PRTC Weekly: 10/28/2019 (Road Warriors and More)
Race Results
Philadelphia, PA: PRTC took dual wins at the inaugural Market Street "Run for Blue" 5 Miler.
The rain-soaked race, "Philadelphia's newest fall tradition", according to promoters, took place on the Market Street Loop which steered participants from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River over the course of the event covering both Old City and the Center City business district.
Ethan Hermann and Chris Hendry placed a quick 1/2 with respective 26:08 and 26:21 finishes. Meanwhile, Carey Celata took 4th overall and a comfortable first in the women's division with her 30:30 result. Great job!
Results
Ethan Hermann: 26:08 (1st)
Chris Hendry: 26:21 (2nd)
Carey Celata: 30:30 (1st)
Full results here.
Cape May, NJ: Jake "Flow" O'Donnell completed his first half marathon under the tutelage of Coach Dylan Gearinger on familiar turf at the Cape May Hallowed Half. His effort at the race quickly turned into a solo affair as the field strung out. Nevertheless, Jake ran to a time of 1:13:26 achieving a new PR in the distance and claiming 2nd overall. Nice race!
Results
Jake O'Donnell: 1:13:26 (2nd)
Full results here.
Phoenixsville, PA: Abby Cember returned to her road warrior ways at the Phoenixsville Run where she added another overall win to her record book. Abby's time of 39:11 bested 2nd place by over two minutes as she covered the hilly 10k course at a pace of 6:19 per mile. Congrats!
Results
Abby Cember: 39:11 (1st)
Full results here.
Izumo Shimane, Japan: A dispatch from Chris Hatler's travels abroad:
"Japanese distance running has a long and storied tradition as shown by their incredibly deep Olympic marathon trials field. For most of those athletes, their foray into long distance running are through Ekidens, which are long distance relay road races run by Japanese universities. There are multiple throughout the fall, making the practice comparable to that of the NCAA cross country season (without the grass and dirt).
The Ivy League has been invited to send an all-star alumni team every year for the last two decades to compete against the best of the best of these Japanese colleges... and usually gets lit up, finishing mid- to back-of-the-pack every time. Japan puts a strong emphasis on half marathoning and marathoning in college, so while most American college teams would beat the Japanese schools outright in middle distance, the Japanese destroy us over the course of 8k+.
As a graduate of Penn, I was selected along with several other alumni from various other Ivies to compete in the 2019 Ekiden season opener in Izumo, a small city a few hours east of Tokyo. The Izumo Ekiden features the shortest distances of all the Ekidens. Twenty-one teams of six runners each battle it out in a big loop of 26ish miles around the city, with no leg shorter than 5.8K or longer than 10.2K. I was put in the third position, which was a distance of 8.5K.
The race experience was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. After the first couple legs, the field breaks apart, leaving most runners to fend for themselves in a solo time trial. In my case, I passed four teams in the first two miles, and was forced to push myself over the hilly highways alone for the remainder of the race. I finished pretty admirably in 26:00, handing off in 14th place, despite the debilitating stomach cramps I got from mainly eating raw fish and rice for the few days prior.
The last three legs of the Ivy League Select Team took us up one more place to finish in 13th. We were disappointed with the result until we realized how unreal the Japanese athletes are. The fastest person on my leg over 8.5K ran an average pace of 4:30/mile. That’s insane!!!
Afterwards, all the teams celebrate the passing of another Ekiden with a huge party at the Izumo winery, where all the athletes, coaches, staff and additional guests eat and drink to their heart’s content while enjoying a stage performance from each team’s cheerleading squad. You read that right, they love distance running so much out there that they have cheerleaders (take that football)! Since we didn’t have cheerleaders, our team got up and performed the YMCA. It was such a hit that dozens of athletes from other teams stormed the stage to join us as we jumped around and shouted along to the lyrics. It ended with a chant of “Ivy League! Ivy League!” from everyone at the banquet. We may have only finished 13th, but we were definitely “ichiban” (number 1) at the banquet.
Overall, it was an incredible experience that I hope to have again next year, and you best believe we’ll be gunning for a podium finish."
Upcoming Runs, Events, & Races
Tuesday: 6:15 PM warm-up at Franklin Field. Workouts start at 6:30 PM. Check Slack for pace partners!
Sunday: Long run at 9:00 AM from Lloyd Hall.
Races
November 3rd, 2019: Marshall Half Marathon (Huntington, WV)
November 3rd, 2019: New York Marathon (New York, NY)
November 3rd, 2019: Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge (Camden, NJ) *
November 9th, 2019: Rocky Run (Philadelphia, PA)
November 23rd, 2019: Philadelphia Half Marathon (Philadelphia, PA) *
November 23rd, 2019: Rothman 8k (Philadelphia, PA) *
November 24th, 2019: Philadelphia Marathon (Philadelphia, PA) *
December 8th, 2019: California International Marathon (Sacramento, CA)
December 14th, 2019: USATF Club XC Nationals (Bethlehem, PA)
February 29th, 2020: US Olympic Team Trials - Marathon (Atlanta, GA)
* USATF Mid-Atlantic Grand Prix Event
