November 1 Race Results

We may not have had 30 members racing in DC this weekend, but that does not mean the RMEC was not tearing up some asphalt! There may be others, but I will start with the races that I know about. We had people racing in three different cities over the weekend and all did outstanding!

Battleship Half Marathon: Jeff Hartney had a tune up race on Sunday in Wilmington where he raced the Battleship Half Marathon. Despite a hot and very humid day, Jeff managed to finish in sixth place overall with a time of 1:26:48 (6:38 pace). Keep in mind, that is is sixth place out of 1100 finishers! Levi Moore finished in 147th place by clocking a 1:51:56 on the course.

City of Oaks Half Marathon: Jon Shingleton and Amber Poole were also having a tune up race in North Carolina this weekend. Both returned to the City of Oaks Half Marathon for a rainy race. The rain did little to slow them down as Jon posted a 2:15:39, and Amber a 2:16:27. This is a new PR for Jon by 11 minutes, and Amber set a PR for the City of Oaks course. Both will be joining Jeff Hartney in two weeks at the Richmond Marathon.

New York City Marathon: John Bachelor and Derek Hurdle also raced on Sunday when they took on the five boroughs of New York City. Many of us were eagerly tracking them online as we knew John was trying to qualify for Boston. Derek and John were stride-for-stride for about the first 19 miles of the race. Derek began to cramp and John pulled ahead.

John needed to average a 7:17.4 pace for the race. With about four miles to go in the race he was 25 seconds off the 3:10:59 time he needed to qualify. Realizing his GPS watch was measuring long, he knew he needed to make up time fast! At this point his pace was about 7:18.5. That sounds close, but losing one second per mile for 22 miles adds up.

So John turns on the jets running his last four miles in 7:10, 7:19, 7:06 and 6:47! The end result. . . John qualifies with a time of 3:10:29. Close behind John, came Derek posting an equally impressive 3:17:52. I expect Derek's pacing of John was a major factor to his qualifying time.

John has now posted the fastest time for the RMEC. This also means that so far Derek, John, Jeff M., and Jeff H. all have qualifying times for Boston. 2010 should be a great year!

Elites: If you missed the New York City Marathon, you missed a great race! Meb Keflizighi claimed the men's title, becoming the first American to win the race since 1982! He decided to wear his USA singlet instead of a normal sponsor top. As he ran through Central Park coming up to the finish line he waved at the crowd, and proudly pointed to the USA across his chest. He know what a big deal this was for not only himself, but also for the US. Great job Meb!