• Former Georgetown runner Hugh Joseph Short, who set a world record in the 660-yard dash and was on a world -record-setting mile relay team (3:17.2) before leaving to serve in World War II, died Nov. 4 at age 98.
• Construction on the Arlington Memorial Bridge will limit access to the south sidewalk (with detours posted) and the Mount Vernon Trail will be closed under the bridge from 9 p.m.- 5 a.m. until early 2021.
• Loudoun Valley’s girls, running as The Jungle, finished fourth in what is essentially the national high school club cross country championships Nov. 15 in Terre Haute, Ind. Ava Gordon finished seventh overall on a scoring team that included Ally Talley and Ricky, Scarlet and Cecelia Fetterolf, along with Maddie Smith and Katherine Slovak.
• Springfield ultrarunner Megan Alvardo, who ran on the U.S. 24-hour team last year, will be the guest on this week’s Potomac River Running Instagram Live, Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m.
• The Potomac Heritage Trail is currently closed south of the Arlington County parking lot at the intersection of Glebe Road and Chain Bridge Road. The NPS is working with Arlington County and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club to identify a temporary deour and a plan to reopen.
• Arlington County is accepting comments through Friday Nov. 20 on a project to improve three trail intersections on the Bluemont Junction Trail.
• Oakton and American alumna Keira D’Amato was a guest on the Ali on the Run podcast.
• D’Amato, Reston’s Susanna Sullivan, former Fairfax resident Bethany Sachtleben, Molly Seidel and Emily Durgin will take a shot at the American 10-mile record (52:12) at 8 a.m. Monday Nov. 23  at the Up Dawg Ten Miler, which will be livestreamed on the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Facebook page.
• The Cherry Blossom organizing committee will announce a decision on holding the 2021 race by Dec. 31 before opening registration.
• The District Track Club’s coach Tom Brumlik and athlete Jacob Dumford, both of Arlington, were guests on the Run Your Mouth podcast, along with teammate Willy Fink of Blacksburg.

Name: Michaela Guerin Hackner

Self-described age group: The “faster as a master” crew

Residence: Arlington, but soon-to-be Bozeman, Mont.

Occupation: Design director, Upwork

How has your running changed in the last six months: For the past six years I’ve trained for triathlon and road races pretty much year-round in hopes of getting faster and hitting milestones like completing an Ironman and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. I achieved both those goals, and at the start of the pandemic I was about a month away from running the Boston Marathon for the second time. That was postponed and well, most of life was postponed. So, while I started out doing challenges like the Yeti 24-hour Ultra, I quickly made the decision to give my body a much-needed break and take all goals off the table. That’s turned into running for fun and making time for other kinds of outdoor activities, like 15-mile hikes and cross-country skiing. We’re in the process of moving across the country to a place that is covered in snow, but my plan is to resume training more regularly once we’re settled again.

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Tracksmith CEO Matt Taylor outlines the ethos behind his company and its new creative fellowship and collegiate track support initiatives.

• The College Park Woods Connector Trail has opened, connecting the University of Maryland campus to the Anacostia Tributaries Trail System.
• Georgetown alumnus Alton McKenzie is now the director of track and field and cross country at Georgetown, following four years are associate head coach. He previous coached at the University of the District of Columbia.
• Oakton and American alumna Keira D’Amato was a guest on the For the Long Run podcast.

There’s so much going on in this episode it might be easier for you to just listen for yourself.

Tom Martin isn’t sure what he’d do without the towers field in Bethesda, Md. Maybe his cross country runners would have to do more workouts on the track, he says. Maybe he’d even think about retiring from coaching. That’s how important the roughly 1.25-mile, grass-and-dirt loop around the WMAL radio towers is to him. It’s more than just a 75-acre field nestled between two highways and not far from Walter Johnson High School, where Martin coaches. It’s a crucial piece of the local running culture in Montgomery County.

“For me, it’s almost as if, when that goes away, I might consider retiring,” Martin says. “It’s invaluable just to have… this nice open space where we can do all different kinds of workouts. It would be a tremendous loss to our program.”

WTOP caught the four towers fall Nov. 4 at 6:30 a.m.

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Though it hung around longer than usual this fall, the humidity seems to be receeding for the fall and winter, opening up conditions for some more pleasant attempts at the longer segments in the DMV Distance Derby.

Admittedly, last month’s addition of a 10k in the Arboteum was a little confusing – blame that on me making a wrong turn while putting the segment together. This month’s addition is simple – downhill on the Capital Crescent Trail, starting in Bethesda and finishing at the Key Bridge. It’s a few steps under 7.1 miles starting at Bethesda Avenue and ending under the Key Bridge. There are two things to keep in mind: the key bridge is under the Whitehurst Freeway past the trailhead gate and Little Falls Parkway is closed to traffic on the weekends, leaving one low-speed intersection- Dorset Ave, about a mile in, as the only major hazard.

View overall results for the first six months of the DMV Distance Derby here

The segment results are generally organized to fit compactly.

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Name: Josh Lasky

Self-described age group: “No longer spry but not yet seasoned” aka 30-39 (I’m 36)

Residence: Kingman Park

Occupation: Managing Director and Chief Strategist, LINK Strategic Partners (communications and social impact consultancy)

Volunteer roles in the running world: Member of the Board of Directors, Climate Ride

How has your running changed in the last six months: My running during the pandemic is mostly about maintaining my mental health. Running has created a much needed calm, focused space away from Zoom calls, my Twitter feed, and the non-stop 24-hour news cycle.

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