Reflecting on the difficulties of 2020, we might be tempted to just scrape the caked mud of the year off our running shoes as the prospect of a better 2021 beckons. But just as those muddy shoes carry the souvenirs of a rough road, that same journey led us to some worthwhile destinations, both expected and unexpected alike.
Within the daily and weekly framework, much remained the same. We put in the miles and made progress in workouts, we competed indoors and outdoors on the track, in cross country and on the roads. We traveled and competed in far flung states and other countries. Certainly, big events were missed, plans canceled, opportunities and goals postponed. Slow calendars and extensive downtime are rare in the Bay Area, and while the unfamiliarity of this new pace certainly jarred us, we embraced the new normal, the reduced traffic, and the opportunity to re-engage with our local routes.
By the numbers (and leaving virtual races aside), PDC athletes still produced nearly 70 in-person performances in 9 states and 4 countries. 7 all-time club bests were set, including three indoor club records from Brendon Fish alone.
Fish represented us at the 2020 USATF Indoor Championships at the 800m distance in his first appearance at the senior national level, while six athletes (Mara Olson, Amy Schnittger, Caitlin Chrisman, Jeannette Mathieu, Stephanie Pancoast, and Matt Lenehan) competed and finished the 2020 US Olympic Marathon Team Trials, our most ever. Led by Olson in 47th place, Lenehan’s performance also capped a two month stretch in which he fell short of the qualifier at CIM, scored for us the next week at the USATF Club National Cross Country Championships (very muddy 10K), and then set a huge personal best to qualify for trials in Houston on the final day possible.
Houston also provided the springboard for a highly productive, if not prolific, calendar year for Matt Leach. Running with his father Andrew, Leach not only set a new personal best of 62:57, but also a now ratified Guinness World Record for fastest father-son half marathon performance. This effort also paved the way for selection to Great Britain’s team for the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships. When Covid-related travel issues squashed that opportunity, he was able to turn his attention to a debut marathon, where at the recent Marathon Project, he surpassed Lenehan’s Houston mark for a new club best of 2:17 and finished the year ranked among the top 10 British athletes at both the half marathon and marathon distance.
Chris Olley closed 2020 ranked within the top 10 British athletes at not two, but three distances. He followed a good scare of the sub-4 mile barrier with a personal best 4:01 in his first indoor race of the season, and broke through with a 3000m best of 7:56 two weeks later. A string of virtual races over the summer deservedly led to a 13:42 5000m clocking at December’s Track Meet to close the books on the year.
Although the sunny San Diego scene seems like a lifetime ago, Steven Grolle finished 17th place at January’s USATF Cross Country Championships, his first individual US Championships. As an active service member, Zach Swenson also competed under the US Navy banner, earning a berth at the World Armed Forces Cross Country Championships in Portugal (subsequently canceled due to Covid). Neither could have predicted at the time that their year would conclude in December with Grolle pacing Swenson in a 1200m time trial on the track, but that’s 2020.
In addition to some strong time trialing, Grolle spent quite a bit of time pacing others over the intervening months of training. Beneficiaries included Maya Weigel, who began the year with a promising 1:14 half marathon (into a crazy headwind), time trialed lifetime bests at 3000m and 5000m, and finished with a sparkling 32:14 10,000m at the Track Meet. Set your DVR to watch her in the US Olympic Track & Field Trials next June.
Pacing others in small groups and individual efforts were the intertwining themes as we both created homespun challenges and tried to stay safe while navigating the year. Grolle, Josh Sealand, and Trevor Halsted (along with Olivia Mickle, the individual winners of our sole PAUSATF Grand Prix appearance at the Redding 10 Miler), paced and challenged each other and others to sometimes overly enthusiastic mileage totals, but many quality Strava segment attempts. Leach and Olley once ran a simultaneous virtual 3000 from opposite corners on the track and finished within a second of each other’s time during the spring lockdown. Benedikt Bünz and Kevin Bishop (this year’s Stanford Treeathlon victor) chased each other up Old La Honda on their bikes for months while time trialing on the track. Donald Taggart set a personal best for 5000m, led by Grolle, and then paced Jen Vucinich to a mile personal best minutes later.
This year featured too many creative and selfless efforts to count, as the team found ways to stay motivated and help each other during the toughest months of the year. Daily virtual core sessions helped keep motivation up during the early weeks of lockdown, along with weekly happy hour check-ins and zoom seminars on nutrition and flexibility. Virtual races, both individual and team format, provided needed momentum through the late spring and early summer especially, with highlights such as five women in the top 15 at the Wharf to Wharf. One of those, Marissa Ferrante, had begun the year with a win and a narrow second in her two international pro triathlon appearances before Covid. Dena Evans and Melinda DiNapoli occupied themselves with every significant climb they could find west of the 280, a fire season-delayed virtual Boston Marathon effort, and a Grand Canyon Rim to River to Rim. Tasia Potasinski and Amy Schnittger followed in a similar vein with Rim to Rim and Rim to Rim to Rim runs respectively. Potasinski completed a triple crown of indoor middle distance/ several months injured with no running/ Grand Canyon Rim to Rim that may not be replicated for quite some time.
While trying to keep the running going, the challenges of the world around us were never far from our minds during this difficult year. Our week-long Miles for Meals campaign for Second Harvest Food Bank saw the team total over 2000 miles and raise over $15,000 with the help of our sponsors and community. Carmen Mejia raised awareness and funds for those affected by devastating wildfires with her Clean Air Track Club sticker project. It was also our pleasure to help Oofos distribute hundreds of comfy slides in appreciation of educators working doubly hard to teach kids in challenged pockets of our home areas, namely the Ravenswood City School District (East Palo Alto), Cordova High School (Rancho Cordova \ Sacramento), and KIPP Charter Schools (San Francisco). Many other individual efforts supported virtual and in person races throughout the year, including January’s CarbDM 5K, encouraged by Tom Tayeri’s involvement with the organization.
Never was the amateur spirit more prevalent in our daily running, and in that vein, we welcomed Tracksmith as our new partner for competition apparel.
So lest we scrape the 2020 mud from our shoes too hastily, let’s give it one last look for the road. Very little of it would we want to repeat, but so much of the year was spent making worthwhile fitness and psychological investments for the years to come. Bring on 2021!
For a more detailed listing of 2020 results, please visit our results page.