See the write up in RunWashington of the Semper Fi 5K by NOVA's Board Secretary Erin Masterson:
http://www.runwashington.com/news/4176/314/Supporting-wounded-service-members-motivates-Semper-Fi-5k-runners.htm
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
NOVA Team Profile: Aagje Engel
PRs
800m: 2:32.6
5k: 19:26
Dutch Diesel
Before coming to the United States, Aagje Engel's running friends in the Netherlands used to call her "the Diesel." She earned this nickname because, while she couldn't accelerate very fast, she could keep a steady pace for many miles. In the winter of 2009, her husband got stationed in the DC area, and the prospect of many sunny days gave her the final push to come with him and leave everything back home behind, at least for a few years.
Aagje loved running back home and wanted to continue that over here. So, on a bitterly cold Tuesday night in February (where was that warm promised Mediterranean climate???!), she ran her first practice with NOVA Running Club. There were many runners there despite the cold, so she jumped in and tried to run with pack leaders Martha Mertz and Dan Wallace. Her lap times surprised her, and she actually asked NOVA Coach Jerry Alexander if the track size in the US was in yards! She was happy with her speedy times, but wondered how it had happened in such a short time. Some runners say that you can be stuck at a plateau and then suddenly break through, but Aagje wasn't sure if sure if this meant lowering your 800m pace by 10-20 seconds.
Aagje loved getting faster and being part of the NOVA team, but come fall, she was getting fatigued beyond reason. She had to stop on long runs because of stinging pain on her right side. While talking to other runners, they were as mystified as she, as pain normally appears on the left side from your spleen. Then, during a conversation with her mom on New Year's 2009, Aagje learned more details of her extended family. Her mom mentioned that her aunt had an illness that could be due to a gluten allergy. Something clicked. Memories of how she ran her best half marathon on a breakfast of Twinkies, how she always gained weight during the summer while eating less, how she loved Asian food. Aagje decided to do a food trial. For two weeks she avoided all gluten. The outcome? Relief. A certain pain that she had never been aware of was now gone.
And she lived happily ever after, right?! No. As her body was changing from being anemic for over 10 years to finally becoming healthy, she had to learn how to interpret her body’s feedback. Remember, a Diesel is pretty simple: once you turn on the engine it will keep going, but a fast car like a Corvette needs maintenance. For the first time she had to learn to eat properly (no food= an empty machine), to warm up properly (don't blow up the engine) and to stretch before and after a run. Aagje is still learning to interpret her body’s signals. What better way to learn than in races? This spring she did the 5k Crystal City series and an 800 on the track. She is working on bringing down her PRs, and already has a lot of knowledge gained. And, she has a new NOVA nickname, "The flying Dutchwoman." She and her husband will fly back to the Netherlands in August 2013, but Aagje won't forget her time with NOVA and all the lessons she has learned here.
800m: 2:32.6
 |
| Aagje Engel Photo courtesy Aagje Engel |
5k: 19:26
Dutch Diesel
Before coming to the United States, Aagje Engel's running friends in the Netherlands used to call her "the Diesel." She earned this nickname because, while she couldn't accelerate very fast, she could keep a steady pace for many miles. In the winter of 2009, her husband got stationed in the DC area, and the prospect of many sunny days gave her the final push to come with him and leave everything back home behind, at least for a few years.
Aagje loved running back home and wanted to continue that over here. So, on a bitterly cold Tuesday night in February (where was that warm promised Mediterranean climate???!), she ran her first practice with NOVA Running Club. There were many runners there despite the cold, so she jumped in and tried to run with pack leaders Martha Mertz and Dan Wallace. Her lap times surprised her, and she actually asked NOVA Coach Jerry Alexander if the track size in the US was in yards! She was happy with her speedy times, but wondered how it had happened in such a short time. Some runners say that you can be stuck at a plateau and then suddenly break through, but Aagje wasn't sure if sure if this meant lowering your 800m pace by 10-20 seconds.
Aagje loved getting faster and being part of the NOVA team, but come fall, she was getting fatigued beyond reason. She had to stop on long runs because of stinging pain on her right side. While talking to other runners, they were as mystified as she, as pain normally appears on the left side from your spleen. Then, during a conversation with her mom on New Year's 2009, Aagje learned more details of her extended family. Her mom mentioned that her aunt had an illness that could be due to a gluten allergy. Something clicked. Memories of how she ran her best half marathon on a breakfast of Twinkies, how she always gained weight during the summer while eating less, how she loved Asian food. Aagje decided to do a food trial. For two weeks she avoided all gluten. The outcome? Relief. A certain pain that she had never been aware of was now gone.
And she lived happily ever after, right?! No. As her body was changing from being anemic for over 10 years to finally becoming healthy, she had to learn how to interpret her body’s feedback. Remember, a Diesel is pretty simple: once you turn on the engine it will keep going, but a fast car like a Corvette needs maintenance. For the first time she had to learn to eat properly (no food= an empty machine), to warm up properly (don't blow up the engine) and to stretch before and after a run. Aagje is still learning to interpret her body’s signals. What better way to learn than in races? This spring she did the 5k Crystal City series and an 800 on the track. She is working on bringing down her PRs, and already has a lot of knowledge gained. And, she has a new NOVA nickname, "The flying Dutchwoman." She and her husband will fly back to the Netherlands in August 2013, but Aagje won't forget her time with NOVA and all the lessons she has learned here.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Laura O'Hara Inducted into Rhode Island High School Athletic Hall of Fame
Georgetown Running Club (GRC) team member (and former NOVA runner) Laura O'Hara inducted into the Rhode Island High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Congratulations Laura!!
http://blog.grcrunning.com/2013/05/an-honor-well-earned.html
http://blog.grcrunning.com/2013/05/an-honor-well-earned.html
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
NOVA Team Profile: David Bernard
PRs
1600m: 4:42
3k: 9:08
5k: 15:58
10k: 33:06
10 Mile: 55:08
Marathon: 3:48:57
 |
| David Barnard after running the Marine Corps Shadow Marathon, Camp Victory, Iraq photo courtesy David Barnard |
David Bernard has been running for nearly 35 years. A native of Maine, he started out running in a summer recreational track program and enjoyed it enough that he ran cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track throughout junior high, high school and college. He garnered all-state honors during his senior year at Greely High School with his fifth place finish in the State of Maine Cross Country Championship Meet. During his senior year at the University of Maine he earned his varsity letter for track; his PRs for 1600m thru 10k came during his last year of college. His 10 Mile PR came a few months after he graduated from UMaine in 1992. Dave’s performance in his only marathon occurred in 2010, during a year-long deployment to Iraq where he ran the Marine Corps shadow marathon at Camp Victory near Baghdad.
Since college, Dave has run mainly for fitness. Every few years he strings together a few months of “real” training, logging 40-50 miles per week and getting his times for the 5k and 10k down to 20min and 40min, but running for time has not been his focus—it’s been enough of a reward to maintain a healthy body composition and to stay off blood pressure medication. Aside from general fitness, Dave’s current focus is preparing for the JFK50 next fall, which will be his first ultra.
Dave is married with two kids. He works at the Pentagon and lives in Alexandria. The short commute allows him to run home from work most nights which accounts for half of the mileage he runs. Besides helping him be consistent in his training, it allows him to clear his head at the end of the day and avoid spending the $4.75 he would otherwise spend on parking. As for other interests, Dave and his wife are developing a working homestead in North Carolina, where his wife lives fulltime and which Dave visits on weekends and vacations. They maintain a flock of laying hens and a handful of dairy goats and cultivate fruit trees and blueberries in addition to managing a sizeable vegetable garden. Eventually they hope to be self-employed as farmers and as teachers of self-sufficient living skills.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
NOVA Team Profile: Katie Tomlinson
 |
| Katie Tomlinson (right) at the 2013 Yuengling Shamrock VA Beach Marathon photo courtesy Katie Tomlinson |
PRs:
5k: 18:41 half marathon: 1:27
marathon: 3:01
Katie grew up in South Jersey as a swimmer and soccer player before taking up running in seventh grade. Inspired by her mother, who has run several marathons, Katie inevitably developed a love for longer distances. Katie continued to run throughout high school and in a running club while at Rutgers University. Upon graduating from Rutgers and moving to DC to begin teaching Spanish in Prince George’s County, Katie made it her goal to run the Chicago marathon. While she was certain after Chicago, and again after the Marine Corps Marathon, that she would never want to register for another marathon again, she elected to sign up for the 2013 Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach since her twin sister was registered for the half marathon. Since having a blast running this race, she has decided that she may more willingly sign up for a few more marathons.
This fall, Katie is excited to return to her home city to run the Philly Marathon and hopefully participate in the 2014 Boston Marathon. Her long-term goals consist of running a sub-3 hour marathon, traveling throughout Central and South America, and purchasing a puppy (a Rhodesian Ridgeback). Katie is excited to be the new Membership Coordinator for the NOVA Running Club.
Monday, May 6, 2013
NOVA Team Profile: Erin Masterson
 |
| NOVA President Erin Masterson finishes the 2014 Boston Marathon |
800m: 2:15.2
1500m: 4:40.3
Mile: 5:03
5k: 18:28.7
5 Mile: 32:48
10k: 40:05
10 Mile: 1:05:57
Half Marathon: 1:31.2
Marathon: 3:08:34
Erin Masterson started running at the advanced age of 7. Growing up in Annapolis, MD, she was recruited to the Annapolis Junior Striders, a fledgling running club started by her dad as an offshoot of the flagship Annapolis Striders. The group never acquired more than 10 members, two of whom were Erin and her twin brother Andy, but familial pressure kept Erin coming back. She maintained a consistent training schedule throughout her younger years, competing in both cross country and track races as an unattached runner, including racing a 200 meter dash against Olympian Meredith Rainey Valmon as a 9 year old (Meredith won).
Erin later ran cross country and track at Annapolis High School, competing in a range of events from 200 meters to 3200 meters, long jump, and pole vault. She earned numerous Baltimore Sun and Washington Post All Met honors in track and cross country, was named Anne Arundel County Athlete of the Year three times, and collected 13 County, 12 Region, and four Maryland 3A/4A State titles in track during her high school career. She also earned the inaugural Bill and Debby Belichick Scholar Athlete Award at Annapolis High School in 2001 (Bill Belichick, Head Coach of the New England Patriots, is an Annapolis native and 1970 AHS graduate).
Erin was enthusiastically recruited to American University by then-AU Assistant Coach (now NOVA Coach) Jerry Alexander, but decided to go farther from home and accepted a track scholarship to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg VA. While at W&M she earned Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Conference honors in the 1500 meters, contributed to the Tribe's streak of Conference Championships in outdoor track and cross country, and served as Cross Country Co-Captain her senior year.
Since graduating college, Erin has gradually attempted to transform herself into a long distance runner, despite Coach Jerry's firm belief that she should stick to the 5k and 10k. Her favorite race is the Army 10 Mile, but she caught the marathon bug after achieving a PR of 3:20.45 in the 2013 Boston Marathon and now all bets are off. Erin joined NOVA in 2011 and began serving on the NOVA Board in 2013 as the Social Media Director. In January 2014, she took the reins from Justin Buenaflor and now serves as NOVA President.
For her day job, Erin works as a consultant in the Public Sector Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, managing projects for the Department of Defense Military Health System. With Coach Jerry's support and encouragement, she is also busy at work building out her second career as a running writer, having had her work featured on Hepstrack.com, Active Life DC, Track & Field News, and RunWashington, in addition to the NOVA Blog. She is now the Military Running feature writer for RunWashington. She is also a member of the Oiselle Flock racing team. Her three loves in life are running, writing, and writing about running.
Links to all Erin's publications can be found on her own blog, http://happinessinhindsight.wordpress.com/
Links to Erin's Active Life DC publications can be found here
Erin later ran cross country and track at Annapolis High School, competing in a range of events from 200 meters to 3200 meters, long jump, and pole vault. She earned numerous Baltimore Sun and Washington Post All Met honors in track and cross country, was named Anne Arundel County Athlete of the Year three times, and collected 13 County, 12 Region, and four Maryland 3A/4A State titles in track during her high school career. She also earned the inaugural Bill and Debby Belichick Scholar Athlete Award at Annapolis High School in 2001 (Bill Belichick, Head Coach of the New England Patriots, is an Annapolis native and 1970 AHS graduate).
Erin was enthusiastically recruited to American University by then-AU Assistant Coach (now NOVA Coach) Jerry Alexander, but decided to go farther from home and accepted a track scholarship to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg VA. While at W&M she earned Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Conference honors in the 1500 meters, contributed to the Tribe's streak of Conference Championships in outdoor track and cross country, and served as Cross Country Co-Captain her senior year.
Since graduating college, Erin has gradually attempted to transform herself into a long distance runner, despite Coach Jerry's firm belief that she should stick to the 5k and 10k. Her favorite race is the Army 10 Mile, but she caught the marathon bug after achieving a PR of 3:20.45 in the 2013 Boston Marathon and now all bets are off. Erin joined NOVA in 2011 and began serving on the NOVA Board in 2013 as the Social Media Director. In January 2014, she took the reins from Justin Buenaflor and now serves as NOVA President.
For her day job, Erin works as a consultant in the Public Sector Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, managing projects for the Department of Defense Military Health System. With Coach Jerry's support and encouragement, she is also busy at work building out her second career as a running writer, having had her work featured on Hepstrack.com, Active Life DC, Track & Field News, and RunWashington, in addition to the NOVA Blog. She is now the Military Running feature writer for RunWashington. She is also a member of the Oiselle Flock racing team. Her three loves in life are running, writing, and writing about running.
Links to all Erin's publications can be found on her own blog, http://happinessinhindsight.wordpress.com/
Links to Erin's Active Life DC publications can be found here
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Betty Blank helps build strong bodies while empowering clients | WJLA.com
Check out Betty Blank's Interview wth Channel 7 news!!!
Betty Blank helps build strong bodies while empowering clients | WJLA.com
Betty Blank helps build strong bodies while empowering clients | WJLA.com
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