Athlete Race Recap: Running with the Elks 5K, 174th Attack Wing Runway 5K, IRONMAN Maryland, Gynecological Cancers 5K, & Rim2Rim

Full Circle Endurance athletes were racing in all kinds of races all over the country this past weekend!

• Running with the Elks 5K - Baldwinsville, New York
• 174th Attack Wing Runway 5K - Syracuse, New York
• IRONMAN Maryland - Cambridge, Maryland
• Gynecologic Cancers 5K - Rochester, New York
• Rim2Rim - Twin Falls, Idaho

Running with the Elks 5K

On Friday, September 16, 2022, Lisa Crockford headed out to Baldwinsville, New York after work to participate in the Running with the Elks 5K.  Lisa is currently training for a big goal in January, and this race was a fun way for her to get in a solid training run in a race setting.  Lisa stuck to her plan and headed out immediately after crossing the finish line to complete the rest of her planned workout for the day.

We’ve switched up Lisa’s run training a bit these last couple of months to be heart-rate based.  This has been going well!  We deploy a run/walk strategy in Lisa’s running, but on Friday, Lisa was able to successfully run longer intervals and run at a faster pace overall than she has been.

Way to go, Lisa!

174th Attack Wing Runway 5K

For the first time ever, the Syracuse-Hancock International Airport closed down its 9,000-foot runway to allow a running race to take place on it.  The inaugural 174th Attack Wing Runway 5K took place on Saturday, September 17, 2022 and Christina Barker and Lisa Crockford were there!

Runways are (necessarily) flat.  This makes for a fast race course when you’re talking about a running race!  Christina Barker had her fastest-paced run in a long time and was able to run the entire 5K distance with strength!  Lisa (who only had a 13-hour time gap in between her two races this weekend!) ran faster in this 5K than she did on Friday night!

What a day for these two ladies!  Congratulations, Christina and Lisa! 

IRONMAN Maryland

IRONMAN Maryland returned to Cambridge, Maryland this year on Saturday, September 17, 2022!  Both Scott Heintzelman and Christina Hotsko were there to take on 140.6 miles.

Scott Heintzelman

IRONMAN Maryland was Scott’s 11th IRONMAN.  That’s right: ELEVENTH!  That, my friends, is a LOT of IRONMAN races.

Scott has been navigating an injury for several months now and he also faced some other challenges leading into IRONMAN Maryland.  Fortunately, Scott has a lot of racing experience on this course; this year’s race was Scott’s fourth IRONMAN Maryland.  He used this knowledge and experience to his advantage as he proceeded throughout his day in Cambridge.  He crossed the finish line feeling strong and good, officially making him an ELEVEN-TIME IRONMAN!

This year’s IRONMAN Maryland was a very significant race for Scott, as now he only has one more race to go before he qualifies for the IRONMAN World Championship via the IRONMAN Legacy Program!

Congratulations, Scott!  One more!

Christina Hotsko

IRONMAN Maryland was Christina’s first-ever IRONMAN.  Christina hired me at the end of July (right when she decided to sign up for the race!), so we only had a short bit of time to prepare for this distance.

Fortunately, Christina had prepared well for an IRONMAN 70.3 earlier this year.  After completing that distance, she realized that she might be closer than she thought to Becoming an IRONMAN.  We used that base to build her up to successfully take on 140.6 miles and made some other changes along the way.  Most notably, we formulated a strong nutrition/hydration strategy for her to utilize on race day to keep her going strong.

Christina had SUCH a great day in Cambridge!  She steadily swam, biked, and ran her way through all 140.6 miles.

Congratulations, Christina!  YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Gynecologic Cancers 5K

Gerad Levey headed over to Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York on Saturday, September 17, 2022 to run the Gynecological Cancers 5K!

Gerad just raced IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan last Sunday.  His recovery has gone well, so he decided at the last-minute to pop into this 5K to see what he could do.

Well, folks.  He rocked it.  He finished first in his age group and SIXTH overall!

Way to go, Gerad!

Rim2Rim

Amy Otero decided to take on quite the challenge at the Rim2Rim on Saturday, September 17, 2022 in Twin Falls, Idaho!

This unique 7.5-mile running race starts off deep in Snake River Canyon and then climbs out of the canyon (1,200+ feet of climbing, folks!).  After running around on the top of the canyon for a bit, runners then run back down the canyon to finish at a beautiful lake.

Amy and I have been working together since January 2022.  When Amy started Performance Coaching, she had some injuries that prevented her from running.  As we started to incorporate running in February, Amy was running literally two total miles on entirely flat terrain.

On Saturday, Amy ran those 7.5 hard, hilly miles at an average pace that was more than a minute faster per mile than where we started at in February AND she finished with no injuries.  This is an amazing amount of progress in this amount of time!

Way to rock this challenge, Amy!

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