The bibs tried, but they couldn’t tell the complete story.

They were color coded, trying to signal people’s relationship status- available(green), in flux (yellow) or taken (red) at the Love the Run You’re With 5k Sunday morning in Arlington.

[button-red url=”http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-3024″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Various levels of commitment to another person, but nothing to indicate the runner was in the throes of passion that accompany a new relationship that hasn’t yet found its footing, no neon blending of yellow and green to reveal the madness and confusion of infatuation and hope for what may come of it all.

Not meeting someone new — falling in love with running. It happened for a lot of people out near Pentagon City.

Cedric Lawson certainly seemed smitten. After getting into intramural sports over the last year, the Washington  resident started running to get more in shape and jumped at the first race he could find. He popped in his headphones and rediscovered what he loved from his high school track days

“It cleared my mind, I just concentrated on my stride and kept pushing,” he said. “I felt really good after. I see myself doing this a lot — it clears my mind.”

The out-and-back course started in front of the Pentagon Row shopping center and turned onto Army-Navy Drive and immediately climbed a moderate steep hill.

Lawson liked being able to see people turning back ahead of him.

“It got me jazzed to see the front runners,” he said. “I knew I could keep going, it wouldn’t be too much longer.”

Coming down the hill with a half mile to go helped launch Falls Church’s Chris Mills into a furious kick that took him over the finish line in 14:51, a 17-second road race PR.

He had been running stride for stride with 2011 winner and course record (14:47) holder Jordan McDougal for the first 1.3 miles, when Mills simply went for it ultimately leaving McDougal behind by almost 30 seconds.

“I knew I wanted to go after that record, so I did what I had to so I could take a chance,” he said.

By the looks of his turnover on the last stretch on South Joyce Street, he was doing all he could to get it, though he fell four seconds short.

McDougal set that record in his first race in a few years, during which he felt lethargic. This year he came in feeling sharp, but as it turned out, sharper for a 10k than a 5k.

“I felt like I could have kept going at that pace (4:55 pace for a 15:18 finish) for a while linger, but I couldn’t speed up.”

Women’s winner Claire Hallissey felt the same as McDougal. Though the Arlington-based British Olympic marathoner won in 17:44 over Vienna’s Nora O’Malley’s 18:30, she was chagrined to run only a second per mile faster than she had a week last week to win the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon.

“It was a pretty slow race for me to be honest,” she said. “Close to as expected, because I haven’t been at full volume training since August. I have been trying to get my knees fully recovered from the traumas of all my marathoning.”

Haymarket, Va. resident Madeleine Friedman finished her first 5k, with encouragement from her friend Rosie Montiel, of Alexandria.

“I’ve been wanting to do a 5k for a really long time,”she said. “I ran before I had a baby and I’m just getting back into it now, but I can’t wait for my next race.”

She has been training with the aid of a couch-to-5k app on her smartphone.

“The first half was a bear, but coming down that hill, I was more motivated,” she said. “Coming down the hill and seeing the finish line, I knew I could do it. I learned I could do it.”

Getting up on a chilly, Sunday morning in February is no challenge for Cindy Conant, 51 of Kensington.

In fact, the Country Road Run Five Mile in Olney, she won in 32:30, was really just a warm-up. She still had an additional 15 miles planned for the day and Conant planned on suckering a few of her friends into training with her. After 23 years of racing — including a number of Boston Marathons — Conant hasn’t skipped a beat.

“I just love running,” Conant said. “When I turned 50, I had my fastest races.”

Conant was one of 300 in the second leg of the MCRRC championship series, and started from Brook Manor Park near the Olney Swim Center, where runners stood to stay warm before the start of the race..

Michele Parks of Rockville didn’t mind the cold, though. She eagerly waited for her six-year-old son, Jason Parks, to finish the 1-mile fun run (he won). Jason started with the RockvilleTrack Club one year ago and recently finished his first 5K.

“He really loves it,” Michele Parks said. “He asked to compete in the full race.”

The overall first-place finisher, Joe “the Twinbrook Kid” Wiegner, 30, of Germantown, won in 27:25. After a long layoff from racing in 2012, with a few summer track meets, he’s back to training for the spring track season.

“I am focusing more on middle distance,” Wiegner said. He trains with the GeorgetownRunning Club and is excited for 2013.

The quiet out-and-back course through Olney didn’t lack hills. Near the finish, Janeth Scott, 50, Columbia, admitted the hills were not easy. “You wouldn’t want a 50 year-old to beat you,” Scott shouted at a younger man as she passed him up a hill near the finish. Scott got her start with the Howard County Striders. She ran her first 5K to lose weight and maintain her fitness.

“I looked at the other runners and said I wanted to be like them one day,” Scott said.

Scott is currently training for a 10-mile race and has competed in the Boston Marathon.

“It’s a great venue,” explained Olney resident race announcer and Marc Wolfson, 62. As competitors crossed the finish line, Wolfson passionately cheered them on. Though he was not competing himself, he is an avid runner. Wolfson was recently featured in Runner’s World’s bodies issue that examined how sweat, blisters, hours and miles have physically shaped runners. Wolfson said that one goal for the championship series was to get more runners out to race during the winter months. “It’s a tough time of year for races,” he said.

Willie Flowers, 41, Ellicott City, also mentioned the grueling hills. Flowers has been running for seven years and got his start while he was in charge of a health alliance.

“I wanted to be an example,” Flowers said.

Flowers has competed in seven marathons.

Race organizer Cathie Rosenfeld said the goal of the race was to give the Montgomery County Road Runners a venue to run together as group. This was her fifth and final time organizing the race. She recently moved to Delaware and came back one last time for this race.

“These people are like family to me,” Rosenfeld said.

Though it’s not easy to part with the MCRRC, Rosenfeld plans to get involved with a local running club in Delaware.

February may not be the easiest month to get runners to compete, but Rosenfeld still got to spend her last race in Montgomery County with hundreds of fellow club members willing to conquer the cold. Runners were rewarded with spending the rest of their Sunday morning together in a warm room full of fruit and bagels.

John Brittain is not a quitter. The 68-year-old tenured law professor at the University of the District of Columbia and Alexandria resident  could not run for the latter six months of 2012, cordoned to the sidelines with a pulled muscle in his groin and hip flexor. Despite only returning to running in December, the 35-year-competitive running veteran joined 230 other people in Arlington for the Predictions and Resolutions 5k, out and back along the Potomac River, finishing 3rd in his age group. It’s a race Mr. Brittain would never miss.
[button-red url=”http://www.dcroadrunners.org/races/race-results/2013-results/1926-2013-predictions-and-resolutions-5k.html” target=”_self” position=”left”] 5k Results [/button-red]
“It’s a symbolic start of the racing year for me,” he said, beaming. “I feel cured.”

While many people use New Years as a jump start for new resolutions, Brittain sees it as the first opportunity to resume his training regimen with the D.C. Road Runners and Potomac Valley Track Club, in preparation for races in the 800 meters, mile, and 5k.
“When you think about the New Year, you think about kicking out the old and bringing in the new,” he said, “so 2013 will usher in a bright, new, and healthy year for me with running.

The race began at noon in Rosslyn’s Gateway Park, following the Mount Vernon trail, and giving full view to the monuments and landmarks that define Washington DC. It’s an optimal choice and healthy alternative for DC area residents looking to continue an intense training regimen or work off holiday impropriety.

“Its very accessible,” said race director Ben Richter, “It starts late, so people have an opportunity to sleep off last night’s indiscretions. We don’t check for BAC. In the past some people have been on the verge of spontaneous human combustion.”

If people were using the race as an excuse to exercise a hangover and feed it with free bagels, it didn’t show. After the race, the occasional horn or clapper could be heard, but before the race, the runners were all business. Funneled between a crumbling fence on one side and makeshift homeless shelter lashed together with hundreds of sticks on the other, they waited in droves along the Mount Vernon trail,
negotiating the occasional group of impatient bikers who weaved their way through the masses.

Richter acted his part, standing on a chair and shouting directions to the runners. The front line charged forward when Richter shouted, “Go!” signaling the start. Running beneath a grey sky and a blanket of clouds that seemed to hearten the temperature to the mid-40’s, Richter mentioned that it was a “Perfect day and perfect course for a PR.”

Seventeen minutes and 52 seconds later, Darnell Almanzar, 25, crested the hill to the finish as the overall winner. Relaxing in Nike sweats with  a cup of water in hand, demeanor as smooth as his stride, Almanzar, explained that he is using the 5k distance to build his strength for outdoor track. A History teacher at the E.L. Haynes charter school and a graduate student at Howard University, Almanzar is hoping to compete in mile, and is looking for a club to help bring down his personal record of 4:40, a time he says was the resut of “Not excellent training,” alluding to the speedwork in college that constituted most of his running. Running more mileage now, to include 10-mile runs and two runs day, “We’ll see what happens,” he says.

The other winner of the day was Arlington’s Alison Smith, 25, who won the female division in a time of 20:21. She was elusive following the race, running an extended cool down with her competitors. After returning to the start area, her sequined shirt and a single flower tucked into her hair separated her from the other celebratory garb.

A software engineer in Crystal City, Smith is resuming training after running the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon, qualifying for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:25:49. She attributes her time to joining the D.C. Road Runners a little over year ago, which came after taking a “long break” from running after college, with the occasional game of ultimate Frisbee thrown in. She plans on running the Boston Marathon in 2014, so what about her goals for the new year?

“Everyone’s setting all these goals and how far they want to run, but I don’t want to let myself down if I get an injury or something, so I just want to try to run the whole year without getting injured,” she said. “A nice fresh start.”

She was optimistic about her running in 2012, but thinks that her training will be better in 2013 due to consistent and increased mileage.

Smith’s view of continued consistency was a continued theme among the race’s competitors: more of the same instead of bring in the new. The runners here were not looking to the new year as an opportunity to wipe clean the slate of past transgressions, but rather, a chance to improve upon an already solid base,
or an opportunity to get back to the runner they were in months and years past.

Resurrection instead of redemption

Isaac Matthews, 27, D.C. native and Boston resident, is starting a tradition of running the Predictions and Resolutions 5k in preparation for the Kona Marathon in Hawaii on June 23.

“I’m trying to go from zero to 60, literally. 0 miles a week to 60 miles a week,” he said.

Matthews is a former competitor and graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County where he ran a personal record of 4:09 in the 1500 meters, but it’s been 3 years since he has ran consistently.

“I’m a washed up runner,” he said, but after “looking in the mirror” he realized the importance running played in his life.

We all run for different reasons. If you make New Years resolutions, or even if you don’t, running can play in living a balanced life. Even though he sometimes works in a “high competitive” work environment, Brittain stresses the importance of running, from one year to the next,

“I run to compete,” he said. “I run for health. I run to release stress. I think running is the key to staying healthy in life.”

Whether or not they noticed the symbolism on the starting line, more than a thousand runners sprinted into the darkness at the Fairfax Four Miler, a scant six hours before the new year began.

[button-red url=”http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-626″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results[/button-red]The circumnavigated the George Mason University campus and headed back to the finish line in old town Fairfax. The latest-scheduled of the many New Year’s Eve races, it gave runner a chance to take a stab and a rarely-run distance and a chance for a PR before they went about celebrating the new year however they chose.

About 20 minutes after he left sight, Alex Benway, of Reston, careened down the hill to break the tape in 20:46, ahead ofEdmund Burke’s 21:10 .

Benway ran without a watch and spent two miles catching up with Burke, of Burtonsville, Md.

Again, was it symbolism, the spry 22-year-old passing a man who could legally drink champagne the day he was born? Perhaps not, but it gave the recent Clarkson University graduate the kind of race he needed, firm pavement after spending 10k picking his feet out of mud three weeks prior at the USATF Club Cross Country Championship in Lexington, Ky.

“I was comfortable out there,” he said. “I didn’t catch any splits, but I tried not to get in trouble going out too hard. I didn’t expect (Burke) to go out so fast, so I just spent two miles working my way up there and by mile three I felt pretty good.”

Benway, nicknamed “Viking” for his Nordic skiing pastime, was recently named rookie of the year for the Georgetown Running Club.

On the women’s side, Anna Corrigan, a graduate student at the University of California, outlasted course record holderMindy Sullivan of Woodbridge, 22:36 to 22:47.

Corrigan never really got an idea of her positioning during the race.

“It was so dark, I couldn’t figure out who was a guy and who was a girl,” she said. “I just kept running.”

A 10k specialist while an undergrad at the University of Virginia, Corrigan was pleased to run four miles, rather than 5k. She and her friends chose the race earlier in the day. A Burke native, she ran at Lake Braddock High School, which recently won a state cross country title.

Katie Sheedy, of Washington, D.C. came back to the race after trying it out in 2011, and brought a few friends along before they convened for a potluck.

“It was well lit, but looking out for potholes is a challenge I’m not used to,” she said. “I’m usually a morning runner, so this is a novelty for me.”

She ran faster than last year, despite not fully committing to racing at the time.

“It was just a great way to finish of 2012 and get ready to start 2013,” she said.

Her friend Joe Coyne, of Washington, managed to edge Jennifer Leehey, bringing his record against her this year to 1-7, or 1-8.

“Usually when she beats me, it’s by more like 15 minutes,” he said. “But I got her tonight!”

The runners in the crowd had a variety of new year’s resolutions related to their running.

Kristina Mickey, of Fairfax, Va., hopes to be able to maintain 8:00 pace for 5k.

“We’ll see how that training mixes with my Crossfit,” she said.

Starting off the New Year on the right foot has become a tradition of many at the Leesburg Rotary Resolution 10k and 4k.

The course, described as challenging by winners Alex Hetherington and Peggy Yetman, starts at Ida Lee Park and runs through [button-red url=”http://www.amazingracetiming.com/results/2013/rehau-rotary-resolution-10k-and-4k/165-results-10k.html” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Historic Morven Park. The recent snow created a damp, muddy cross country type course for the 700 or so runners in both races.

Yetman, who won the Ringing in Hope 5k the day before was one of many runners who chose to race both on the last day of 2012 and also the first of 2013. She has been taking time off from serious training, but is racing anyway. Ending her 2012 season with an Ironman in October, Yetman hasn’t run more than eight miles. Though she was pleased with her time of 38:44, she knew the course slowed her down. Once she knew had clinched the women’s victory, she started to chase down some of the men to see how high she could finish overall. She was less than two minutes behind the overall winner Alex  Hetherington.

Hetherington, a Vienna resident and a father of four thought “the course was great – very challenging.”

Having also run the day before at the Fairfax Four Miler, he said his time was on par for what he has been running lately.

“At my age the goal is to stay the same pace, I don’t want to slow down, but I know I’m not getting any faster,” he said.

His resolution for the New Year is to, “be more patient with my kids. Things can get a little crazy with four kids that include 11 year old triplet boys. Running is my chance to be alone doing something I love.” The late start time was a draw for him as well as the lure of coming to Leesburg for the first time. “I’d definitely run this race again.”

Carol Shuford, of Alexandria, and her friend Gina Welc both ran the Fairfax Four Miler the night before, but really wanted to start a new tradition of starting off the first day of the year by doing something healthy. Both women are Ironman finishers and will be training for Ironman Wisconsin in 2013. When asked why they chose to run the Leesburg race, “Because we can. It also keeps us out of trouble.” Carol who raced the Rotary Resolution Race for the eighth time loves the race because it is low key and the terrain is unique from other local races. The pair of friends will be back in 2014 for the 17th running of the race.

For the Ashworth family the race was truly a family affair. Gary and Kim, parents’ to 11-year-old twins Hannah and Jakoblove doing races together. Kim and Hannah chose the 4k, while Gary and Jakob ran the 10k. Leesburg locals, they chose this race because they wanted to “start the New Year off right and stay fit together as a family.”

On course Kim, was seen cheering for her son and husband after her race was over. Running together is not the only family tradition this foursome has. They individually come up with their resolutions for the year and share them with each other before dinner that night. Not wanting to ruin their tradition they kept their goals and resolutions for the upcoming year closely guarded.

As the sound of the guitar echoed in the gym, runners like Paula Fergusson laughed when asked what her resolutions were for 2013.

“Hold on, let me think, I know I have one,” she said. “Complete another half marathon!”

Was this a last minute goal or one she had in mind before? One can’t be sure, but maybe sharing her goal, will help her achieve it in 2013. Fergusson’s husband Ernie ran his first 10K. What better way to ring in the New Year than by accomplishing a goal in the first 12 hours.

Race Co-Director Carole Maloney wants to grow the race in 2014. The race raises money for eight different charities each year raised over $20,000. Unique to this year’s race was every participant being toasted with sparkling cider as they entered the Ida Lee Gym after the race.

“We really pay attention to the small details and make this race one that participants want to return to year after year,” she said. “Vie De France donated all the cookie dough for our post-race cookies and a gentleman in our Rotary Club baked them fresh New Year’s Eve!”

The music, provided by Dave Berry, added to the hometown feel of the race and created an atmosphere of joy as runners shared their running dreams and goals for 2013. Berry, a former local, who started providing the race entertainment in 2004, drives up from South Carolina every year because of the numerous requests from participants.

“Overall we want to create an experience runners won’t soon forget,” he said.

Catherine Mitchell bent down to remove the timing chip from her daughter’s shoe at the Ringing in Hope 5k in Ashburn. She paused, stood up to face Emma.

[button-red url=”http://prracing.racebx.com/files/results/4d9205ce-7a0c-46c1-8929-4f56c0a86522/50343fe8-8128-4689-bc5d-7633c0a8651f/ringing%20in%20hope%205k%20overall.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] 5k Results [/button-red]Great job,” she said. “I’m so proud of you,” and hugged her daughter.

Catherine and her husband Lance are triathletes and Emma aspires to join them. Though she is adept at swimming, she hoped to improve her running and targeted the New Year’s Eve race at Brambleton Town Center. At 10 years old, her goal was to break 30 minutes, which the trio, from Ashburn, did with 23 seconds to spare.

[button-red url=”http://prracing.racebx.com/files/results/4d9205ce-7a0c-46c1-8929-4f56c0a86522/50343fe8-8128-4689-bc5d-7633c0a8651f/ringing%20in%20hope%2010k%20overall.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] 10k Results [/button-red]

She beamed with pride when Catherine told her about her dramatic improvement over her practice runs.

“She broke 30 minutes 18 years before I did,” Catherine said. The hometown race’s 5k offered recent Brambleon transplant Karl Dusen a chance to race seriously for the first time since the USATF Half Marathon championships in Duluth, Minn. six months prior. He cleared the field within the first half mile and cruised to victory in 16:25 over Jim Nielson’s 17:19, slightly ahead of Eric Sorenson five seconds later, who was led off the course.
It’s been a busy few months for Dusen, who, since he last raced, turned 30, moved from Rockville, Md. and welcomed his second daughter with his wife Emily, who finished sixth in her first race back. Their daughter, Juliette, was on hand to, if not see her parents race, cheer for them, though that just as likely might have been crying.
“It was great to race out here,” Dusen said. “I’ve been adjusting to training with the baby around, but we’re getting a hang of it. Emily looked pretty good out there and we’re just happy to represent Brambleton.”

Women’s winner Peggy Yetman, of Leesburg, was also shaking the rust off following a break after the world Ironman championships in Hawaii this past October, where she was top 10 in her age group.
“I had to start again sometime,” she said. “He (her husband, Chris) pushed me out the door for this one,

if I was going to start up again I’d better just do it and stop worrying about it.”

She exceeded her expectations of running 20 minutes when she finished in 18:28, nearly a minute and a half ahead of Columbia, Md.’s Tiffany Hevner (19:50). Reston’s Lisa Johnston was third in 20:04.

The 10k started simultaneously with the 5k, which meant men’s winner Andrew Ciarfalia had some company for the first half, but was left to his own devices as he ran off to a 34:39 win.

Springfield’s Jeremy Lynch (35:08) and Ashburn’s Kory Jessen (37:01) followed.
“I slowed down a bit in the second half,” Ciarfalia said. “It got a little lonely and I just focused on catching 5k runners. It was fun, they cheered for me.”

He’ll be focusing on the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run, with the Reston Ten Miler along the way.

Melissa Saunders spent her 10k chasing down other runners, primarily D.C.’s Cris Burbach, whom she caught in the fifth mile.

“It was scarier when I passed her, because then she knew I was there and I was waiting for her to come back,” Saunders said. “I knew she was gunning for me.”

Saunders, of Potomac Falls, prevailed, 40:36 to 40:57, and both had a solid margin over Burke’s Cathy Ross, who finished in 42:25.

Saunders ran the race for the third time, and found the flat course to be a dramatic improvement over the Charlotteville Fall Classic Half Marathon she won as a student at the University of Virginia.

“It seemed like we ran every hill in Charlottesville,” she said. She is planning on the Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon in March in Virginia Beach.

The 5k gave Briar Woods High School runners Chris Schopper (18:21) and Brian Presler (19:20) a chance to check their fitness following their cross country season. Their team does not have an indoor track season, so they are just getting back into their workouts after their fall campaigns.

“It was a good benchmark,” Presler said. “We’re starting 2013 with a good idea of what we have to do to hit our goal times for track.”

Rob Bell was a little bummed after the Festival of Lights 5k, New Year’s Eve afternoon.”Man, I got beat by a girl,” the former Virginia Wesleyan College runner said, disappointed.

His spirits were buoyed when he heard the girl, Lebanon, N.J.’s Julie Culley, made the U.S. Olympic Team after winning the 5k at the track and field trials.

[button-red url=”http://www.bullrunrunners.com/winners/2012.html” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]“Ok, that’s not so bad,” Bell said.

Culley was close behind the overall, running 17:14 for second, behind Andrew Lull (16:59).

What was she doing at the race, a two-lap circumnavigation of a gravel loop around the Bull Run Park special events center, followed by an out and back on a paved road? “My coach (New York-New Jersey Track Club’s Frank Gagliano) wanted me to get a hard five miles in, so I figured I’d do it in a race,” she said. “It was a good time of day and I could get the work in while it was still light.”

Following the Olympics, Culley planned to race the ING New York Marathon, but Hurricane Sandy put an end to that, plus her competitive season. As a track coach at American University, she recalled coming out to Bull Run for a collegiate race, and she remembered the course looked challenging.

“It was even harder than I remembered,” she said.

Hull, of Noakesville, ran a controlled race and took the win home, but the race was more than that for him. It was a comeback for this father, Tajr, who ran his first race in 25 years.

“I used to do marathons, triathlons, everything,” he said. “Then I had kids.”Andrew challenged him to run the race with six months’ notice and he enjoyed getting back into the swing of running.

“After two miles, I really started to loosen up and felt great,” he said.

Peter Thompson and his mother, Carol VanCleef, ran the race last year, and their trip back was part of their family bonding. He finished about 35 seconds faster than last year, and she was quite happy with her improvement. She lost her age group title, though, in the last stretch.

“I just didn’t have the kick,” she said.

The Green family was decidedly brown, dressed as reindeer. They came from across the country, owing to their family’s tradition of getting all five siblings together for Christmas every other year, the alternating years spent at in-laws’ homes.

Every year the Greens unite, though, the host chooses a group activity. They are visiting EJ Green‘s Manassas home, and as such, the former NAIA champion in the 4×800 relay chose a 5k for the family.

All of the Greens ran in their youth, and most do to this day, only once they reach their goal race, they go dormant, like Ron(Prancer), of Gordon, Neb. who awakened to outkick his sister, Joy (Vixen), of Brooklyn. Joy is the only family member to run consistently.

“I had to beat her, I didn’t care if I just came off the couch,” Ron said.

The siblings wore upside-down gingerbread man cutouts ontheir heads to serve as antlers.

“Our pregnant sister could have gone as Santa and led the sleigh,” Joy said.

Just because Chris Kwiatkowski was running 4:50 pace for the Jingle All the Way 8k, it didn’t mean he didn’t take time to look around.

[button-red url=”http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-2402″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]While he was  pulling away from Jeff Brannigan and Dereje Girma to win in 24:00, he glanced around at the Capitol and Pennsylvania Avenue, which he said made the race go by a little faster.

“In college, you run a lot of the same courses year in and year out, you see them so often that they get longer and longer,” he said. “Since moving here, I’ve run three races in the city and each one has an incredible setting. I really enjoy those settings and they make the race go by quicker.”

That wasn’t all he saw. Lining up next to the former University of Oregon Duck, Pacers owner Chris Farley was dressed as Santa Claus, beard and all, and still managed to run 6:13 pace.

“I don’t know how he did it,” Kwiatkowski said. “I would have torn that beard off a mile in.”
His plan was to run hard without straining, and that’s what he got. Dropping Brannigan and Girma in the third mile, he cruised in to a 22-second victory in a light misting, following a lot of cold rain.

“Before any competition I make sure I have a goal and my coach (Matt Centrowitz) agrees that it will take me where I need to go,” he said. “December is an important month for getting strong aerobically and this race gave me a chance to do that.”

Kwiatkowski may run the Fairfax Four Miler on New Year’s Even before switching his efforts to the track.

Kerri Gallagher also kept on a lookout for remarkable costumes while she was running away from Claire Hallissey and Erin Koch to win in 27:21.
Her favorite, among many, was a family dressed as Joseph and Mary, pushing a jogging stroller ostensibly carrying the baby Jesus. That variety spectators something to enjoy, just in case the Christmas costumers were tending to be too “commercial.”

Gallagher also got away from her pursuers after two miles, and she confirmed what she had learned about herself as she raced well above her primarily middle distance events.

“I learned I can put myself out there, take charge and take risks in a race,” she said. This fall, she also won the Army 10 Miler and Clarendon Day 10k (also over Olympian Hallissey) and finished second at the Veterans Day 10k. She’ll also compete in several indoor track races this winter under Centrowitz’s tutledge.

Back in the pack, Sarah Morgan struggled to get out of bed for the race, and had a tougher time rousting her friend Melissa Dorn to join her, given the rain that intimidated them.

“We almost didn’t go,” Morgan said. “It looked pretty awful outside. I don’t even know how I got Melissa to go.”

The pair of old high school rowing chums have run countless races together over the years. They arrived just in time for the rain to stop and the race to start. Though they found the race less crowded than last year, when the race was first moved from Hains Point and cut down to an 8k to meet registration demands, but they saw a dramatic improvement in the quality of costumes.

Among Morgan’s favorites:

• Santa’s sleigh, led by nine reindeer tied together
• A man with a tuba, playing Christmas carols
• Twelve runners, dressed as the gifts from the 12 days of Christmas

While racing the Veterans Day 10k last Sunday, runners felt a strange sensation as they rounded Hains Point — still air. It was a rare-enough occurrence that some may have wondered if they would later dine on a breakfast of dodo eggs and unicorn steak.

[button-red url=”http://old.runwashington.com/veterans10k/race-history/event-records.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Just two weeks prior, runners dealt with four miles of variable winds as they rounded West Potomac Park, vulnerable to the breezes coming off the Potomac River in the middle of the Marine Corps Marathon. This morning, a pack of Pacers Racing Team members cruised along in the sun, exerting a measured effort that blew away last year’s times.

Chris Kwiatkowski, a recent University of Oregon graduate in town to train under coach Matt Centrowitz, started to pull away after 5k on his way to a 29:47 victory.

In his first post-collegiate year, Kwiatkowski, of Chevy Chase, is trying to adjust to the lack of cross country racing to which he’s become accustomed. The distance certainly isn’t an issue for him, not with a 49:09 sixth place finish at the Army Ten Miler to his credit.

“I guess the closest thing to cross country is long races that force you to get strong,” he said.

Columbia, Md. resident Joey Thompson edged last year’s winner Frank DeVar to the finish line in just under 30 minutes, well ahead of his DeVar’s 30:23 time then.

Kwiatkowski, DeVar, Jeff Brannigan, Matt Barressi and Kerri Gallagher led the Pacers New Balance team over the Georgetown Running Club, consisting of Jerry Greenlaw, Sam Luff, Ryan Witters, Alex Benway and Beth Young.

Canadian middle distance runner Carmen Hussar’s family was in Washington for the weekend, which led her to the race. She’s putting in high mileage between track seasons and the race fit comfortably into her schedule, as she won in 33:45 over Army Ten Miler champion Gallagher.

“I loved the course,” Hussar said. “Running into the sun, the nice weather, and I had a good group to run with.”

Thanks to challenges from fast marathoners and excellent weather, the JFK 50 Mile winners smashed the course records Saturday in western Maryland.

[button-red url=”http://www.jfk50milemdt.org/2012/JFKResultslive-01.txt” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]A year after David Riddle took a little off the top, Max King lopped more than five minutes off to lower the men’s record to 5:34:58. Trent Briney, from Boulder, Co. followed in 5:78:56, with Riddle in third in 5:45:17. Canadian Ellie Greenwood (6:11:59) responded to a challenge from Emily Harrison (6:17:16), leading both under the course record. Elissa Ballas, from Colorado, (6:44:45) followed in third.

King is a utility player is distance running, capturing the 2011 world mountain running championship and the XTERRA trail running world championship, but also dipping down to the 3k steeplechase. Race director Mike Spinnler’s strong recruiting push and an opportunity to run what he considered his first fast 50 mile drew King to Maryland.

“To come out here, to one of the largest ultras with such history, it’s really an honor to win,” he said. “I made this race fit into my schedule.”

He sat behind Riddle for the first 16 miles after leaving Boonsboro, over the technical Appalachian Trail portion, before taking off on the C&O Canal Towpath. Despite his trail and mountain running pedigree, King’s training in Bend, Ore. means he’s typically running on less treacherous ground.

“That uneven footing throws you around a bit,” he said. “It wasn’t easy.”

From there, it was a long 27 miles of sporadic spectators and a few cyclists on the towpath. When he hit the stretch to the finish in Williamsport, eight rolling miles of pavement, his effort from the towpath caught up with him and he had to switch his focus from speeding up to holding onto his lead as Briney made up ground.

“I was hurting pretty bad, I just tried to not push it too much,” King said.

Briney never thought he’d have a chance to compete up front. Caught off guard at th

e start, he dropped his clothes a half minute before the gun and went to the line without gels or fluids. Josh Brimhall had one to spare, Briney sucked it down and when he hit the towpath he started moving. “It was the longest 8 miles of my life, I just wanted to finish.”

“I was worried people were way too far ahead of me, I wasn’t going to be part of the race,” he said. “I was supermotivated when I got off the trail.”

Despite his deficit, Briney made up ground, about what anyone could expect out of a 2:12 marathoner who was an alternate for the 2004 Olympic team. He picked off runners but took a while to have a clear idea of his placing. Throughout the ragged running and the haze of the sub-six-minute miles on the towpath, what he took away from the race was the beauty of his surroundings.

“I guess that’s part of the reason we do these races,” he said. “Trail running gives you scenery you don’t always get on the roads.”

While King ran with the lead for the last 34 miles, Greenwood, a Vancouver resident whose JFK finish was her fifth longer than 50 miles this year, was embroiled in a battle with Harrison, who was making her first attempt at the distance. Greenwood was a bit worried, though.

“Her marathon is a good 10 minutes faster than mine, so I had to be sure not to get caught up in racing her,” she said. “You have to have the confidence to run your own race here.”

She did what she could to use her experience, and willingness to push herself based on how she’s responded before, as an advantage.

“People say you can’t win this race on the trail, but psychologically at least it feels good,” she said. Though Greenwood held a lead coming off of the Appalachian Trail, Harrison took it and ran ahead for 14 miles before Greenwood could regain it.

“I started to have trouble with my stomach, I couldn’t eat or drink anything,” she said. “It was even harder because it’s so runnable, by the river, I felt like I was wasting a chance to run fast.”

She caught up to Harrison around 30 miles, passed her a few miles later, then focused far ahead on reeling people in and breaking Devon Crosby-Helms’ 6:29:21 record.

It might seem odd that barely a year removed from her 2:32:55 marathon at Twin Cities that Harrison would move up to an ultra, but her coach Ian Torrence, a Flagstaff, Ariz. resident, said it was crucial to getting her to look past life after the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials.

“She needed something to light a fire under her, and this was it,” he said. “It gave her a challenge to go after, and she saw how well she could attack a long race.”

Though she’s new to running such long distances herself, Harrison was not new to the JFK 50. Growing up in Front Royal, Va., it was a short trip to watch her mother compete for two years when Emily was a teenager.

“That gave it a personal touch,” she said. “It wasn’t too had to get up here to check the course out.”

Her main transition workout, moving up to the 50 mile, was a two-day sequence of 20-24 miles at 50 mile goal pace, followed by 14-18 miles at marathon pace the next day.

The race has been personal for Torrence, too. He grew up in Gaithersburg, so he’d make the race part of his Thanksgiving trip home. This year was his 18th, and his most successful in five years.

“I never thought I’d break seven hours again,” he said. “It’s my 10th time under.”

On his 18th trip to the JFK 50, Jim Bradford, of Vienna, ran out of his mind to record a 50-minute improvement.

“I have no idea how it happened,” he said. “I’m just happy to be done.”

Bradford’s son Jesse and ex-wife Anna run the race, too. He was also one of several men named Jim racing on the Reston Runners’ Team Jim.

He broke up the tedium of running on the towpath by weaving around the trail.

“It was an awesome day,” said Laura Greeson, of Alexandria, despite falling twice on the Appalachian Trail.

What was not awsome was the second part of her two-day preparation workout, similar to Harrison’s.  She ran the Marine Corps Marathon, then came back the next day to run 20 miles, which ended up being the day Hurricane Sandy swept the D.C. area with wind and cold rain. It did, however, force the school where Greeson teaches to cancel classes, allowing her to do those 20 miles in the daylight, rather than after work, as she had originally planned.

The race saw 943 finishers out of 1041 who took to the starting line.