races

At the humid and overcast Navy – Air Force Half Marathon, many a runner had to temper their expectations. After a pleasant, mild Saturday, the return of sticky summer air on Sunday felt almost punitive. Yet the conditions did not stop Susanna Sullivan (Capital Area Runners) from crushing the women’s course record or Daniel Samet (Georgetown Running Club) from a speedy victory in his half-marathon debut. The Bethesda native ran for the Georgetown Day School and later, Davidson College. 

“The weather conditions made it more challenging than I had originally anticipated when I signed up,” Sullivan said afterwards. “But I feel like I ran a smart race and I was happy with how it turned out.” For much of the race, Andie Cozzarelli of Raleigh, N.C. ran alone a few hundred feet ahead of Sullivan. Cozzarelli is a two-time All-American and alumna of NC State who now runs for Oiselle.

With fall racing season upon us, runners of all ages and abilities converged on the 2016 Clarendon Day races. The 5k/10k/double race fell a week earlier than usual, and though September weather can be unpredictable, the morning dawned mild and slightly overcast. Undeterred by Safetrack delays, 1,145 runners gathered atop Wilson Boulevard to start the 5k. After the races, daylong festival 

The course was quiet except for the pounding of shoes and panting of the fastest runners. Dashing towards Rosslyn, Clint McKelvy (14:36) of Arlington took an early lead that became insurmountable by the end of the second mile. At the finish line, McKelvy and his cheering squad debated his finish time, which fell just two seconds short of the course record.

Although more than 1,000 runners signed up for the seventh annual Love the Run You’re With 5k, bone-chilling temperatures shaved that number in half as a polar vortex ripped through the area over Valentine’s Day weekend.

But those who braved temperatures that barely peaked at 20 degrees were treated to another festive and exciting installment of the popular February race began at Arlington’s Pentagon Row and concluded at Champps, which also served as the race’s home base.

After recruiting their parents to join them for the Jingle All the Way 5k, Philadelphia, Pa., residents Wendy and Angela Hou (51:24) traveled back to their Herndon, Va., home a few days before the race. And just like many of this year’s participants, the two found themselves in a store Saturday evening shopping for items ahead of Sunday’s event.

But the sisters weren’t there to pick up gels, water bottles, socks or additional pre-race items. Instead, they walked out of a Northern Virginia Michaels craft store with tinsel, ornaments and other Christmas accoutrements.

Either way you sliced it, the race was a perfect 10.

If they chose to run 10 kilometers or 10 miles, runners passed judgment on the race like a gymnastics judge. But unlike the finely-tuned routines on the mats, runners could improvise mid-race and choose to cut it short or add another 3.8 miles to their run.

The midpoint between a mile and a marathon is more than a little beyond the 5k, but that didn’t matter to Sam Penzenstadler and Kieran O’Connor.

[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=5256″ target=”_self” position=”left”] 5k Results [/button-red]The pair of Arlingtonians battled to the Clarendon Day 5k finish line with Penzenstadler, a 3:58 miler, edging marathoner O’Connor by a second in 14:34. The competition, not to mention a downhill first mile that early leader Tyler Andrews, also of Arlington, passed in 4:35, helped O’Connor score a 40-second PR, though Penzenstadler was off of his 13:58 track PR best. But, it was enough for the new Pacers New Balance runner to break Landon Peacock‘s one-year-old course record by three seconds. The race starts in Clarendon and heads down Wilson Boulevard and turns at the Arlington Memorial Bridge before finishing in Rossyln. The 10k turns at I-395. Both feature dramatic net downhills.

Joanna Robbins had done the Parks Half Marathon a few times, so she went to bed feeling like she was ready to help her friend Aaron Zimmerman run his first half.

[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=5222″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]When she woke up at 7:04, though, she knew there was one thing she forgot—the race started at 7. She thought on her feet, once she got out of bed, and high-tailed it to the five mile mark, courtesy of Ben Levy’s tactical navigation.

Run and repeat.

That’s what 286 runners opted to do at the Clarendon Day 5k and 10k, both of which started with a more-than-one-mile drop down Clarendon Boulevard into Rosslyn. The brave 5k runners were on the clock to get back to the top of the hill by 9:05 at the latest to start the 10k.