Good Running News of the Week

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of Good Running News of the Week. We at New York Road Runners hope you are staying healthy. And we hope that something here makes you smile today.

Shalane Flanagan and her husband, Steven Edwards, welcomed their son Jack Dean Edwards into the world and into their home through adoption.

Roberta Groner (pictured at top, finishing the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon) will run a virtual Pittsburgh marathon on Sunday. Groner, a Pittsburgh native and a nurse herself, is raising money to send buffs to healthcare workers; you can donate here.

Inspired by my dear friend @brianreynoldsrunner this weekend I have decided to run a Virtual @pghmarathon on May 3. I will be running to honor all the essential workers fighting this pandemic! I am setting up a fundraiser to send inspirational buffs from @kfg_llc to hospital employees to Keep Fearlessly Going! Please consider donating to let them feel the support and inspiration for all that they do! Let’s Keep Faith Going, Kick Fear in the Ground , and just Keep Freaking Going! Check out bio for link to GoFundMe ! #virtualmarathon #pittsburghmarathon #keepfaithgoing #kfg #essentialworkers #fightingthispandemic #frontlineheroes #keepfearlesslygoing

A post shared by Roberta (@bad_boys104) on Apr 21, 2020 at 5:36am PDT

More pro athletes competed for glory in the NYRR Virtual 5K. In Arizona, Lauren Paquette and Rory Linkletter went head to head (Paquette had a two-minute head start for social-distancing purposes), with Linkletter winning in 15:02 to Paquette’s 17:09.

Steph Bruce ran the NYRR Virtual 5K yesterday as well, in 16:36. She donated $500 to the NY Mayor’s Fund for COVID-19 relief afterward.

Welp, that was fun and hard and rewarding. Just as I hoped for. Finished my solo 5k time trial at 7000ft this morning and going off Strava results, the time was 16:33. Off our measurements it was 16:36.0. (5:19 average) Please message me if you guessed 16:33 or 16:36.0 There are over 800 to look through, but I’m working on it.🤦‍♀️ Through this small effort, I’m donating $500 to NY COVID relief fund, and with @larryrosenblatt matching it, a $1000 total.💪🏻❤️🙏 I feel fortunate I am healthy and fit enough to push my body to an uncomfortable zone and test my fitness. Next week I would have lined up to race a 10,000m on the track chasing the Olympic standard of 31:25, but of course all that has changed. Today doesn’t tell me I would have gotten it but it tells me the effort I’m putting forth in training will show up one day in a race. And that’s enough motivation to keep moving forward. Shoutout to @karagoucher and @bbjamin15 for commentating my run and to my @naz_elite teammates who I passed along the roads. I miss all of you so much, and our time together.

A post shared by Stephanie Rothstein Bruce (@stephrothstein) on Apr 29, 2020 at 3:40pm PDT

Neely Spence Gracey completed the virtual 5K, adding a bib (and a mask!) for extra kicks.