• A roughly 0.4-mile paved path opened in Arlington County over the weekend on the western side of Washington Boulevard, between Towers Park and Columbia Pike.
• The California International Marathon Dec. 2 doubled as the U.S. Marathon Championships. Former Georgetown grad student Sam Roecker finished third in 2:30:25, Alexandria’s Bethany Sachtleben, a former George Mason runner, was sixth in 2:31:20 and former Silver Spring resident Maegan Krifchin finished eighth in 2:32:47. All had previously qualified for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. Former Silver Spring resident and University of Maryland runner Patrick Reaves qualified for the Olympic Trials, running 2:17:40, as did Columbia native Brian Harvey (2:17:48), American University alumnus Mark Leininger (2:17:50) and Arlington resident Kieran O’Connor (2:18:52).

The Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile entry lottery runs Dec. 1-Dec. 12.

The Custis Trail in Rossyln, between North Fort Meyer Dr and Lynn Street, will narrow to six feet for 9-10 months starting Dec. 3

• Several runners with local connections will be competing at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, held Saturday, Nov. 17 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Please let us know if we missed someone.
  • Caroline Alcorta – Villanova – West Springfield (Mid-Atlantic region champion)
  • Emily Bracher – Maryland
  • Tai Dinger – Stanford – St. Albans
  • Abbey Green – Virginia – Walter Johnson
  • Heather Holt – NC State – George Marshall
  • Weini Kelati – New Mexico – Heritage (Mountain region champion)
  • Allie Klimkiewicz – Princeton – Oakton
  • Taylor Knibb – Cornell – Sidwell Friends School
  • Page Lester – Princeton – National Cathedral School
  • Rachel McArthur – Villanova – Patriot
  • Jack Van Scoter – Georgetown
  • Nicholas Wareham – Georgetown

• To the northeast, at least seven local runners will be competing at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships the same day at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Please let us know if we missed someone.
  • Tristan Colaizzi – Williams – Georgetown Day School
  • Genevive DiBari – Pomona – Stone Ridge
  • Zoe Friedman – Emory – Montgomery Blair
  • Jeff Gibson – Mary Washington – Edison
  • Abigail Levine – Carnegie Mellon – Bethesda-Chevy Chase
  • Adam Nakasaka – Carleton – Bethesda-Chevy Chase
  • Abigail Shoemaker – Chicago – Thomas Jefferson

• A woman who was initially listed as the sixth finisher at the Marine Corps Marathon crossed none of the intermediate timing mats and has been removed from the results.
• Voting closes Friday for the Hometown Hero Award, which carries a $25,000 prize. George Marshall cross country coach Darrell General is the only cross country or track coach in the finals. You can vote here.

• McLean resident Philippe Rolly won the USATF Masters 15k championship, running 50:40 at the Tulsa Run Oct. 27.
• West Springfield alumna Caroline Alcorta won the Big East Cross Country Championships, followed in second by Patriot alumna Rachel McArthur. The two run for Villanova.
• Georgetown’s men won the Big East Cross Country Championships.
• Heritage alumna Weini Kelati won the Mountain West Conference Championship. She runs for New Mexico.
• The Walk  and 5k to End HIV has been postponed to Dec. 1.

• The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Weini Kelati, a sophomore at the University of New Mexico, as its women’s Division I National Athlete of the Week. Kelati attended Heritage High School in Leesburg for three years and competed for the Pride for two years, including 2015, when she won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. She won the women’s White race at the Division I Pre-National meet last weekend.
• The Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation reports the bridge on Donaldson Run Trail in Zachary Taylor Park, at the North Upton Street entrance, has been damaged from a fallen tree and is currently closed to pedestrian traffic.
• Repairs to the Arlington Memorial Bridge will force detours for pedestrians, alternating at noon and 4 a.m.

Get ready! 3 of 6 lanes & 1 sidewalk on Arlington Memorial Bridge close Monday, Oct. 15. Everyone shifts to the N. side of the bridge. 4am-noon = 2 lanes to DC & 1 lane to VA Noon overnight to 4am = 2 lanes to VA & 1 into DC. More at https://t.co/rLYiXg5FFC #MoreThanABridge pic.twitter.com/HoOE1HyVAA

— Jenny A-S NPS (@NPSJennyAS) October 11, 2018

Montgomery Parks opened a new six-mile natural surface multi-use trail running along Pepco’s transmission right-of-way connecting Muddy Branch Stream Valley to South Germantown Recreation Park. It is being maintained through a collaboration between Montgomery Parks, Pepco and the Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts. RunWashington’s will have an Off the Beaten Path look at the trail next week.

D.C.’s Kerry Allen qualified for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials after running 2:41:33 for seventh place at the Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota Oct. 7. She was RunWashington’s top-ranked road racer in 2017 and has broken the course record at the Riley’s Rumble Half Marathon the past three years. She also won the Parks Half Marathon this Fall. She is one of eight full-time immediate D.C. area residents to qualify for the Olympic Trials, set for Feb. 29 in Atlanta, so far.

• Robert E. Lee High School alumnus Josef Tessema won the Navy Mile elite race Sunday on Pennsylvania Avenue, running 4:01.89. He beat, among others, two-time Olympic medalist Nick Willis.
• A bridge on the Mt. Vernon Trail south of Roosevelt Island is closed Tuesday after a piece of heavy equipment damaged a wooden footbridge.
• The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy named Bethesda’s Peter Raynor the 2018 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champion for his role in writing the 1983 Railbanking Act. Railbanking is voluntary agreement between a railroad company and a trail agency to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail until a railroad might need the corridor again for rail service. This interim trail use of railbanked corridors has preserved thousands of miles of rail corridors that would otherwise have been abandoned.

• The Klingle Valley Trail will be closed between Oct. 11 and Nov. 30 and be closed between 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. Oct. 1 – Oct. 10 and Dec. 3 – Dec. 21 for water and sewer upgrades along the trail.
• Montgomery County Parks has closed all of its natural surface trails through through Thursday in an effort to prevent damage from use during this week’s rain.
• The Marine Corps Marathon deferment period ends Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
• The Arlington Memorial Bridge will be closed to pedestrians this weekend.

• Arlington’s Jillian Pollack qualified for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, running 2:44:44 at the Berlin Marathon Sept. 1. She is one of five runners who lives in the D.C. area full-time who has qualified so far.
• Almost 300 local runners have qualified, and registered for the 2019 Boston Marathon. A total of 294 runners comprises 132 from Northern Virginia, 84 from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and 82 from Washington, D.C. The Boston Athletic Association has some problem with websites representing the registrant list, but you can look people up here. More runners will enter via charity programs and other will scratch the race.
• The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races has recognized the Marine Corps Marathon has having the world’s best finisher medal in 2017. Corbin Stewart, MCMO Graphics Coordinator who designed the award winning medal shares, “The Marine Corps Marathon medal reflects Marine Corps heritage, our great nation’s patriotism and the legacy of the Marine Corps Marathon. Together these elements express the uplifting spirit of the event in a modern design.”