- 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.”
As students at St. Albans School and National Cathedral School prepare for the cross country conference championships, many of these runners are also getting ready for the fall play.
Jim Ehrenhaft, who coaches cross country for both Washington, D.C., schools and is also the assistant track coach in charge of distance, is just one of the coaches in the region who works with students balancing other commitments outside of running and school.
“It’s something that we just have to help them manage,” he said. “Because their interests certainly should be encouraged, and at the same time, when they made choices, there are consequences or repercussions, and we just, again, have to help them understand that and put it in perspective — that’s one of the big challenges.”
Name: Chris Carney
Self-described age group: Masters (first race in my new 45-49 age group, this weekend)
Residence: Falls Church
Occupation: Attorney for the federal government
Volunteer roles in the running world: Have volunteered at various races, including the MCM beer tent.
Taking up marathon training often means taking time away from the family to get in the miles, the long runs, the workouts. For Joe Divel, it turned into a way to create new bonds with his daughters.
Divel, 59, of Rockville, is in his fourth year with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club First Time Marathoners program and in his second year as a coach.
FTM prepares people to run a marathon — it doesn’t have to be their first — over a six-month period. And it’s more than just running buddies or training plans — Divel referred to the group as a family numerous times.
Pace the Nation returns after a month’s hiatus with new host and Arlington native Tess Stryk. They talk to Mike Wardian, who ran the C&O Canal Towpath between Cumberland and Georgetown in 36:36:03 over Labor Day weekend.
- With the Arlington Memorial Bridge out of commission, the Army Ten-Miler course will take the Key Bridge and Whitehurst Parkway to Rock Creek Parkway, in lieu of Constitution and Virginia avenues.
When Adam Popp heads to the start line at the Navy Air Force Half Marathon on Sunday, the pain of the marathon he ran just days before will be fresh. But the Air Force veteran who lost his right leg above the knee after an explosion in Afghanistan in 2007 knew he had to make room in his schedule for the half marathon that holds special meaning to him. In 2015, only four months after he took up running seriously, Popp finished the Navy Air Force Half in 1:44:29 — much faster than his first try at the distance eight years earlier.
“Long story short, I ran that half marathon faster than I had when I had two legs,” Popp said.
After a week of being forced to call audibles on practices in the face of oppressive heat and humidity, runners were treated to a cooler day at the Monroe Parker Invitational Saturday at Burke Lake.
Stifling humidity on top of late-summer heat coupled with new school district policies to cancel outdoor practices in the week leading up to the race, with teams opting for morning, late-night or independent practices. When runners at Osbourn Park couldn’t do morning practices, the Yellow Jackets wound up running stairs or laps around the hallways.
“That was tough because the kids have to take those turns slower,” said coach Mike Shuster. “I’m hoping the silver lining is it will keep us fresh a little longer, since we couldn’t have regular practice for seven out of nine days.”
Changes in plans like that left some runners and coaches a little unsure of how they would open their seasons. The September ACT testing date conflicted with this year’s race, to boot.
