September 20th Edition
Medal Monday brings many stories of achievement for our members. Here are 10 of them, as posted on the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics Facebook pages.
Steve Walters MM338 DA9 HF21
Completed my 450th marathon/ultra at the Appletree Marathon in Vancouver Washington.
Tina Torun HF16109
Equinox Full Marathon Fairbanks, AK. One of the toughest marathons in the US! 3954 ft elevation gain mix of trail and road, 2365 ft at top of the Dome. Ran this one with MM Travis Lewis , my wingman, 17th Equinox for him (his favorite Alaska Full marathon) and my friend, Veronica. I did it for the patch! Potential, race for me to qualify for Marathon Maniacs. HF16109
Donna Sarasin HF6371
Congrats Donna Sarasin on finishing your 100th half marathon at the Jamestown Half in Rhode Island yesterday, 9/18/21. #halffanatics Donna has run a lot of races but she almost always places too. :))) That’s clock time I’m sure. She’s pretty speedy. Nice work !!
JM Gabriel MM9970
Is it time to taper? No races for me for the first half of the year for obvious reasons and for weight problems hence knees buckling. So, mind over matter, I registered for a race, no, races. A few races. In several weeks, I did complete 6 fulls and two 50Ks, in 7 US States. Lost 15 pounds and so much happiness to be running again, seeing old-time friends and met a handful of new ones! Taper? I have one more before Chicago (my 100th) and the party will continue on to NYC and several others to be determined at a later date. Good luck everyone! See you along the course!!! See Less
— at Chez Petrus.
Kat Robnett HF16425
Late to the party but completed the Black Bear Double in Tennessee and added a new state to the list!!
Michelle Cox HF 17353
Medal Monday (Tues)!! States 43 and 44 complete and halfs 69 and 70!
I did a back to back weekend with the following half marathon races:
Northeast Kingdom Marathon Island Pond, VT
- Small race with 95 half marathoners but race is free they just want you to spend money in their town 😊 the town was super cool and food was good.
Wicked Half Marathon Salem, MA - Decent race, not a favorite, as we were on busy most of the race and roads were not closed to traffic. It felt dangerous at some points as there were no sidewalks and we were running in the gutters trying not to get hit. Lol The medal is always decent, but there was no crowd support at all. Town is super cool though!
Rick Albanese MM 11181
I ended up being cut for time at the prison today ending my day at The Barkley Fall Classic about 27 miles and 8000ish feet of climb in collecting my second career DNF. The race course changes every year and this year a 50k finish required a 38 mile effort while a Marathon required 31ish miles. I studied my map yesterday and had a plan to try to get ahead on time the first part of the race. It was working until it didn’t largely due to a windy rainstorm that turned parts of the course into dangerous slip and slides. I held a 1 hour cushion on the cutoffs the first 20 miles of the race despite several short sitting breaks during long climbs at different points to get my heart rate under control. It all began to unravel on the first pass at Ratjaw and then on the downhills where I slipped, scraped and fell many times ultimately getting cut for time. Anyone who knows me in the running community knows my passion for this race and the training I’ve consistently put in the past 4 years and I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t crushed pretty hard. I have no regrets leaving it all out there trying to secure the 50k finish. Major mix of emotions but regret is not one of them. I trained, prepared and executed to the best of my abilities and did not quit, sometimes that just isn’t enough, especially at events with the word Barkley in them! Enjoy the finish area photo of my whole body caked in mud sans finisher award. See Less
— at Frozen Head State Park & Natural Area.
Bob Anderson MM15596
So I was able to finish the Fox Valley Marathon today before they forced marathon runners into doing the 20 miler. This was my first marathon back in 5 years. I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever run a marathon again let alone return to running. Big day for me. Thanks for all your support. Best community or racers in the world. Just brings out the best in people.
John Colvard MM13542
4 races over 8 days during my racecation road trip. 9/11: Bixbee Park Run 5k, Palo Alto, CA (no medal). 9/12 Santa Cruz 70.3. 9/15 Land of Enchantment 5K, St George, UT. 9/18 Ironman 70.3 World Championships, St George. (Also my Championship qualifier coin I didn’t get at Salem)Now putting away bike & wetsuit for a quick focus towards Boston in 3 weeks! 😀
David Larson MM8051 DA3202 HF16996
I ran the DC Half, which was the inaugural race. It was well supported and a nice run.
Photo and Post Credit David Larson, John Colvard, Bob Anderson, Rick Albanese, Michelle Cox, Kat Robnett, JM Gabriel, Donna Sarasin, Tina Torun, Steve Walters