Pace the Nation returns after a month’s hiatus with new host and Arlington native Tess Stryk. They talk to Mike Wardian, who ran the C&O Canal Towpath between Cumberland and Georgetown in 36:36:03 over Labor Day weekend.
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When Adam Popp heads to the start line at the Navy Air Force Half Marathon on Sunday, the pain of the marathon he ran just days before will be fresh. But the Air Force veteran who lost his right leg above the knee after an explosion in Afghanistan in 2007 knew he had to make room in his schedule for the half marathon that holds special meaning to him. In 2015, only four months after he took up running seriously, Popp finished the Navy Air Force Half in 1:44:29 — much faster than his first try at the distance eight years earlier.
“Long story short, I ran that half marathon faster than I had when I had two legs,” Popp said.
After a week of being forced to call audibles on practices in the face of oppressive heat and humidity, runners were treated to a cooler day at the Monroe Parker Invitational Saturday at Burke Lake.
Stifling humidity on top of late-summer heat coupled with new school district policies to cancel outdoor practices in the week leading up to the race, with teams opting for morning, late-night or independent practices. When runners at Osbourn Park couldn’t do morning practices, the Yellow Jackets wound up running stairs or laps around the hallways.
Name: Christopher Jolly
Self-described age group: 27, so between 20-30
In the middle of mile six, the Parks Half Marathon went from sweaty brow to high brow. It became the “Rachmaninoff ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.”
Heading into Ken-Gar Park, runners were greeted by George Gershwin as Shaun Tirrell tickled the ivories. In a tuxedo, paired with some Asics, seated at a concert grand piano.