Extra Long Runs

Looking back at John Kelly’s Barkley Marathons finish

By Charlie Ban

As RunWashington’s email goes out on March 9, 2022, the race is underway at the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee. In 2017, then-Rockville, Md. resident John Kelly won the race held in the park across the road from where he grew up. Here’s a look back at that race. Kelly is competing again this year, he now lives in England.

As fog rolled rapidly though the Cumberland Mountains in Eastern Tennessee, it created a strobe-like effect as dawn was breaking. From a fire tower, Rockville’s John Kelly could be seen, then not seen, then seen again… climbing a long hillside cleared for power lines.

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W&OD Trail remains a local landmark

By Dan Gittelman
Miguel Cuya, followed by Katie Stilling and Miguel Matta, cross through Vienna on July 31 while running the W&OD Trail west to east for Cuya's 45th birthday.

It may not be the Appalachian Trail, but to some local runners, traveling the length of the W&OD Trail is a goal worth pursuing.

The Washington and Old Dominion Trail stretches 45 miles through Northern Virginia between Purcellville and Shirlington. The asphalt path is beloved by cyclists and runners alike, but running the entire trail in one day is an uncommon feat. 

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Long distance challenges motivate Germantown woman after preganancy losses

By Charlie Ban
Erin Kelman and Kristen Serafin push through the Seneca Creek Greenway 50k March 13. Photo: Roman Gurule

When Kristen Serafin felt like a failure, running helped come back. Twice.

The first time, it was on a monthlong road trip with her now-fiancé Erin Kelman. The second time, when it was even more complicated, it gave her insight and an incentive to share her experience and strive to come out of it more motivated.

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Local runners launching Lebanon relief run

By Charlie Ban
Falls Church resident Zé Dagher. Photo: Courtesy of Zé Dagher

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.

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Put my head down and pretend I’m doing something somewhat normal – Pace the Nation – Jarad Schofer

By Pace the Nation
Jarad Schofer clutches his paper map while addressing friends gathered at Logan Circle June 13 after he finished running every public street and alley in Washington, D.C. Photo: Charlie Ban

Jarad Schofer shares stories from the streets during his nine-month journey around all of D.C.’s public streets and alleys.

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Jarad Schofer runs every public street, alley in D.C.

By Charlie Ban
Jarad Schofer approaches Logan Circle on Vermont Street NW June 13. Photo: Charlie Ban

For almost nine months, a giant paper map of D.C.’s streets took up a good bit of Jarad Schofer’s floor like an oversized jigsaw puzzle. Now, to his wife’s delight, he can pick it up for good. After almost 2,500 miles of running, Schofer put in the last piece of the puzzle June 13 — filling in a 2 kilometer route near Logan Circle — and met his goal of running every public street and alley in Washington, D.C.

But he didn’t achieve his unwritten dream. 

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Rescue squad volunteer’s 24-hour run raises $11,000

By Charlie Ban
Ashley Donovan runs around the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad's parking lot. Photo: Charlie Ban

Ashley Donovan is used to starting off her ultramarathons with a low-key command. “Go” usually suffices. But the start of her latest 24-hour run was accompanied by sirens. 

At 6:01 a.m. May 9, as she started on a day’s worth of solitary 0.2-mile loops around the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad building and parking lot, an ambulance rolled out on a call. That service, and her fundraising run, hammered home the 24-hour nature of emergency response and demonstrated why she was doing this. The secretary on BCCRS’ Board of Directors, Donovan, of Upper Northwest D.C., has been a volunteer EMT since 2015. 

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Tyson’s man doesn’t let ultra training go to waste

By Andrew Gates

Tysons’s Chris Gellene, 58, spent his Easter Sunday differently than most. While families around the country were asleep in bed, Gellene was finishing up a 100-mile run sometime between 3:30 and 4 in the morning. But after some rest and a good night’s sleep, he says, “I got up the next day, it was Easter morning. I got and went about my Sunday.”

Originally signed up to run the Pistol 100-Miler in Tennessee, Gellene was worried when he learned that he would not be able to run the race. Gellene is no stranger to the 100-mile distance. The Pistol 100-Miler would have been his 12th.

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