Race in Arlington or Washington often? Michael Lynch may be a familiar face.
In addition to running races regularly, Lynch leads weekly group runs from Lululemon in Clarendon, served as the running coordinator for Team RWB’s Washington, D.C., chapter for two years.
Jason Taylor, the current running director for the local Team RWB chapter, described Lynch as an “amazing asset in the running community, both for Team RWB but also for Pacers as well.”
Lynch, 40, of Arlington, served in the Air Force from 1998-2007 and now works for the Department of Defense as an IT contractor. He ran a little during his time in the military, but he really got into it after being drawn to the Crystal City Twilighter 5K and its tech shirt in 2008.
Now, he has a bunch of race bibs and medals from years of racing. He said running also serves as a stress reliever.
“It’s my vice, but I consider it a good vice,” Lynch said.
Team RWB — which stands for Team Red, White & Blue — helps get veterans engaged in the cities and towns in which they live, and the Washington, D.C., chapter offers numerous group run opportunities. The run that Lynch leads at Lululemon is one of the Team RWB runs. Some runs, like that one, were existing store-based runs that Team RWB members are invited to join, he said.
Those runs are Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. and attract about 15-20 people during the warmer months, he said. He’s been leading the group runs for about a year and attended them for about two years before that, he said.
Rather than split off at individual paces, Team RWB members generally stay together or form smaller groups at group runs, he said.
“We try to be very social on our runs, so a lot of the group runs are actually literally groups,” Lynch said.
And, people don’t have to be members of the military — or even have a military connection — to join Team RWB, he said. It’s free to join, and the D.C. chapter is made up of about half military and half civilians, he said. Veterans get the team’s well-recognized red shirt for free, and civilians can purchase one.
Lynch has been a member of Team RWB since 2015. He said he considers his “crowning achievement” as running coordinator for the local chapter to be bringing Pacers Running and Team RWB together for a partnership that includes Pacers race discount codes, store events and VIP treatment at the Parkway Classic. Team RWB, which is a nonprofit, also benefits from Pacers’ Veterans Day 10K.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing it continue on as I left the role I was in,” Lynch said.
Taylor now has that role, and the person who held the role in between them moved, so Lynch has been able to help Taylor when he has questions, Taylor said. Falling under his position are the fun runs, which are led by run leads like Lynch, and coordinating opportunities with different races, Taylor said.
Taylor, who also works as a senior salesperson at Pacers Running and as a running coach, missed being part of a group once he retired from the Air Force after 21 years in 2016.
“I think that’s something that Team RWB is great at is giving people that sense of community that are no longer in the military,” said Taylor, who lives in Alexandria.
Lynch served as an ambassador for Pacers Running, and even though the program no longer exists, he hasn’t changed his tune. When heat forced the cancellation of the inaugural Wayfarer’s Annapolis Half Marathon, Lynch battled back on social media when naysayers criticized race management.
“He was just so nice and I feel like that is such a snapshot of who he is,” said Heather Jeff, event manager for Pacers Running. “Where he shows up, he brings a great energy, he encourages others, yet he’s very loyal and thoughtful about his own voice and where he puts it in, and I think that’s really cool.”
Jeff said she sees him often at events and he’s the kind of runner that has goals but that is also able to not take running too seriously — a good thing.
He also makes sure to express his love for the organizations he’s involved with when he’s out there on the roads.
“One thing I think is really sweet about him is when you see him racing or running, he is very cognizant to rep all of his brands, so he often is in RWB shirt, a Pacers hat and maybe Lululemon shorts,” Jeff said. “He is loyal to a fault and I think the way he presents himself is absolutely adorable.”
Name: Olivia T.
Self-described age group: Dang millennial (25)
Residence: Silver Spring
Occupation: Scientist – I work in an applied biology lab
Why you run: I really like carbohydrates and it helps keep me (somewhat) sane. My long runs alone with a good podcast are often the highlight of my week.
When did you get started running: I ran cross country in high school, but didn’t pick up the longer distances until after college, when I started training for my first marathon in the summer of 2016.
Have you taken a break from running: I didn’t really run at all for most of college. Studying and beer were way more interesting to me at the moment. Looking back on that time though, I don’t know how I just didn’t run at all. Since 2016 though, I don’t think I have taken more than five or six days off in a row, and that is only after hard races – otherwise, I am out there 5-6 times a week.
As the medical director for the Pike’s Peek 10K and the Parks Half Marathon, Dr. Trevor Myers is used to treating certain common injuries in runners.
Bruises. Blisters. Sprained ankles.
Bee stings, on the other hand, are not something he expects to see in the medical tent.
But that’s exactly what happened one year during Parks, when bees escaped a beehive on the course and stung about 15 runners.
“So now we always have Benadryl,” said Dr. Myers, an anesthesiologist at Virginia Hospital Center and race’s medical director since 2010.
Medical volunteers play a crucial role at area races, preparing for the unexpected and keeping calm in challenging circumstances.
“You can’t be someone who is going to pass out with a little bit of blood,” said Andrea Myers, who volunteers alongside her husband at Pike’s Peek and Parks.
Farley has a one-on-one interview with Australian runner and former running store owner Bob Wallace.
- Heritage High School alumna Weini Kealti, a sophomore at the University of New Mexico, won the NCAA 10,000 meter championship, running 33:10.84 for a roughly half-second edge over Oregon’s Carmela Cardama Baez. West Springfield alumna Caroline Alcorta, a graduate student at Villanova, was fifth in 33:20.68. The pair raced again in the 5,000 meters, finishing behind Georgetown’s Josette Norris (fourth, 15:52.05). Kelati was fifth in 15:54.46 and Alcorta was 11th in 16:18.66.
- Kelati first showed up at Heritage in the fall of 2014 and went on to win the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 2015. Ashley Davidson wrote at length about her for our Spring 2016 issue and Dave Devine wrote the story I wish I had about her last year of high school, when she couldn’t compete.
- The District Track Club held the DMV Meet of Champions Sunday at the University of Maryland. Check out results here.
Gonzaga College High School teacher Ariel Laguielles finisheds his 400+ mile run across part of Spain in eight days, 12 hours and 45 minutes, logging more than 416 miles, often on a swollen ankle.
Laguielles, 40, planned for a year to tackle the pilgrimage route taken by St. Ingatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuit order.
He topped out at 63.5 miles on day three and took a few down days to give his ankle time to heal, and he ended up in Manresa in high spirits June 4. His run established the fastest known time for the Camino Ignaciano. He exceeded 50 miles a day five times.
I took a bunch of pictures of varying quality at the Lawyers Have Heart 5k/10k Saturday, which enjoyed the best conditions since 2014. Check them out here.
Name: Kelly Buroker
Self-described age group: F 35-39
Residence: Alexandria
Occupation: Attorney specializing in litigation of government contracts
Volunteer roles in the running world: I have been involved with Girls on the Run, and I spend a lot of time mentoring fellow runners and pacing them in races.
Why you run: In my high-stress life, running is the one part that is completely mine. I (half) joke that my runs are often the only time I get to myself all day long. Running started as, and remains, an outlet for me. I love that I can customize every run to what I need on any given day. If I’m super stressed and just need to find some peace, I can run easy. If something really got under my skin that day, I can throw on some angry music and push my limits with speed work or hill repeats. I always return from a run in a better state of mind than when I left, and I never get less out of it than I put in.
There are nearly half a dozen free, timed parkruns every Saturday in the Washington area.
But there was something special about one recent parkrun — complete with cookies, cupcakes, a balloon with “100” on it and a poster that said “Go Stefania.”
Stefania Falconer, 12, recalled those things about her recent milestone-hitting 5K. The D.C. resident became the first United States parkrun participant under the age of 18 to complete 100 parkruns this April. For the occasion, she wore a parkrun milestone shirt with a “10” on the back for completing 10 parkruns with an extra “0” added to make “100.”
“It was a big deal,” said Stefania’s dad, Andres Falconer, event director for the Fletcher’s Cove parkrun, of her accomplishment.
Though she had kept a relatively low profile since winning the 2016 Marine Corps Marathon, Perry Shoemaker is back after qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials April 28 at the Eugene Marathon. Her 2:43:33 was a PR of more than eight minutes.
“I’m still shocked that I did it,” Perry said a little over a week after the race. “And of course I’m still very excited.”
For years, Perry, 48, has challenged the notion that results slow down with age. She says that qualifying for the Trials became a dream when she realized she could do it with the right conditions and without injuries. “Without injuries” turned out to be a key challenge.
