11/13-14 Race Reports

I'm pretty sure that dictionary.com needs to add a 4th definition for awesome... TAF Racing:

• On Saturday, at Beach 2 Battleship, James and John G. completed their first half ironmans. James was 2nd in his age group, and 56th overall! Ed did the whole thing, completing his first ironman in 11:40. Ok y'all... that's just CRAZY... CONGRATS... WOW... I don't know how you did it... I'm pretty sure the last thing that I wanted to do Saturday morning was jump in the ocean and swim, then jump on a bike and ride in the wind... and then go run over a few bridges! CONGRATS again... I'm just going to keep saying that over and over (but I'll spare y'all the details for reading it).
• On Sunday, Dave M. and Lisa H. both decided to have a go at the 26.2 mile distance. Dave ran the Harrisburg Marathon, keeping a strong pace until mile 18 when the hills hit, and still finished in a great time despite the fact that I think that both of his feet were covered in one huge blister (well, I guess two huge blisters... seriously, I don't think there was a square inch of either not covered in band-aids, gauze, and tape!). Lisa ran the OBX marathon, setting a new PR and finishing 6th in her age group. I think this now marks a PR at like every distance for her since September! AWESOME JOB GUYS! (OBX results)
• A bit closer to home, some of us ran the Old Reliable 10K, where TAF Racing also dominated the podium. Laura B. was the overall winner on the woman's side, setting a new PR for a road 10K in the process. Also on the list of PR's, Rita ran like "a mile" PR, placing 1st in her age group (and 6th woman). Sean and I both took 1st in our age groups, and Keith was 4th in his. Perry and Andrew ran great races too. TAF ROCKS! (results... and look who made the News and Observer... plus several shots in the album too)!
  
• In other news, John Crews won the OBX Marathon. Laurel went out to cheer / run with some of our friends at the Richmond Marathon (which was also dominated by local Raleigh runners).WAHOOO!

A few of us got together on Sunday night to celebrate this weekend of awesomeness, and I made a great discovery... "icecream cherries" on pizza! Yes y'all... the Fly'n Hawaiian pizza... all it was missing was sprinkles... we'll add it to the "TAF To Do List": (1) Dominate XC Club Nationals, (2) Plan an awesome end-of-the-season-party, (3) Make "icecream cherry" + sprinkles pizza (at this point, I guess it's really more of a cupcake) for the aforementioned party! #20