Seife Geletu

Published April 22, 2012 at 5:05PM | Updated September 12, 2013 at 5:13PM

Sean Graham almost backed out. In the week leading up to today’s George Washington Parkway Classic, the 32-year-old Pacers athlete missed three days of training due to illness. By Friday, Graham was feeling better. By Saturday, elite athlete coordinator Jordan Zwick was urging him to give it a shot.

[button-red url=”http://www.swimbikerunphoto.com” target=”_self” position=”left”] Photos [/button-red]Good thing Graham took Zwick’s advice. Near the 7-mile mark, Graham took the lead and proceeded to put 61 seconds on runner-up Eddie Jones, 35, of Boise, ID. He won Pacers Event’s annual 10-mile race in 51:03.

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Ringing In Hope 10K and 5K Settles in as a Player

By James Moreland

Published December 31, 2011 at 1:41PM | Updated September 17, 2013 at 2:33PM

The Hogettes helped out in the fun run. They also noted that a race about hope would fit in nicely with the Washington Redskins.

This the third iteration of the Ringing in Hope races that began last New Year’s Eve. It was followed by an early summer rendition started just down the road. After having a 3K to accompany the main event 10K last year, the races moved to a more logical 5K-10K format.

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Jingle All the Way Gets Too Big for the Park and Moves Downtown

By Dickson Mercer

Published December 11, 2011 at 1:48PM | Updated September 17, 2013 at 2:33PM

It only took the Jingle All the Way 10K six years to outgrow its out-and-back course in Washington, DC’s West Potomac Park. This year, with more than 6,000 registered runners, Capital Running Company moved the race downtown to the same venue that hosts its annual St. Patrick’s Day 8K. The new 8K, which starts on Pennsylvania Avenue and, as with Occupy DC, is staged at Freedom Plaza, was held in cold, yet calm conditions that probably seemed perfect to those who braved last year’s cold drizzle.

If you are wondering how a road race typically held on a frigid day has become such a popular race, look no further than the costumes. At the Jingle All the Way 8K, Santa got the top-seeded number and knee-high candy cane socks paired with elf caps were the opposite of an exception. Today’s oddballs were ever-serious front-runners wearing their usual racing kits.

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Joe Cassella 5K Race Report

By Briana Taylor

Published September 15, 2011 at 12:51PM | Updated September 23, 2013 at 12:58PM

Like Sleepy Hollow, the Great Falls section along Georgetown Pike is a pretty well kept secret. Not that many races get held there. The ones that do have names like Difficult Run, named after one of the many parks along the roadside. You really do [button-red url=”http://www.joecassellafoundation.org/about-us.php” target=”_self” position=”left”] More About Joe [/button-red]have to slow down to transverse this section of town with its winding turns and steep hills but the view is great.

Last year in the inaugural year the skies opened up a drenched the field. Everybody proclaimed the course a challenge. “So you are going to Great Falls. Expect a really hilly course.” We did and it wasn’t. Great Falls Village went all out. The police cordoned off all the roads. The rumored shortage of parking was just that – rumor. One veteran runner was told to prepare for a tough finish and ran too timidly in the first half only to learn that there were virtually no hills on the course.

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Early Morning Rain Cannot Dampen Spirits at the Leesburg 20K/10K

By James Moreland

Published August 12, 2011 at 4:16PM | Updated September 18, 2013 at 5:17PM

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.”

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