What a year it’s been! Thank you all for following the monthly recap series. We’ll keep it up through 2020 and beyond. It’s just been great to reflect back on a monthly basis to remember all that we’ve done. And now, we can reflect back on the whole year!
Our goal is to provide opportunities for more runners to experience Queens through group runs, races, and cuisine tours. When new members join, we are all so welcoming to the team and experiences.
We enter 2020 and hope for many more PRs, healthy miles, and strong friendships along the way to our personal goals.
Toy Drive 5 Miler: The Run of Skywalker
In mid-December, we held the last of the 2019 QDR-hosted race events. Every year we host the Forest Park 5 & 10 Miler Toy Drive and this year was no exception. It’s one of our most popular races that many people enjoy coming to. This year, we finished off our Star Wars theme series with the Run of Skywalker. For the new Star Wars trilogy, we’ve held a race every time a new movie came out. First was the Course Awakens (The Force Awakens), The Fast Jedi (The Last Jedi), and finally the Run of Skywalker (The Rise of Skywalker).
Photo courtesy of Horse and Duck Studio
Thanks to everyone who has attended a Toy Drive race, who dressed up as a Star Wars character, and who have brought toys. It sure made many children very happy! Find race day photos on Horse and Duck Studio.
Marathons
Marathon season wasn’t completely over yet as we went out to California for the California International marathon. Our teammates went to race what turned out to be a humid morning but still managed to give their best. Our friend Charles Remillars, who won the inaugural queens marathon, walked away with a new PR and an Olympic Trials qualifying time!
Congrats to everyone this marathon season!
NYRR Club Point Races
We finished off the 2019 NYRR Club Point races with Ted Corbitt 15K. Come back later for a blog post that recaps all the club point races of 2019! For now, let’s go into the NYRR Club Point races of 2020.
In 2020 there will be 11 Club Point races – that is two more than in 2019. These will be the same nine races (but UAE 10K is at the end of March instead of the end of April) and now including the NB 5th Ave Mile and the Run as One 4M.
Except for Team Champs (top 10 score) and the TCS NYC Marathon (top 3 score), the top 5 from every race in the Women’s and Men’s team score points, including age groups!
There are no negatives! “I am slow and will bring the team down” DOES NOT EXIST. We want everyone to come out to all the races because it’s the support from one another that helps the team as a whole. Hope to see you at all these races!
Full list of 2020 Club Point races as well as tentative dates:
Washington Heights 5K – 3/1
UAE Healthy Kidney 10K – 3/28
Run as One 4M – 4/26
Brooklyn Half – 5/16
Queens 10K – 6/21
Team Champs – 8/1
5th Ave Mile – 9/13
Bronx 10M – 9/27
Staten Island Half – 10/11
TCS NYC Marathon – 11/1
Ted Corbitt 15K – 12/13
Group Runs
This past year we’ve held many weekly group runs. This meant more opportunities to meet, hang out, and run with others. We really want to thank all the leaders who went above and beyond to lead runs this past year, including leaders who lead in other absences: Caroline Nester, Brian Wysocki, Jonela Molla, Ashey Dean, Lillian Kim, Desmond Foo, Mike Bocchinfuso, Anne-Marie Goldsman, Jenna Marotta, Linda Brennan, Lisette Silva, Dave McCutcheon, Edwin Guzman.
Our current lineup is the same but keep an eye on the Strava events for any updates. This past holiday season some events had slight changes to be able to spend more time with family.
- Monday- 6:00 pm, Central Park, meet at the NYRR Run Center with Ashley
- Tuesday- 6:00 pm, Astoria Park Track workouts with Edwin
- Wednesday- 6:30 pm, Queensborough CC Track workout with Nancy
- Thursday- 6:30 am, LIC group run, meet at Sweetleaf on Vernon Blvd with Lillian
- Thursday- 6:00 pm, Flushing, meet at Starbucks on Utopia Pkwy with Linda and Jenna
- Friday- 6:15 am, Astoria Park Track, meet at the track with Jona
- Friday- 6:30 pm, “Kessel Run”, (Kessel St in Forest Hills), meet at Shake Shack on Austin St. with Mike and Ann-Marie
Queens Marathon Cuisine Tour
This past month we held three cuisine tours in coordination with long run training building up to the Queens Marathon. What better way to experience the diversity and beauty of queens than through different cultural foods after a long run?
In November the first event took us to a Mexican restaurant in Corona. This month, we ate German, Italian, and Jamaican cuisine. For more cuisine tour long runs, check out the Queens Marathon Strava, and remember, the Queens Marathon and QDR Half Marathon are still open and we’ve recently hit 500 registered runners!
Italian at Gino’s 
German at Zum Stammtisch 
Running before German food
Keep an eye out on our site’s meetups page as well as on Strava for more group runs and training sessions. Make sure to also follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and news!
Queens Distance
1 – Queens Marathon Cuisine Tour #2- German: Ft. Zum Stammtisch
2 – QDR Monday Evening Group Run: Central Park
3 – Radiological Society of North America Conference 5K (Chicago)
QDR Tuesday Evening Astoria Track
4 – QDR Queensborough Community College Wednesday PM Track Session
2020 NYRR Club Points Races announced
5 – QDR Thursday AM Long Island City Group Run
QDR Thursday PM Flushing Group Run
6 – QDR Friday Morning Group Run: FunFridayRun Astoria
QDR Friday Evening Forest Hills: The Kessel
8 – California International Marathon
NYCRuns Big Apple Half
NYRR Peter McArdle 15K
9 – QDR Monday Evening Group Run: Central Park
10 – QDR Tuesday Evening Astoria Track
11 – QDR Queensborough Community College Wednesday PM Track Session
12 – QDR Thursday AM Long Island City Group Run
QDR Thursday PM Flushing Group Run
13 – QDR Friday Morning Group Run: FunFridayRun Astoria
QDR Friday Evening Forest Hills: The Kessel
14 – NYRR Jingle Bell Jog (5K)
Urban Athletics Winter Classic (4M/10K)
15 – Toy Drive 5 Miler: The Run of Skywalker
16 – QDR Monday Evening Group Run: Central Park
17 – QDR Tuesday Evening Astoria Track
18 – QDR Queensborough Community College Wednesday PM Track Session
19 – QDR Thursday AM Long Island City Group Run
QDR Thursday PM Flushing Group Run
20 – QDR Friday Morning Group Run: FunFridayRun Astoria
QDR Friday Evening Forest Hills: The Kessel
21 – Festivity Run with North Brooklyn Runners
22 – Queens Marathon Cuisine Tour #3- Italian: Ft. Gino’s
23 – QDR Monday Evening Group Run: Central Park
24 – QDR Tuesday Evening Astoria Track
25 – QDR Queensborough Community College Wednesday PM Track Session
26 – QDR Thursday AM Long Island City Group Run
QDR Thursday PM Flushing Group Run
27 – QDR Friday Morning Group Run: FunFridayRun Astoria
QDR Friday Evening Forest Hills: The Kessel
29 – Queens Marathon Cuisine Tour #4- Jamaican in Jamaica Ft. The Door!
29 – First time getting 500 registrants at a QDR race!
30 – QDR Monday Evening Group Run: Central Park
31 – NYRR Midnight Run