Hear ye, hear ye!

Happy Snow Day, and Happy New Year, WRCers!

The WRC Annual Meeting of Members & Party is NEXT Saturday, January 17th at Carla Freyvogel’s home at 1207 Stuart Robeson Drive, McLean, VA 22101. The meeting will last from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and the party will continue onward to ~ 10:00 p.m.

Details to follow shortly about parking and finding the house. A brief agenda for the meeting will also be circulated to all WRC members in good standing.

On the business side of things, we will:

  • Announce the 2014 award winners,
  • Elect the 2015 board members, and
  • Address any other business as may properly come before the meeting.

The cost of the event this year is FREE, but we ask that you bring something to share with your clubmates (Potluck or BYOB). The club will supplement your contributions with good appetizers.

Please be sure to RSVP by Wednesday, January 14th to Carla Freyvogel at vicepres@washrun.org.

We look forward to seeing you on next Saturday!

JANUARY 17th UPDATE!!!!

Parking at Carla’s place:

1207 Stuart Robeson Drive in McLean is in a small neighborhood with limited parking.

If you can find a spot in the neighborhood itself, more power to you. Otherwise, there are other options! You can:

  1. Park on Rt. 123 on the shoulder or in the turnout lane as you approach the neighborhood, heading NORTH on Rt. 123. My car (navy blue station wagon) will be out there to mark the spot.
  2. You can park at the Safeway on Chain Bridge Road, and walk across the street. As runners, this should not be a problem.

See you tonight! Questions, just call: 703.409.7028 or 703.356.2339.

Thanks!!!!

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2014 MCM—Race Day Plans

Beyond this week’s Sunday Distance Run, we will be cheering on the marathoners!


I will be staking out two spectating spots for the MCM and would love to have other non-racing WRC members join me. The first spot will be at Mile 4.2, upon the Key Bridge. The second spot will be the 16 mile marker, which is also about 10.5. It is at the entrance area of Hains Point. I plan to sneak in some training miles between these two points of interest.

Megan Haberle is planning to hover between miles 15.2/17, off 15th st, on the other side of the Tidal Basin, to provide complete race day coverage.

(See this using an excellent course map, designed by Geocentric and powered by Leaflet)

Kendall Hope Tucker is returning from Boston for the race weekend, and has invited WRCers (marathoners and supportors alike) to a mostly mandatory post-race drink-up at The Mad Hatter DC just south of Dupont Circle, from 3 PM onward (1319 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20036).

Good luck to all runners!

WRC Roster for the 2014 Marine Corps Marathon

Julia Taylor
Jesse Frantz
Pat O’Keefe
Fiona Karlsen
Jim Moore
Drew Killian
Adam Hoyt
Erin Coffey
Jenny Paul
Stephanie Selmer

Blues Cruise 50K Trail Ultra: Maiden Voyage

Sometimes changing your course with running reinvigorates your love for the sport…

by Lauren Gabler

Looking Back

In the Fall of 2008, I ran my first marathon at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. It was an all-around amazing experience. I ran a Boston qualifier (BQ), was inspired by our military, and thought I found my calling in long distance running. In fact, I loved it so much that I made a commitment to run 50 marathons by age 50, which, at the young age of 25, was only 2 per year! What a deal.

However, over the thousands of miles logged, my passion for running quickly went from all-encompassing to non-existent. I even welcomed a horrible case of plantar-fasciitis-turned-stress-fracture because it meant that I didn’t have to run. To say that’s a bad place to be is to put it lightly.

During an introspective conversation with my fiancé (and the Washington Running Club’s el Prez), Kirk Masterson, on our long drive back from another disappointing, injury-plagued Boston Marathon, I recognized that I was running merely to PR, to reach an arbitrary goal of running 50 by 50, and, what’s worse, because I defined myself as a marathoner and not a runner. This conversation made it very clear that running became more a job than a passion – something that I had to do rather than what I wanted to do.

The conversation also brought me back to basics. I remembered that I started running cross country in high school because I loved going back into the woods, running fast, and coming out of the tree line stronger than I started. I also recalled the stress I felt during indoor and spring track because of external pressures of being “on stage”; I’ve always performed better when out of the spotlight, when left alone to develop and act on my own talents. I realized that road races, while lively and fun, were similar to track in that it gave me the “all eyes on me” feeling that churned my stomach years ago.

And this, in a roundabout way, is why I decided to sign up for the Blues Cruise 50K.
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Volunteer at the Roosevelt Run 5K

Let’s once again lend a hand on Thursday evening, August 28th, at a low-key summertime race held on our stomping grounds.

Meet just before 6 p.m. at the trailhead of Mt Vernon Trail near the Key Bridge, across from Arlington Gateway Park in Rosslyn. This is also the eastern terminus of the Custis Trail. The race itself goes along the Potomac River.

Club treasurer James Scarborough needs volunteers from WRC for the following positions:

  • one or two people to help with registration
  • one or two people to run a water stop at the south end of Roosevelt Island
  • one person where the runners pass UNDER Memorial Bridge
  • one person at the turnaround
  • can also use a person at the finish line (actually, it will take two, one pulling tags and one recording numbers on Time Machine)
  • help with carrying and setting up things and helping clean up are also very much appreciated!

If you can lend a hand, please let James know in advance. And for more information, please see the event’s website.

WRC-map. Course Map.

Norman Brand (1933-2014)

Gerry Ives regretfully shares the following sad news:

Norm Brand passed away last Friday, July 11th. He would have been 81 on July 23rd. He was a long time official of USATF, and served as WRC’s agent for many years. Although he never ran a race, he was a member of WRC from the early 1970s.

Norman Brand was a charter member of the WRC in 1974, and was a member of WRC’s antecedent clubs, dating back to the 1950s. He received the H. Browning Ross Long Distance Running Merit Award in 1980, the USATF President’s Award in 1981, and the USATF National Officials Committee Chair Award in 2003. He later received the Alfred tomFelde Perpetual Trophy in 2004 for his outstanding long term support and dedication to the WRC.

Update (7/17):
A celebration of Norm’s life will be held at Sunrise Senior Living, 5111 Connecticut Ave., N.W. on Sunday, July 20 from 2 to 5 pm. His obituary is also featured on the Potomac Valley Track Club‘s website.

Dumbarton Doodle Dandy

It’s once again time for Washington Running Club to give back to some of the awesome places through which we run!

Club member and Outreach and Community Events Officer, Michaela Corr, is working to identify the best opportunity for WRCers to lend a hand and do some crosstraining at the Dumbarton Oaks Park in Georgetown.

If you want to help keep one of the prettier places where we go running looking its very best, start by letting Michaela know when you’re available, via her dandy DOODLE. We’ll only participate in this once, but click on all the dates you are free to help lend a hand.
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