- The Montgomery County Council voted to approve $54.9 million to replace the tunnel carrying the Capital Crescent Trail under Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. The tunnel is due to open in 2026, three years after completion of the Purple Line station, which will occupy the previous tunnel.
- Beach Drive and Ross Drive in Rock Creek Park will remain closed to traffic through June 8.
- Montgomery Blair alumna Morgan Casey wrote for the UMBC Retriever about how disruptions in her live during the pandemic have challenged her recovery from an eating disorder. She had earlier shared her story with RunWashington.
- Former Freedom and Forest Park coach Leroy Worley was named interim cross country and track coach at Emory and Henry College.
- I will be appeearing on Potomac River Running’s Instagram Live Wednesday, May 20 from 8 pm – 9 pm.
Vienna’s Pat Welch, 75, usually has the mornings to herself. She doesn’t have to go into work until 1:00 at her job at a chiropractic’ office, which means she uses the morning to run.
“I love a crisp cold sunny morning,” she said. “The colder the better.”
Welch first tried running back when she lived in Massachusetts, but it didn’t stick.
“I started running around the pond by the house,” she said. “Then I decided that’s not far enough, so I ran around it two times, and that was the last time I ran for years.”
In 1981, Welch moved to Vienna from her home in Massachusetts. Here, she was struck by the vibrant running community.
Name: Trevor Myers
Self-described age group: Grandmaster, not quite older than dirt
Residence: Bethesda
Occupation: Anesthesiologist-Dominion Anesthesia, Chief of Anesthesia Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington
Volunteer roles in the running world: Usually and obviously, I’m typically running the medical tent for larger races, but chip in anywhere I can.
How has your running changed in the last few weeks: My mental and physical exhaustion of the past six weeks has made it very difficult to find the energy to get time in, so I’ve returned to my favorite spot on the Potomac River over and over again
Why you run: Running has always been an escape for me, a respite in the storm of life. This has never been truer now, as we fight the scourge of Covid19.
You’re at a picnic at a park, and so is another family nearby. Your uncle gets drunk and belligerent, wanders over to the other family, gets rude, starts taking food without asking.
If both families wanted the uncle to stop, who would he be more receptive to?
“When we’re talking about violence against unarmed African Americans, whether by police or civilians, it’s largely been our family trying to get the drunk uncle to stop,” D.C.’s Fred Irby said. “His family is looking at what’s happening, shaking their heads and saying ‘he doesn’t represent us as a family,’ but they haven’t done anything to pull him back.”
These days, Irby is applying that metaphor to the Feb. 23 shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, who was running in a Glynn County, Ga. neighborhood. After more than two months with no action by local authorities, the Georgia Bureau of Investigated Gregory and Travis McMichael and charged them with murder and aggravated assault May 7.
In an online movement, #IrunwithMaud, that gained momentum following the May 6 release of video footage of the incident and stoked in large part by New York-based activist Alison Désir, runners dedicated their runs on May 8, which would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday, with many running 2.23 miles, commemorating the date of his murder. While there’s no shortage of violent incidents, including deaths, of unarmed African Americans, this was the highest profile, if not the first, involving a victim reported to be exercising at the time, particularly running.
It caught on, with thousands of runners, unable to gather because of physical distancing orders, followed through on social media platforms.
On Running’s Chris Trebilcock talks about his life in the shoes business and his company’s efforts to distribute 5,000 shoes to essential personnel during the pandemic.
Mike Ricci set the stage for his 2020 by running the New Year’s Day 5k in Gaithersburg. As it turns out, by mid-May, he’s been spending more time working with the Manna Food Center, the race beneficiary, than he has been running outside.
As communications director for Gov. Larry Hogan, Ricci’s been cut off from the leisurely runs out in the Old Line State while he manages the outreach for one of the country’s most active governors during the coronavirus pandemic, which ranges from state-wide communications down to relationship building to tackle consequences of the pandemic, including food insecurity.
“I pretty much stick to the treadmill,” he said, quick to add, “not just because of the stay-at-home order, but because of my hours.”
Ashley Donovan is used to starting off her ultramarathons with a low-key command. “Go” usually suffices. But the start of her latest 24-hour run was accompanied by sirens.
At 6:01 a.m. May 9, as she started on a day’s worth of solitary 0.2-mile loops around the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad building and parking lot, an ambulance rolled out on a call. That service, and her fundraising run, hammered home the 24-hour nature of emergency response and demonstrated why she was doing this. The secretary on BCCRS’ Board of Directors, Donovan, of Upper Northwest D.C., has been a volunteer EMT since 2015.
“People have been surprised when they hear I’m still volunteering,” during the coronavirus pandemic, she said. “This was a fine opportunity to highlight the role of volunteers in our emergency response system.”
The fundraising effort around her feat totaled more than $11,000, which will be split between the rescue squad and Feed the Fight, a nonprofit that feeds emergency and healthcare workers meals from local restaurants and caterers.
Name: Katie McHugh. Or Dinterbeast. I’ll answer to both.
Self-described age group: I’m timeless.
Residence: The Hill is Home.
Occupation: Pediatric oncology research nurse
Volunteer roles in the running world: I am an expert cowbell ringer and very proficient in vuvuzela blowing. I am also an exceptional relay van driver, and I will get the team to the next exchange on time no matter what ill directions I have been given.
How has your running changed in the last few weeks: I’ve whittled down to only one running partner: my one-year-old daughter, Molly.
Why you run: Because it’s fun, duh!
