What a phenomenal weekend of racing for the RunnersConnect team! We had 9 athletes run personal bests and several athletes come very close to recording new PRs. This was a fantastic way to cap off the month of April and set our sights on a summer filled with even more great races.

Starting with the longest distances, we had Laurette Balinsky running a new Marathon PR of 3:41:55 on one of the toughest marathon courses in the US – the Big Sur Marathon. Laurette has been training like a beast and a big PR on such a difficult course is a great sign of her fitness.

Laurette’s friend and teammate, Hannah Jennings, also ran 3:41 at Big Sur in her first race back from serious knee surgery just 6 months ago. Hannah is destined for big things this Spring as she’s taken her training to the next level.

Also running Big Sur, and making her debut at the marathon distance, was Angela Reid, who finished in 5:08:41. Angela only recently tackled the half marathon distance, so her love for training and racing is clearly growing.

Jonathan Tolksdorf also recorded a marathon PR at 3:13:02, taking almost 3 minutes off his previous personal best despite running a very difficult course and having a less than ideal pre race day of moving office furniture.

Dannis Hughbanks tackled the hilly Kentucky Derby Marathon and finished in 3:02:13. While the time was 2 minutes short of his goal to break 3 hours, Dannis ran an intelligent and strong race and has his eyes set to the Chicago marathon in the fall.

Kicking butt at the half marathon distance was Kyle Daigle, who recorded a monster PR, running 1:45:16 and knocking more than 10 minutes off his last official race.

Joy Duling made her racing debut at the half marathon and clocked 2:58:26, way under the 3 hour time goal she set for herself. Having just started running recently, Joy has big things in store for her training and race times.

Michael Brown came just 17 agonizing seconds short of recording a new half marathon PR, running 1:56:05. Despite finishing just out of PR range, Michael made a lot of progress in the last few weeks and should set himself up well for a summer of racing.

Dropping down to the shorter distances, Jamie Dodge lead the way with a new 5-mile PR, running 36:37. Jamie’s run was even more impressive given her high training load the last few weeks and race temperatures that were less than ideal. Big things are in store for Jamie the next few months!

Monica Ross kicked off the 5k festivities with a new PR at 17:33. Monica has been steadily gaining fitness all winter and will look to compete in the US Masters Marathon Championships next Fall. This 5k shows she’s still got some speed and fight left in the legs.

Richard Harris opened up his Spring racing season with a 16:38 5k. This was Richard’s fastest season debut, which means he’s in for a great summer of racing this season. Watch out Charlotte runners!

Two results we missed from last week were Brent Frissora and Eva Wang running two great 5k races. Brent finished 5th overall and second in his age group, running 15:55 and Eva ran 20:50 for 16th overall female. Great races for both runners!