Red Fox #1 at MCRRC Memorial Day 4-mile

Jake bared his fangs to the competition today, going under 21min on a tougher-than-expected course and made it seem all too easy. No one was even close at 2 miles and it stayed that way.

Results: Loudon Street Mile

FLASH: Witty runs 4:14.8, Myers - 4:27.4 and Ban - 4:51.8. The top three men all broke the old course record of 4:06.

Susan Hendrick runs 5:07.1!

Memorial Day Run

Outlaw and I are meeting up at the gtown store tomorrow at 830 for some easy miles. No big deal. Comment or text if interested.

Double O'Hara Win on Home Turf

Summer is BACK with D.C. heat and humidity in all its glory.

LTO and Lauren Woodall both knew less than a mile into the Alexandria Running Festival 5K that the early summer weather would be a problem. Both cruised through the mile in goal pace, but melted like butter in a hot frying pan as the unshaded pavement soaked up the sun. Goals went out the window; surviving to the finish became the new goal. LTO claimed victory in 18:00; Woodall was second in 19:00. A little training in the D.C. muck and they will be back much faster this summer!

LTO's husband DaveO returned to racing after a 9-month hiatus in triumph, taking the lead 200 meters in and never looking back. Now to get him out to the track in the summer....


Meanwhile, Jake Marren ran 2:49:11 in the Vermont City Marathon, his first marathon finish in at least three years, and Liz Laseter ran a PR at the McVet's 5k in Baltimore --18:09.

Sunday Run

Anyone?

The Line?

Saturday Workout

Sam and I are meeting at Riley's Lock Saturday at 8:00am for a workout. We'll be running a 6 mile tempo (at just faster than 13.1 mile pace - for me, that's starting at 5:15 and working down to 5:05. For Sam, that's a bit faster) starting at Mile Marker 23 (about 200m north of Riley's Lock opposite the swamp) and ending at Mile Marker 17 (just north of Swain's Lock)

We'll meet at the Riley's Lock parking lot at 8am sharp (it's going to get hot!), run 2 mile warm-up (ie - the first two mile loop that we usually run when doing any Riley's Loop), grab one more blast of water/Gatorade from car and hit restrooms then begin the workout shortly thereafter.

As noted, we'll end our workout just north of Swains Lock, but will continue the extra quarter mile south to quench our thirst on pre-deposited thirst quenchers. Then we'll run the 6+ miles back to Riley's Lock. All told the mileage will be about 14, 6 of it hard.

Comment if you're interested in joining for part or all. Naturally, there's a few different scenarios one could do, if they were so inclined...

FLASH: Jason runs 1:57 in 800m TT

A two second PR!

Taking Their Talents to Cleveland

Fancy Lad Charles Ban is dressed for success in the Midwest this weekend.

Charlie, or Sir Charles, as he is known in some circles, will be joined by Drea Garvue and Beth Young, who returns to her native Ohio, to vie top honors in the Rite Aid Cleveland Half Marathon. Temperatures are scheduled to be warm, but the heat has not afflicted the steely resolve of these GRCers.

Also ready to do battle with the sun will be Dickson Mercer. After wisely saving himself from certain doom in Boston, Dickson returns to the marathon for redemption in Cleveland.

Both races are scheduled to start at 7:00 AM, Sunday morning.

Sunday: Old Angler's Inn at 9am

Sam, Karl and I are meeting for up to two hours of running in the trails and towpath.

Comment if you're interested.

Witty - 3:53!

At Swarthmore --

FLASH: Ryan Witters breaks club record in 1500m - 3:53.66. Witty's time is worth about a 4:10 mile.

Liz Laseter runs 4:52 in the women's 1500m.

UPDATE: In the 5,000m, Sam Luff placed second and ran 14:18. Sam Boimov ran 15:23 and Jason Myers 15:39.

In the women's race, Maura Carroll ran 17:27.

Evidently his kick is hereditary

With a strong surge at the end of a nine-month race, which she apparently got from her father Dave, Zella Michelle Wertz made it into the world under the wire so that Caroline could celebrate Mother's Day in style.

At seven pounds and four ounces and 20 inches, born at 2:42 am Friday, it's still too early to tell if she will be in the road or track group, but given her parentage, chances are she doesn't need to rush things to figure that out.

Weekend Race Results

BREAKING: Lauren Woodall wins Police Week 5K in a PR of 18:22!

Sunday Run

LTO is organizing a Sunday long run and post-run brunch on the Mt. Vernon Trail in Alexandria on Sunday.  Meet at Belle Haven Marina at 9am for the run.  Contact LTO or post a comment if you need to picked up at the metro from Braddock Road (Blue/Yellow Lines).





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Wednesday Workout

From Coach Jerry:

We had some excellent performances this weekend, led by Patrick Murphy’s 4th place finish at the Frederick half marathon in 1:15:16. Murph was in the best shape of his life going into Boston, and he had a huge PR written all over him. When it became clear that the horrid conditions in Boston were conducive only to intense suffering and certain failure, Murph’s plan B was to give it a go in Frederick. While the time is not indicative of Murph’s fitness (he ran 1:13:29 at the National half several weeks ago), I am more than pleased with the effort. Murph made the best of a bad situation, and he will be back to racing later this spring, when he will take advantage of the strength he developed while training for Boston.

We also had some strong performances on the track at the Maryland twilight meet. In the 800, Chuck and Witty both went under the old club record, with Chuck nipping Witty in the last 50 meters. Chuck’s 1:54:08 is the new club record, and Witty’s 1:54.37 was his second big PR in 8 days. In the 1500, Jason had the breakthrough he’s been working towards for the last year, running 4:01.52. While Jason is still learning how to compete at this level, his workouts demonstrate that he is fit to run much faster, and we will see many more PRs from him in the future. Sam B ran another solid race in the 1500, and Dave Wertz made a succesful 1500 debut at the age of 36, running a very impressive 4:08.62. On the women’s side, high school phenom Meghan ran an excellent 4:51 1500. But the star of the night was Danielle, who ran 5:12 in the alumni mile, closing with a blazing last lap of 72. Because she was fulfilling her dual responsibilities as coach and meet director, Danielle had almost no time to warm up, making her run that much more impressive. Well done to all!

We’re back at BCC on Wednesday. For the men, we’ll have two options. The track group, who are racing at Swarthmore on Monday, will do 8 x 400 with a 3:00 recovery, 2 @ 68, 2 @ 66, 2 @ 64, 2 @ 62. The road group, which is pretty much everyone else, will do mile repeats. Dickson is going to do 5 reps, 5:30, 5:20, 5:10, 5:00, 4:50, in his final hard workout before he dominates the Cleveland marathon, and I’d like the road group guys to do as much of that as possible to support Dix. If you have any questions about the workout, give me a holler.

Let Jerry know if you plan to run any of the road races in May and June I identified in my email last week. I’m still waiting for one or two of the men to volunteer to be the designated winner for the Fathers Day 8k.

Finally, mark your calender for the season ending party/happy hour on May 26.

I’ll see you at BCC on Wednesday.

Weekend Runs

SATURDAY

Anyone interested in the usual "shop run" from Georgetown at 9am? 

SUNDAY

Karl, Bain (?) and I are planning to run the infamous "Duel Ferries" Loop at 9:00am. Comment if you're interested in running ten, twenty or somewhere in between. You can read about the loop (insert shameless plug here) HERE

Jerry will also be holding practice on Sunday at B-CC: The gun will go off at 9:30, so plan to meet for the warmup at 8:45.  All are welcome.

The Big City May Never Sleep, but Cash Rules Everything Around Me

Big City improves on his club record, runs 1:54.08, with Witters close behind in 1:54.37

The real story of the night is Jason Myers' 4:01.52 1500m, with New Sam (4:05.04) and Wertz (4:08.62) following.

800M
Witty went for it in the 8, and paid the price late when he tied up with about 70 to go.  Big City reeled him in about 50 meters out and finished strong for a new club record. "Witty ran a very aggressive race and notched another solid PR, his second in the last 8 days," noted Coach Jerry "(while) Big City ran very even pace and looked great in the last 100."

1500M
"Jason had the breakthrough he's been waiting for all season. His workouts have been great, and this PR was well-earned.  Wertz not only ran a 1500 PR, he ran an 800 PR on route (2:09).  Dave also ran PRs this spring at 5k, 10k, and 10 miles, so we'll call that a successful season for him."

WMILE
Danielle ran a 72 last lap, dominating the alumni mile, without having the benefit of a warmup. 

Wednesday workout at American

Note that the workout on Wednesday is at AMERICAN UNIVERSITY due to a conflict at BCC. With any luck, this will be the last time we have to move practice this spring. The gun will go off at 7:15 as usual.

Some maintenance work is in order. The men will do 6 x 1200 with a 3:00 rest. The A group will 2 @ 75s, 2 @ 73s, 2 @ 71s. The B group will do 2 @ 80s, 2 @ 78s, 2 @ 76s.

Come to practice and you might get to meet 2012 Try Hard of the Year, Karl Dusen

ADMINISTRATIVE

Several of our athletes are running at the Maryland Twilight track meet this Thursday, May 3. The 800 meters, the first event we will participate in, is scheduled for 6:30 pm. The 1500, the feature event of the evening (at least as far we’re concerned), is scheduled for 8:05 pm. If you can, come on out and support the gang.

If you haven’t already done so, mark your calenders for the end of season happy hour/party on May 26th in Bethesda. I owe many of you free drinks for the Cherry Blossom inter-squad race, and since I have no idea who was on the winning team, it won’t be difficult to finagle a couple of drinks out of me even if you were out of town for Cherry Blossom.


WEEKEND RECAP

Have we just lived through the greatest 4 days in GRC history? Track scholars will debate that question for years to come, along with the related question of whether we sent them. While I’m not qualified to opine on such weighty matters, I know for sure that we had an amazing weekend. In fact, there were so many great performances that I’m surely going to miss a few that should be noted and celebrated, and for that I apologize in advance. With that introduction, I present my take on the highlights of the weekend.

Sam’s 29:37.12 at Penn Relays. This was, without a doubt, the best performance by a GRC athlete in the 18 months that I’ve been with the team. Sam ran a 36 second PR, which is phenomenal at this level. Equally impressive was the way he ran, which was with patience and confidence. Sam’s plan was to go through 5k in 15 minutes, and then start racing, and he executed the plan perfectly. Rather than panic when the leaders took it out faster than expected, Sam had the confidence to wait to make his move, and ran a huge negative split. This was the kind of run that will propel Sam to the national class level within the next two years.

Drea’s 35:46.79 at Penn Relays. In any other week, Drea’s huge PR would have taken top billing. To put her race into perspective, two weeks ago, Drea’s 5k PR was 17:50. On Thursday, Drea went through 5k in 17:44, and kept right on rolling. In the last six months, Drea has run PRs at every distance from 5k to the half marathon, but this was surely the best race of her career. As she fought through the last mile despite being totally spent from the early pace, Drea showed the kind of toughness that has made her into a truly elite athlete.

Witty’s 14:40.41 at Penn Relays. Going into the race, Witty thought of himself as an 800-1500 runner. After he crossed the finish line and looked up at the clock, Witty started to realize that he is a distance runner in the making, as he is starting to see the benefit of the strength training he has been doing since joining the team in the fall. Closing in 30 for the last 200 was impressive indeed, and with another year of mileage under his belt, Witty will be able to finish that fast off of a much, much more aggressive early pace.

LTO’s 35:51 at Pikes Peak. Laura ran her first PR in seven years, and it was well-deserved. Having been ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the steeplechase twice during her career at Stanford, Laura set the bar awfully high for herself, but she’s now ready to get in the habit of running PRs regularly.

Karl’s 30:05 at Pikes Peak. Like LTO, for Karl to run a PR says a whole lot, since he is the greatest distance runner in Columbia University history. This was a road PR, and could have gone much faster had he not been solo most of the race. After missing the Olympic Trials dues to bad weather in Chicago, Karl had a tough few months dealing with injuries and illness, but this performance bodes very well for the rest of the spring, and beyond.

Lindsay’s 35:54 at Pikes Peak. In her GRC debut, Lindsay ran a very solid race, considering the fact that she’s been training for about a month. Talk about setting a high bar, Lindsay was a 6-time All-American at Yale, and after four years away from competition, she is ready to get back into it. That the GRC debut of an athlete of this caliber is not the headline speaks volumes about the quality of the performances this weekend.

Jake’s 31:32 at Pikes Peak. Jake is back close to his pre-injury level. If he can stay healthy, he’s going to get back in the business of running PRs in the next few months.

Dave Wertz’s 31:58 at Pikes Peak. This was yet another milestone for Dave, as he broke 32 minutes for the first time. Dave may not talk much, but he keeps getting better every race.

Beth’s 36:11 at Pikes Peak. Beth has continued to run at a level that would have been unthinkable for her even a few months ago. Coming into the spring, Beth had never broken 18:30 for 5k or 37:30 for 10k. Beth continues to show fantastic range, and she will set her sights on significant PRs at the half marathon and marathon later this spring.

Susan’s 36:23 at Pikes Peak. Susan ran a 17 second PR, despite nearly breaking her ankle in the warmup. Susan is continuing to make a successful transition to longer races, and the strength she is building now is going to pay huge dividends in the future.

Lauren’s 37:28 at Pikes Peak. Lauren ran her second huge PR in the last 8 days. After only a few weeks of training with GRC, Lauren has obliterated her previous PRs at numerous distances, and she’s only getting started.

Dickson’s 32:31 at Pikes Peak. Dickson is trying to rebound from the disappointment of Boston, and this was certainly a step in the right direction as he prepares for the Cleveland marathon. Read Dickson’s excellent account of his less-than-ideal Boston debut here.
http://wp11.americanobserver.net/2012/04/after-boston-marathon-burn-up-moving-on/

Murph’s 33:26 at Pikes Peak. Murph is another of our Boston refugees, and he is going to give it a go at the Frederick half marathon this weekend. He ran Pikes Peak as a workout, and his very strong finish is a hopeful sign.

Congratulations to everyone for a truly historic weekend. More great performances await this spring and beyond, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what we can do!