Former host Joanna Russo, fresh off some “me time” during a three-month furlough, updates her colleagues on life in Syracuse.
Ben Beach was actually happy for the reprieve.
The Bethesda man, who holds the record for most consecutive Boston Marathon finishes with 52, had every intention of running his 53rd, but with the race’s delay, he’s happy to sleep in on Patriots’ Day for the first time since he was in high school.
“I was relieved when they postponed it,” he said. “I’ve been fighting a bad knee, my mileage was more pathetic than usual. Having a few more months to get ready is a break for me.”
Alexis Fairbanks, of D.C. also would have pushed through some discomfort to race, but has taken the break to recuperate.
“So no fun Boston challenges for me, but the Olympic Channel (paying the past six marathon broadcasts) has been all day to relive the glory,” she said.
Beach and Fairbanks were two of 606 local runners registered for the race, many of whom are still signed up for the Sept. 14 makeup date, one that is obviously still in question. Many observed the day in one form or another.
A Walt Whitman runner is getting a bone marrow transplant, but will need help from blood and platlet transfusions.
Ben Lesser got a major boost in his fight acute myeloid leukemia when the National Marrow Donor Program yielded a partial match.
Try this again! The power of athletics! #WeRaise #wwtf4life @WWHSAthletics @mcpsAD @MCPSAthletics pic.twitter.com/CATLMlSDBw
— Stephen Hays (@WWXCCoach) April 15, 2020
Help Ben
Donate blood
You can donate whole blood every 56 days. Lesser can accept A negative, B negative, AB negative and O negative.
Donate platlets
You can donate platelets every 7 or 14 days. In D.C., at the Donor Center at Children’s National Hospital, you can donate platelets every 14 days. Around the country, you can donate platelets every 7 days at the Red Cross (see the Red Cross website). If you have ever been pregnant, you may need to have an HLA test first.
Send Ben a card or note:
Ben Lesser
6106 Harvard Ave. PO Box 607
Glen Echo, MD 20812
If you’d like to organize a group of people to donate blood, or if you simply prefer to speak to someone, please call the Donor Center at Children’s National Hospital at 202-476-5437.
Name: Taylor Williamson
Self-described age group: 35-39
Residence: Silver Spring
Occupation: Global Health Systems Manager at RTI International
Volunteer roles in the running world: I have been a pacer for the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile for years, and I volunteer for MCRRC races as I am able. Pikes Peek is one of my favorites!
Why you run: I‘ve run for so long that my motivations change about every couple of years. I run now because it keeps me sane by burning off excess energy and letting my mind shut down. I also really appreciate the running community in Montgomery County. It’s a dedicated and engaged group of people.
How has your running changed in the last four weeks: I was training for Pikes Peek in April; aiming to better a very slow 10K PR. Since that race and all the others have been shut down, I’m taking time off to heal from a bad hamstring strain.
Dani Micsan’s name may sound familiar to local runners in the female 60-64 age group.
Micsan, who lives in Reston, turned 60 in early 2019 and won her age group at the Reston 10 Miler on March 3 that year. The next Sunday, she won her age group again at the Pot O’Gold 10K. One week later, she placed second in her age group at the Lucky Leprechaun 5K.
And plenty more age group honors followed.
“Last year, all I did was train for different races,” said Micsan, who is now 61.
And, she got faster, too.
Alexandria Turkey Trot Race Director Brian Danza talks about his weeks-long effort to find 1.5 million masks in China.
- The National Park Service has extended the usual weekend closure of most of Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park to traffic throughout the rest of April. Roads in Anacostia Park and Fort Dupont Park will be closed to traffic from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. every day until April 30.
- Montgomery Parks is closing Little Falls Parkway between, Massachusetts Avenue and Arlington Road (River Road will be open midway), and Beach Drive, between Knowles Avenue and Connecticut Avenue (Cedar Lane is open midway) to traffic between Fridays at 9 am to Sundays at 6 p.m. Sligo Creek Parkway is closed on the same schedule between University Boulevard and Fores Glen Road (with Dennis Avenue open midway) and Piney Branch Road to Old Carroll Avenue (with Maple Avenue open midway).
- A variety of local runners were guests on podcasts recently:
- Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Caitlyn Tateishi was on Ali on the Run
- Mike Wardian was on Citius and Run Farther and Faster
- Tom Brumlik was on Running Through It
- T.S. Wootton Coach Kellie Redmond was on Run Farther and Faster
- Loudon Valley alumnus Drew Hunter was on Final Surge
Running again took a lot of faith for Vicki McGorty.
Despite a running career that went back 44 years and took her to the high school cross country championship and a collegiate career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as she launched herself in the air April 4, she wasn’t sure what would happen when she came back down.
“I was so excited but a little nervous,” she said. “When I go up in the air, is my leg going to catch me?”
It did.
She was nine months removed from a double knee replacement which repaired about seven years of damage that she pushed herself through.
