A look at the start before the runners lined up.
This race is an event. Wandering around the center you could easily see this event was fully prepared with food and drink, from Budweiser to Muscle Milk with a side of ice cold water in between. Some of the other events closed up shop with the record heat wave this week but Pacers knew that runners are a tenacious bunch.
Out of the heat of the late spring furnace, the first weekend of summer grew a rose of a day. Late June is certainly warm and sunny as a summer day but with a cool breeze, making the inaugural 5K and 10K races a charm. The course is flat and fast with nearly all of the final mile a gentle downhill swoop to the finish. Nestled just a few yards from busy Leesburg Pike but well off the beaten path where runners saw next to none of the motor vehicles to compete for the domination of roads.
In today’s running world, women are coming out in greater numbers, usually about 60% of the field. More and more the courses are getting tested by runners who have no plans at a glorious tape breaking at the finish. They want to try their stuff surrounded by hundreds of other similar-minded people in a controlled environment.
Virginia Pons moves past the starting line at the first loop.
The Potomac River Twilight 4 mile race has built a solid reputation as a family event. While providing some of most competitive races at this less than common distance, the well attended mile fun run and all the entertainment after the event keep the race high in recidivism. While the classic rock band Dolley Sodds was warming up, event director Ray Pugsley was scurrying around filling a kid’s pool with ice to cool off the many different kinds of liquid refreshment awaiting the returning road warriors. Everyone knows that in this region June is really summer no matter what the calendar says. Pugsley was smiling as he said, “We dodged a bullet.” Indeed, after two record setting days in the last week, this year’s temperature in the low 80s seemed almost kind.
Here it was a cacophony. It was a city of runners and walkers. The weather was glorious. “Isn’t it great to know that every year more participants of the Susan B. Komen Global Race for the Cure are wearing the [Proud Pink] of the survivor?” Everyone is touched by someone in their lives as proof of the tens of thousands of participants, nearly 7,000 who ran in the 5K event. For several hours the river of humanity streamed up and down main street Washington, DC to celebrate life, remembrance, hope, and the search for the cure.
At times the music was deafening for those closest to it but they were announcing their presence to the world. There were many testimonials and videos on the big screen. Most telling was the Komen plan to insist on even more access to have earlier screening and prevention. To let the health industry and Congress know that some awareness was not enough and that a cure for everyone would be relentlessly sought after.
This is the weekend for the unofficial start of summer but it had cooled down greatly from Thursday’s 91 degrees. The gnats sticking on your skin told of the searing humidity that runners would soon be basting in. That does not sound for a recipe for a personal record on a two-loop course with rolling hills, long hills, and stairway hills. Before the race we caught up with consensus favorite Aaron Church, 34, of South Riding, VA. Church (in photo) had not run the course before but was in awe of Philippe Rolly’s 2005 30:40 course record. He knew all about Rolly towing to a split second photo finish C.W. Moran, who at age 19 had owned the course record set in 2004 at 32:34. Rolly, the sub masters record holder from 2008 and Ray Pugsley the masters record holder from 2009 were absent. Church smiled and noted that a course record was unlikely. This from a man coming off a 30:55 at the Kaiser Permanente Pike’s Peek 10K just a month ago and a blazing Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10M in 50:52 with a 10K equivalent of 30:36.
By then the announcer was getting runners set to dart under the traditional ladder arch made by the Sterling Fire Department. And they were underway. Church jack rabbitted around the corner quickly and was soon out of sight of the nearly seven hundred finishers. By the mile, he had a 150 meters lead and the race was for second place.
This Mother’s Day event is for everyone as noted when race starter Kevin asked for a show of hands for everyone who had a mother. It was about older runners as five times for the women and twice for the men, a masters runner has won it all. But it was particularly about the young ones. There was a 2K fun walk as often occurs in family oriented race events but the 5K race was packed with young runners vying for top placement in the three youth divisions.
When the race began quite of few height challenged munchkins bolted up the tough hill to start the race that circled all the way around Point Pleasant Drive. Many flamed out on the opening hill, partly because the expended extra energy talking and laughing among themselves.
Year number ten for this runner friendly race featured the year’s nicest weather. Mother’s Day weekend is usually the busiest of the spring with more than fifty races scheduled in the region. This race was a dandy. Joining this lovely neighborhood was for this year’s continued renaissance was the indefatigable Chuck Moeser, 59, of Sterling, VA (left). Never timid and always bare-chested even on cold days, some have speculated that he does not like shirts at all. Not so, after the race he was sporting a tie dye cutoff from the sixties.
For this smallest race of around 200 finishers, even at 59, Moeser was the prohibitive favorite to win it all. After the race, he noted that he really enjoyed the downhill first mile. He had to do it all alone because by the first intersection, 200 meters in the race, he was gone. Though new to the course, there was no chance to get lost. The course meanders through the neighborhood streets, with a nary a moving vehicle to be found, but the signage was so clear even the novice runner could not get lost.
Fairfax is home to a number of races throughout the year. Saturday, the inaugural Fairfax CASA 10K got underway less than a mile from the sprawling George Mason University campus. Sunday morning it was time for the 33rd showing of the Patriot’s Cup Corporate Challenge 8K. The event is open to all but the main feature is the spirited competition among the corporations for bragging rights. With much construction on the campus only about half of Patriot’s Circle was open to runners. There are a handful of certified courses to choose from. The race is really very fast though runners are treated to three trips up the hill in front of the Center for the Arts. Gladly, the opening 150 meters is downhill to the Circle. Once on the circuit runners head generally uphill to the 1500 point of the race. They leave the campus and take a long, increasingly down hill road to bend back to the starting area. Hitting the Circle the second time is a little like whiplash as the hill rises up to meet the runners. The trick is to keep grinding away because from three to 4.5 miles is a return to the pleasure cruise section of the course. The third trip up the hill is the final two minutes of the race where adrenaline kicks in to help you hold place.
Last year top ranked sub master Aaron Church won it all in an easy 25:06. So, perhaps Hugh Toland was a little surprised that an opening 5:10 separated him from the field. He cruised home in 26:32 and after the race hardly seemed to have broken into a sweat. The cool morning was perfectly aligned to a runner’s needs, though the skies began to weep as the awards were being announced.
Ryan Deak makes it look easy, racing home in 34:07.
The wind was blowing so strong that the balloon arch needed two handlers. The day was sunny but cool as the quixotic season bounced from hot to cold. Perhaps the first things runners noticed for this first time race is the great signage. From all sides there were signs and marshals leading the runners to the free parking, registration, and the starting lines for the 10K at 8:30 a.m. and the 3K at 9:00 a.m.
Photo below: runners kick off the spring racing season at the St. Patrick’s Day 8K.
Running is going just the reverse of the economy. Races for spring are already in full b(l)oom. People must have more time to race and more and more are aware that running is good for your health. It is so good sometimes that it might be feared addictive. We will have to wait for another study for the answer.