In October 1994, on a chilly, rainy day, I toed the line for my first marathon after five months of haphazard training. I had three goals: finish the Marine Corps Marathon in less than four hours, not walk a single step, and beat Oprah!
The world learned days before that the queen of day-time television, Oprah Winfrey, was also attempting her first go at the distance. Surely if Oprah could run a marathon, then so could I!
With a dry course and a solid set of races, Richard Montgomery senior Garrett Suhr went out, gunning for the course record at Bohrer Park. In the attempt, he nearly lost the Montgomery County Championships. Had he been more patient, like Walter Johnson senior Jenna Goldberg, he might have had both.
A little more than two miles into the race, after taking a long, sweeping turn, Suhr looked back and saw three guys, Northwood’s Ayalew Fantaw and Henok Eshetu and Springbrook’s Surafel Mengist, right on his tail.
“When we crossed the (paved) paths, I’d hear the click-clacking from their spikes but they didn’t seem like they were that close,” Suhr said. “I thought I was way ahead.”
Name: Chad Young
Self-described age group: 38
Residence: Bethesda, Md.
Occupation: High School Math Teacher at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS
Volunteer roles in the running world: Head Coach for Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field for the last 15 years – all at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS; Maryland District 2 Representative to the State Committee for Cross Country; MCPS Cross Country Sport Director. Member of the RunWashington coaches panel
Why you run: Running is fun! I enjoy getting outside and being active. I don’t run to train for races, I just like to run. If a race comes up and I’m feeling like racing, then I’ll do it. I just enjoy running for my own enjoyment and as a routine for good health.
Marc Hunter has been around runners long enough to know that even with the benefit of a meritocracy, seniority can often dominate in a team dynamic. That’s why he was surprised to hear then-freshman Ricky Fetterolf say something at a Loudoun Valley team meeting two years ago.
“It was gutsy, because we had a top-heavy team and it’s understandable for a freshman to just sit back and listen,” he said. “We had a top-heavy team, with a lot of seniors, but she voiced her opinion and I respected that about her. So did a lot of the girls.”
Fetterolf didn’t even remember what she had to say. What was more important to her was letting the rest of the team know she would have things to say, albeit somewhat sparingly. She wanted her hands on the wheel as the team moved ahead.
“I don’t talk that much, but if it’s something I value, I will speak up about it,” she said. “I’d rather lead by example.”
Gavin McElhennon got good in a hurry his second year of cross country running. With any luck, he can do it again.
Unable to run for most of the spring thanks to a groin injury, McElhennon finally relented as the school year ended, knowing that rushing to get back on the track wouldn’t win him anything except frustration as the goalposts for his return moved away every time he started up.
“I was hurting every time I ran,” he said. “I’d take time off, do a lot of physical therapy and start up again, but every time, I’d start hurting after a few days.”
His attention turned to his senior year at Gonzaga, where he had been the Eagles’ top distance runner most of the prior two years. Finally, in July, he opted for platelet-rich plasma injections in his groin, hip and glute, and gave the procedure a month to work itself out. Now, with more than a month of pain-free training, he’s eyeing a late-season comeback, with hopes of his best finish yet at the Nike Cross Regionals Southeast meet, where he finished 57nd last fall.
Local New Balance rep and big-time track fan Tripp Southerland parses the news of coach Alberto Salazar’s four-year coaching ban following a doping and drug trafficking investigation.
When Hiruni Wijayaratne toed the start line of the women’s marathon at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Doha, Qatar, it was just before midnight, but the heat and humidity were almost unbearable.
Had it been any other race it may have been a reason for a DNS. But Wijayaratne — a Herndon alumna now running for her native Sri Lanka — knew Doha was part of her path to the Olympics, a goal she had set her sights on back in 2016. She had to try.
Wijayaratne said she knew from the moment she landed in Qatar that it was going to be a tougher race than she, or anyone else, had expected. Read More
Tight packs kept spectators guessing throughout the Glory Days Grill Invitational, as no runner took over the race until very late, with some top-five finishes in boys and girls races jumbling even in the last 200 meters.
Ultimately, Yorktown senior Albert Velikonja won his second invitational of the season and Centreville junior Camilla McKinstry won her first ever invitational.
Name: Samantha Kirby Cole
Self-described age group: 50-59
Residence: Arlington,Va.
Occupation: Physical education teacher
Why you run: Running is my time to reflect on my day and defrag my mind.
When did you get started running: I started running when I was in elementary school. When I was 7 years old I thought my older siblings were super cool. My brothers started running track so I joined too.
The eternal struggle shook the Hasle household. Teenaged Kellen wanted to stay in bed, his mom wanted the exact opposite, the summer after he finished eighth grade.
He could have fruitlessly made the excuse that he was still living in Alaska Time years after the family moved to Virginia, but those pleas would have fallen on deaf ears.
Mrs. Hasle signed Kellen up for Loudoun Valley’s cross country team. What she thought would have gotten him some exercise initially gave him more of an appreciation for the outdoors.
“There’s this path called the nature trail, where a lot of the less dedicated runners would go,” he said. “I spent a lot of my freshman year there.”
