Editors’ Picks: Sports & Fitness
Best Place to Vent Your Anger: Unity Rage Room
These days, there’s plenty to be angry about. Rather than bottling up your stress and anxiety, let it all out at Unity Rage Room, where you can pay to smash glassware, electronics and even vehicles with hammers and baseball bats. Prices range from $49.99 to splash paint all over a room, up to $749 to destroy a car. The starter package ($65 for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the number of people in the group) includes a crate of 10 small items, such as glasses, plates and bottles, as well as one large item, such as a printer or computer monitor, per person. Siblings and Gaithersburg residents Kaleb and Melkam Woldeamanuel opened the business in a Rockville warehouse in September 2021. It proved so popular that they expanded to a larger space in Gaithersburg this past November 2023, adding ax throwing and a party room where people celebrate everything from birthdays to divorces and even weddings.
7605 Airport Road, Unit A, Gaithersburg, unityrageroom.com
Best Sports League for Corn-Based Puns: MoCo Cornhole
Cornstars and dirtbags come together each week to score double deuces at weekly league meets hosted by Montgomery County Cornhole—MoCo CoHo—at the Washington-Rockville Elks Lodge #15. For the uninitiated, cornstars are good players, dirtbags are still learning, and a double deuce is when a player “drain-o’s” four bags in the same round. A woody is a bag that scores but doesn’t go in the hole. Come alone or with a partner; players are randomly paired for league play, and no membership is required. For more serious corndogs (also good players), there are frequent cash tournaments around the county. The league’s motto is “Cornhole for All,” and they mean it.
5 Taft Court, Rockville, mococornhole.com
Best Rugby Action: Old Glory DC
It was just a matter of time. Old Glory DC, the area’s Major League Rugby franchise, has been scoring tries in stadiums around Washington and Leesburg, Virginia, but is now celebrating a homecoming of sorts. The team is taking up residence at Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, where one of the owners used to take his kids to play. “We regularly took our four children to soccer or basketball practice at the SoccerPlex,” says longtime Bethesda resident Paul Sheehy, of the auto dealership Sheehys. “The surrounding fields make an ideal setup for a festival environment before Old Glory games.” With 3,200 close-to-the-action seats, Bermuda grass instead of artificial turf (finally!) and areas for tailgating (a rugby tradition), the venue is perfect for the professional team. OGDC won its first playoff game last year and looks to continue building on its success in its new home beginning in February and continuing into July.
18031 Central Park Circle, Boyds, oldglorydc.com
Best Indoor Pickleball Courts: Dill Dinkers
Pickleball is popular, as you may have heard, and playing the sport indoors is now a hit in our area. Serving up court time at a pair of facilities that opened in Montgomery County last year, Dill Dinkers dodges some of the challenges athletes face outdoors, such as competing with tennis players for court time, dealing with noise complaints from neighbors, and slipping on messy surfaces when it rains. “We’re available year-round. So when the weather starts turning consistently, you don’t have to bring a leaf blower with you anymore,” Dill Dinkers co-founder and CEO Will Richards says. Richards, 59, and his wife Denise, 62, started Dill Dinkers in 2022 with a location in Columbia, Maryland, where they live. They have grown it into a small local chain, with dozens of franchises set to open in other parts of the country. The name is a reference to pickles and a type of short, low shot over the net. The nine regulation courts and two skinny courts at the North Bethesda location and the five championship courts (larger than regulation) and three regulation courts at the Rockville site are available to rent by the hour ($15 per hour for nonmembers, $7.50 for members). Or you can sign up for open play or a class, clinic or league. Balls are provided, and paddles are available to borrow. Alongside the courts are foosball, pingpong and spaces for hanging out or holding private events. No food or drinks are sold, but you can bring your own.
4942 Boiling Brook Parkway, North Bethesda; 40-C Southlawn Court, Rockville, dilldinkers.com
Roundup: Best Training Programs for Runners
Whether you’re new to running, new to the area, or new to a distance, a good coach and fellow athletes will inspire you to achieve goals you didn’t think possible, get healthier, and make new friends with people of all ages, stages and occupations. Check out these four organizations to help you stay strong and enjoy the miles.
Best for every pace:
The nonprofit Montgomery County Road Runners Club, 3,000-plus members strong, prides itself on being “a place for every pace.” Free weekly drop-in runs are a great introduction to the club and a good way to meet people (see website calendar for dates, times and locations around the county). MCRRC membership is required for the training programs, which are available year-round and serve a wide runner profile from run/walkers to endurance athletes. Programs include speed development, 5K run/walk, half-marathon, first-time and experienced marathon, and trail ultras (50K). Members say they love the energy they feel when running with the groups, and also the lifelong friendships that are made. Most runs are concentrated along the I-270 corridor as well as the Rock Creek and Capital Crescent trails, and the C&O Canal towpath.
mcrrc.org
Best for overall program elements:
Charm City Run is the new kid in Montgomery County. Its Gaithersburg store opened in 2022, and the company got up to speed quickly, bringing beloved training program elements from its locations in Baltimore and elsewhere in Maryland to beginning and intermediate MoCo runners. Kick off your new year with a half-marathon or marathon training program led by Road Runners Club of America-certified Coach Kevin Ruppel. Programs that start in January include coach-managed twice-weekly group runs, personalized training plans, gait analysis (to improve run form and prevent injury), store and race registration discounts, an end-of-season party and education from physical therapists and nutritionists. Join a free Thursday night pub run. Groups take off at 6 p.m. for a short run or walk, then gather at Grape Escape just down the plaza for post-run vino.
225 Kentlands Blvd., Gaithersburg, charmcityrun.com
Best for going the distance:
Christina Dorrer coaches beginner to pro athletes, teens to septuagenarians, to accomplish personal bests and then keep going. The founder of Endurance2Perform and a nationally ranked triathlon coach herself, Dorrer holds coaching certifications in running, swimming, cycling, strength and conditioning, and more. Offerings include gait analysis, training plans for half- and full marathon distances that runners follow on their own after a week of benchmark testing, and tailored training and coaching based on your weekly run data, which Dorrer tracks. Dorrer’s coaching clients can join in a monthly fun run, usually in Potomac or Bethesda. Or cross-train and try a sprint triathlon (half-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, and 3.1-mile run). A women’s first-timer triathlon training group begins this spring.
endurance2perform.com
Best for post-run fun:
Dubbed the Dog Haus Running Club, Fleet Feet Gaithersburg offers free Monday night fun runs that are open to all throughout the year. Runners (and run-walkers) meet at 6 p.m., stretch and depart at 6:30 for a 5K run through Kentlands’ neighborhood streets in most weather. You also can opt for a 1.5-mile route. Don’t miss the post-run gathering at Dog Haus Biergarten just down the street for food and fun. Fleet Feet marketing manager Bernard Koissy says the group welcomes “all faces and paces at both our fun run and training programs.” Those training programs, with group runs, strength-training guidance, store discounts and more for 5K distance, are offered throughout the year.
201 Market St. West, Gaithersburg, fleetfeet.com/s/gaithersburg
Best Post-Workout Hang: Vim & Victor
Is there anything more satisfying than a protein-rich smoothie or an energy-packed acai bowl after a sweat session? You can find both on the menu at Vim & Victor, the wellness cafe inside Bethesda’s latest fitness hot spot, The St. James. Vim & Victor is open to the public, so even if you haven’t just hopped off a treadmill or finished a spin class, you can stop by for a grab-and-go snack or take a seat on a couch or at one of the tables. Conceptualized by renowned D.C.-based chef Spike Mendelsohn, the health-conscious menu features 11 smoothie combinations, six types of acai bowls and three different toasts. If you like milkshakes (who doesn’t?), try the Jailhouse Choc smoothie made with acai, chocolate whey protein, chocolate almond milk, organic peanut butter and banana. We’re also partial to the Kick Some Acai bowl topped with strawberries, blueberries, banana, coconut chips, granola, cocoa nibs and maple syrup. Prefer different toppings or a different base? You can design your own bowl, available in 12 or 24 ounces.
6828 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, 240-507-5366, thestjames.com/location/bethesda/vim-and-victor/menu