Running after women

Well that title is sure to grab your attention (particularly my wife)! Actually, this refers to the annual DCRRC Run After the Women 5K, held this year on June 16. As most of you know, the DC area is a great running community. One sign of this is the large number of races dedicated to women only. It's a way for top women to show their stuff without having to dodge the men and it also gives beggining women runners a chance to run a 5K in a very supportive environment. My wife Dori ran her first 5K last year at one of these events in Annapolis. Some of the events have races for the men after the leading women have finished. Such was the case this evening in Bluemont.

There was a rather intense thunderstorm that passed through the area just an hour or two before the race. The creek besides the trail was swollen to the brink and the field we had to cross to get from the parking lot to the start was a swamp. Power was out for a large portion of Arlington and many traffic lights were out but we runners perservered.

20 women completed this years version of the Women's Distance Festival. They are listed below:
1 Rebecca Nathan F 42 Arlington VA 19:23 1 F 1
2 Kristin Dahling F 32 Arlington VA 21:12 2 F 2
3 Carolyne Davidson F 30 Alexandria VA 21:19 3 F 3
4 Alison Stone F 27 Arlington VA 21:53 4 F20-29 1
5 Tatyana Steis F 33 Arlington VA 22:01 5 F30-39 1
6 Karen Young F 39 Beallsville MD 22:07 6 F30-39 2
7 Leslie Stanfield F 58 Reston VA 24:35 7 F50-59 1
8 Susan Aaronson F 54 Arlington VA 24:35 8 F50-59 2
9 Jennifer Westfall-McGrail F 52 Arlington VA 24:48 9 F50-59 3
10 Lisa Schaefer F 37 Vienna VA 25:02 10 F30-39 3
11 Saleema Ross F 54 Ft Washington MD 25:02 11
12 Marla Schnall F 43 Falls Church VA 25:58 12 F40-49 1 13 Rita Cronley F 54 Arlington VA 27:27 13
14 Roxanne Hatcher F 49 Pasadena MD 28:15 14 F40-49 2 15 Ieva O'Rourke F 47 McLean VA 28:46 15 F40-49 3
16 Sharyn D. Gordon F 50 Mitchellville MD 31:40 16
17 Kathleen Hanson F 54 Annapolis MD 32:36 17
18 Blair Jones F 64 Washington DC 33:41 18 F60-69 1
19 Yvonne Aasen F 76 Severna Park MD 35:51 19 F70-79 1 20 Iolanthe Good F 18 Falls Church VA 41:37 20 F19&under 1

After about a 20 minute pause, the men were off. I quickly moved to the back of the field but didn't feel too bad. I shouted encouragement to Sharyn Gordon as we passed one another. Sharyn and I have frequently run close to one another towards the back of the pack. She has my number so far this year; though I hope to improve to the point where I can beat her before the year is up.

As you can see from the results below, many of the usual suspects showed up for the men's event. Karsten Brown assumed his usual position in front of the field for a smaller event. He had a big lead when he passed me on the return leg and it looks like he widened the lead even further over the last mile.

You can also see from the results that this was a very competitive field. You were in the bottom 5 with me if you didnt break 23 minutes. I came in last (again) but I was less than a minute behind the runner in front of me (Bob Thurston) so I didn't feel bad about holding people up like I do at some races. Though the official time was 34:35, I show my "chip" time as 34:29. Not great by any means but one of my better races for this year. Maybe things are looking up.

1 Karsten Brown M 34 Front Royal VA 16:22 1 M 1
2 Robert C. Wolfe M 36 Washington DC 17:15 2 M 2
3 Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 17:37 3 M 3
4 Scott Ruplinger M 26 Brooklyn NY 17:56 4 M20-29 1
5 Ben Zeiss M 16 Washington DC 18:04 5 M19&under 1 6 Thomas Gouard M 26 Arlington VA 18:05 6 M20-29 2 7 Devin Kelly M 17 Washington DC 18:29 7 M19&under 2 8 Adam Stolzberg M 32 Arlington VA 18:29 8 M30-39 1 9 R B Brill M 30 Falls Church VA 18:32 9 M30-39 2
10 Matthew Chesnes M 29 Arlington VA 18:47 10 M20-29 3 11 Michael Collins M 26 Arlington VA 18:57 11
12 Brian McGrail M 15 Arlington VA 19:05 12 M19&under 3
13 Ken Riggsbee M 43 Alexandria VA 19:06 13 M40-49 1 14 Will Meyerson M 17 Washington DC 19:16 14
15 Tom Stone M 42 Falls Church VA 19:24 15 M40-49 2 16 Bill Stahr M 47 The Plains VA 20:01 16 M40-49 3
17 Ken Krehbiel M 54 Washington DC 20:03 17 M50-59 1 18 Brian Danza M 27 Arlington VA 20:09 18
19 Timothy Steis M 16 Arlington VA 20:25 19
20 Joe Emerson M 42 Alexandria VA 20:27 20
21 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 20:35 21 M50-59 2 22 Timothy Good M 48 Burke VA 20:38 22
23 Pat Rodjom M 23 Arlington VA 20:53 23
24 Liam McLaughlin M 17 20:55 24
25 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 21:02 25 M50-59 3 26 Ed Grant M 51 Arlington VA 21:06 26
27 Robert P. Trost M 62 Falls Church VA 21:38 27 M60-69 1 28 James Scarborough M 50 McLean VA 21:45 28
29 Eamonn McEvilly M 65 Springfield VA 22:06 29 M60-69 2
30 Greg Chaconas M 62 Washington DC 22:37 30 M60-69 3
31 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 22:47 31
32 Pat Brown M 63 Reston VA 24:14 32
33 Larry Dickerson M 76 Burke VA 27:32 33 M70-79 1 34 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 29:08 1 F 1
35 Bob Thurston M 64 Washington DC 33:39 34
36 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 34:35 35