Weekend Recap: Emily competes well at USATF Nationals, Mark wins shoes

On Thursday evening, distance hurdling superstar Emily d finished 22nd in the 3k steeple prelims at this year's USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, IA. As is often the case in our sport, the end result only tells half the story, so here's an eyewitness report from Coach Jerry: 

"Emily ran a truly courageous race in the semi-final of the steeple.  Emily was in the lead pack, which included Courtney Frerichs, until 800 to go.  At that point Frerichs dropped the hammer, and Emily got separated, but she was still in position to qualify for the final on time with 200 to go.  Then the last water jump happened.  Emily got too close to the barrier, and ended up taking a nasty spill, resulting in her being completely submerged.  She got up quickly, but at that point she was totally out of gas, and barely made it over the final barrier.  Emily crossed the line in 10:16.39 with her head held high.  As Emily put it, if you're going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly, and she's none the worse for wear.  I was extremely proud of Emily's race--she lined up with the best athletes in the country, and was not afraid to get after it.  She put herself in a position to succeed, and gave it everything she had, which all I can ever ask for.  Emily's season is not over, as she's got the French championship in 2 weeks, and she'll be back, better than ever."

In other news, Mark Hopely won the Battling Cancer 5k last weekend in Fredericksburg, VA. Mark's 16:50 effort netted him $100 and a pair of kicks. While the time is nothing to write home about, we can all appreciate how smooth Mark looks running in sunglasses.

Weekend Recap: Neverending Track Season, Lawyers Have Heat

If there's one thing I've learned this track season, it's that track season is not "nearly over" in early May. Each week has brought about a new slate of meets that I am either unfamiliar with or have carelessly forgotten. This week, I'm going to try the ol' reverse jinx method - track season is just getting started (wink wink).

Emily d surely had the track performance of the weekend with her 9:59.33 3k steeple out at the Portland (Oregon) Track Classic. The odds were stacked against Emily, who had reportedly last jumped over a steeple barrier at the 2017 USATF Nationals, but sometimes a lack of expectations is the key ingredient to a long-awaited PR. It's likely that Emily's club record time will qualify her for this year's national championship, so maybe I'm right about track season actually just getting started...

Photo via MoCoRunning.com

On the East Coast, Daniel Trettel just missed out on the club record in the 800m with a 1:53.89 at the newly-established DMV Meet of Champions. Judging from this photo of his finish, it looks like Daniel had an innate sense that he should have run .04 seconds faster. A little further north, Liz raced a mile at the New Jersey International Meet in a strong time of 5:03.12.

In the local road race world, seven brave souls faced the inevitable heat and humidity of the Lawyers Have Heart 10k on Saturday. Maura L fared best in the conditions with a 6th place finish in 35:31, and solid efforts were also logged by Taylor (37:02), Kerry (38:38), Emily (39:41), and Rebekah (40:01). On the men's side, Paul finished 13th in 32:15 and Zak also finished the race, despite some mid-race uncertainty about his prospects to do so.

Weekend Recap: Track in Tennessee

Track season continued its seemingly endless march forward over the weekend, with notable meets in both West Chester, PA and Nashville, TN.

North of the Mason-Dixon line, a fearless trio comprised of Alex, Alyson, and Liz ran the 1500m at the John Hay Invitational. Alex ran 4:34.87 for a 3-second a PR (and a GRC #4 all-time performance), and she was followed by Alyson in 4:38 and Liz in 4:45.61. Despite my best efforts, I can't find any photos from this meet, so please enjoy this thumbnail from a Milesplit video where you can see what appears to be the outlines of Liz and Alex.

At the Music City Distance Carnival, Maura L claimed bronze in the 5000m via a 17:02.2 clocking, and Paul Thistle nearly ran a season best in the 3000m steeple with a 9:07.04. Conditions were steamy trackside, but morale was high, so both Maura and Paul expect to return next year with plans to improve on those performances.

Also in Tennessee, friends of GRC Ryan Lockett (mile, 4:09.09) and Kieran Gallagher (1500m, 4:18.15) ran season-best performances in their respective events.

Speaking of GRC friends, ex-pats Phil Royer and Hannah Rowe ran the Mountains to Beach Marathon in Ventura, CA on 5/27. Hannah performed exceptionally well for her first 'thon (2:54:14), and Phil finished runner-up (2:29:32).