running

Arlington Athletes Among Top Finishers At Va. Race

By ARLnow.com

Two Arlington athletes were among the top finishers at a grueling 50-mile endurance race over the weekend.

The GORE-TEX 50 Mile race, part of the North Face Endurance Challenge series, took runners on a long, rugged trail course spanning Algonkian Regional Park, Great Falls Park and the Potomac Heritage Trail.

Ragan Petrie of Arlington was the top female finisher, with a time of 7:33:59. She was 11th overall in the field of nearly 250. Arlington resident and distance running phenom Michael Wardian (pictured) placed third overall with a time of 6:03:14. Matt Woods of Falls Church placed first with a time of 5:59:07.

Petrie and Woods will receive a $1,000 prize and head to San Francisco in December to compete in the Endurance Challenge championship. (This weekend’s race was one of four regional races leading to the championship.)

Photo via Twitter

Crystal City 5K Fridays Return in April

By ARLnow.com

Pay no mind to the white stuff on the ground. The start of spring is a mere four weeks away (March 20).

One annual springtime tradition that’s quickly approaching is Crystal City’s 5K Fridays.

Every Friday in April, starting on April 1, Crystal Drive and Old Jefferson Davis Highway will be shut down between 6:15 and 7:30 p.m. to allow hundreds of runners to take a jog through the heart of Crystal City.

Registration for individual races is $20, while registration for the entire series of five races is $75.

The first three races will include a tie-in with Crystal City’s upcoming FLASH photography exhibit. Runners will get free admission and a free drink at an after-party held in the exhibit space, provided they remember to hang on to their racing bib.

Pentagon City Road Closures for Valentine’s Day Race

By ARLnow.com

Police will close a number of streets in the Pentagon City area Sunday morning for the Love The Run You’re With 5K race.

The sold-out race will start and end in front of Pentagon Row. The roads affected are:

  • South Joyce St. between South 15th St. and Army Navy Dr. will be closed from 7:00 AM until 11:00 AM.
  • Army Navy Dr. between South Joyce St. and South 25th St. will be closed from 7:00 AM until 11:00 AM.

Arlington County also issued the following parking advice.

Race attendees are encouraged to use Metro however, if driving please utilize the parking garage at the Pentagon City Mall.

In addition, street parking in the area will be restricted.  Motorists should be on the lookout for temporary “No Parking” signs.  Illegally parked vehicles may be ticketed or towed.  If your vehicle is towed from a public street, call 703-228-4252.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

I-66 Ignored by Google Maps — If you recently tried to get directions to points west with Google Maps, and you were surprised when the directions included a long stretch on stop-light-heavy Route 50 instead of I-66, now there’s an explanation. The inside-the-Beltway portion of the highway, which is HOV-only at certain parts of the day, is no longer an option for Google Maps users. More from WTOP.

Wardian Profiled by New York Times — Prolific Arlington marathoner Michael Wardian is not running in the upcoming New York City Marathon. In fact, he hasn’t run the race in 12 years. But he was just profiled in the New York Times’ New York City Marathon blog.

Rating Arlington’s Indoor Pools — How do Arlington’s public indoor pools stack up? TBD scribe Jenny Rogers takes a look at the Yorktown, Washington-Lee and Wakefield pools.

More Hardware for Prolific Arlington Runner

By ARLnow.com

Arlington marathoner Michael Wardian has a couple of new medals for his extensive collection. Wardian, 36, placed third in the 50K World Championship race in Galway, Ireland, earning a bronze medal on behalf of the USA.

Just a week later, on Sunday, Sept. 4, Wardian won the Kaua’i Marathon in Hawaii. His time of 2:30:52 just barely missed the 2:30 mark, which would have earned him a $15,000 bonus prize. Another Arlington runner, Michael Zinn, placed 17th in the race.

Finally, on Sunday, Wardian placed third in the Parks Half-Marathon in Montgomery County.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Brooks Visits Pacers — Shoemaker Brooks visited the Pacers Running Store in Clarendon yesterday. The company brought along prizes and a double-decker bus.

Arlington PD Officially Announces Project Lifesaver Program — As we first reported in June, Arlington will be joining the Project Lifesaver program, which provides electronic tracking devices to help locate individuals who tend to wander due to cognitive problems. The department made the official announcement in a press release last night. Families interested in enrolling their loved ones into the service should call 877-434-6384.

Arlington Tennis Phenom Advances in U.S. Open — Arlington’s own Denis Kudla, 18, is one of three U.S. boys to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S Open junior boys’ tournament in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. More from the Washington Post and the NY Times.

Update on Arlington Mill Community Center — Via DC Mud, we learn that the county is trying again to find a developer to build a mixed-income residential complex behind the planned Arlington Mill Community Center on Columbia Pike. The developer most recently chosen for the residential project backed out, leaving the county to fish for more proposals. The palatial recreation center could break ground early next year, and an existing building is set to be demolished next month, DC Mud reports.

Registration Still Open for Arlington 9/11 Run

By ARLnow.com

Online registration is now closed for this year’s Arlington 9/11 Memorial 5K, but runners can still register in person over the next three days.

The race, which was started by two Arlington police officers in 2002, will be held Saturday in Pentagon City. Thousands of runners are expected to participate.

Team and online registration is closed, but anyone interested in participating can register in person today at Pacers Running Store in Clarendon (3100 Clarendon Blvd) between noon and 8:00 p.m.

On Thursday, in person registration will take place at the Pacers store in Pentagon City (1101 South Joyce Street) from noon to 9:00 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday it will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel in Pentagon City (300 Army Navy Drive). The cost of registration is $30 now, $35 on race day.

The race will kick off from the DoubleTree at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Fifteen minutes before the race, Del. Bob Brink (D-Arlington) will dedicate part of Washington Boulevard as “9/11 Heroes Memorial Highway.”

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

More Nightly Custis Trail Closures

By ARLnow.com

Last week’s nightly closures of the Custis Trail under I-66 have been extended through Wednesday. Construction is still taking place on a framework, intended to protect bicyclists from work related to the I-66 widening project.

The closures will take place between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Any trail traffic during that time will be detoured. The detoured route will be marked and will take cyclists and joggers farther east to a pedestrian overpass.

The closures are expected to wrap up Wednesday night.

Nightly Closures of Custis Trail This Week

By ARLnow.com

Late night joggers and cyclists beware. From Arlington County spokesperson Susan Kalish:

“[The] Custis Trail under I-66  (between Westover and Bon Air Parks) will be closed from 9pm to 5am from Monday, August 23 to Thursday, August 26 so that a protective framework can be installed to protect users during the upcoming widening of the vehicular bridge.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Arlington Joins Region-Wide HOV Enforcement Effort Today — Today Arlington police will be joining Virginia State Police and other local law enforcement agencies in an effort to crack down on HOV violators. During the morning and evening rush hours, police will step up HOV patrols on I-66, I-395 and other local highways. More from WaPo’s Dr. Gridlock.

Injured Vets Stop at Iwo Jima Memorial on Cross-County Bike Ride — A group of 18 bicyclists, many of them wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stopped in Arlington last night on their way from San Francisco to Virginia Beach. The vets stopped at the Marine Corps Memorial to see the retiring of the colors ceremony. More from the Associated Press.

Moran’s Cash Advantage Over Murray Nearly 20:1 — Talk about an incumbent advantage. In the latest disclosure period, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) reported nearly twenty times as much cash on hand as his Republican challenger, Patrick Murray. Murray has $29,890 to Moran’s $581,829. The Sun Gazette reports that Murray’s congressional campaign also has $35,000 in unpaid debt.

Annual Twilight 5K Returns to Crystal City Saturday — Now in its third year, the Crystal City Twilighter 5K will once again wind its way through the streets of Crystal City as the sun sets Saturday night. The race will get underway around 8:00 p.m. on Crystal Drive between 20th Street and 23rd Street. The Twilighter features medals for the top three finishers in 16 age groups, cash prizes for the top five finishers, and a killer after party. Online registration for the race ends Friday.

Michael Wardian Sets World Indoor Marathon Record

By ARLnow.com

An 82-year-old world record was broken in Arlington last night.

Michael Wardian, an Arlington resident and one of the country’s premiere distance runners, crushed the world record for an indoor track marathon, completing the 26.2 miles in 2:27:21. The old record was 2:34:54, set in Boston back in 1928.

Wardian set the record at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center, which has a 200-meter soft urethane track. To complete the marathon, he had to run 211 laps.

Wardian, who works as an international shipbroker in Georgetown, is no stranger to setting records. He set the world records for fastest marathon while pushing a baby stroller and fastest marathon on a treadmill, but both of those records have since been broken (“I hope to get them back soon,” he told us).

Wardian says he enjoyed setting this record so close to home.

“It feels great and I was so happy to be able to do it at Thomas Jefferson Community Center… close to my house in front of my family and friends,” he said.

Pool photo taken last night by Chris Rief.

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