Steve Martin, Chris Johnston and Bob Briggs prep at Burke Lake for the USATF Club Cross Country Championships. Photo: Ed Lull

If David Sullivan meets someone and tells them he’s a runner, they invariably ask him if he does marathons. 

He blanches.

“To them it’s like nothing else exists,” he said. “But I get it.”

Not so for Sullivan and the members of his Athletics East Track Club who will race at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships this Saturday at Lehigh University. 

Of the 16 masters runners who will compete for the club’s teams, 14 are D.C.-area locals, and Sullivan, of Kingstowne, hopes to keep giving runners over 40 a life beyond the marathon grind.

He found West Springfield resident Bob Briggs at Burke Lake one weekend earlier this year, during the club’s weekly Saturday run.

“David came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you look like a pretty fast old guy – want to run with us?'” Briggs said. Briggs is 62 and shooting for a sub-3 at the Houston Marathon in January. Soon enough, Briggs became a member of Athletics East, which Sullivan managed and coached while living in his native Boston, then revived in 2018. 

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Running Shorts

Loudoun Valley’s Ava Gordon (197) races Nike Cross Nationals. Photo: Courtesy of Nike

Loudoun Valley’s boys and girls team finished 10th at Nike Cross Nationals Dec. 7 in Portland, Ore. West Springfield’s Sean Stuck finished 104th in 16:19.

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Andrew Bumbalough trains in Oregon. Photo: Talbot Cox

Andrew Bumbalough’s marathon career began almost by accident. 

A professional runner for Nike since 2010, Bumbalough was training with the Bowerman Track Club in Portland, Ore. and focusing on chipping away at his 5K PR, aiming  to qualify for the Olympic and World Championship teams. But then one of his teammates was trying to make the 2012 Olympic marathon team, and he needed a pacer. 

So Bumbalough went to Houston to pace his friend, planning to run 10 miles. Except one of the other pacers had cramps and had to stop. Bumbalough, though, “felt amazing.” 

“I was running a 5-minute pace, I felt strong, I kept clicking off the miles,” said Bumbalough, 32, a 2010 Georgetown graduate. “I went all the way to 16 miles. I think my coach was impressed, but also a little irritated. That kind of planted a seed in the back of my mind that I could do a marathon at some point.” 

Now Bumbalough is hoping to earn a spot on the 2020 men’s marathon team when he competes in the Olympic Trials in Atlanta on Feb. 29. He finished as the fourth American in the 2019 Chicago Marathon, running a 2:10:56.

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Susanna Sullivan approaches the 2019 Richmond Marathon finish line. Photo: MarathonFoto

Running is typically a choice for Susanna Sullivan. It’s been her sport since she was at George Mason High School and her hobby even longer. 

But as the October sunset started to overtake her in Maine’s Acadia National Park, the darkness forced her close to her race pace, or else she was going to be in trouble. She had finished up a hard run on the hilly dirt roads she is so fond of and stopped to report back to her coach, George Buckheit.

“I was in a national park by myself and it was getting pitch-black,” she said. “I was planning to walk back to my car when I was done, but I just had to run harder than I had for the workout.”

Light was fading fast, but by the time she was safely back to the car, she welcomed back a sensation she hadn’t felt in years. And she certainly hadn’t felt it in the six weeks she had been running on land consistently. 

“I felt amazing,” she said. “For the first time I felt like I was really on the right track.”

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Carlos Shultz leads the 4A race at the Virginia state meet. Photo: Bruce Buckley

Sam Affolder was hurting in the third mile of Nike Cross Nationals last December.

After leading Loudoun Valley throughout the year in defense of its 2017 first-ever national title, things were looking grim for the senior. Most runners behind him saw him as a target to pass, but Carlos Shultz saw him and knew that’s where he needed to be.

“I saw Sam up there, and I knew if he was falling off, I couldn’t be ‘back there,'” he said.

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Running Shorts

Runners traverse the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile course in 2019. Photo: Dustin Whitlow/DWhit Photography
  • The lottery for the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile is open through 11:59 p.m. Dec. 12.
  • UnderArmour will hold a free running clinic 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Dec. 8 at the University of Maryland. See more information here.
  • Danielle Siebert, associate head coach of the University of Maryland track and cross country team, has been named event manager for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team.
  • The Army Ten-Miler has an open personnel listing for a program manager in operations. Applications will be accepted through Dec. 10.
  • Prince George’s County Parks is seeking volunteers to help with trail maintenance at Patuxent River Park- Jug Bay Natural Area the following days from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Dec. 14, Jan. 11, Feb. 8, March 14, April 11. Contact [email protected] for more information.
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Robyn Kenul runs the Bowie State Football 5k in August. Photo: Charlie Ban


Name
: Robyn Kenul

Self-described age group: I’m 32 years old

Residence: Reston

Occupation: Registered Dietitian

Why you run: I started running as a way to stay in shape, and I keep running because I enjoy working towards a goal. There are always limits to surpass and more PRs to set which makes running extremely rewarding.

When did you get started running: I dabbled with running back in 2013. My sister was a runner at the time and got me into it. I ran a few miles here and there and joined her at our local turkey trot race. I had the idea that running a marathon sounded much more cool so I decided to train for and run my first marathon back in 2015. That’s where my love for distance running began.
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