News - RunWashington

Cross country scheduling: racing for the weekend

Published August 28, 2018 at 12:50PM

The 2017 Third Battle Invitational. The flat course in Winchester and typically-lower temperatures give teams a mid-October chance to run really fast. Photo: Charlie Ban

It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Music blaring from a DJ breaks the sleepy stillness of the open field. Underneath the foggy haze of a fall morning, hundreds of high school runners are awake and ready. A mass of bodies squish together along the line, experiencing the thrill of adrenaline, nerves and anticipation.

And then the gun goes off. All you can hear is the tidal wave of cries from spectators and random cowbells clanging. The race is a blur of hills and turns and ups and downs. Sand and mud and grass.

Tacos at the track: a photographic retrospective

By Dustin Renwick

Published August 27, 2018 at 12:28PM | Updated August 27, 2018 at 1:12PM

Craig Stokes digs in for another bite. Racers in the Fast or Elite heats needed to consume a taco per lap on their four laps around the Kenilworth Recreation Center track.

Dustin Renwick brought his morbid curiosity and his camera to a taco mile held Aug. 26 at Kenilworth Park.

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Fall 2018 RunWashington

By Charlie Ban

Published August 23, 2018 at 12:25PM | Updated August 28, 2018 at 12:52PM

Cover photo: Marleen Van den Neste

Our 2018 cross country issue includes stories about the historic Burke Lake course, schedule building, managing extracurriculars with running, West Springfield coach Chris Pellegrini and more! Click through to read the magazine online. This will, however, be our last print edition because we are going online only from here on!

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Running love, body positivity and making money on Instagram: What’s on the mind of social media influencer Dorothy Beal

By Sarah Beth Hensley

Published August 22, 2018 at 11:36AM | Updated August 23, 2018 at 12:02AM

Dorothy Beal didn’t know quite how important running would be to her.

Not only has the 36-year-old run 36 marathons in 15 years, but she has turned the hobby into a blog and social media campaign that inspires runners and promotes a positive body image — and turned the ventures into a business and brand that reaches thousands.

Your 2018 All-RunWashington Preseason Team

By Charlie Ban

Published August 21, 2018 at 12:20PM | Updated August 27, 2018 at 2:12PM

Photos: Ed Lull unless otherwise noted

Look to the left, then to the right.

Everyone on this starting line started crawling and somehow ended up here, in a pair of spikes.

Running Shorts

By Charlie Ban

Published August 21, 2018 at 12:16PM | Updated August 21, 2018 at 3:41PM

General area of the August Metropolitan Branch Trail attacks.

The Washington Post reports a runner was punched in the face Aug. 15 and surrounded by five suspects, who took the runner’s phone. On Aug. 11, four robbers, one with a knife, surrounded the victim, taking a phone and $30.

Both incidents occurred at the north end of the trail before it reaches Edgewood Street NE, near the Dew Drop Inn, and both happened around 8:45 p.m.

Monumental Runner – Aaron Richards

By Charlie Ban

Published August 17, 2018 at 12:22PM | Updated August 17, 2018 at 12:51PM

Name: Aaron Richards

Self-described age group: Late 20’s

Tex Mex track laps tax runners’ tummies

By Beth Roessner

Published August 16, 2018 at 11:58AM | Updated August 17, 2018 at 3:27PM

Grab the tortillas but hold the sour cream — Washington, D.C. is getting its first taco mile.

Organized by November Project DC, and in partnership with the D.C. Parks and Recreation Department, the Aug. 26 taco mile challenges runners to eat tacos before running a quarter mile. And then again. And then again… And then again. It’s an all-ages alternative to a beer mile, one that can be sanctioned on public property but still tests runners’ digestive discipline.

Off the Beaten Path – Little Bennett Regional Park

By Jake Klim

Published August 14, 2018 at 2:55PM

Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg is the largest park in Montgomery County, encompassing over 3,700 acres of Maryland wilderness. The good news for runners is that this green space also boasts approximately 25 miles of trails, all of which have natural surfaces. Countless loops and out-and-backs make Little Bennett the perfect place to get lost on a weekend when trail running is on your schedule.

In addition, you won’t have to compete with mountain bikers, because they’re not permitted on any of these trails. Horseback riders, however, do frequent some parts of the park, so it’s best to use caution when approaching.

Need 20 miles? Here are some options

By Charlie Ban

Published August 14, 2018 at 1:56PM | Updated August 14, 2018 at 2:57PM

Beach Drive , looking north from Joyce Road.

Right when the meaty part of Fall marathon training starts, D.C.’s primary long run route continues to be a challenge. “The Big Loop,” the popular 20-mile route carrying runner around the Capital Crescent and Georgetown Branch trails to Rock Creek Park’s Beach Drive is still compromised, though in new ways.

The Georgetown Branch Trail remains closed during construction of the Purple Line. The Beach Drive rebuilding project has moved north, closing most of the 2.7 miles between the Maryland state line and Joyce Road. And now the Zoo loop, the roughly half-mile trail circumnavigating the Beach Drive tunnel, is apparently in danger of falling into the creek following heavy rains and erosion, so pedestrians and cyclists are forced to share a five-foot-wide sidewalk, feet from automobile traffic.