Ibrahim Abu Asbeh was driving on a sunny day in Amman, Jordan, when he first saw Nina Brekelmans running.
“Wow, she is really good,” the running coach thought to himself. “I need to know her.”
|
Author: Maggie Lloyd
|
See results at http://www.runrocknroll.com/finisher-zone/search-and-results/?eventid=13
Mother Nature must have been feeling merciful. A radiant sunrise turned to overcast skies, 50-degree temperatures and a slight breeze, providing ideal conditions for over 19,000 racers at the Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. marathon and half marathon.
|
Freedom Plaza was a sea of purple June 14 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Purple Strides 5k. With little humidity and a light breeze, the weather was perfect for thousands of runners and walkers to make their way down Pennsylvania Avenue.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=4043″ target=”_self” position=”left”] 5k Results [/button-red]Griffin Mackey, 16, of Pittsburgh easily won the race, crossing the finish line in under 17 minutes. Just coming off his track season at Sewickley Academy, Mackey broke away from the field after the first mile and ran unchallenged for the rest of the race. Brian Mahoney of Washington, D.C. finished second.
|
Carl Klein woke up one night to a police officer knocking on the window of his Ford Explorer. He was parked in a lot right off the highway, and the officer told him he couldn’t sleep there. Carl started his car, drove to another location and fell asleep again.
He was 17 years old.
|
For one last time, Jack Stoney took a bite out of a pineapple with his cross country teammates this fall. A captain of the Oakton High School team, Jack continued the quirky tradition of biting into (“not cutting!”) a pineapple during a postseason meet. It marked the end of a chapter in what has already been an impressive running career.
Jack noticed his running talent at a young age, when he ran purely for fun. Once he joined his high school cross country team, he was hooked.
|
Oakton Junior Allie Klimkiewicz is still buzzing from her team’s first state cross country title last fall. She has raced the VHSL 6A State Cross Country Championships every year since she was a freshman, but the team win made this year extra special.
“It feels very unreal,” she said. “We had the talent this year and everything just came together. We all shared [the win] together. I think our team dynamic was really good this year. Everyone just clicked.”
|
Halloween has come and gone, but last Saturday Reston Town Center was full of Chippendales dancers, shirtless superheros, and other barely clad runners ready for the third annual Nearly Naked Mile.
Thankfully, no one ran completely au naturel (this is a family-friendly event, after all), but a few racers pushed the limits with skin-tone bodysuits or Speedos. Some bib numbers took up more real estate than clothing.
|
The weather was merciful early in the morning. Cloudy skies and a gentle breeze kept things fairly comfortable in the mid-70’s despite the humidity.
“Well, we’ve got about 10 minutes. Maybe we should mosey on down to the start line.” With those words from a race official, the crowd walked from the registration site to the race’s starting point, a simple sign standing over a chalk line near the 12-mile marker on the W&OD trail. Brian O’Hara of Arlington liked this race for its distance; according to him, 8k is a good distance, especially for the $8 early registration price (race-day registration still only cost $20). He and his group of three other Arlington residents ran at the Go Fourth 8k last year, when it was in Bluemont Park.
|
Yes, you can learn a lot about a woman by the contents of her purse, but I think it’s more telling to watch the way she reacts at a finish line, and I saw the whole emotional spectrum while volunteering for DC’s inaugural Nike Women’s Half Marathon.
My job was simple: scan runners’ race bibs as they filed through the finish area towards some seriously glamorous swag. Between the volunteers offering water bottles and foil blankets, a squad of ROTC men in tuxedos hand-delivered Tiffany’s pendant necklaces housed in that iconic baby blue box tied with a simple white ribbon. Whenever there was a lull in the crowd, all it took was a “who wants their Tiffany’s necklace?” yell to get exhausted finishers to smile and “woohoo!”
|
Name: Maggie Lloyd
Self-described age group: Millennial