Local New Balance rep and big-time track fan Tripp Southerland parses the news of coach Alberto Salazar’s four-year coaching ban following a doping and drug trafficking investigation.
When Hiruni Wijayaratne toed the start line of the women’s marathon at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Doha, Qatar, it was just before midnight, but the heat and humidity were almost unbearable.
Had it been any other race it may have been a reason for a DNS. But Wijayaratne — a Herndon alumna now running for her native Sri Lanka — knew Doha was part of her path to the Olympics, a goal she had set her sights on back in 2016. She had to try.
Wijayaratne said she knew from the moment she landed in Qatar that it was going to be a tougher race than she, or anyone else, had expected. Read More
George Washington Patriot Run
The George Washington Patriot Run is a 10-Miler and a 5K on Sunday, September 10.
Army Spec. Elvin Kibet did in her first try what her husband, Olympic 10k runner Shadrack Kipchirchir, couldn’t in three — win the Army Ten-Miler.
And thanks to cool weather that was a treat to runners who had suffered through the last two muggy editions, she broke Kerri Gallagher’s event record, running 54:05 to Gallagher’s 54:50 from 2014 on a course that was altered last year to avoid the deteriorating Arlington Memorial Bridge. She and men’s winner Lawi Lalang (48:38) are both members of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program. They were also college teammates at the University of Arizona.
Tight packs kept spectators guessing throughout the Glory Days Grill Invitational, as no runner took over the race until very late, with some top-five finishes in boys and girls races jumbling even in the last 200 meters.
Ultimately, Yorktown senior Albert Velikonja won his second invitational of the season and Centreville junior Camilla McKinstry won her first ever invitational.
Revenge of the Penguins
Start/Finish
– C&O Canal Towpath, Carderock Recreation Area,
Clara Barton Parkway, Potomac, MD
Name: Samantha Kirby Cole
Self-described age group: 50-59
Residence: Arlington,Va.
Occupation: Physical education teacher
Why you run: Running is my time to reflect on my day and defrag my mind.
When did you get started running: I started running when I was in elementary school. When I was 7 years old I thought my older siblings were super cool. My brothers started running track so I joined too.
The eternal struggle shook the Hasle household. Teenaged Kellen wanted to stay in bed, his mom wanted the exact opposite, the summer after he finished eighth grade.
He could have fruitlessly made the excuse that he was still living in Alaska Time years after the family moved to Virginia, but those pleas would have fallen on deaf ears.
Mrs. Hasle signed Kellen up for Loudoun Valley’s cross country team. What she thought would have gotten him some exercise initially gave him more of an appreciation for the outdoors.
“There’s this path called the nature trail, where a lot of the less dedicated runners would go,” he said. “I spent a lot of my freshman year there.”
Zebra Dazzle 5k Walk/Run or 100 Mile/30 Day Bike Challenge
Join the Zebras for this Zebra Dazzle event for all fitness levels. The 5k Walk/Run has 2 options. You can participate as an onsite participant on 9/14 at Carter Barron in Rock Creek Park, NW Washington DC or as a virtual participant. Prices will be awarded for top onsite finishers and virtual participants can walk or run anywhere and will be able to upload their time. The 100-Mile/30-Day bike challenge is virtual only. This challenges provides the opportunity to ride `100 miles from anywhere over the span of 30 days during the August 14 – September 14 time span. You will be able to log miles as you go, so no need to ride the 100 miles in one day! Once registered, you will get race training tips and the opportunity to join various fitness sessions from the Zebras! In addition to paying for race participation, your registration fee also includes the Zebra bling bag (T-Shirt/Finishers Medal/Zebra key chain-bottle opener/Zebra wrist band).
Things were going quite well for Ava Gordon during her freshman year at Rock Ridge High School. She was the top freshman in Virginia’s 5A division, finishing fourth at the state meet and 15th at Nike Cross Southeast. She liked her coach and her teammates and running around Ashburn.
The problem was, other people were coming to like Ashburn, too. The population growth was forcing the Loudoun County School District to expand, adding Independence High School. That meant students eastern Loudoun County would be redistributed among Rock Ridge, Independence and Briar Woods. At the same time, her family decided it was time for Ava’s grandmother to move in, and that would mean needing more room of their own. So the Gordons headed west, and Ava and her older sister Alex.
“It was something we had been talking about doing for a while, but the timing wasn’t right,” Dan Gordon said. “We were going to have Alex at Rock Ridge, Ava was going to be moved to Briar Woods. We just wanted to reset everything, have everyone at the same school, everyone in the house and finally make that move.”
Oakton alumna Claire Wood talks about her 10+ years at New Balance and her decision to try something new, professionally. Read more about her career in running shoe design from RunWashington’s 2016 profile of Wood.
