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Ansley Howell seems ready for a real pair of running shoes. The 8-year-old from South Riding – running with tiny American flags behind her ears – was third in her age group this morning at the third annual Let Freedom Run 5k in Fairfax.

[button-red url=”http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-4601″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Howell was paced by her father, Gregg, while her sister, Grace, 12, was paced by her mother, Ann. Her older brother, Noah, 14, who runs cross country for Freedom High School – “too fast for the rest of the family,” Gregg said – was on his own, finishing around 20 minutes.


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As Michael Wardian was finishing his preparations he had a big grin on his face. He noted that he had just won a 10K but the race was “almost too short.” This year would be his fifth time racing the 20K and he had won the last three years. There were three other submasters in the elite field. Frenchman Philippe Rolly who back in 1999 had won the St. Patrick’s Day 10K in 30:27, well ahead of Wardian’s 30:55 PR. Rolly had dappled in Wardian’s forté winning a fifty miler in 2008 in just over seven hours. Wardian had won the JFK 50 Miler in 2007 in 5:50:34.

Italian Edi Turco loves to run. He told us at the DCRRC Landon Cross Country Saturday night that he looks for a race every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Like Michael he runs fifty plus races a year. Often onlookers wonder if these guys would not be faster with fewer races. Perhaps Wardian might improve on his 14:55 PR, which does seem a little out of touch with his new marathon PR of 2:17:49 set this year. And of course he always maintains, “I love to toe the line.”