News - RunWashington

Attention to detail adds up for Matt Deters

Published August 10, 2015 at 12:03PM

Matt Deters. Photo: Dustin Whitlow

In the months leading up to 2015’s Fall marathons, RunWashington will follow several local runners as they prepare for their races. We’ll chart their progress as they train their legs, lungs and minds for the challenges they’ll race on race day. Each week, we’ll catch up with our runners and see how they’re doing. This week, it’s Matt Deters of Arlington, Va., who is having a breakout year. Read the first article about Matt here.

Matt Deters can’t take the heat. Actually, that’s not true, he can, and has been, and will continue to do so, but he’s not a fan.

Adapt or…Nothing

By Emily Rabbitt

Published August 8, 2015 at 4:42PM | Updated August 10, 2015 at 12:13PM

Meghan Ridgley coaching some of her runners. Photo: Dustin Whitlow

In the months leading up to 2015’s Fall marathons, RunWashington will follow several local runners as they prepare for their races. We’ll chart their progress as they train their legs, lungs and minds for the challenges they’ll race on race day. Each week, we’ll catch up with our runners and see how they’re doing. This week, it’s Meghan Ridgley of Reston, Va., who is hoping for a chance at the Philadelphia Maraton. Read the first article about Meghan Ridgley here.

Meghan Ridgley has been churning out marathons at just over a six minute mile pace for a decade. Take a moment to consider your twenties vs. your thirties. Recovery time, ability to function on less sleep, general level of responsibility, metabolic function – all these things get a little bit stingier as the decades pile on. For those who were elite athletes in their teens and twenties, maintaining the peak shape they held at that age gets harder every year.

Running shorts – Aug. 10

By Charlie Ban

Published August 7, 2015 at 2:45PM | Updated August 10, 2015 at 3:27PM

Arlington Police released a composite sketch of a suspect involved in the attempted sexual assault of a runner on the W&OD Trail July 31.The victim was attacked from behind as […]

Joe Divel’s long road

By Charlie Ban

Published July 27, 2015 at 12:22PM | Updated September 13, 2018 at 1:09PM

Joe Divel. Photo: Dustin Whitlow

In the months leading up to 2015’s Fall marathons, RunWashington will follow several local runners as they prepare for their races. We’ll chart their progress as they train their legs, lungs and minds for the challenges they’ll race on race day. Each week, we’ll catch up with our runners and see how they’re doing. This week, it’s Joe Divel of Rockville, Md., who is taking his second shot at the Marine Corps Marathon. Read the first article about Joe Divel here.

Not a lot of people wake up one day and think, for no reason other than they can’t find anything on T.V. that they’re going to spend hundreds of dollars and sacrifice countless weekend morning lie-ins to train for a race that ends about six miles after the average, reasonable human would cry uncle. There’s usually a reason for a marathon. Sometimes it’s a new athletic challenge, or a way to mark a milestone. A celebration or a commemoration. Many start training with an enthusiasm that quickly wanes, or a fervor that lays them up with burnout or injury.

Crystal City Twilighter runners get a break from the heat

By Charlie Ban

Published July 27, 2015 at 11:59AM | Updated August 18, 2015 at 12:34PM

The corral is about to burst at the seams before the Crystal City Twilighter. Photo: Brian W. Knight/Swim Bike Run Photography

Emerging from the Metro station felt different this year to the 1,700 runners who turned out for the Crystal City Twilighter 5k Saturday. Even before the sun went down, cooler, drier air prevailed over a course that once boasted 98 degree temperatures during the 2011 race.

The favorable conditions were lost on many of the top-tier runners who didn’t return, which affected the race’s depth. The 28 men who finished faster than 16 minutes in 2014 was cut to 10 in 2015. The 10 sub-19 minute women from 2014 held steady.

Beginner ultra runners get trial by fire at Rosaryville

By Charlie Ban

Published July 24, 2015 at 1:03PM | Updated August 18, 2015 at 12:34PM

Jarrod Brennet nears 20 miles in the Rosaryville 50k. Photo: Charlie Ban

Despite the reliable mercury-busting temperatures, Don Bowman insists that the Rosaryville Trail races are aimed at beginner ultra runners. This year’s running of the 10k, 10 mile, 25k and 50k runs around Rosaryville State Park took place on the hottest day of the year, with dew points bottoming out in the low 70s and temperatures reaching the mid 90s five hours into the race.

[button-red url=”http://www.bluepointtiming.com/files/results/2015/Rosaryville%20overall.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]”We designed it for the novice runners,” Bowman, the race director, said. “They get to run next to the runners who are experienced and they can say they ran with these great trail runners, they don’t have three legs or anything special. They learn that they could be like the people in the front if the race agrees with them and they want to improve.”

Marathoner Will Etti: Family Man and Cheerleader

By Emily Rabbitt

Published July 22, 2015 at 3:01PM | Updated July 22, 2015 at 3:52PM

Photo: Dustin Whitlow

Read the first article about Will Etti here.

Nobody has a bad thing to say about Will Etti.

Sullivan and Kebede claim first-place finishes in Rockville Twilight 8k

By Elton Hayes

Published July 19, 2015 at 9:26PM | Updated August 18, 2015 at 12:33PM

The Rockville Rotary Twilighter starting line. Photo: Dan Reichmann

Susanna Sullivan narrowly missed a first-place finish in the 2014 Rockville Rotary Twilight Runfest when Etaferahu Temesgen shattered a race record to edge her by 10 seconds. This year, Sullivan made sure she ended up on the other end of a close race.

[button-red url=”https://www.mcrrc.org/race-results/2015/07/twilight-runfest-8k-women/” target=”_self” position=”left”] Women’s Results [/button-red]“Last year I lost in a kick so I really wanted to be conservative early and make sure that I was ready to kick at the end,” Sullivan, 24, said. “One of my teammates asked me if I looked back in the last half mile. I told her I didn’t, because I didn’t want to see where (runner up Elfinesh Melaku) was and didn’t want to see her right over my shoulder and panic.”

RunWashington’s Fall Marathoners: Meet Amelia McKeithen

By Emily Rabbitt

Published July 12, 2015 at 9:59PM | Updated August 10, 2015 at 12:14PM

Amelia McKeithen (left) before the 2014 Rock 'n' Roll USA Half Marathon, for which she was the top fundraiser for Girls on the Run DC. Photo: MarathonFoto

In the months leading up to 2015’s Fall marathons, RunWashington will follow several local runners as they prepare for their races. We’ll chart their progress as they train their legs, lungs and minds for the challenges they’ll race on race day. Each week, we’ll catch up with our runners and see how they’re doing. Peer pressure and convinced Amelia McKeithen, of D.C., to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon, but her fundraising goal will help her stick with her training.

RunWashington’s Fall Marathoners: Meet Matt Deters

By Emily Rabbitt

Published July 11, 2015 at 7:58PM | Updated July 11, 2015 at 8:50PM

Matt Deters Photo: Cheryl Young

In the months leading up to 2015’s Fall marathons, RunWashington will follow several local runners as they prepare for their races. We’ll chart their progress as they train their legs, lungs and minds for the challenges they’ll race on race day. Each week, we’ll catch up with our runners and see how they’re doing. Matt Deters is an Arlingtonian who resumed running seriously a few years ago and has improved rapidly. Given his druthers, he’d already have retired from the marathon, but he’s giving it another shot.