The inaugural Abebe Bikila marathon kicked off at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday on a day which could be described as a runner’s dream.
The temperature was in the low 60s at the start and did not crest above 75.  This race has run for many years as solely a half-marathon, but this year a 26.2 mile event was added, mainly out of demand for a Saturday race which could be used as last chance Boston qualifier.
The inaugural Lauren’s Run was less of a race than a reunion. At 9 a.m., race time, the starting line in Rock Creek Park was clear as Jerry Alexander, the coach of GRC Racing Team, gave a short speech about Lauren Woodall Roady’s “indomitable spirit.”
That spirit powered Lauren’s fast rise from recreational to elite runner. But it wasn’t just running. It was the balanced yet tireless way Lauren lived her life, applying her talent and energy to her training and racing, her work as a lawyer at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, her baking, her commitment to family and friends, and more. As one of her close friends, Jennifer Harris, who met Lauren in second grade and now lives in Connecticut, said at the event, Lauren “could multi-task like nobody’s business.”
RunWashington convened a meeting of eight coaches to figure out who is poised for a big cross country season. The participating coaches represented a cross section of schools in the area and, by consensus, they selected the top 10 runners in the Washington, D.C. area, the ones we’d send to a battle royale-style race against other metropolitan areas. The best of the best around here.
They also selected top sevens remaining in each state- Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. These coaches also provided insight into what makes running in the D.C. area so special.
Despite losing two national-class runners to graduation, the Chantilly boys and Lake Braddock girls started their state title defense with victories at the Monroe Parker Invitational Saturday in which was, for the most part, an early preview of the Northern Region meet.
Louis Colson staked his claim to the northern region, and perhaps the state, which has been vacated by three seniors who finished ahead of him last year. Before today, Colson, a Thomas Edison senior, had never broken 15:00 for the 2.98 mile course at Burke Lake. On his first race back, he won in 14:43 after breaking away from George C. Marshall’s junior Mackenzie Haight after two miles (9:48).
In hopes of boosting the existing cross country teams’ fortunes, George Washington University will add track and field teams in the 2014-2015 school year. The school will also add diving teams to the existing swimming teams.
After discussing the options with Athletic Director Patrick Nero last spring, Colonials cross country coach Terry Weir said things moved quickly over the summer to set up a return of the indoor and outdoor teams for men and women.
The debut of a grand pianist in a full tuxedo complete with tails at mile six was not the only new tradition that the Montgomery County Road Runner Club’s Parks Half Marathon started in its eighth year. The runners themselves were determined to mark new ground by crushing the old course record by more than a minute.
Filled with hills, scenic parks and trails, the race included an elite class of runners, many from the local area.
“Competitor Group is at it’s [sic] core a health and wellness company dedicated to promoting and enhancing an active lifestyle. Lifestyle is the key word, not Sport. Rock n Roll marathons have always been about the journey, the commitment, the personal dedication required to train and finish a half or full marathon. We’re not about how fast you complete the race, we’re about the fact that you showed up on the start line and the commitment one has made to complete the journey.”
The above quote comes from Competitor Group CEO Scott Dickey, explaining the company’s decision to disassemble its elite athlete program in a response to an earlier piece by Toni Reavis. Competitor puts on the Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon and marathon series.
Runners hoping to make it to the Paul Thurston 4.5 Miler Tuesday night found themselves stuck between the clock and a hot race.
The race served as the final leg of the DC Road Runners Bunion Derby series for the summer, but holding it at Burke Lake Park in Fairfax Station was balancing act. If the club held it on a weekend, runners would have to pay $8 to enter the park. If it was on a weekday, evenings would be limited by the park’s closing time at sundown, roughly 8:00 p.m. With a 6:45 starting time, it was up to the runners as to how they would manage the end of their workday and fight rush hour traffic to get to the race.
Changes to the Marine Corps Marathon course are exciting local runners and likely going to mean faster times this October.
Runners will not have to endure a big hill around the Georgetown Reservoir between miles seven and eight. Instead, from miles six through nine, runners will run up Rock Creek Parkway to the bottom of Calvert Street and back, a stretch used in the Navy and Nike Women’s half marathons, as the MCM course returns to a pre-2007 design.
Any runner who understands the basics of delayed gratification — a principal so central to this sport — could appreciate the Leesburg 20k’s new course, now in its second year. The rolling hills on Dry Mill Road are gone, replaced by a long, grinding grade on the W&OD Trail, one that snuck up on South Riding’s Tatiana Sheptock.
“My eyes wouldn’t see it, but my legs felt it,” she said. “It definitely felt a lot better on the way back.”