Since publication of this article, D’Amato ran 2:34:55 at the 2019 Berlin Marathon and 1:10:01 at the 2020 Houston Half Marathon. She was once again named USATF’s Virginia Long Distance Runner of the Year.
Setting a PR in the 10k seems like it would make most people happy. Especially if they do it at age 34, more than a decade after the conclusion of an All-American running career.
Not Keira D’Amato. She was third at mid-April’s Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond, and she was pissed. Winner Bethany Sachtleben gapped her by almost a minute.
“I got crushed,” she said the next day. “I ran the best I could and I didn’t even last a mile with them.”
She acknowledged the obvious.
“I’m just a competitive person,” she said. “I know I should be happy, it was a lifetime PR (33:37),” she said. “I’m now in better shape than I ever was in college.”
- Local runners picked up some gold watches at the Penn Relays:
- Georgetown’s 4×800 meter relay team Kenneth Rowe (1:52.46), Ian Delgado (1:52.25), Ruach Padhal (1:49.57), Joseph White (1:50.91)
- Sprint medley relay (200m / 200m / 400m / 800m) 3:17.53 Nate Alleyne, D’Andre Barriffe, Lawrence Leake (48.2), Joseph White (1:46.45)
- Two Northern Virginia natives ran on Villanova’s winning 4×1500 meter team: Patriot alumna Rachel McArthur (4:18.4) and West Springfield alumna Caroline Alcorta (4:28.0).
- Northwood senior Eldad Mulgeta won the high school boys’ 3,000 meter championship in 8:29.05.
- Oakton and American University alumna Keira D’Amato won the Olympic Development 10,000 meters in 33:43.86.
- Vienna’s Perry Shoemaker qualified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, running 2:43:33 at the Eugene Marathon.
- Herdon alumna Hiruni Wijavaratne broke her own Sri Lankan marathon record at the Dusseldorf Marathon, running 2:34:09.
- Road reconstruction in Rock Creek Park has reached Wise Road, which is now closed. This will interrupt the Western Ridge Trail, and runners will have to detour west to Oregon Avenue NW to avoid trespassing.
- The Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail near Ray’s Meadow Local Park and Jones Mill Road will experience intermittent closures through May 2 to accommodate Purple Line Project construction.
- Construction of a pedestrian bridge over Route 29 in Falls Church is forcing a detour near mile 5.5 of the W&OD Trail through Fall 2019.
Name: Amanda Pinzon
Self-described age group: 25-29
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Occupation: Public school teacher
Volunteer roles in the running world: Girls on the Run coach at my school!
Why you run: I run because it makes me feel powerful and makes me push myself. I’ve never been the most competitive person, but I do love setting new goals for myself. Even on days when I feel lazy, I finish my runs feeling happier, healthier, and fulfilled for the day.
When did you get started running: I started my freshman year of high school when I joined the cross country team. I had always enjoyed running the mile in middle school and felt like running was the only sport I felt comfortable doing. Spoiler alert, I threw up after my first practice. But it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. This is when my love of distance running began (back when I considered 5k distance!). That team holds a special place in my heart.
Lokesh Meena had just moved to D.C. to work as a diplomat for the Embassy of India when he started to notice the city’s active running scene.
At the time, running as a lifestyle choice was a foreign concept to him.
“Look at them,” he remembers thinking. “And look at me.”
Meena weighed nearly 200 pounds, and his doctor was lecturing him about his high blood pressure and cholesterol. Then 27 years old, the Rockville resident began to think more seriously about taking up running to lose weight.
Since then, 31-year-old Meena has dropped about 80 pounds and has racked up an impressive collection of running accolades. He holds a world record for Asian runners in the indoor men’s marathon, set last June at the Grant-Pierce Indoor Marathon in Arlington after he won the race in 3:13:19.
Christine Westcott started out the Boston Marathon with a 2:59:59 pace band on her left wrist and a 3:03:16 pace band on her right wrist. She wanted to break three hours at the race, but a secondary goal was to set a personal record.
She was about five seconds off for the first mile, and it felt like she was running a little too hard, she said. Around the five-mile mark, she made an adjustment.
“I actually literally took the 2:59:59 band, swapped it onto my right wrist, took the 3:03:16, put it onto my wrist with my watch on the left wrist, and settled in and said, you know what, I’m just going to try to PR,” said Westcott, 49, who lives in Chantilly.
And then, she just decided to run, checking her watch every so often, but not focusing on a pace band.
Westcott finished in 2:58:48.
In addition to earning a new personal record and her first sub-3:00 time, Westcott was the fastest Washington-area woman to finish the race on April 15. She also earned third place in the female 45-49 age group at Boston.
Pacers Running Race Director Lisa Reeves describes kicking people out once the 2018 GW Parkway Classic afterparty ended.
Name: Marc Wolfson
Self-described age group: Men 65-69 (and looking forward to “aging up” to the 70-74 age group in November!)
Residence: Olney
Occupation: Retired Coast Guard Officer and civil servant for a total of 42 years of federal government service
Volunteer roles in the running world: I’ve volunteered for numerous MCRRC races at water stops, course marshal, and finish line announcer. I have also served as a pace group leader for the Baltimore Marathon several times
Why you run: I love the way running makes me feel physically, mentally and emotionally. My training runs are often an exercise in what I like to call “moving meditation.” Racing is the icing on the cake. Its an opportunity to gather with fellow runners and celebrate the sport that brings us together.
Giovanni Reumante’s experience as a freshman at Northwood High School was a little different than most. His school had recently reopened after being used for offices for the previous 19 years, but rather than siphoning students from other schools, he and his peers were the only class in the school. The Gladiators could have been called the Trailblazers.
He was one of the first members of the school’s track team in 2005, and the cross country team in 2006.
“It was an interesting year. My freshman year, we only had freshmen,” he said. “We were always the top of the class. We didn’t have upperclassmen until we were the upperclassmen.”
