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NO TMBC this Week - Holiday Relays TOMORROW!

Fellow Endorphin Junkies:

This week there will be NO Thursday Morning Track this week! Instead, we urge everyone to attend the DC Roadrunners Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus/Holiday Relays that will be held at 7 PM TOMORROW NIGHT - Wednesday, December 13th at the Washington-Lee Track, 1301 N Stafford St, Arlington, VA 22201. Coach Ed will split everyone into hopefully competitive two-person teams, alternating between team members a total of 20 (so 10 each) 400M laps. There will be awards for winning teams and best holiday themed costumes. Happy Hour will follow at Carpool in Ballston on Glebe Road , a short walk from the track. All are welcome at the Happy Hour even if you don't run in the relays. I especially encourage everyone to participate, as this is the one time all year that we get to share camaraderie, cooperation, and yes, just a little competition when we are paired with our brother and sister Wednesday Night Hawks – when we are together as one big Team/Club. Plus you get to see a REAL coach in Coach Ed! ;-) Unfortunately, I need to be in Austin on Business and will miss it, but Coach Rich is going to try to hobble there if his recovery from surgery allows it.

The weather tomorrow night (Wednesday) night will be fine, with Temps at 39 degrees and low humidity at 47%, but a bit of little wind at 10 MPH, but still remember to bring fluids because you need them as much in the winter as in the summer!

Here is the Coach Rich Club News this week:

Greetings Thursday morning track fans. First off a reminder that there is no Thursday morning track this week. I hope you will all go to the Wednesday night holiday relays starting at 7:00pm at W-L track. Loads of fun while doing fast 10x400 repeats.

Several races of note to report on from this past weekend ...

Just one week after running in the Valencia Marathon, Rodrigo Vellon and Christie Wetzel ran the Malaga Marathon together in a time of 3:16:54. They could not resist doubling back one week later and while still in Spain especially since Malaga is the city where they met back in 2009. I will add, Malaga is just a beautiful place to go visit!

Eunja Rau ran the Jacksonville Marathon in 5:06:13. This was a marathon in her 29th different state!

Lauren Firey ran the Jingle Bell Rock and Run 10k (that turned into 7.4K) in a time of 49:24. This was good for 2nd AG.

And at the DCRRC's Bread Run 10K ...

38:26 - Jack Phillips, 3rd AG

39:48 - Anna Staats, 1st OAF

42:45 - Ken Strazzeri, 2nd AG

43:47 - David Meeks, 1st AG

45:32 - Hope Seck, 1st AG

53:28 - Yuko Takakusaki, 1st AG

1:07:03 - Lisa Towell

Congrats to all of you on some fine races!

The next club race is the Predictions & Resolutions 5K at noon on New Year's Day, go todcroadrunners.org to register to run or : https://www.dcroadrunners.org/volunteer/pr5k to volunteer. I could still use more help please and thanks.

Happy running!

Hope you can make it to the Holiday Relays tomorrow night!

20:00 Tempo + 2 - 4 x 400m in 5k, 200m jogs

Fellow Endorphin Junkies -

TMBC practice tomorrow is at Yorktown track, in Greenbriar Park around the corner from the school entrance. Tomorrow's weather will still be cold, with temps rat at freezing (watch for ice!), low humidity at 72%, and a little wind. With these conditions, you should still bring water for hydration. Let's let Coach Rich know that we all hope he gets better soon by sending him a text or email. On a personal running note, I was DLBF on Sunday's Club Half Marathon for the TMBC Crew (Dead Last, But Finished) – still, I was awfully proud of Anne Coia who has been stalking me for a couple of years and finally discovered how to beat me – attack early in the second half, create a gap, and don't try to outsprint me at the finish – hearty congrats to Anne! The proudest day in a Coach's life is when his trainees kick his butt! ;-)

December 7, 2023 – TMBC: 20:00 at Tempo, followed by Sharpening 2 to 4 x 400m in 5k Pace, with 200m jogs between

Stallions: 6:00 to 6:45 Pace on the Tempo

Wolf Pack: 6:45 to 7:30 Pace on the Tempo

Gazelles: 7:30 to 8:30 Pace on the Tempo

Coyotes/MTP Trainees: 8:00 to 10:30 Pace on the Tempo

Tempo Pace is still a mystery to me – slower than 10k pace, but faster than marathon pace – maybe somewhere between 10 mile and half marathon pace? Anyways, this is not the quick interval pace we usually do, but let's still focus on form, knees up, on our toes, and not crossing over! I will start and then call out the end of the 20 minutes Tempo, we will rest and drink some water for a couple of minutes after jogging to the start line, then move right into the 400m sharpening runs – only the Stallions should do 4, the rest of us should focus on 2 or 3 and make those count – Last Intervals/Best Intervals!

... and the Coach Rich Report –

Hi Everyone. Reminder that there will be NO Thursday morning track practice next week on December 14. Instead, we encourage all of you to go to next Wednesday night's DCRRC Holiday Relays. These are held at Washington-Liberty HS Track and start at 7PM. The relays are hugely fun and we always have a great showing from our Thursday morning crew. The relays are a 2-person relay of 10x400 per person. Runners are paired as fastest runner with slowest runner and so on till all are paired. Happy hour will follow. Please come out and join the fun.

It was a busy weekend of running, locally and internationally!

At the Fletchers Parkrun 5K Paul Ryan ran 26:03 for his 80th Parkrun!

Lisa Towel did a half marathon in her 26th state at the St. Jude HM in Memphis. Her time was 2:24.32. She got to meet Boston Billy himself, Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samuelson.

Valencia Marathon

2:39:29 - Rodrigo Vellon, PR, BQ

2:57:30 - Christie Wetzel, BQ

3:08:04 - Arielle Weiner, BQ

Gar Williams Half Marathon

1:31:31 - Ken Strazzeri, 1st AG

1:35:28 - Elise Mulleniex, 1st AG

1:36:54 - Hope Seck, 1st AG, PR

1:53:13 - Yuko Takakusaki, 2nd AG

2:09:14 - Anne Coia, 3rd AG

2:10:42 - Big Guy, DLBF

Congrats to all of you who raced.

The next club race is the Bread Run 10K. To register to run this, any of the Snowball Series races and of course for the Predictions & Resolutions 5K at noon on New Year's Day, go to dcroadrunners.org.

Given I will still be in a brace and on crutches for the Predictions & Resolutions 5K race, I sure could use a lot of extra volunteers. If you can help, please sign up to volunteer at this link: https://www.dcroadrunners.org/volunteer/pr5k

Happy running!

Coach Big Guy will see you at the Yorktown Track tomorrow!