Name: Bobby Huang
Adventurer, 18-year daily runner and palatable reality TV star Ariel Tweto stops while she’s in town for the premire of a documentary she produced.
Pacers Running Race Director Lisa Reeves talks about catching her white whale, holding a half marathon in Washington, D.C., which she will do Sept. 13 when the D.C. Half replaces what was once the Navy-Air Force Half Marathon.
Name: Julie Lawson
Self-described age group: 41
Residence: Takoma, D.C.
Occupation: I am the Director of the Mayor’s Office of the Clean City, which means I work with agencies and advise Mayor Bowser on environmental policy, particularly on trash and litter. Before this, I was founder and executive director of Trash Free Maryland. I love the Anacostia River, Chesapeake Bay and oceans!
Volunteer roles in the running world: I loved coaching for Girls on the Run, and especially their middle-school program, Girls on Track. The girls inspired me every day.
Why you run: Over the years, the reasons have varied–fitness, clearing my head, burning off my dog’s energy. The reason I keep at it is because it makes other things I like to do, like riding my bike or hiking, easier and more fun.
Usually, running coach Kathy Pugh’s More than Miles Bootcamp group doesn’t cross streets for their runs, but Pugh said when they do, Roberta Stewart is there to serve as “safety patrol.”
Even if there are no cars coming, Stewart backs Pugh up on not crossing without a “walk” signal.
This behavior is something Stewart sees in D.C., along with drivers not always stopping at lights.
For pedestrians, it’s better to wait than risk crossing to get to the other side a little faster, she said.
“It is absolutely worth it to wait those 30 seconds,” Stewart said. “It’s not worth it to say I’m in a hurry. Because that car is going to win against your body every time.”
Kyle Stanton was showing us how it’s done. His Strava posts that fall of 2017 revealed a true disciple of Renato Canova marathon training. It was a training log leaving little doubt that a breakthrough was coming.
Like his Nov. 12 post titled 20 Hard. 3 Weeks. Twenty hard, as in 20 miles at the natural surface Dual Ferries loop, solo, averaging 5:25. Three weeks, as in Stanton wouldn’t have to wait much longer before achieving his goal at that year’s California International Marathon.
True to form, Stanton, then 26, ran 2:17:48, a sizable P.R., to finish 28th overall and qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Then, in July 2018, the lights went out. The title of Stanton’s last Strava post — his last run — read like this:
Stanton had been doing rehab work in an attempt to solve compartment syndrome. It’s a difficult and confusing injury to address, Stanton said, in that it typically requires some combination of lots of time off in addition to a surgery followed by a long recovery. That night, Stanton ran from his house in Rockville to a nearby middle school to try some short intervals. “And I did two or three of them,” he said, “walked back off the track, walked back in and never put the flats on again.”
Stanton shared later in our phone call: “So someone asked me, ‘How’s your calf?’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I forgot that was why I initially stopped running.”
- After spending almost three years recovering from a rare vascular condition in her legs and the resulting complications, Lake Braddock alumna Kate Murphy raced again on Sunday, running 4:47 for the mile at the University of Washington Invitational. Here’s last year’s look at how she coped with the challenges she faced since qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the 1,500 meters.
- The University of North Carolina’s athletic department featured Georgetown alumnus and former coach Chris Miltenberg and his inspiration (partially fueled by Chantilly’s McGorty family) to take charge of the Tar Heels’ track program.
- Loudoun Valley alumnus Drew Hunter tells the story of his injury that kept him out of the 2019 World Championships and his subsequent recovery.
Name: Jason Lufkin
Self-described age group: 37
Residence: Capitol Hill
Occupation: Management consultant specializing in risk advisory & business transformation
Why you run: I spent a lot of time thinking about my Why statement. It’s simple though – I run because it gives me joy.
When did you get started running: I started running in 1996 leading up to freshman year cross country after my parents had forced me to sign up for a fall sport. I remember wearing basketball shoes to my first practice and thought the one-mile warmup was the entire workout.
Have you taken a break from running: I ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track all through high school and then into my freshman year at the University of Maryland. The transition to training at the collegiate level was difficult though and I found myself completely burnt out after the fall 2000 XC season. The break from running lasted until 2015 when my wife convinced me to sign up for a 10K with her. That race reignited my passion for running and racing.
Don’t be surprised if you look along the starting line of your next neighborhood 5k and see a fourth grader wearing a cape. You might be looking at that cape once Matteo Lambert speeds off down the course, raising money for his very own non-profit, Off the Charts Club.
Vienna native Matteo, 9, spent 2019 running 33 charity-driven races in 15 states and Canada, totaling over 100 miles and racking up nearly $65,000 to donate to Hopecam, an organization that helps kids with cancer stay connected to their classmates through technology.
This year, Matteo embarks on an even more ambitious endeavor, one he’s coined “L2L” – Lincoln to Liberty. He will compete in 5k and 10k races across the United States to total 220 miles – the distance from the Lincoln Memorial to the Statue of Liberty.
Pacers CEO (and RunWashington Publisher) Kathy Dalby and Burke Beck of Oklahoma City’s Red Coyote Running discuss their networking and educational retreat for women in the running industry that they started last year. Docs goes on an unrelated rant.
