Rachel Pocratsky isn’t your normal 22-year-old. The Gaithersburg, Md. native has set numerous middle-distance track records at Virginia Tech, achieved first-team status in the NCAA All-American indoor and outdoor track teams, and finished several events in times that rank among some of the fastest in NCAA track history. Oh, and she’s just a few months away from beginning her professional running career in the D.C. area.
Pocratsky is a student athlete at Virginia Tech poised to graduate in May 2020 with a degree in civil engineer … and scores of running awards and accolades under her belt. She recently signed with the District Track Club, an Under Armour-supported post collegiate track club in the D.C. area — where she will begin her professional running career in the spring.
Name: Gildas Le Moigne
Self-described age group: 38
Residence: Springfield
Occupation: Director of Development at Westminster School, Annandale
Volunteer roles in the running world: I created a 5K fundraiser for my school 3 years ago. I think it is a great way to create a sense of community and engagement. It also promotes a healthier way of living which is so important when you work with children.
Why you run: I try to run away from my wife who is an elite runner. But she always catches me!
When did you get started running: Almost 10 years ago, when I met my wife
Caitlyn Tateishi is the type of runner who is never satisfied.
She ran her first marathon in June 2015, finishing in 3:38:49, a few minutes above her Boston qualifying time. It didn’t take long for her to sign up for another one — and three months later, she qualified for Boston by more than 15 minutes.
When she ran 3:00:43 at Boston in 2016, she earned a new personal record but said she was still disappointed. She won the Baltimore Marathon later that year with a time of 2:55:42.
Tateishi’s drive to get faster led her to a U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying time.
Liz Ozeki told people that she would retire when she broke 3:00 for the marathon.
She lied.
Two weeks after setting a big marathon PR in Chicago, she ran, and won, the inaugural Marine Corps Marathon 50k.
Ozeki, of Rockville, ran 3:42:04 to outpace Judy Doldorf, of Manassas, who ran 3:52:00. Lisa Reichmann, of Gaithersburg, ran 4:15:10 for third.
Brittany Charboneau tells her fair share of jokes, but she made a serious play for the Marine Corps Marathon record.
Aiming for 2:37:00, the Colorado-based comedian, actress and improv instructor took off after a few easy miles, grabbing the lead from 2015 and 2018 MCM winner Jenny Mendez and hitting the halfway mark at 1:18:05. Mendez eventually dropped out short of 20 miles.
The second half of the race was also not kind to Charambou, who ran 2:36:34 at the 2018 Los Angeles Marathon. She won Marine Corps, running 2:44:47, but given her goal, she wasn’t happy.
“I just didn’t feel great today,” she said. I felt good all week. Everything went heavy. It was a mental battle from the beginning.”
For some runners, completing the 44th Marine Corps Marathon is a grand achievement. For others it’s “just a Sunday”. There were thousands of different stories that involved crossing the finish line of the rainy 2019 Marine Corps Marathon, but here is just a small piece of the many stories that make up D.C.’s most prominent race.
Ben Nilsestuen, 37, of Brooklyn, ran the marathon in memory of his friend, James Brophy, who died in December in a Marine training accident. Nilsestuen was not alone in supporting the memory of Brophy. All of Brophy’s college roommates, his old friends from high school, and his wife, were out to support the Marine’s memory by running the marathon.
Nilsestuen is no stranger to marathon running. Though this is his first time running the Marine Corps Marathon, this was his 30th marathon overall. For him, he described running 26.2 miles as “just a Sunday.” What made this race special wasn’t the distance, but that it was the first time he ran to honor a friend.
“[The marathon] wasn’t really about racing. It was for a different purpose,” he says.
The winning Washington Catholic Athletic Conference teams got on the board early, with Gonzaga senior Cullen Capuano and St. John’s freshman Meredith Gotzman earning runaway individual victories at Bull Run Regional Park. Their team each won their third consecutive conference titles.
Capuano wasted no time building a lead, win a two-second margin by the race’s first turn. He ran ahead the entire race and won in 16:09.
Name: Caitlin Briere
Self-described age group: 30-34
Residence: Old Town Alexandria
Occupation: Federal Employee
Volunteer roles in the running world: I’ve been volunteering each year at an aid station at the Umstead 100-mile race down in Raleigh, North Carolina. A few friends and I have made an annual girls’ weekend out of it.
Why you run: Because it helps me feel strong physically and mentally. I manage stress much better when I run regularly, and I find that I feel more energetic and am more productive when I start the day with a run or cross-training workout. Running also gives me necessary “me time” when I don’t have to be accountable to anyone else or focus on anything other than putting one foot in front of the other. Also because it helps balance out my massive sweet tooth!
Jeff Stein, winner of the 2018 Marine Corps Marathon and participant in the 2017 first-mile fiasco talks about his recent introduction to distance running and training alone.
