Charlie Ban is the Editor-in-Chief of RunWashington, the runner's source for the DC area.
The weight of the ink on her cross country uniform was almost imperceptible, but it dragged Julia Clark down when she raced.
For three years, since the first time she walked into her high school as a freshman, the building taunted her. J.E.B. Stuart High School, named for a Confederate general.
Hear from Wilson Komen, more elite runner news, trail improvements and detours and a former local snags a West Coast FKT.
Twenty-one years of distance didn’t make the recent explosion at the Beirut seaport any easier for Zé Dagher.
Though he has been away from his native Lebanon for roughly half of his life without plans to return, the explosion, which killed more than 180 people, injured 6,000 others and caused more than $15 billion in property damage prompted the Falls Church resident to do something.
Chantilly Coach Matt Gilchrist offers his thoughts on the nascent club cross country movement. This is a good reminder that RunWashington welcomes input on issues related to Washington, D.C.-area running on all levels, and if you have thoughts to share, contact Charlie Ban at charlie(at) runwashington (dot) com.
The sun rises over Burke Lake and it’s 7 a.m. on an August morning. We’re the first ones there, the first Monday of a new cross country season, with all the promise and potential that lies ahead. We are brimming with enthusiasm and filled with confidence and energy that is gained by a full summer of group conditioning, motivated for another successful fall season. This has been the same ritual that we’ve practiced year in and year out, but this year when August came, we stayed home. For the first time in my 25 years of coaching, there have been no practices at Burke Lake. Instead of heading to Lost River, W.Wa. for our annual team camp, we all stayed home. The motivation hasn’t changed and the hunger to run and to compete is still there, but in the world dealing with COVID-19, these annual rites of passages are chief on a list of things that we are missing out on.
Name: Joe Snowaert
Self-described age group: 25-29
Kelly Deegan lives close enough to a park that almost every day, she sees organized sports practices and games happening. She also got a phone call from the Westfield High School administration, asking if three teenagers — who a local resident saw running together — were on her cross country team. She hasn’t seen her runners since March… they weren’t her runners.
That drove home her frustration about the fate of high school cross country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
GW cuts men’s indoor, Edose Ibadin and Alisa Harvey appear on podcasts and learn what’s going on with high school running memes.
Name: Alayna Bigalbal
Self-described age group: 25
A month almost full of 90+ degree days kept top speeds a little slower, but there was still some movement throughout the standings, with four overall segment lead changes and three women’s lead changes. We added two new loops: Smelling Big Stinky (on the Catholic University campus) and Colorado (on Colorado Avenue NW). And, people tried out a few new loops, putting some numbers on the board.