTON: Chris Bain will run his 13th consecutive Boston. His PR of 2:31 is from 2008. Scott Koonce and Bobby JARRIN are looking to run circa 2:50. Mom Ban will take her first crack at the race.

DEVELOPING...

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Race For Hope - DC


















Team,

Please consider running this race on May 1. If not as a race, than as a workout. Rob Magin was a role model for me. He ran for my alma mater, UMBC, and graduated about 10 years before I did. When I moved to the DC area some 10 years ago, Rob was one of the first runners I met and I spent a great deal of time chasing him around Bethesda-Chevy Chase in my years prior to joining up with GRC. I also used his times, at places like Cherry Blossom and Pikes Peek, as benchmarks since we both left college with similar attributes. Unfortunately Rob passed away last May due to a Anaplastic Astrocytoma (essentially a brain tumor) leaving a wife and three children under the age of 10. I will be running. It'll be my first race back and the first race I've run since turning 30...coincidentally, it will be on my 31st birthday. Friends, please join me.


Rob Magin's Runners Written by Mary Beth Magin, age 10:

Join our team and run the Race for Hope! As you can see, our team Rob Magin's Runners has already raised a lot of money, and you can help by donating, too, and joining the team. We would love to have more team members--fast or slow runners, or walkers--it doesn't matter. No matter if you run, walk, or jog, just get out there and have fun knowing that you are donating to a cancer society.

When you join the team you can set your own goal of how much money you want to raise. Even if you only raise $40, you can still feel like you are helping someone. If you know someone with cancer, when you run the Race for Hope, you can feel that you are helping them by donating. By raising all this money, we can all help find a cure for brain tumors and cancer.

We formed this team because my Dad had a brain tumor, and we know what it is like to have a family member with a brain tumor or cancer. So we want to help by raising more and more money, and you can help us too by joining Rob Magin's Runners! I hope you join us soon.


http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/Events/RFH-DC?team_id=45574&pg=team&fr_id=1651

Embarrassing/goofy photo day







Monday, April 11, 2011

Wednesday 4/13 Workout

From Coach Jerry:

We're at BCC again this week (and next week) and we'll roll at the normal time, 7:15. In anticipation of Pikes Peak, (the men) will do 8 x 800 with a 400 jog. The A group will go 2 @ 2:20, 2 @ 2:18, 2 @ 2:16, 2 @ 2:14. The B group will go 2 @ 2:32, 2 @ 2:28, 2 @ 2:24, 2 @ 2:20. The women will get a separate email with their workout.

LAWYERS HAVE A HEART

Does anyone want to run this race on Saturday June 11th? Its a 10k down in Gtown. Great flat course. Please let me know and we can get a team in. Max.Lockwood@gmail.com

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Hanson, Ban, and Cotterell represent GRC in trio of races

Hanson battles to 6th in the 3K at UMD Invite, finishing in 8:33.7. From Coach Jerry: "He ran a great race tactically... unafraid to go for the win against the Pacers A team. It was a gutsy race."

Ban runs 15:48 for the 5K at GMU. Went out too fast, and finished six seconds slower than in Richmond two weeks ago.

Mike beats the heat in the St Louis Marathon, finishing 8th in 2:48:44.


Friday, April 8, 2011

Sunday Fun day

UPDATE:  Two Sunday run options:

8am:  Meet at Old Angler's Inn for a long tempo workout with Jerry and Dusen.
9am:  Meet at The Line for a regular long run through RCP.


Thursday, April 7, 2011

Chuck to run two laps

I wanted to formally post my race schedule to see if anyone is interested in racing at the same meets. Everyone has been tremendously helpful in keeping me focused and motivated, and despite a lot of missed mileage I feel like I re-gained enough fitness to run 1:55 this season.

My race schedule and goals
April 16 - VCU break 2:00
April 30 - Shippensburg 1:55
May 6 - UMD Twilight 1:55, 52.0 open 400m double

Saturday Runs

There are a few options for running with the team this Saturday:
  1. Georgetown Store, 9am: 8-10 mile maintenance run.
  2. BCCHS, 9am: Workout with Coach Jerry.  Meet to warm up at 9, and be ready to start the workout by 9:45. Update:  There will be two workouts: a 4-5 mile tempo and 800m repeats.
  3. George Mason Spring Invitational: Update: Schedule of Events... the good events start after 6pm.  You bet your ass Sam will absolutely (not) be racing.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

GW PARKWAY RACE

If anyone still has some energy in their legs and wants to compete this weekend at the GW Parkways 10 miler, please let me know today. We have one Ethiopian Athlete running but can do with another runner or two. GW Parkway is a great and scenic course and Pacers does a fantastic job of organizing this one way course from Mt Vernon to Alexandria. Max.Lockwood@gmail.com

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

No Rest for the Weary


WEDNESDAY WORKOUT

From Coach Jerry:

"It was a great day for GRC on Sunday. Like a kid on Christmas morning who gets 20 new toys all at once, it's impossible for me to fully appreciate each of the excellent performances that I saw yesterday, so please forgive any omissions in my analysis. Starting with the women, we had 3 huge PRs. Michelle looked spectacular out there--a top 10 finish at Cherry Blossom is truly a monumental accomplishment! And Lindsey and Beth also ran extremely well and there's every reason to expect further breakthroughs this spring. For the men, there were so many great performances it's hard to know where to start. Karl is clearly back in shape, and based on what he did yesterday and the rapid improvement he's making, I am very optimistic about his chances to qualify for the trials at Grandmas. Sam and Jerry both had big breakthroughs yesterday that bode well for great seasons. Sam is looking at track PRs in the 5k and 10k, and Jerry is going to ready to do something special at the USATF 25k champs. Wiggy did not have his best day, but considering the problems he's had the last few weeks, it was an excellent performance, with much faster times to come soon. Dirk said to me after the race that he felt pretty good about his race considering he's only running 25 miles a week. For most runners, 51:40 is a career performance, so I'm inclined to agree that it was pretty darn impressive based on what Dirk has been doing. Matias and Andy also ran extremely well for guys who have not focused their training on running. Perhaps everyone should spend their time on the bike and in the pool--it sure seems like it's working for those guys! I was very excited about Dave Burnham's race--Dave is working his way back to race fitness, and his progress in the last few months has been fantastic. I'm also extremely excited about Paul's run--for a guy who has not done any quality work, and who until a few weeks ago he had not run on dry land for a couple of months, it was an amazing performance. I was also very pleased with Dave Wertz's run. A year ago Dave would have been thrilled to run 5 miles at that pace. And finally I was quite impressed with Jordan's performance. Considering that a few weeks ago he was ready to get surgery for a nagging injury, that was an outstanding run. Well done to all!

We're back at BCC this week (and for the next 2 weeks after this). We can roll at 7:15 as normal. Note that there is a track meet in the afternoon, so it's possible that we may have to delay the start a bit until the track is clear, but I expect we'll be fine to start on time. As for the workout, we'll do a 6-5-4-3-2-1 ladder, fairly relaxed, as everyone needs to go a little light to recover from the race. The A group will shoot for 75s on the 6, 74s on the 5, 73s on the 4, 72s on the 3, 70s on the 2, and 68 on the 1. The B group will shoot for 79s on the 6, 78s on the 5, 77s on the 4, 76s on the 3, 74s on the 2, and 72 on the 1.

I'll see everyone at BCC on Wednesday."

Monday, April 4, 2011

GRC Wins CB Team Challenge

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

1. Georgetown Running Company

50:06 50:45 50:55 ( 51:34) ( 51:40) = 2:31:46
Karl Dusen, Sam Luff, Jerry Greenlaw, Joe Wiegner, Dirk De Heer


2. Pacers Racing Team

50:25 51:16 55:33 (1:03:43) = 2:37:14
Bert Rodriguez, Michael Wardian, Billy Askey, David Stroupe

3. PRR Male Elite

52:28 52:54 55:20 (1:01:49) = 2:40:42
Adam Condit, Christopher Sloane, Andrew Ciarfalia, Selemon Getachew

4. Howard County Striders Elite

53:23 54:35 54:48 ( 58:46) = 2:42:46
Carlos Renjifo, Andrew Madison, Mark Buschman, Randy McDermott


Some of the $1,000 will be used to fund these elite runners' travel to Grandma's Half Marathon in Duluth, MN this summer for their attempt to secure Olympic Trials qualifiers.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Cherry Pics








GREAT JOB GRC.




From Jimmy Daly:





JARRIN

Victory


Editor's Note: I, Klim, followed a good deal of the race on a bike and below is my report...

The Georgetown Running Company Race Team had arguably its finest performance ever this morning at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in downtown Washington DC. With almost ideal racing conditions, the race team, led by Karl Dusen, left the starting line strong. Dusen hit mile 1 in a comfortable 4:56 just behind Americans Luke Meyer and Dave Nightingale and was followed closely by PACERS nemesis Bert Rodriguez and GRCers Jerry Greenlaw, Sam Luff and Joe Wiegner. Rodriguez and Dusen were running together just after mile two just at or under 5:00 minutes per mile. By mile 3, Greenlaw and omnipresent distance guru Mike Wardian led Luff in a chase pack after what appeared to be a struggling Dusen. Dirk de Heer and Dave Burnham were stride for stride some meters back. In the race for top American, Meyer, at mile 5, continued to lead Nightingale by a healthy margin. Meanwhile, Rodriguez seemed to surge after hitting the halfway mark and Dusen continued to struggle. Wiegner had fallen off the pace some and now ran stride for stride with de Heer. Burnham was just a few strides back. At mile 6, Greenlaw, with a determined look in his eye and his small frame leaning into a Hains Point wind, led Luff and Wardian. Luff looked comfortable and strong. It was clear he would soon make a push. Dusen still trailed Rodriguez, considerably, heading out towards the tip of Hains Point.

At mile 8.75, the tide turned. Through a tunnel of pink cherry blossoms in full bloom, Dusen emerged ahead of a "worked" Rodriguez. Bert's form had now deteriorated and Dusen looked like he does going into the last repetition of a Wednesday night workout – tough as nails and fired up. Luff by now was GRC's number two man heading into the last mile. Outlaw looked tired, but not beat. In five minutes, it wouldn’t matter anyway..they’d be finished.

ANALYSIS: Dusen, Luff and Outlaw all had very strong days...Wiegner labored some after battling illness and injury but still ran well and possibly PR'd...Dirk de Heer continues to amaze the running world by running great times while training for triathlons...Burnham ran his best race by far in a GRC singlet...Matias PRs huge(!)..Sovonick PRs huge...Guevara runs 54 and change after missing multiple weeks due to an injury...Jordan is only 3 seconds off time from last year after succumbing to hernia...Carlos Hunts debuts in GRC garb. Michelle Miller might be the top local woman...Lindsey Jerdonek runs an incredible 60:40 and PRs…

Unofficial Results:
16. Karl Dusen 50:06
18. Sam Luff 50:45 PR!
19. Jerry Greenlaw 50:55 PR!
23. Joe Wiegner 51:34
24. Dirk DeHeer 51:40
25. Dave Burnham 51:46
38. Matias Palavecino 53:45 PR!
39. Paul Guevara 54:14
40. Andy Sovonick 54:22 PR!
53. Chris Bain 55:54
66. Carlos Hunt 57:39
81. Matt O'Brien 58:25
92. Jordan Snyder 58:54
120. Scott Koonce 59:51


7.Michelle Miller 59:20 PR!
14.Lindsey Jerdonek 60:48 PR!
21.Beth Young 62:21
120. Shannon O'Neill 71:43
333. Ruth Morgan 75:51


GRC associated
15. Dave Nightingale 48:39
33. Patrick Reaves 53:14
41. Dave Wertz 54:31
49. Billy Askey 55:33

Saturday, April 2, 2011

SHOWTIME!

WEATHER REPORT: low 40s, sunny START: 7:40am UPDATE: DUSEN LEADS GRC THRU MILE 5 AROUND 25 MINS, OUTLAW, LUFF, WIGGY, BURNHAM/DIRK FOLLOW MILE 9: DUSEN EMERGES AHEAD OF BERT! LUFF, OUTLAW JUST BACK UNOFFICIAL: DUSEN 50:04 & 3rd AMERICAN, LUFF 50:45, OUTLAW 50:53, WIGGY 51:32, DIRK 51:39, BURNHAM 51:46, MATIAS 53:40, CHIX 54:22... MILLER 59:15, JERDONEK 60:40...

Friday, April 1, 2011

Cherry Blossom Weekend Logistics

The team gears up for its first major race of 2011 this weekend!  There are a lot of moving parts, so use this post to coordinate your schedule with everyone else.  Here are the plans:

Saturday:

9:00am:  Easy pre-race run from the Georgetown Store.  Be sure to stop by the store for this shake out run as we'll be distributing our NEW warm up long sleeve t-shirts!  If you still need a GRC singlet, this is the time to get one.  Make sure you see Jake for both.

10:30am-ish: Packet Pick Up.  Maybe after grabbing a bite to eat, some of us will carpool/metro over to the National Building Museum for packet pickup.  This tends to be very crowded, so the organizers have changed the set up slightly.  Make sure you have a copy of your confirmation email (including your number) either on paper or on your smartphone, otherwise you'll be stuck in packet-pickup-purgatory.  There will be NO number look-up boards.  If you can't make it on your own before 5:15pm on Saturday, there is limited packet pick up at the race Sunday morning, or you can write a note and give your confirmation email to someone else so they can pick up your number.


Race Day:

5:00am:  Metro Opens Doors.  Parking is going to be very limited downtown, so either plan to get a ride, metro, or bike to the race.  There will be a bike valet at the start area.  If you plan to metro to the race, service starts as early as 5am.  The nearest stop to the race start is the Smithsonian station on the Blue/Orange Lines.  If you don't want to transfer, Archives is the closest station on the Green/Yellow Lines and Metro Center is the closest on the Red Line. 

6:30am:  Warm-up.  Plan to gather at the meet-up location on the map below at 6:30 for an optional team warm-up. 

7:40am:  Race Start.  Good luck!  Run fast, and look good while doing it.  The full GRC press corps will be on hand to document the race, including a film crew at miles 0.5, 5, and 10 orchestrated by Towpath Productions, and several photographers throughout the course.  Contact Towpath directly if you would like to help.

8:29-8:45am:  GRC runners finish.  Group up at the finish.  DO NOT WANDER OFF.

8:50am:  GRC Team Photo.  We need a team photo that includes all of our new faces for our new website.  Keep your GRC singlet or warm-up on and meet at the same location as for the warm-up (see map below).   Besides racing fast, this is the only "mandatory" thing we need everyone to do.  The faster everyone cooperates, the sooner this will be over.

9:00am-10:30am Cool down/Interviews:  You're free to do whatever you need to do post-race... cool down, see loved ones, etc.  Try to generally stick around the meet-up location as Towpath Productions will be conducting interviews.

11:00am Post-race festivities:  Klim will be leading a contingent to Elephant and Castle at 12th and Pennsylvania Ave. for post-race lunch and drinks.


RACE DAY MAP:



Questions?

Any general  race-related questions can probably be answered in this information packet.  If you have any team-specific questions, share them in the comments.