So much for not coming in last! On Saturday, December 27th I ran in my 50th race of the year. I'm pretty proud of making it to 50 given all of my injuries and other health issues this year. I essentially took 4 months off during the year for these various concerns so I crammed a lot in to my productive months. Hopefully, 2009 will be less eventful.
Anyway, Saturday's race was hosted by Karsten Brown, one of my favorite members of the 50+ club. He's funny as Hell, an awesome runner, and always supportive. He's always there to cheer me on at the finish, even though he finished long before I arrived at the finish line. And he is frequently at the finish line taking pictures of those who come in after him. Anyway, on Saturday he hosted a race out in his neck of the woods in response to a total absence of races in the area on that day. He called it a non-race race with few ammenities. It was basically sign the waiver and go.
Karsten gave us instructions before the start of the race. He described it as an out and back course on rolling hills. Rolling hills my arse! They were rolling mountains! He also advised us that he didn't think there were any dogs to worry about but to keep an eye out. He also mentioned that it was hunting season so wear orange (too late for that). Toto...this definately wasn't the DC suburbs.
After the instructions, Karsten said the G word (that's actually what he said) and we were off. Several runners I know took off quickly in front of me, including Jim Moreland, Bill Stahr, Jon Palks, Bob Gurtler, and John Winkert. Shirley Sameshima, who was nice enough to comment on my weight loss before the start of the race, passed me after a couple of hundred yards never to be seen again. It really was a very hilly course and I knew it was going to be a tough day on the first hill. I usually start struggling in a race when my heart and/or lungs start screaming at me. Rarely do my legs fail me. But everything failed me on that very first hill. I blame this on the 2 track workouts I did on Friday. I didn't expect to run this race as I had planned on joing my wife in a trip to Pittsburgh to visit her family on Saturday. However, while I was running my 2nd track workout she decided that I really didn't need to go and she gave me a pass. That made it possible to run the race but certainly not as rested as I would have liked. Such is life.
Anyway, 1 woman passed me on this hill and that left me in last place. She and I stayed very close for the first 2 miles as we both walked the uphills and ran the downhills. There weren't many flat sections but we ran those as well. She started to pull away from me at about 2 1/4 miles. I was about a minute back at the turnaround and I tried to keep her in sight but it just wasn't meant to be. At about 4 miles I closed to a couple of hundred yards but she was on top of a big hill and I was just starting to climb it. I never got any closer. She ended up beating me by about 3 minutes. I finished in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 19 seconds. Pretty pitiful for a 5 mile run but I'll give myself a break since I'm an old 49 (I turn 50 next week).
When I crossed the finish line I was given an authentic Hawaiin lei but Bob Gurtler's friend (they just got back from Hawaii) and I was also given a Capitals hockey baseball cap...I think I got it for coming in last. I had a nice cup of cold water which was badly needed. Then I walked back to the parking lot with John Winkert who had just finished his 48th race of the year. It seems like he always makes a late charge and finishes with 50 races on the nose. Looks like he'll do it again this year.
I'm going to run one more race this year which will get me to 51. I think I'm going to withdraw from the King Street Mile and run the MADD race at George Mason instead. Pacer's sent a pretty detailed e-mail about the time restrictions around the Mile race and I'm concerned about getting swept off of the course. And while I want to run as fast as I can, I don't want to hurt myself running faster than I'm capable of at this time. So I'll check back in in a few days and report on my New Years Eve. Have a great New Years Eve everyone. Happy Running!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Return of the turtle
Hi everyone. After a break that seemed like forever, I'm back running again. My blood pressure is back under control and while it could be better, my blood sugar is also improving. I hope to get that entirely under control within the next month or so as I work on diet, as well as losing about 10 pounds as a result of running again.
Since my last blog, I have run 11 races! That has all been in less than 4 weeks. Due to the challenges I have had this year, I put myself in a hole as far as breaking 50 races run for the year (damn you Jim Moreland :) ). So, without proper training, I have run a bunch of races in a short period of time. I'm suffering from shin splints - a sure sign that I haven't put in enough base miles before increasing mileage associated with these races. But so be it. Today I ran the final Tidal Basin 3K of 2008 and it was my 49th race of the year. My times aren't very good but I haven't come in last in any of these races ( I hate coming in last and feeling like I'm holding everyone up).
Here are the races I have run during the past month...
Since my last blog, I have run 11 races! That has all been in less than 4 weeks. Due to the challenges I have had this year, I put myself in a hole as far as breaking 50 races run for the year (damn you Jim Moreland :) ). So, without proper training, I have run a bunch of races in a short period of time. I'm suffering from shin splints - a sure sign that I haven't put in enough base miles before increasing mileage associated with these races. But so be it. Today I ran the final Tidal Basin 3K of 2008 and it was my 49th race of the year. My times aren't very good but I haven't come in last in any of these races ( I hate coming in last and feeling like I'm holding everyone up).
Here are the races I have run during the past month...
- PVTC Cranberry Crawl 5K 38:01
- HCS Swansfield 1 Mile 9:46
- Arlington Turkey Trot 5K 38:09
- MCRRC Turkey Burn Off 5 Miler 62:21
- HCS Longfellow 2 Mile 23:47
- MCRRC Frozen Slopes 6K 60:57 (Brutal Hills!)
- Fells Point Figgy Pudding 5K 35:23 (pleased given that much of it was on cobblestone)
- Jingle all the way 10K 80:16 (saving myself for later)
- DCRRC Bread Run 2 Mile 24:55
- HCS Elkhorn 2 Mile 25:56 (3rd race of the day. Also had a show blowout)
- DCRRC Tidal Basin 3K 20:32 (Thanks to Joe Broderick for pushing me along)
It looks like my next race will be the PVTC Christmas Caper 5K this Saturday. That will give me 50 for the year. I considered driving up to Baltimore fo the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler but I really don't need another fleece pullover. I may run Tami's race on Sunday but its doubtful as we have a party Saturday evening. I am signed up for the King Street Mile on New Years Eve but I don't have a prayer of completing it in under 8 minutes. I hope to do the first half mile in 4 minutes and then move over to the sidewalk.
That's all for now. I'll give my more detailed race recaps going forward.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Last blog for awhile
I don't know how many people actually read this thing but in case anyone does (clearly you don't have enough things to do) I thought I should give a quick update since I haven't written for awhile.
It looks like I'm done with running for awhile; perhaps for the rest of 2008. After suffering from bronchitis for about 6 weeks I have now been diagnosed with an enlarged heart. It appeared on an X-Ray done while checking on my lungs. I met with my cardiologist yesterday and described how I've been feeling for the last few months (excessive sweating, shortness of breath, fatigue) and he is concerned that I may have a blockage in an artery. I totally nailed a stress test just 10 months ago and he said such a change in such a short period of time is "significant". So I'll be having a nuclear stress test performed in a couple of weeks. If a blockage is found I'll have the old baloon an stent thing done. If thats not it, and we hope it isn't, then the likely other culprit is my high blood pressure. It was 150/90 yesterday and I have been really good about taking my blood pressure medicine. So, I went a new drug yesterday and we'll see how I do with that.
So this has been a particularly trying 52 weeks or so. It was around this time last year that I fell and broke my foot during the DCRRC Predicted time 5 Miler. I limped through another 10 races to get over 100 for the year which didnt help the healing process. Then I has shoulder surgery in April preceeded and followed by rather intense physical therapy. Add in not 1 but 2 bouts of bronchitis and its been quite a difficult year. And that doesn't even include the stress of working at Freddie Mac, knowing I'll be out of work starting in November, and dealing with the challenges of trying to get my parents into an assisted living facility. Man, no wonder I'm tired all the time! At least I can be pretty certain that things can't get a whole lot worse.
Until next time, happy running!
It looks like I'm done with running for awhile; perhaps for the rest of 2008. After suffering from bronchitis for about 6 weeks I have now been diagnosed with an enlarged heart. It appeared on an X-Ray done while checking on my lungs. I met with my cardiologist yesterday and described how I've been feeling for the last few months (excessive sweating, shortness of breath, fatigue) and he is concerned that I may have a blockage in an artery. I totally nailed a stress test just 10 months ago and he said such a change in such a short period of time is "significant". So I'll be having a nuclear stress test performed in a couple of weeks. If a blockage is found I'll have the old baloon an stent thing done. If thats not it, and we hope it isn't, then the likely other culprit is my high blood pressure. It was 150/90 yesterday and I have been really good about taking my blood pressure medicine. So, I went a new drug yesterday and we'll see how I do with that.
So this has been a particularly trying 52 weeks or so. It was around this time last year that I fell and broke my foot during the DCRRC Predicted time 5 Miler. I limped through another 10 races to get over 100 for the year which didnt help the healing process. Then I has shoulder surgery in April preceeded and followed by rather intense physical therapy. Add in not 1 but 2 bouts of bronchitis and its been quite a difficult year. And that doesn't even include the stress of working at Freddie Mac, knowing I'll be out of work starting in November, and dealing with the challenges of trying to get my parents into an assisted living facility. Man, no wonder I'm tired all the time! At least I can be pretty certain that things can't get a whole lot worse.
Until next time, happy running!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Dr., Dr., give me the news...
I've got a bad case of the running blues.
I decided to pay a return visit to the Dr. after I left work yesterday. I apparently still have my bronchitis, which didn't surprise me given my ongoing cough and trouble breathing. I was a little surprised however to learn that I may have another bug that could be more problematic. I was prescribed a couple of different antibiotics and told to come back in on Saturday. Not the way I want to spend the weekend.
I write all of this to partially explain my troubles recently and to also preface my recounting of today's Tidal Basin 5K. Yes, I ran today's race knowing I had bronchitis. I also knew I felt like crap and I had barely slept the last 2 nights. But I identify myself as a runner and it's what I do. So I got myself down to the Tidal Basin with about 5 minutes to spare. I saw several people I usually speak to before the race...Peter Blank, Shirley Sameshima, Kirk Gordon, James Moreland...but I just didn't feel like talking to anyone today. After I signed in, I walked across the street to the bus stop and sat on a bench by myself until the start of the race.
It was a wonderful day weather wise which certainly helped me today. It was 71 degrees under clear skies. Perfect would have been about 15 degrees cooler but this was pretty darn good.
I did something different today...I started slow. This was partially by design and partially by necessity. I slipped in behind John Winkert and Bob Weimer (who was suffering from a bad back) with the Joggler, Barry Goldmeir, in close pursuit.
Barry passed me as we crossed the first bridge. He can't really juggle here so he can show of his non-jugling speed here. He exchaned places a few times with Bob and John over the next .4 miles, slipping behind whenever he dropped a ball.
I finally stopped for a walk break after crossing the 2nd bridge, which is also the 1 mile mark, which I reached in 10:15. Not bad, but I needed an extended break at this point...about 90 seconds. By the time I started running again, the 3 guys were almost out of sight. I only ran for a couple of minutes before needing another short walk. Then I hit the downhill by the Jefferson and fell back into my slow trot. I ran to the 3rd bridge where I took another short walk before the final K. I ran all the way in from here, getting encouragement from a few runners that were heading back to work, including Kirk.
I crossed the line in 20:14 by my watch. Surprisingly, I wasn't too displeased by this even though it was over a minute slower than last month. It was a second slower than my time from just a couple of months ago and I obviously had a lot more issues to deal with today.
Bob Platt announced before the start of the race that another 3K will be held at the Tidal Basin this Friday at Noon. Unfortunately, I have a meeting here in Tyson's until Noon that day so I won't be able to make it. Probably for the best anyway. Today was race number 38 for the year. Number 39 will just to wait another day (Navy 5K?) or two.
I decided to pay a return visit to the Dr. after I left work yesterday. I apparently still have my bronchitis, which didn't surprise me given my ongoing cough and trouble breathing. I was a little surprised however to learn that I may have another bug that could be more problematic. I was prescribed a couple of different antibiotics and told to come back in on Saturday. Not the way I want to spend the weekend.
I write all of this to partially explain my troubles recently and to also preface my recounting of today's Tidal Basin 5K. Yes, I ran today's race knowing I had bronchitis. I also knew I felt like crap and I had barely slept the last 2 nights. But I identify myself as a runner and it's what I do. So I got myself down to the Tidal Basin with about 5 minutes to spare. I saw several people I usually speak to before the race...Peter Blank, Shirley Sameshima, Kirk Gordon, James Moreland...but I just didn't feel like talking to anyone today. After I signed in, I walked across the street to the bus stop and sat on a bench by myself until the start of the race.
It was a wonderful day weather wise which certainly helped me today. It was 71 degrees under clear skies. Perfect would have been about 15 degrees cooler but this was pretty darn good.
I did something different today...I started slow. This was partially by design and partially by necessity. I slipped in behind John Winkert and Bob Weimer (who was suffering from a bad back) with the Joggler, Barry Goldmeir, in close pursuit.
Barry passed me as we crossed the first bridge. He can't really juggle here so he can show of his non-jugling speed here. He exchaned places a few times with Bob and John over the next .4 miles, slipping behind whenever he dropped a ball.
I finally stopped for a walk break after crossing the 2nd bridge, which is also the 1 mile mark, which I reached in 10:15. Not bad, but I needed an extended break at this point...about 90 seconds. By the time I started running again, the 3 guys were almost out of sight. I only ran for a couple of minutes before needing another short walk. Then I hit the downhill by the Jefferson and fell back into my slow trot. I ran to the 3rd bridge where I took another short walk before the final K. I ran all the way in from here, getting encouragement from a few runners that were heading back to work, including Kirk.
I crossed the line in 20:14 by my watch. Surprisingly, I wasn't too displeased by this even though it was over a minute slower than last month. It was a second slower than my time from just a couple of months ago and I obviously had a lot more issues to deal with today.
Bob Platt announced before the start of the race that another 3K will be held at the Tidal Basin this Friday at Noon. Unfortunately, I have a meeting here in Tyson's until Noon that day so I won't be able to make it. Probably for the best anyway. Today was race number 38 for the year. Number 39 will just to wait another day (Navy 5K?) or two.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Certainly not Im-PRESS-ive
After battling bronchitis for the last 2 weeks, I attempted the Press Club 5K on Saturday, September 13. The race is an out and back course that essentially runs between the Press Club and the Capital. It's a pretty flat course and I had one of my best races of the year last year in this race. And then there are the pancakes! They have a great post race party in the Press Club after the race featuring a pancake breakfast. I wasn't going to miss that!
I ran 1.3 miles two days before the race just to see if I could even run. I managed to run it at about 10 minute pace so I thought I might do OK. Nonetheless, a 2 week illness and layoff had me worried. At the starting line I was thinking a 37 minute 5K might be the target.
I got through the first mile in 10:24. That was a comfortable pace and included a 1 minute walk break. However, after a mile I just didn't feel very good. My heart felt like it was running fast and any running at this point was difficult. I walked up the hill by the Capital, made the turn, had a couple of cups of water and ran down the hill I just climbed. The 2 mile mark was at the bottom of the hill...it took me 13:57 to complete that second mile! Doing some quick math in my head I realized that I needed to run at a 10 minute pace for the entire rest of the race just to come in under 36 minutes. Well that wasn't going to happen. Given my difficulty breathing from the bronchitis, my elevated heart rate, and pain in my left foot which I have to think is a stress fracture, I decided to shut it down for the day. I walked the final 1.1 miles in 16:58. My final time was 41:18....probably my worst 5K time in years.
I hope I get better soon. These times are just dePRESSing!
I ran 1.3 miles two days before the race just to see if I could even run. I managed to run it at about 10 minute pace so I thought I might do OK. Nonetheless, a 2 week illness and layoff had me worried. At the starting line I was thinking a 37 minute 5K might be the target.
I got through the first mile in 10:24. That was a comfortable pace and included a 1 minute walk break. However, after a mile I just didn't feel very good. My heart felt like it was running fast and any running at this point was difficult. I walked up the hill by the Capital, made the turn, had a couple of cups of water and ran down the hill I just climbed. The 2 mile mark was at the bottom of the hill...it took me 13:57 to complete that second mile! Doing some quick math in my head I realized that I needed to run at a 10 minute pace for the entire rest of the race just to come in under 36 minutes. Well that wasn't going to happen. Given my difficulty breathing from the bronchitis, my elevated heart rate, and pain in my left foot which I have to think is a stress fracture, I decided to shut it down for the day. I walked the final 1.1 miles in 16:58. My final time was 41:18....probably my worst 5K time in years.
I hope I get better soon. These times are just dePRESSing!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Who could have predicted this?
August 23rd marked the annual PG County Road Runners Womens distance festival followed by a predicted time 5K. Anyone that reads these blogs knows the only way I will ever win anything is if I run in a "gimmic" type of race. I came in 2nd a couple of years ago at the DCRRC predicted time 5 miler. I think I looked good again last year until I fell and broke my foot (still finished though).
This was the first time I had run this race which made predicting a time even more difficult than usual. I asked the nice folks when I checked in what the course was like and I was told it had a lot of turns but was pretty flat. Turns don't really hurt someone as slow as me so this all sounded good. I thought about my time in the 3K on Wednesday and considered the temperature (not too bad) and came up with a time of 35:16. I thought that should be a tough time to get but do-able.
I knew I wouldn't be able to take a lot of walk breaks.
I misjudged the start and had to jog over to the start line just as we were being sent off. I had about 30 seconds to recover though so I can't complain about that. The start took us parallel to the runway at College Park airport. Then we veered into a park with a large lake. It was so weird to not have a watch on to see how I was doing. I started taking walk breaks pretty early on...perhaps only 1/2 mile in. But I tried to keep them short. It seemed like I was the last runner before a pretty long break to the walkers. I could see a guy in front of me for most of the race but I just couldn't catch up to him. However, as I got to within 1/2 a mile of the finish, a woman appeared behind me. The sight of her pushed me along and helped me finish a little faster than I probably would have otherwise. Where was she earlier?
I was convinced that I ran a very slow race...perhaps something around 40 minutes. But when I got back to my car I saw that it was 9:40 and the race started at 9. It took me several minutes to get to the car and I had stopped for a bagel so I started thinking maybe I wasn't as slow as I thought. I waited through the awards for the women and then they finally awarded the prizes for the predicted time race. The woman that finished behind me actually won the race! If she is anything like me, seeing me ahead of her at the finish probably pushed her to run a little faster which enabled her to win the race! A couple of guys tied for 2nd and that was it for the prizes so I went home.
Imagine my surprise when I checked the results the next day and found that I came in 4th! The 2 guys ahead of me missed their prediction by 22 seconds. I missed mine by 23.97 seconds! If I had pushed myself to start running 20 yards sooner at the finish I would have come in 2nd! The winner was within 16 seconds of her prediction. A 100 yard push would have been good enough to beat her! Argh!!
Nonetheless, it was a fun race and I'll plan on running this again next year. This race marked my 36th race of the year. A prolific month of September should put me within spitting distance of 50 races for the year. It will be nice to get it out of the way so I don't have to worry about injuries like the one I suffered at the end of last year.
Place Name Age S City State Predict Time Diff
1 Mary Contreras 37 F Arlington VA 36:00 36:17 0:00:16.40
2 Malcolm Lester 41 M Washington C 17:11 17:33 0:00:22.00
3 Kent McCullough 51 M Lanham MD 19:56 19:34 0:00:22.46
4 Tim Ramsey 48 M Arlington VA 35:16 35:40 0:00:23.97
5 Katy Wareheme 26 F Boonsboro MD 25:00 25:30 0:00:29.02
6 Ian Wright 33 M Laurel MD 30:00 29:28 0:00:32.52
7 Manuel Legaspi M 20:00 20:36 0:00:35.53
8 Clifford Bedore M 27:00 27:38 0:00:37.53
9 Vennita Harris 24 F Laurel MD 45:00 45:49 0:00:48.62
10 Shawn Gilleylen 40 F Laurel MD 45:00 46:02 0:01:01.18
11 Nicole Greene 30 F Frederick MD 40:36 39:35 0:01:01.27
12 Jason Morancie M 30:00 28:52 0:01:08.28
13 Ben Lipovsky 60 M Hyattsville MD 28:00 26:50 0:01:10.27
14 Kirk Gordon 52 M Mitchellville MD 20:50 22:11 0:01:20.49
15 Eileen Spear F 31:00 29:39 0:01:21.91
16 DeNita DeLano 32 F Temple Hills MD 49:20 47:56 0:01:24.51
17 Tammy Colandrea 32 F Greenbelt MD 43:21 41:53 0:01:28.42
18 Ethica Kumsa F 17:00 18:29 0:01:28.98
19 Laurence Daniels 41 M Mitchellville MD 50:00 48:31 0:01:29.64
20 Mary Ester 47 F Washington DC 30:00 28:27 0:01:33.50
21 Valerie Barnes 31 F Greenbelt MD 46:45 44:58 0:01:47.45
22 Sally Bolenger F 31:00 32:54 0:01:53.50
23 Richard Vickers III 45 M Silver Spring MD 25:00 26:59 0:01:58.28
24 Olivia Payton 51 F Laurel MD 45:00 47:36 0:02:35.75
25 Ernest Brown 51 M Washington DC 43:00 45:45 0:02:44.74
26 Heather Burroughs 24 F Burtonsville MD 36:00 38:46 0:02:45.56
27 Philip Zenchoff 80 M Silver Spring MD 46:30 49:33 0:03:02.40
28 Sharlene Deskins 44 F Seabrook MD 32:45 36:20 0:03:34.72
29 Valerie Ballard F 40:00 36:22 0:03:38.76
30 Loretta Henry 44 F Laurel MD 45:00 41:16 0:03:44.08
31 Risa Ryan 26 F Odenton MD 33:45 29:46 0:03:59.49
32 Gerard Alleyne 27 M Bladensburg MD 33:54 29:21 0:04:33.53 33 242 David Ferris M 30:00 25:18 0:04:42.12 34 212 Moneta Strickland 27 F Montgomery Village MD 37:00 42:26 0:05:25.75 35 209 Jodi Lethbridge 26 F Burtonsville MD 42:00 47:32 0:05:31.53 36 213 Henson Rara 26 M Montgomery Village MD 36:50 42:27 0:05:36.35 37 232 Jackie Nitowitz 44 F College Park MD 1:30:00 1:23:35 0:06:25.12 38 210 Elissa Lethbridge 53 F Burtonsville MD 55:00 1:01:41 0:06:40.64 39 234 David Palomino 28 M Riverdale MD 42:00 34:52 0:07:08.94 40 211 Mandy Lethbridge 21 F Burtonsville MD 40:00 49:33 0:09:32.53 41 225 Irene Park 32 F Baltimore MD 1:00:00 49:29 0:10:31.37 42 224 Sarah Park 29 F Baltimore MD 1:00:00 49:29 0:10:31.40 43 221 Netta Henry 39 F Laurel MD 45:00 56:42 0:11:41.51 44 219 Denise Henry 48 F Laurel MD 45:00 56:42 0:11:41.57 45 246 Dave Rapp M 45:00 30:01 0:14:59.63 46 243 Laurie Fisher F 35:10 1:23:35 0:48:24.33
This was the first time I had run this race which made predicting a time even more difficult than usual. I asked the nice folks when I checked in what the course was like and I was told it had a lot of turns but was pretty flat. Turns don't really hurt someone as slow as me so this all sounded good. I thought about my time in the 3K on Wednesday and considered the temperature (not too bad) and came up with a time of 35:16. I thought that should be a tough time to get but do-able.
I knew I wouldn't be able to take a lot of walk breaks.
I misjudged the start and had to jog over to the start line just as we were being sent off. I had about 30 seconds to recover though so I can't complain about that. The start took us parallel to the runway at College Park airport. Then we veered into a park with a large lake. It was so weird to not have a watch on to see how I was doing. I started taking walk breaks pretty early on...perhaps only 1/2 mile in. But I tried to keep them short. It seemed like I was the last runner before a pretty long break to the walkers. I could see a guy in front of me for most of the race but I just couldn't catch up to him. However, as I got to within 1/2 a mile of the finish, a woman appeared behind me. The sight of her pushed me along and helped me finish a little faster than I probably would have otherwise. Where was she earlier?
I was convinced that I ran a very slow race...perhaps something around 40 minutes. But when I got back to my car I saw that it was 9:40 and the race started at 9. It took me several minutes to get to the car and I had stopped for a bagel so I started thinking maybe I wasn't as slow as I thought. I waited through the awards for the women and then they finally awarded the prizes for the predicted time race. The woman that finished behind me actually won the race! If she is anything like me, seeing me ahead of her at the finish probably pushed her to run a little faster which enabled her to win the race! A couple of guys tied for 2nd and that was it for the prizes so I went home.
Imagine my surprise when I checked the results the next day and found that I came in 4th! The 2 guys ahead of me missed their prediction by 22 seconds. I missed mine by 23.97 seconds! If I had pushed myself to start running 20 yards sooner at the finish I would have come in 2nd! The winner was within 16 seconds of her prediction. A 100 yard push would have been good enough to beat her! Argh!!
Nonetheless, it was a fun race and I'll plan on running this again next year. This race marked my 36th race of the year. A prolific month of September should put me within spitting distance of 50 races for the year. It will be nice to get it out of the way so I don't have to worry about injuries like the one I suffered at the end of last year.
Place Name Age S City State Predict Time Diff
1 Mary Contreras 37 F Arlington VA 36:00 36:17 0:00:16.40
2 Malcolm Lester 41 M Washington C 17:11 17:33 0:00:22.00
3 Kent McCullough 51 M Lanham MD 19:56 19:34 0:00:22.46
4 Tim Ramsey 48 M Arlington VA 35:16 35:40 0:00:23.97
5 Katy Wareheme 26 F Boonsboro MD 25:00 25:30 0:00:29.02
6 Ian Wright 33 M Laurel MD 30:00 29:28 0:00:32.52
7 Manuel Legaspi M 20:00 20:36 0:00:35.53
8 Clifford Bedore M 27:00 27:38 0:00:37.53
9 Vennita Harris 24 F Laurel MD 45:00 45:49 0:00:48.62
10 Shawn Gilleylen 40 F Laurel MD 45:00 46:02 0:01:01.18
11 Nicole Greene 30 F Frederick MD 40:36 39:35 0:01:01.27
12 Jason Morancie M 30:00 28:52 0:01:08.28
13 Ben Lipovsky 60 M Hyattsville MD 28:00 26:50 0:01:10.27
14 Kirk Gordon 52 M Mitchellville MD 20:50 22:11 0:01:20.49
15 Eileen Spear F 31:00 29:39 0:01:21.91
16 DeNita DeLano 32 F Temple Hills MD 49:20 47:56 0:01:24.51
17 Tammy Colandrea 32 F Greenbelt MD 43:21 41:53 0:01:28.42
18 Ethica Kumsa F 17:00 18:29 0:01:28.98
19 Laurence Daniels 41 M Mitchellville MD 50:00 48:31 0:01:29.64
20 Mary Ester 47 F Washington DC 30:00 28:27 0:01:33.50
21 Valerie Barnes 31 F Greenbelt MD 46:45 44:58 0:01:47.45
22 Sally Bolenger F 31:00 32:54 0:01:53.50
23 Richard Vickers III 45 M Silver Spring MD 25:00 26:59 0:01:58.28
24 Olivia Payton 51 F Laurel MD 45:00 47:36 0:02:35.75
25 Ernest Brown 51 M Washington DC 43:00 45:45 0:02:44.74
26 Heather Burroughs 24 F Burtonsville MD 36:00 38:46 0:02:45.56
27 Philip Zenchoff 80 M Silver Spring MD 46:30 49:33 0:03:02.40
28 Sharlene Deskins 44 F Seabrook MD 32:45 36:20 0:03:34.72
29 Valerie Ballard F 40:00 36:22 0:03:38.76
30 Loretta Henry 44 F Laurel MD 45:00 41:16 0:03:44.08
31 Risa Ryan 26 F Odenton MD 33:45 29:46 0:03:59.49
32 Gerard Alleyne 27 M Bladensburg MD 33:54 29:21 0:04:33.53 33 242 David Ferris M 30:00 25:18 0:04:42.12 34 212 Moneta Strickland 27 F Montgomery Village MD 37:00 42:26 0:05:25.75 35 209 Jodi Lethbridge 26 F Burtonsville MD 42:00 47:32 0:05:31.53 36 213 Henson Rara 26 M Montgomery Village MD 36:50 42:27 0:05:36.35 37 232 Jackie Nitowitz 44 F College Park MD 1:30:00 1:23:35 0:06:25.12 38 210 Elissa Lethbridge 53 F Burtonsville MD 55:00 1:01:41 0:06:40.64 39 234 David Palomino 28 M Riverdale MD 42:00 34:52 0:07:08.94 40 211 Mandy Lethbridge 21 F Burtonsville MD 40:00 49:33 0:09:32.53 41 225 Irene Park 32 F Baltimore MD 1:00:00 49:29 0:10:31.37 42 224 Sarah Park 29 F Baltimore MD 1:00:00 49:29 0:10:31.40 43 221 Netta Henry 39 F Laurel MD 45:00 56:42 0:11:41.51 44 219 Denise Henry 48 F Laurel MD 45:00 56:42 0:11:41.57 45 246 Dave Rapp M 45:00 30:01 0:14:59.63 46 243 Laurie Fisher F 35:10 1:23:35 0:48:24.33
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tidal Basin 3K reprised
The August 2008 edition of the Tidal Basin was held on a sunny, clear and warm August 20. I spoke to a few people before the race. Jim Moreland complimented on my time in the downhill mile. He had noticed I had beaten Tami. We also talked about the previous nights race. Peter Blank said hello and Joe Broderick and I talked about how it was coller than last month but how it was still awfully warm.
With the help of my new shoes and with my ankle wrapped, I felt pretty good for the first few hundred yards. That doesn't sound like much but I've been tired after this portion of the race the last few months. I did tire shortly afterwards but I really wanted to get to the other side of the bridge before taking a walk break. I did so and took my break right at the 5 minute mark. I passed the 1K mark shortly after starting to run again. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see I was under 10 minute/mile pace by several seconds. Off I ran for another 5 minutes, crossing the 2nd bridge and passing the 1 mile mark in just under 10 minutes. OK, I thought to myself, can I keep the wheels on?
For the most part I did keep the wheels on the bus. I only ran 4 minutes before taking another walk break but I was bale to get rolling again after that. I stopped looking at my watch at that point as I focused on reaching that finish line. I took 1 more brief walk break along Ohio Drive and then plodded/scurried to the finish. I was shocked to see the clock under 19 minutes as I approached. I was only hoping to break 21 minutes today. If I had been paying attention perhaps I could have broken 19 minutes. Instead I settled for a time of 19:03...my best in several months. Given my larger goal of returning to sub 31 minute 5K's, I know I need to get my 3K's under 18 minutes but this was certainly a step in the right direction. If not for being so sweaty back at work it would have been a perfect lunch hour.
With the help of my new shoes and with my ankle wrapped, I felt pretty good for the first few hundred yards. That doesn't sound like much but I've been tired after this portion of the race the last few months. I did tire shortly afterwards but I really wanted to get to the other side of the bridge before taking a walk break. I did so and took my break right at the 5 minute mark. I passed the 1K mark shortly after starting to run again. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see I was under 10 minute/mile pace by several seconds. Off I ran for another 5 minutes, crossing the 2nd bridge and passing the 1 mile mark in just under 10 minutes. OK, I thought to myself, can I keep the wheels on?
For the most part I did keep the wheels on the bus. I only ran 4 minutes before taking another walk break but I was bale to get rolling again after that. I stopped looking at my watch at that point as I focused on reaching that finish line. I took 1 more brief walk break along Ohio Drive and then plodded/scurried to the finish. I was shocked to see the clock under 19 minutes as I approached. I was only hoping to break 21 minutes today. If I had been paying attention perhaps I could have broken 19 minutes. Instead I settled for a time of 19:03...my best in several months. Given my larger goal of returning to sub 31 minute 5K's, I know I need to get my 3K's under 18 minutes but this was certainly a step in the right direction. If not for being so sweaty back at work it would have been a perfect lunch hour.
Springsteen 4.5 Miler
Well thats a misleading title if there ever was one. No, there is no such thing as a Springsteen 4.5 Miler. But I did attend a Springsteen concert on Monday and then ran a 4.5 mile race on Tuesday so I thought I would combine the two.
First, the concert. I worked half a day and drove down to Richmond Monday afternoon. When I got there I signed up for being allowed into the pit. For all the times I have seen The Boss I have never been in the pit. I was given number 740. 700 people were going to be allowed into the pit. A number would be selected at random and that number would become the new #1. That meant I needed the number pulled to be between 41 and 740. The number pulled was 7. So close but yet so far. Oh well. We thought this would mean that we would be allowed in next so we would be in the front row of the non pit people. Didnt work out that way though and after waiting an hour we were told we had to scramble over to another entrance. I ended up right at center court with a head on view of Bruce. He was probably 60 feet away. Not bad, all things considered.
Although the sound was poor, I thought the show was among the best I have ever seen. He slid across the floor, jumped into the audience, pulled kids up on stage with him 3 times, and did a solo on the piano of "For You". They took a request for "Crush on You" which he said they hadn't performed in over 20 years. Steven said we would understand why in a moment but it ended up being a good fun song. The encore lasted forever, meaning I didn't get home until after 1. But it was worth it.
The next day was the Paul Thurston 4.5 Miler at Burke Lake. I find the course to be moderately difficult but certainly not as bad as some of the recent cross country races I have run recently. I got off to a decent start and actually passed Tami Graf after a couple of minutes. But once we turned onto the trail and into the woods off she went, followed quickly by Sharyn Gordon. Sharyn mentioned that it was tough to breathe. She was right...the air was very heavy and stagnant.
Nonetheless, I felt relatively good for a guy that spent over 6 straight hours on his feet the night before and only got a few hours sleep. I had to stop for a walk break after 5 minutes but I kept the break to 1 minute. I followed the same routine up until I reached the water station after 40 minutes. I was pretty whipped at that point and alternated 2 minute runs with 2 minute walks for most of the rest of the race. I guess I would have been OK if it was a 3.5 mile race but it wasnt meant to be. I pushed myself along for the final 300 yards to the finish and settled for a time of 55:12(official was 55:23...not sure why there was such a big difference).
I was 53rd and last male and 78th out of 80 overall, beating a father and daughter by just under 2 minutes.
Notable finishers were:
Greg Grosicki 25:43 (winner)
Karsten Brown 26:42
Jim Moreland 30:53 (age group winner)
Jay Wind 31:35
Elaine Twigg 33:04 (female winner)
Kirk Gordon 33:11
Jon Palks 37:22
Tami Graf 48:06 (age group winner)
Sharyn Gordon 51:02
Kay Wallace 51:47 (person that finished in front of me)
Bryn Gaffen 57:13 (10 year girl that finished behind me)
First, the concert. I worked half a day and drove down to Richmond Monday afternoon. When I got there I signed up for being allowed into the pit. For all the times I have seen The Boss I have never been in the pit. I was given number 740. 700 people were going to be allowed into the pit. A number would be selected at random and that number would become the new #1. That meant I needed the number pulled to be between 41 and 740. The number pulled was 7. So close but yet so far. Oh well. We thought this would mean that we would be allowed in next so we would be in the front row of the non pit people. Didnt work out that way though and after waiting an hour we were told we had to scramble over to another entrance. I ended up right at center court with a head on view of Bruce. He was probably 60 feet away. Not bad, all things considered.
Although the sound was poor, I thought the show was among the best I have ever seen. He slid across the floor, jumped into the audience, pulled kids up on stage with him 3 times, and did a solo on the piano of "For You". They took a request for "Crush on You" which he said they hadn't performed in over 20 years. Steven said we would understand why in a moment but it ended up being a good fun song. The encore lasted forever, meaning I didn't get home until after 1. But it was worth it.
The next day was the Paul Thurston 4.5 Miler at Burke Lake. I find the course to be moderately difficult but certainly not as bad as some of the recent cross country races I have run recently. I got off to a decent start and actually passed Tami Graf after a couple of minutes. But once we turned onto the trail and into the woods off she went, followed quickly by Sharyn Gordon. Sharyn mentioned that it was tough to breathe. She was right...the air was very heavy and stagnant.
Nonetheless, I felt relatively good for a guy that spent over 6 straight hours on his feet the night before and only got a few hours sleep. I had to stop for a walk break after 5 minutes but I kept the break to 1 minute. I followed the same routine up until I reached the water station after 40 minutes. I was pretty whipped at that point and alternated 2 minute runs with 2 minute walks for most of the rest of the race. I guess I would have been OK if it was a 3.5 mile race but it wasnt meant to be. I pushed myself along for the final 300 yards to the finish and settled for a time of 55:12(official was 55:23...not sure why there was such a big difference).
I was 53rd and last male and 78th out of 80 overall, beating a father and daughter by just under 2 minutes.
Notable finishers were:
Greg Grosicki 25:43 (winner)
Karsten Brown 26:42
Jim Moreland 30:53 (age group winner)
Jay Wind 31:35
Elaine Twigg 33:04 (female winner)
Kirk Gordon 33:11
Jon Palks 37:22
Tami Graf 48:06 (age group winner)
Sharyn Gordon 51:02
Kay Wallace 51:47 (person that finished in front of me)
Bryn Gaffen 57:13 (10 year girl that finished behind me)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Hell, thy name is Comus!
OK, that's not exactly fair. Comus looked like a wonderful place to live. I would look into the possibility if not for already knowing that Dori would have absolutely no interest in being so far out of town and having so much land to take care of.
What I should really say is Hell, thy name is the Comus 5K. You know how I grumbled about last weekends cross country race at Landon? This was worse and not just by the additional .1 miles. This course had a ton of hills. Nearly all of it was run on either grass (which scares me-can't see the holes) or on trails in woods with lots of roots and things to trip you up. We crossed a couple of creeks and we had to jump over a fallen tree. Perhaps the toughest part of the course for me were the sidehill runs. That placed a lot of stress on my bad ankle.
Just getting their was difficult. My GPS in my car couldn't find Comus so I turned off of 270 where I thought the turn should be. That was a mistake that cost me about 6 minutes. I found an address on the website while stopped at a light and was able to plug that into the GPS. It showed I would arrive right at 5:30...the scheduled starting time. Oh boy. This is when its nice to have a psuedo sports car. I did 60 on the winding country roads leading to the farm that served as the base for the course. I signed up with 2 minutes to spare. No time to stretch. Oh well. The "G" word was said and were off.
We started by running around an excercise area for horses. Then we ran down a pretty big hill beside a fence holding back a couple of horses. One came over to the fence to see what we were doing. I gasped a hello. We then started climbing another hill and I took my first walk break. I looked at my watch and weren't even 2 minutes into the race! Not a good sign at all. The good news was I had a lot of people still behind me at this point.
I started running again but I was having trouble with my footing on the grassy surface. There were sections of the course that I could have run faster if on pavement but I had to slow down. Thus, the little cushion that I built up for when I walked the uphills just wasnt happening this day. To prove it. I was passed by a group of about 8 runners at about the 3/4 mile mark as I walked up a short steep hill. Included in this pack was Mark Zimmerman, who has to be about the happiest (and chattiest) runner I know.
We emerged from the trees and ran back by the horses we saw earlier. We were told at the start that this was about the 1 mile mark. OK, only 2.1 more Back by the start line I was able to grab a big cup of water. That helped quite abit but I decided to walk for a minute or two here. We ran through a pretty large field and I was able to see some of the runners behind me. A few passed me while still in the field but I was able to keep some women behind me as we entered another set of woods. We did a kind of sideways "M", racing through the woods in one direction before racing back towards where we came from on a parallel path. Then we did it again. Each leg of this "M" was on a higher elevation so I could see and hear some of the runners ahead of me, particularly Mark. I would guess he was about 3 minutes ahead of me at this point. I was also able to see 2 women behind me in the woods. My new and last goal for the day was to keep them behind me.
We exited the woods and ran beside a fence in a field for a few hundred yards before entering more woods. This was the toughest section of the course for me with the previously mentioned sidehills and some very steep sections. I was able to keep the woman in front of me in sight through these woods but I certainly didnt make up any ground.
When I exited from the woods I was whipped. We kind of ran a big U in large field. I had to walk a lot of this. I started running again when I saw the first woman behind me exit from the woods. Not far in fromt of me was the woman and now also a child runner. Unfortunately, we then hit a steep hill and I immediately lost touch with them.
My left calf started to cramp up on me at this point. Oh great, I thought, as if I wasn't having enough fun already. I hobbled by a volunteer who said I had about 1/4 mile left. Apon hearing this I immediately stepped in a hole hidden by the grass and wrenched my back. I mostly walked the rest of the way until I could see the clock. Then I picked up my pace until I crossed the finish line in an amazingly bad 42:25. I did beat 3 women but I came in last among the men(110th). 159 runners completed the course.
Perhaps (no, certainly) the best part of the race was the post race party. There were bottles of cold beer on ice (I had a Yeungling) and there was also a Good Humor truck that was giving everyone whatever they wanted (I had a snow cone. I didn't want ice cream with my beer).
This race marked my 33rd race of the year and according to my Franklin Planner, it took place during the 33rd week of the year. So...I am back on pace for 50+ races...assuming nothing crazy happens like falling down and breaking my foot and ankle. But that could never happen...right?
What I should really say is Hell, thy name is the Comus 5K. You know how I grumbled about last weekends cross country race at Landon? This was worse and not just by the additional .1 miles. This course had a ton of hills. Nearly all of it was run on either grass (which scares me-can't see the holes) or on trails in woods with lots of roots and things to trip you up. We crossed a couple of creeks and we had to jump over a fallen tree. Perhaps the toughest part of the course for me were the sidehill runs. That placed a lot of stress on my bad ankle.
Just getting their was difficult. My GPS in my car couldn't find Comus so I turned off of 270 where I thought the turn should be. That was a mistake that cost me about 6 minutes. I found an address on the website while stopped at a light and was able to plug that into the GPS. It showed I would arrive right at 5:30...the scheduled starting time. Oh boy. This is when its nice to have a psuedo sports car. I did 60 on the winding country roads leading to the farm that served as the base for the course. I signed up with 2 minutes to spare. No time to stretch. Oh well. The "G" word was said and were off.
We started by running around an excercise area for horses. Then we ran down a pretty big hill beside a fence holding back a couple of horses. One came over to the fence to see what we were doing. I gasped a hello. We then started climbing another hill and I took my first walk break. I looked at my watch and weren't even 2 minutes into the race! Not a good sign at all. The good news was I had a lot of people still behind me at this point.
I started running again but I was having trouble with my footing on the grassy surface. There were sections of the course that I could have run faster if on pavement but I had to slow down. Thus, the little cushion that I built up for when I walked the uphills just wasnt happening this day. To prove it. I was passed by a group of about 8 runners at about the 3/4 mile mark as I walked up a short steep hill. Included in this pack was Mark Zimmerman, who has to be about the happiest (and chattiest) runner I know.
We emerged from the trees and ran back by the horses we saw earlier. We were told at the start that this was about the 1 mile mark. OK, only 2.1 more Back by the start line I was able to grab a big cup of water. That helped quite abit but I decided to walk for a minute or two here. We ran through a pretty large field and I was able to see some of the runners behind me. A few passed me while still in the field but I was able to keep some women behind me as we entered another set of woods. We did a kind of sideways "M", racing through the woods in one direction before racing back towards where we came from on a parallel path. Then we did it again. Each leg of this "M" was on a higher elevation so I could see and hear some of the runners ahead of me, particularly Mark. I would guess he was about 3 minutes ahead of me at this point. I was also able to see 2 women behind me in the woods. My new and last goal for the day was to keep them behind me.
We exited the woods and ran beside a fence in a field for a few hundred yards before entering more woods. This was the toughest section of the course for me with the previously mentioned sidehills and some very steep sections. I was able to keep the woman in front of me in sight through these woods but I certainly didnt make up any ground.
When I exited from the woods I was whipped. We kind of ran a big U in large field. I had to walk a lot of this. I started running again when I saw the first woman behind me exit from the woods. Not far in fromt of me was the woman and now also a child runner. Unfortunately, we then hit a steep hill and I immediately lost touch with them.
My left calf started to cramp up on me at this point. Oh great, I thought, as if I wasn't having enough fun already. I hobbled by a volunteer who said I had about 1/4 mile left. Apon hearing this I immediately stepped in a hole hidden by the grass and wrenched my back. I mostly walked the rest of the way until I could see the clock. Then I picked up my pace until I crossed the finish line in an amazingly bad 42:25. I did beat 3 women but I came in last among the men(110th). 159 runners completed the course.
Perhaps (no, certainly) the best part of the race was the post race party. There were bottles of cold beer on ice (I had a Yeungling) and there was also a Good Humor truck that was giving everyone whatever they wanted (I had a snow cone. I didn't want ice cream with my beer).
This race marked my 33rd race of the year and according to my Franklin Planner, it took place during the 33rd week of the year. So...I am back on pace for 50+ races...assuming nothing crazy happens like falling down and breaking my foot and ankle. But that could never happen...right?
It's all downhill from here
My 32nd race of the year promised to also be my fastest race of the year. The Arlington Co-op Downhill Mile was held on August 12. I have run this race the last 2 years and learned that gravity really does make a difference. Its a point to point race and it drops about 250 feet over the course of the mile. It has a couple sharp turns at the top of the course, which is also the steepest part of the course but after that its a pretty straight shot.
Given my time of 9:02 just a couple of weeks before on a track I knew I wouldn't be setting any PR's (7:17) this day. I was hoping for something around 7:40. Anything greater than that would be a disappointment.
This race is usually a VERY low key event with only about 6-8 runners. It was a little bigger this year with 11 runners competing. Most significantly, ultra marathoner Michael Wardian showed up for the run. I saw Charlie Mercer warming up as I walked up the hill to the starting line and he was clearly nervous about running against Michael. Charlie held the course record 4:31 and was undefeated here so he saw his dynasty slipping away. I thought it would be a good race since Charlie was very familiar with the course but I knew Michael was a little faster than him. Sometimes I wish I wasnt so slow so I could actually see how some of these races finished.
Jim Scarborough, the race director, didnt run this year...I think because he didnt think he had enough volunteers. Jay Wind held his phone up at the start and Jim yelled go through the phone while he started the clock at the bottom of the hill. As readers by now know, I almost always start too fast and sometimes find myself still with the leaders after a couple of hundred yards today. Not today though. the other runners were anxious to get to the downhill portion of the course and raced hard over the first 100 yards to get to the steep descent.
As we got to the descent, I was running close to both Bob Weiner and Jay Wind. I know Jay doesn't like downhills and I held him off for more than half of the race last year. Not this year though. Both of them passed me just as we entered the steepest portion of the course and soon I lost track of them. I didn't realize it then but I did have one runner behind me...Tami Graf. I never saw her until the finish. She is certainly faster than me right now so she must have been being extra cautious on the hills. Can't blame her...at times its more falling than running.
I had to stop for quick walk breaks just like the track meet a couple of weeks ago. How frustrating. I knew that would cost me my chance to reach my goal time but I had no choice...I couldn't get any air while running.
I pushed really hard at the finish. I heard a lot of encouragement as I raced towards the finish line. I was gasping for breathe but I really wanted to finish as strong as possible with all of them watching. I crossed the tape in 8:05. I was disappointed but hey, at least it was a new PR as a 49 year old. (How's that for the glass being half full).
Jim did a nice job of awards. Michael ended up beating Charlie by 5 seconds and won Redskin tickets. Everybody won something. I won a book about not being ripped off by my 401k. We said our goodbyes and we were off.
Finishers are listed below:
Bib ## Name G Age City State Time M F Award
--- -- -------------------------- - --- ---------------- ------ - - --------
1 Michael Wardian M 34 Arlington VA 4:40 1 M
2 Charlie Mercer M 38 Arlington VA 4:45 2 M 2
3 Matthew Sushinsky M 17 Rockville MD 4:51 3 M 3
4 Vhan Bui M 22 Springfield VA 4:56 4 M20-29 1
5 Elizabeth Jones F 31 Falls Church VA 5:55 1 F 1
6 Bob Weiner M 61 Accokeek MD 6:12 5 M60-69
7 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 6:27 6 M50-59 1
8 John Paul Anderson Jr M 47 Edgewater MD 6:42 7 M40-49 1
9 Regina Davids F 20 Centreville VA 7:20 2 F 2 29
10 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 8:05 8 M40-49 2
11 Tami Graf F 72 Lusby MD 8:39 3 F 3
So I was 10th out of 11 finishers and the 8th of 8 males. But Hey, I was 2nd in my age group!
Given my time of 9:02 just a couple of weeks before on a track I knew I wouldn't be setting any PR's (7:17) this day. I was hoping for something around 7:40. Anything greater than that would be a disappointment.
This race is usually a VERY low key event with only about 6-8 runners. It was a little bigger this year with 11 runners competing. Most significantly, ultra marathoner Michael Wardian showed up for the run. I saw Charlie Mercer warming up as I walked up the hill to the starting line and he was clearly nervous about running against Michael. Charlie held the course record 4:31 and was undefeated here so he saw his dynasty slipping away. I thought it would be a good race since Charlie was very familiar with the course but I knew Michael was a little faster than him. Sometimes I wish I wasnt so slow so I could actually see how some of these races finished.
Jim Scarborough, the race director, didnt run this year...I think because he didnt think he had enough volunteers. Jay Wind held his phone up at the start and Jim yelled go through the phone while he started the clock at the bottom of the hill. As readers by now know, I almost always start too fast and sometimes find myself still with the leaders after a couple of hundred yards today. Not today though. the other runners were anxious to get to the downhill portion of the course and raced hard over the first 100 yards to get to the steep descent.
As we got to the descent, I was running close to both Bob Weiner and Jay Wind. I know Jay doesn't like downhills and I held him off for more than half of the race last year. Not this year though. Both of them passed me just as we entered the steepest portion of the course and soon I lost track of them. I didn't realize it then but I did have one runner behind me...Tami Graf. I never saw her until the finish. She is certainly faster than me right now so she must have been being extra cautious on the hills. Can't blame her...at times its more falling than running.
I had to stop for quick walk breaks just like the track meet a couple of weeks ago. How frustrating. I knew that would cost me my chance to reach my goal time but I had no choice...I couldn't get any air while running.
I pushed really hard at the finish. I heard a lot of encouragement as I raced towards the finish line. I was gasping for breathe but I really wanted to finish as strong as possible with all of them watching. I crossed the tape in 8:05. I was disappointed but hey, at least it was a new PR as a 49 year old. (How's that for the glass being half full).
Jim did a nice job of awards. Michael ended up beating Charlie by 5 seconds and won Redskin tickets. Everybody won something. I won a book about not being ripped off by my 401k. We said our goodbyes and we were off.
Finishers are listed below:
Bib ## Name G Age City State Time M F Award
--- -- -------------------------- - --- ---------------- ------ - - --------
1 Michael Wardian M 34 Arlington VA 4:40 1 M
2 Charlie Mercer M 38 Arlington VA 4:45 2 M 2
3 Matthew Sushinsky M 17 Rockville MD 4:51 3 M 3
4 Vhan Bui M 22 Springfield VA 4:56 4 M20-29 1
5 Elizabeth Jones F 31 Falls Church VA 5:55 1 F 1
6 Bob Weiner M 61 Accokeek MD 6:12 5 M60-69
7 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 6:27 6 M50-59 1
8 John Paul Anderson Jr M 47 Edgewater MD 6:42 7 M40-49 1
9 Regina Davids F 20 Centreville VA 7:20 2 F 2 29
10 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 8:05 8 M40-49 2
11 Tami Graf F 72 Lusby MD 8:39 3 F 3
So I was 10th out of 11 finishers and the 8th of 8 males. But Hey, I was 2nd in my age group!
Friday, August 15, 2008
This was no picnic
The DC Raod Runners held their annual Summer picnic on Sunday August 10th. Unfortunately, they combined it with a 3 mile cross country run around Landon High School. I ran this race last year and while I loved the picnic, I hated the course. Even when I was in my best shape a couple of years ago, I didn't perform well in cross country events. Besides my fear of twisting an already tender ankle, it just seems like these courses take it out of me. This day was no exception.
Last year I managed to beat Christine C. by a minute or so. My one goal was to beat her again this day. I took off quickly at the start. So quickly that it wasn't until a minute or two into the race did people like Kirk Gordon pass me. Hmm, maybe that explained why I felt like I was going to hurl after only a few minutes. In essence, my race was over after just a few minutes. From that point on I just tried to stay in reach of the person in front of me, whoever it might be, and to also keep Christine(who was running with Mark Zimmerman) behind me.
I did OK on the first part for the first half of the race but Christine and Mark caught up to me about half way through the race. They put a pretty good gap on me when I stopped for a walk and I never recovered. Because of the nature of the course (lots of hills and turns) I didn't see them again untiul they were just about to finish. I trailed them by over 2 minutes. I thought there was a woman walking behind me but she must have dropped out because I show up in last place on the official results page. bummer. Someone talk me out of this race next year! I finished in 39:02 and was the 62nd male and the 82nd finisher.
Notable finishers were:
Richie Booth M 20 Darnestown MD 15:52 1 M 1
Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 19:58 16 M40-49 3
Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 22:38 33 M50-59 2
Robert L. Gurtler M 73 The Plains VA 33:15 59 M70-79 3
Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 36:45 18
Mark Zimmermann M 55 Silver Spring MD 36:46 61
Last year I managed to beat Christine C. by a minute or so. My one goal was to beat her again this day. I took off quickly at the start. So quickly that it wasn't until a minute or two into the race did people like Kirk Gordon pass me. Hmm, maybe that explained why I felt like I was going to hurl after only a few minutes. In essence, my race was over after just a few minutes. From that point on I just tried to stay in reach of the person in front of me, whoever it might be, and to also keep Christine(who was running with Mark Zimmerman) behind me.
I did OK on the first part for the first half of the race but Christine and Mark caught up to me about half way through the race. They put a pretty good gap on me when I stopped for a walk and I never recovered. Because of the nature of the course (lots of hills and turns) I didn't see them again untiul they were just about to finish. I trailed them by over 2 minutes. I thought there was a woman walking behind me but she must have dropped out because I show up in last place on the official results page. bummer. Someone talk me out of this race next year! I finished in 39:02 and was the 62nd male and the 82nd finisher.
Notable finishers were:
Richie Booth M 20 Darnestown MD 15:52 1 M 1
Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 19:58 16 M40-49 3
Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 22:38 33 M50-59 2
Robert L. Gurtler M 73 The Plains VA 33:15 59 M70-79 3
Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 36:45 18
Mark Zimmermann M 55 Silver Spring MD 36:46 61
Feeling blue at Bluemont
I have run at Bluemont Park probably 2 dozen times. I have run a lot of races there and I also do some of my training there. It's where my wife usually goes to run and I will occassionally join her. So when the DC Road Runner Club held there annual 5K there August 5th I was feeling fairly good about my chances. Not only did I know the course but they also moved the starting line back so the one major hill on the course wouldn't come into play for this race. On the downside, it was hot and storms were in the area so it was also kind of muggy. Given the cancellation of the 8K a few weeks before, I was actually surprised to find that the race was on as scheduled when I arrived in the parking lot.
Unfortunately, I had one of those days where I just didn't "feel it". I went out moderately fast but had to take a walk break after only about 4 minutes. I then used a 4 on, 1 off cycle for the remainder of the race. I tried to keep some of my old competition (Bob Gurtler, Tami Graf, Sharyn Gordon) in sight but I lost touch with them after about a mile. Then I tried to keep Blair Jones in striking distance but I lost her at about the halfway point ( I did lead her for part of the first half of the race). In the end, it was just me running between some slower women. Not a guy to be seen behind me and the nearest male in front of me finished 3 minutes ahead of me. I finished in 37:02 (official was 37:18), making me the 89th male and 139th overall out of 146 finishers. Back to the treadmill I suppose.
Notable finishers were:
Sam Blasiak M 28 Falls Church VA 16:33 1 male winner
Madeline Harms F 22 Arlington VA 19:24 1 Female winner
Karsten Brown M 34 Front Royal VA 17:11 4
Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 18:49 15
Charlie Mercer M 38 Arlington VA 19:20 22
Bill Stahr M 47 The Plains VA 20:12 28
James Moreland M 55 Gaithersburg MD 20:25 31 won age grp
Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 20:58 36
Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 21:12 41
Bob Platt M 57 Arlington VA 23:24 57
Jon Palks M 59 Bowie MD 24:46
Tami Graf F 72 Lusby MD 31:08 42 F70-79 1
Robert L. Gurtler M 73 The Plains VA 31:18 86 M70-79 2
Sharyn D. Gordon F 50 Mitchellville MD 32:16 43
Blair Jones F 64 Washington DC 33:17 44 F60-69 1
Unfortunately, I had one of those days where I just didn't "feel it". I went out moderately fast but had to take a walk break after only about 4 minutes. I then used a 4 on, 1 off cycle for the remainder of the race. I tried to keep some of my old competition (Bob Gurtler, Tami Graf, Sharyn Gordon) in sight but I lost touch with them after about a mile. Then I tried to keep Blair Jones in striking distance but I lost her at about the halfway point ( I did lead her for part of the first half of the race). In the end, it was just me running between some slower women. Not a guy to be seen behind me and the nearest male in front of me finished 3 minutes ahead of me. I finished in 37:02 (official was 37:18), making me the 89th male and 139th overall out of 146 finishers. Back to the treadmill I suppose.
Notable finishers were:
Sam Blasiak M 28 Falls Church VA 16:33 1 male winner
Madeline Harms F 22 Arlington VA 19:24 1 Female winner
Karsten Brown M 34 Front Royal VA 17:11 4
Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 18:49 15
Charlie Mercer M 38 Arlington VA 19:20 22
Bill Stahr M 47 The Plains VA 20:12 28
James Moreland M 55 Gaithersburg MD 20:25 31 won age grp
Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 20:58 36
Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 21:12 41
Bob Platt M 57 Arlington VA 23:24 57
Jon Palks M 59 Bowie MD 24:46
Tami Graf F 72 Lusby MD 31:08 42 F70-79 1
Robert L. Gurtler M 73 The Plains VA 31:18 86 M70-79 2
Sharyn D. Gordon F 50 Mitchellville MD 32:16 43
Blair Jones F 64 Washington DC 33:17 44 F60-69 1
Friday, August 8, 2008
Anybody can run a mile...right?
The DC Road Runners held their annual 1 mile and 3K championships on July 30 this year. Last year at this event I actually knocked off 3 races-the 1 mile race walk, a 1 mile run and the 3K run. I got to the track this year just as Peter Blank was starting the 1 mile race walk. I cheered him on as he went by and he yelled over that I should be out there with him. I don't know if I would have done it anyway - I did it twice last year and they really beat up my calves. Plus, I'm sure I'm not following the official race walk criteria...I just try to walk fast.
I ran in the next event...the masters mile. I've been worried about this event for the past week. I always dreaded these track events even when I was running at my best. I always get lapped, which is embarrasing, and I worry about holding everyone up. In the past I had always run the mile in at least 8:30. This year I hadn't run faster than a 10:00 mile in practice or in a race. That would be very slow. I looked for runners I knew to be relatively slow-there were none. I would represent the slowbies today.
There was a field of 12 in my heat which meant I was close to the start line when the gun went off. But I quickly fell to the back after only a couple of strides. Initially, Peter was right in front of me. In fact, he turned and said "It looks like its you and me Rammer". But I knew better. Even though he hadn't had enough time to recover from his race walk-which he did in 9:35-I knew he would finish well in front of me. I mumbled something to that effect back to Peter and continued on.
I completed the first lap in about 2:10. I was fairly pleased with that. That went away quickly though as I began to be lapped almost immediately. First by was Ted Poulos. I never know if I should run on the inside lane or get to the outside in these situations-I have received conflicting instructions. Today I ran on the inside, actually stepping on the inside line quite a few times. I really don't think I impeded anyone.
I completed the 2nd lap in 4:20. Not bad at all I thought. Except for the fact that I was gasping for any air I could get and my heart rate was probably about 900. I had to walk. Now its one thing to take a walk break in the middle of a 5K on a road. A few runners that are close to you see you and maybe you get a jeer from an onlooker telling you to run but thats about it. It doesn't get much worse than having to walk during a track event. EVERYONE sees you. But I HAD to walk. I wouldn't have finished if I didn't walk. I only walked for about 20 yards...enough time to get a little air and to let my heart rate come down a little bit. Jay Wind passed me around here. I knew it was him before he got to me because of his heavy breathing. I rooted him on and then got back to my own run.
I got to the 3/4 pole at 6:50. Ugh...my lap was 20 seconds slower than my previous laps. And I had to walk again. At least I wasn't being passed anymore. But only because everyone was either finished or about to finish. I was dying but I pushed on, I think mostly from pride. All of the Pacer girls were there and I really didn't want to collapse in front of them. I saw the clock 100 yards ahead and thought I might be able to get there in under 9 minutes which would be a real achievement. I was cheered in but my legs felt like they were carrying weights and I finished in 9:01:6.
OK, I passed my first test. I didn't totally embarass myself in the 1 mile. But what about the 3K? I knew my pace was going to be considerably slower for the 3K. I would be lucky to break 20 minutes. Was that too slow?
I had some time to think about it. They ran the masters womens mile next. There was only 1 master woman (Patricia Zerfas) but Jim Noone arrived late for the mens master so he ran with her. They both ran close to a 6 minute mile. Great job by both.
Next was the open mile. Time for the young guys. The leaders were absolutely flying. Bert Rodriguez won with a time of 4:21:6! willy Viviani was just a second behind. I think I saw smoke coming off of their shoes.
My favorite race of the night was the womens mile. As I mentioned the Pacer girls were there in force. I happened to be next to the starting line when they lined up. There was a cute woman I had never seen before at the front of the pack in lane 1. She was joking with the race director as he lined them up and she was very relaxed. But when the gun fired she was out of there in a flash. She ran probably the most impressive race I have ever seen run by a woman. She was just cruising. She looked relaxed but purposeful. She had a nice lead on the 2nd place woman who was no slouch herself (and had probably the most defined abs I have ever seen on a woman). As I watched the splits I was thinking to myself "she might break 5 minutes". Sure enough, she came in with a time of 4:55.1! Wow! I looked up the results the next day and learned she was Kristen Henehan, last years Marine Corp winner. After a 6 year layoff after college, she took up competitive running again last year and won her first marathon. She did so well she qualified for the Olympic Trials. Runners world did a very nice video interview with her...look it up...it was very interesting. BTW- the 2nd place woman was Lindsay Wilkins, who won the Crystal City 5K just a few days before. She ran the mile in 5:09.1. If not for Kristen, I would marvelling over her race.
Anyway, back to me. I decided that in fairness to the other runners, I couldn't run the 3K. I figured I would be about 6 minutes slower than the next slowest runner. The women would be waiting for me to finish before they could run their own 3K. It would be getting dark. I would be embarrased. It just wasn't a good situation. So I ate hot dogs instead (provided by the race director for the race that was cancelled the previous week).
I left before the 3K's were run. I'm bummed about that because I see in the results that Charlie Mercer ran the first 3K. Not only did he run it, he won it! I guess he is recovered from the being hit by a car. He ran it in 11:16. Last place was Carlos Liceaga with a time of 16:28.8. That's slower than I expected but it still means I would have been out there by myself for over 3 1/2 minutes. I think I made the right decision.
The 2nd heat of the 3K combined the women with the fast men. Robert Wade, who came in a close 3rd in the mile, won this race with a time of 8:45.9. That would be good enough to usually demolish the field at the monthly tidal basin 3K. Bert Rodriguez was clearly wiped out as he ran a miserable time of only 8:59.8...good enough for 4th!Kristen led the women in with a time of 10:16 with Lindsay right behind in a time of 10:35.2.
What a night!
I ran in the next event...the masters mile. I've been worried about this event for the past week. I always dreaded these track events even when I was running at my best. I always get lapped, which is embarrasing, and I worry about holding everyone up. In the past I had always run the mile in at least 8:30. This year I hadn't run faster than a 10:00 mile in practice or in a race. That would be very slow. I looked for runners I knew to be relatively slow-there were none. I would represent the slowbies today.
There was a field of 12 in my heat which meant I was close to the start line when the gun went off. But I quickly fell to the back after only a couple of strides. Initially, Peter was right in front of me. In fact, he turned and said "It looks like its you and me Rammer". But I knew better. Even though he hadn't had enough time to recover from his race walk-which he did in 9:35-I knew he would finish well in front of me. I mumbled something to that effect back to Peter and continued on.
I completed the first lap in about 2:10. I was fairly pleased with that. That went away quickly though as I began to be lapped almost immediately. First by was Ted Poulos. I never know if I should run on the inside lane or get to the outside in these situations-I have received conflicting instructions. Today I ran on the inside, actually stepping on the inside line quite a few times. I really don't think I impeded anyone.
I completed the 2nd lap in 4:20. Not bad at all I thought. Except for the fact that I was gasping for any air I could get and my heart rate was probably about 900. I had to walk. Now its one thing to take a walk break in the middle of a 5K on a road. A few runners that are close to you see you and maybe you get a jeer from an onlooker telling you to run but thats about it. It doesn't get much worse than having to walk during a track event. EVERYONE sees you. But I HAD to walk. I wouldn't have finished if I didn't walk. I only walked for about 20 yards...enough time to get a little air and to let my heart rate come down a little bit. Jay Wind passed me around here. I knew it was him before he got to me because of his heavy breathing. I rooted him on and then got back to my own run.
I got to the 3/4 pole at 6:50. Ugh...my lap was 20 seconds slower than my previous laps. And I had to walk again. At least I wasn't being passed anymore. But only because everyone was either finished or about to finish. I was dying but I pushed on, I think mostly from pride. All of the Pacer girls were there and I really didn't want to collapse in front of them. I saw the clock 100 yards ahead and thought I might be able to get there in under 9 minutes which would be a real achievement. I was cheered in but my legs felt like they were carrying weights and I finished in 9:01:6.
OK, I passed my first test. I didn't totally embarass myself in the 1 mile. But what about the 3K? I knew my pace was going to be considerably slower for the 3K. I would be lucky to break 20 minutes. Was that too slow?
I had some time to think about it. They ran the masters womens mile next. There was only 1 master woman (Patricia Zerfas) but Jim Noone arrived late for the mens master so he ran with her. They both ran close to a 6 minute mile. Great job by both.
Next was the open mile. Time for the young guys. The leaders were absolutely flying. Bert Rodriguez won with a time of 4:21:6! willy Viviani was just a second behind. I think I saw smoke coming off of their shoes.
My favorite race of the night was the womens mile. As I mentioned the Pacer girls were there in force. I happened to be next to the starting line when they lined up. There was a cute woman I had never seen before at the front of the pack in lane 1. She was joking with the race director as he lined them up and she was very relaxed. But when the gun fired she was out of there in a flash. She ran probably the most impressive race I have ever seen run by a woman. She was just cruising. She looked relaxed but purposeful. She had a nice lead on the 2nd place woman who was no slouch herself (and had probably the most defined abs I have ever seen on a woman). As I watched the splits I was thinking to myself "she might break 5 minutes". Sure enough, she came in with a time of 4:55.1! Wow! I looked up the results the next day and learned she was Kristen Henehan, last years Marine Corp winner. After a 6 year layoff after college, she took up competitive running again last year and won her first marathon. She did so well she qualified for the Olympic Trials. Runners world did a very nice video interview with her...look it up...it was very interesting. BTW- the 2nd place woman was Lindsay Wilkins, who won the Crystal City 5K just a few days before. She ran the mile in 5:09.1. If not for Kristen, I would marvelling over her race.
Anyway, back to me. I decided that in fairness to the other runners, I couldn't run the 3K. I figured I would be about 6 minutes slower than the next slowest runner. The women would be waiting for me to finish before they could run their own 3K. It would be getting dark. I would be embarrased. It just wasn't a good situation. So I ate hot dogs instead (provided by the race director for the race that was cancelled the previous week).
I left before the 3K's were run. I'm bummed about that because I see in the results that Charlie Mercer ran the first 3K. Not only did he run it, he won it! I guess he is recovered from the being hit by a car. He ran it in 11:16. Last place was Carlos Liceaga with a time of 16:28.8. That's slower than I expected but it still means I would have been out there by myself for over 3 1/2 minutes. I think I made the right decision.
The 2nd heat of the 3K combined the women with the fast men. Robert Wade, who came in a close 3rd in the mile, won this race with a time of 8:45.9. That would be good enough to usually demolish the field at the monthly tidal basin 3K. Bert Rodriguez was clearly wiped out as he ran a miserable time of only 8:59.8...good enough for 4th!Kristen led the women in with a time of 10:16 with Lindsay right behind in a time of 10:35.2.
What a night!
City of Oz
The inaugural Crystal City Twilight 5K was held on July 27th. Given that I worked there for over 6 years and even lived there for 6 months, I couldn't pass this one up. Plus, my friend Femi planned on running it so I looked forward to a fun time.
Parking was a little tougher than I expected, partly because some roads were already closed off by the time I arrived to register. I parked near the original USAir HQ and walked about 1/3 of a mile to register. Wow, has Crystal City changed since I was last there. They have added a bunch of restaurants. When Dori and I lived there back in 98 we used to comment on how dead the city was on weekends. That certainly wasnt the case this evening as there were people everywhere! The lines for getting my chip and number were pretty long...and I had pre-registered. I went back to the car and worked on a sudoku while enjoying air conditioning. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record but it was another hot night!
I got back to the start about 7 minutes before the start. I saw Femi and we talked for a few minutes before we positioned ourselves at the front and rear of the field. There were a LOT of people here for this race. I later learned there were 1656 finishers! As a result, it was kind of a crazy start as everyone tried to find a lane they could run in without being blocked. I had to do some weaving at the start as I felt kind of frisky. I had only been running for a couple of minutes when I caught up with one Ric Franke, who I hadn't seen until then. I passed him but I grew worried when I had to stop for a walk break at the 1 mile mark. I ran the first mile in 10:01...thats too fast for me right now. Sure enough, I crashed and burned from that point on. I struglled with a side cramp through much of the 2nd mile. I think I just lost interest in the 3rd mile. I tried to make a go of it but my heart wasn't in it.
I finished with a time of 37:15...good enough for 1463rd out of the 1656. Well, thats not that bad. I beat Ric by about 1 minute (38:13) though he beat me to the food line:) Speaking of which, the after party was very good...The Noodle Co supplied mac and cheese and another pasta while the Budweiser truck was also there providing cold free beer in 16oz cups.
I looked for Femi but never saw him. When I spoke to him at work he said he looked for me for a couple of minutes and then went home to sulk since he was disappointed with his time. So...I ate alone. It was fine. I got to watch lots people dancing to a song that I some how missed. I don't know the name but it includes the line "Everybody clap your hands". Everyone but me knew it. The funniest thing was when 3 construction guys came walking by doing the dance that apparently goes with the song.
Notable finishers were:
Steve Crane 14:46 (winner...smokin' time)
Katie Read 17:14 (female winner...smokin' female time!)
Jim Moreland 20:33
Betty Blank 21:43 (won her age group)
Michael Femi Adeniji 22:48 (281 overall,33rd out of 141 in age group)
Bob Gurtler 31:18 (after a R/T to CA since our Wed Night race)
Joe Belkoski 35:41 (he waved as he passed me shortly after the 1 mile mark. This could be a new person that goes on my "he shall not beat me" list.)
Christina Caravoulias 36:36 ( a former she shall not beat me person)
Me 37:15 (133 out of 141 in age group)
Jennifer Seifert 64:29 (last person in)
Parking was a little tougher than I expected, partly because some roads were already closed off by the time I arrived to register. I parked near the original USAir HQ and walked about 1/3 of a mile to register. Wow, has Crystal City changed since I was last there. They have added a bunch of restaurants. When Dori and I lived there back in 98 we used to comment on how dead the city was on weekends. That certainly wasnt the case this evening as there were people everywhere! The lines for getting my chip and number were pretty long...and I had pre-registered. I went back to the car and worked on a sudoku while enjoying air conditioning. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record but it was another hot night!
I got back to the start about 7 minutes before the start. I saw Femi and we talked for a few minutes before we positioned ourselves at the front and rear of the field. There were a LOT of people here for this race. I later learned there were 1656 finishers! As a result, it was kind of a crazy start as everyone tried to find a lane they could run in without being blocked. I had to do some weaving at the start as I felt kind of frisky. I had only been running for a couple of minutes when I caught up with one Ric Franke, who I hadn't seen until then. I passed him but I grew worried when I had to stop for a walk break at the 1 mile mark. I ran the first mile in 10:01...thats too fast for me right now. Sure enough, I crashed and burned from that point on. I struglled with a side cramp through much of the 2nd mile. I think I just lost interest in the 3rd mile. I tried to make a go of it but my heart wasn't in it.
I finished with a time of 37:15...good enough for 1463rd out of the 1656. Well, thats not that bad. I beat Ric by about 1 minute (38:13) though he beat me to the food line:) Speaking of which, the after party was very good...The Noodle Co supplied mac and cheese and another pasta while the Budweiser truck was also there providing cold free beer in 16oz cups.
I looked for Femi but never saw him. When I spoke to him at work he said he looked for me for a couple of minutes and then went home to sulk since he was disappointed with his time. So...I ate alone. It was fine. I got to watch lots people dancing to a song that I some how missed. I don't know the name but it includes the line "Everybody clap your hands". Everyone but me knew it. The funniest thing was when 3 construction guys came walking by doing the dance that apparently goes with the song.
Notable finishers were:
Steve Crane 14:46 (winner...smokin' time)
Katie Read 17:14 (female winner...smokin' female time!)
Jim Moreland 20:33
Betty Blank 21:43 (won her age group)
Michael Femi Adeniji 22:48 (281 overall,33rd out of 141 in age group)
Bob Gurtler 31:18 (after a R/T to CA since our Wed Night race)
Joe Belkoski 35:41 (he waved as he passed me shortly after the 1 mile mark. This could be a new person that goes on my "he shall not beat me" list.)
Christina Caravoulias 36:36 ( a former she shall not beat me person)
Me 37:15 (133 out of 141 in age group)
Jennifer Seifert 64:29 (last person in)
Outlaw Tim Ramsey?
The annual DCRRC Steve Thompson 8K race was scheduled for July 23rd. There was a threat of thunderstorms that evening but the skies were clear when I left the office at 5PM. When I pulled into the parking lot at Belle Haven Marina I saw the usual assortment of runners so I thought everything was going as usual. However, it didn't take long to learn that the club had cancelled the race for fear of the storms, had posted this cancellation on the website at around 5PM - after many, including myself, had already left for the race, and perhaps worst of all, had not sent anyone to the site to advise people that showed up of the cancellation. I realize that managing the club and directing races is voluntary but I think that if you accept these positions then you are also accepting a certain amount of responsibility to the club membership to do the right thing. Ed Grant, the President of the club, has since apologized for the handling of the cancellation on the club website but by then the damage was done. Argh!
Anyway, since the skies were clear a lot of people showed up for the expected race. We were fortunate to have Bob Platt there, the man in charge of Race Packet. He volunteered to unofficially take charge of the race. Karsten Brown created makeshift finish cards from old flyers. Jon Palks suggested the name "Outlaw 8K" as the new name for this unofficial,un-sanctioned, non-event.
Bob said the "g" word and we were off. It was another hot evening and 2 hours earlier than the Rockville race a few nights before so it was tough. Nonetheless, I felt better than I had recently as I ran that first mile. I ran it all before taking a break. I passed Ric Franke during that first mile. I swore to myself he wouldn't beat me again :)
For the next 2 miles I ran close to a man I later learned was Joe Belkoski. I drafted off of him for awhile and then I would take a walk break. Then I would run and catch up to him again until I could draft off of him for a minute or two until I took another walk break. I did this until after the turnaround. Then we hit a nice downhill section and I accelerated by him. I actually ran at this point for about 4 minutes and I ran it pretty fast (all things relative) so I left him so far behind I couldn't see him. But that run took a lot out of me. I couldn't do another sustained run for the rest of the race. I did a number of 1 or 2 minute runs followed by 1 minute walks. Finally another run that had been running behind both Joe and I caught and passed me. I tried to stay close to him for awhile but I couldn't do it. Then I saw Joe gaining on me. I started running again but he passed me during my next inevitable walk break. He passed along his encouragement as he passed but I told him the race was his. I tried a few times to catch him but I just couldn't do it. I could see him ahead of me for most of the remaining mile but I just couldn't close the gap. He finished in 62:27 while I finished in 63:37 (63:30 watch time). Joe approached me after the race and said he thought I could have caught him on a couple of those downhills but I told him I tried but it just wasn't in me. He said he ran in the Parkway 10 miler and ran along with people that also ran/walked. He said he probably should try it but he's too stubborn. I say, keep doing what you are doing Joe! I would run it all if I could.
It did start to rain during my drive home and we had a pretty strong storm which Ed felt justified the cancellation of the original race. I disagree but I do understand he has to think about liability.
Here are the total results for the race...
pl.nameagesexhometowntime
1Leoule Degfae18MAlexandria, VA28:10.70
2Karsten Brown34MFront Royal, VA28:36.75
3Tikut Degfae18MAlexandria, VA30:30.78
4Ted Poulos46MMcLean, VA30:35.48
5Mark Drosky47MAlexandria, VA32:48.52
6Jason Page63MHamilton, VA33:13.33
7Bill Stahr47MThe Plains, VA35:24.74
8Jim Noone63MFairfax, VA35:28.70
9Kirk Gordon52MMitchellville, MD35:37.72
10Jay Wind58MArlington, VA36:31.16
11Steve McCollum46MWashington, DC36:56.04
12Ken Krehbiel54MWashington, DC37:02.88
13Kristin Dahling32FArlington, VA37:14.87
14Joe Emerson42MAlexandria, VA37:15.99
15Robert Trost62MFalls Church, VA37:41.46
16Greg Chaconas62MWashington, DC37:56.92
17Karen Young40FBeallsville, MD38:04.72
18Tony Keenant36MArlington, VA38:06.86
19James Scarborough50MMcLean, VA38:15.32
20Alex Friend48MFalls Church, VA39:07.76
21Lucia Olivera30FWashington, DC39:26.68
22Bob Platt56MArlington, VA39:54.06
23Patrick Groton30MAnnandale, VA39:59.95
24Eamonn McEvilly65MSpringfield, VA40:38.60
25Michael Knapp14MAlexandria, VA41:15.80
26John Lyon15MAlexandria, VA41:33.61
27Jon Palks59MBowie, MD41:39.80
28Glenn Gardner47MWoodbridge, VA42:26.80
29Leslie Stanfield58FReston, VA44:16.80
30Patrick Brown63MReston, VA44:20.11
31Lisa Schaefer37FVienna, VA44:30.53
32Robert Bowie43MUpper Marlboro, MD44:42.00
33Jaques Bure52MTakoma Park, MD44:42.58
34Laure Veissiere26FWashington, DC45:02.05
35Foster Friedman45MAlexandria, VA45:27.75
36James DeMartino50MWashington, DC45:37.18
37Andy Buechele65MWashington, DC46:21.16
38Monica Mora29FWashington, DC46:42.43
39Irving Todds47MSterling, VA48:00.98
40Bonie Agera32FBurke, VA48:06.85
41Bob Weiner61MAccokeek, MD48:19.79
42Dan Haney40MAlexandria, VA48:33.02
43Andrew Kent44MArlington, VA48:35.56
44unidentified maleM49:13.86
45Bernadette Flynn51FSpringfield, VA50:54.83
46Shelly Cavey28FAlexandria, VA52:51.75
47Bob Gurtler73MThe Plains, VA53:11.53
48Wayne Holland66MAlexandria, VA55:24.66
49Tarah Hepburn30FSterling, VA57:15.38
50Kathie Kramer30FArlington, VA57:28.12
51Mark Ferguson46MArlington, VA1:01:08.18
52Joe Belkoski50MAlexandria, VA1:02:27.07
53Tim Ramsey49MAlexandria, VA1:03:36.78
54Ric Francke61MMcLean VA1:09:58.36
So 53rd out of 54 finishers. Not good. But I beat Ric. OK. And I bettered my time from the Rockville race by over 3 minutes...very good. I'll be glad when I can consistently and easily maintain a 12 minute pace over 5 or 6 miles though.
BTW This was my 27th race of the year.
Anyway, since the skies were clear a lot of people showed up for the expected race. We were fortunate to have Bob Platt there, the man in charge of Race Packet. He volunteered to unofficially take charge of the race. Karsten Brown created makeshift finish cards from old flyers. Jon Palks suggested the name "Outlaw 8K" as the new name for this unofficial,un-sanctioned, non-event.
Bob said the "g" word and we were off. It was another hot evening and 2 hours earlier than the Rockville race a few nights before so it was tough. Nonetheless, I felt better than I had recently as I ran that first mile. I ran it all before taking a break. I passed Ric Franke during that first mile. I swore to myself he wouldn't beat me again :)
For the next 2 miles I ran close to a man I later learned was Joe Belkoski. I drafted off of him for awhile and then I would take a walk break. Then I would run and catch up to him again until I could draft off of him for a minute or two until I took another walk break. I did this until after the turnaround. Then we hit a nice downhill section and I accelerated by him. I actually ran at this point for about 4 minutes and I ran it pretty fast (all things relative) so I left him so far behind I couldn't see him. But that run took a lot out of me. I couldn't do another sustained run for the rest of the race. I did a number of 1 or 2 minute runs followed by 1 minute walks. Finally another run that had been running behind both Joe and I caught and passed me. I tried to stay close to him for awhile but I couldn't do it. Then I saw Joe gaining on me. I started running again but he passed me during my next inevitable walk break. He passed along his encouragement as he passed but I told him the race was his. I tried a few times to catch him but I just couldn't do it. I could see him ahead of me for most of the remaining mile but I just couldn't close the gap. He finished in 62:27 while I finished in 63:37 (63:30 watch time). Joe approached me after the race and said he thought I could have caught him on a couple of those downhills but I told him I tried but it just wasn't in me. He said he ran in the Parkway 10 miler and ran along with people that also ran/walked. He said he probably should try it but he's too stubborn. I say, keep doing what you are doing Joe! I would run it all if I could.
It did start to rain during my drive home and we had a pretty strong storm which Ed felt justified the cancellation of the original race. I disagree but I do understand he has to think about liability.
Here are the total results for the race...
pl.nameagesexhometowntime
1Leoule Degfae18MAlexandria, VA28:10.70
2Karsten Brown34MFront Royal, VA28:36.75
3Tikut Degfae18MAlexandria, VA30:30.78
4Ted Poulos46MMcLean, VA30:35.48
5Mark Drosky47MAlexandria, VA32:48.52
6Jason Page63MHamilton, VA33:13.33
7Bill Stahr47MThe Plains, VA35:24.74
8Jim Noone63MFairfax, VA35:28.70
9Kirk Gordon52MMitchellville, MD35:37.72
10Jay Wind58MArlington, VA36:31.16
11Steve McCollum46MWashington, DC36:56.04
12Ken Krehbiel54MWashington, DC37:02.88
13Kristin Dahling32FArlington, VA37:14.87
14Joe Emerson42MAlexandria, VA37:15.99
15Robert Trost62MFalls Church, VA37:41.46
16Greg Chaconas62MWashington, DC37:56.92
17Karen Young40FBeallsville, MD38:04.72
18Tony Keenant36MArlington, VA38:06.86
19James Scarborough50MMcLean, VA38:15.32
20Alex Friend48MFalls Church, VA39:07.76
21Lucia Olivera30FWashington, DC39:26.68
22Bob Platt56MArlington, VA39:54.06
23Patrick Groton30MAnnandale, VA39:59.95
24Eamonn McEvilly65MSpringfield, VA40:38.60
25Michael Knapp14MAlexandria, VA41:15.80
26John Lyon15MAlexandria, VA41:33.61
27Jon Palks59MBowie, MD41:39.80
28Glenn Gardner47MWoodbridge, VA42:26.80
29Leslie Stanfield58FReston, VA44:16.80
30Patrick Brown63MReston, VA44:20.11
31Lisa Schaefer37FVienna, VA44:30.53
32Robert Bowie43MUpper Marlboro, MD44:42.00
33Jaques Bure52MTakoma Park, MD44:42.58
34Laure Veissiere26FWashington, DC45:02.05
35Foster Friedman45MAlexandria, VA45:27.75
36James DeMartino50MWashington, DC45:37.18
37Andy Buechele65MWashington, DC46:21.16
38Monica Mora29FWashington, DC46:42.43
39Irving Todds47MSterling, VA48:00.98
40Bonie Agera32FBurke, VA48:06.85
41Bob Weiner61MAccokeek, MD48:19.79
42Dan Haney40MAlexandria, VA48:33.02
43Andrew Kent44MArlington, VA48:35.56
44unidentified maleM49:13.86
45Bernadette Flynn51FSpringfield, VA50:54.83
46Shelly Cavey28FAlexandria, VA52:51.75
47Bob Gurtler73MThe Plains, VA53:11.53
48Wayne Holland66MAlexandria, VA55:24.66
49Tarah Hepburn30FSterling, VA57:15.38
50Kathie Kramer30FArlington, VA57:28.12
51Mark Ferguson46MArlington, VA1:01:08.18
52Joe Belkoski50MAlexandria, VA1:02:27.07
53Tim Ramsey49MAlexandria, VA1:03:36.78
54Ric Francke61MMcLean VA1:09:58.36
So 53rd out of 54 finishers. Not good. But I beat Ric. OK. And I bettered my time from the Rockville race by over 3 minutes...very good. I'll be glad when I can consistently and easily maintain a 12 minute pace over 5 or 6 miles though.
BTW This was my 27th race of the year.
Reality reminder
July 19 marked the annual Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K. I believe that I have run it 5 times and it has always been hot. Sometimes we get a thunderstorm. I think it was cancelled once because of heat. Well, they delayed the start by about 10 minutes to allow the temperature to come down a degree or two. I heard a couple of non-runners sitting on a curb question why it was being delayed as it was quite nice out. They obviously weren't runners. While it was fairly comfortable for lounging, it was pretty darn hot for a run...somewhere in the mid to high 80's. The humidity was down which made it seem cooler but we runners were still about to run in very hot conditions.
This is not an easy course as it has several significant hills to conquer. Given my relative poor level of conditioning, the heat, and the course I decided before the start of the race to not over due it. With this in mind, I started all the way at the back of the pack. It was a chip race so why get caught in the middle of the pack?
It was a really good crowd this year at the start and then there was the usual good turnout of residents as we turned into the neighborhoods. There weren't quite as many people out with hoses this year to splash people as they ran by but thats OK with me as I always worry about wet socks and blisters when I see those hoses.
I ran nearly all of the first mile with only one very brief walk break in an OK 11:00. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep that up though. The big hills were still ahead. I think I passed through the halfway point in about 29 minutes. I was slowing down and the heat was taking its toll. It didn't look like I could break an hour. That was immediately verified as I had to walk almost all of the next mile. I was whipped. The only thing that kept me going at this point was Barry Goldmeier, the local joggler. He was running this evening with very cool glow in the dark balls. I always hate being passed by Barry...nothing personal...I just think I should be able to beat someone thats running while juggling 4 balls! But I really thought I should beat him in a nighttime race. (It was after 9:30 by this point). He would pass me, I would struggle to keep up, he would drop one of his balls and have to stop to pick it up and I would race by ("race" is relative). We went back and forth like this until he passed me for good as we ran around Montgomery College.
It was as we ran around Montgomery College that I knew something bad had happened on the course. Two paramedics on bicycles that had been riding leisurely through the crowd and that had passed me about a mile before came by me in the opposite direction at this time and riding at a serious pace. A little further ahead we came across a fire truck that had obviously been providing water to runners but he was hurrying to pack up and get on the road, which he did about 2 minutes after I passed him. As I ran by the truck I heard a voice on a radio name an intersection just a hundred yards from where I had just run and where the course took us by with less than a mile to go.
From that point on, I heard a lot of sirens. I knew someone must have gone down and I silently wished the best for them. I wondered if I knew the person. Since I run in so many races I've gotten to know a lot of runners but the runners I know run a lot of races. This race brings out people that only run a few times a year.
Mile 4 was very slow as I contemplated life and also frankly really struggled with the heat. I drank 3 small glasses of water at the last water stop before Rockville Pike. I always like running on the Pike. It's a straight, slightly downhill road that is well paved and well lit. Drivers frequently lean out of their cars and offer encouragement (or sometimes the opposite of encouragement but thats for another blog). You cant see the finish line but you can see the buildings that are besides the finish line so you get a feeling of progress. I was able to run most of the Pike and I passed quite a few people during this little stretch run. I ran by the intersection mentioned on the ambulance drivers radio but the scene had been cleared.
As I entered Rockville Town Centre I gave one last push and ran through the finish line. The announcer commented on my Pikes Peek T-shirt, though he couldn't pull my name up fast enough to get it out before other runners started coming in behind me. I finished in a disappointing 66:31 but I didn't punish myself because of the heat. I kept telling myself during the race...don't die, don't end up in a hospital tonight, and don't throw up (I was suffering from reflux from about mile 2 on). I accomplished all 3 so I had view the race as a success of sorts.
While taking off my chip the announcer asked the crowd if anyone knew a runner by the name of X please come to the finsih line. I assumed that this was the runner that went down. I didn't recognize the name and I don't recall it now. The paper the next morning confirmed the worst...a male runner, aged 60 died during the race at the intersection I heard named on the radio. This made the 4th runner (that I know of) that died in a race that I ran in. (Virginia Beach Half Marathon in 2001, the Marine Corp Marathon, and The Army Ten Miler just last year). Femi at work now calls me the "Running Angel of Death".
All kidding aside, this does show the dangers of running. My Mother is constantly trying to convince me to stop running for fear of me becoming one of these runners. She called me when she read the article and was shocked that I also ran in the race. But what I always tell her is that while I acknowledge that I am more at risk when I run then if I were at home sleeping, it makes me less at risk for the remaining hours of the day. I think thats a very good trade off and a risk I can live with (no pun intended). So I will continue to run but I will also continue my mantra of "Live to race again tomorrow".
Here are some of the results from the race:
Mohamed Awol (winner 24:24...are you kiddingme!?)
Mike Wardian 25:30
Darkwing Duck (I'm serious, look it up) 26:56
Jim Moreland 34:12
Lou Shapiro 34:25
Bill Stahr 34:47
Kirk Gordon 35:47
Bob Platt 39:49
Jon Palks 42:26
Barry Goldmeier 64:44
Ric Franke 66:23 (that ticks me off, I never saw him. I would have pushed more if I had seen him. That's the downside to starting in the back. He started over a minute in front of me).
Me 66:31
I was the 1103rd male out of 1113 male finishers.
On the female side:
Julie Culley 26:57 (female winner)
Alisa Harvey 29:48 (I'm surprised she ran this given the heat)
Christina Caravoulias 58:52 (good for her!)
There were 870 female finishers and 22 unidentified finishers...so over 2000 finishers. I beat 53 of them. OK, not my best effort.
This is not an easy course as it has several significant hills to conquer. Given my relative poor level of conditioning, the heat, and the course I decided before the start of the race to not over due it. With this in mind, I started all the way at the back of the pack. It was a chip race so why get caught in the middle of the pack?
It was a really good crowd this year at the start and then there was the usual good turnout of residents as we turned into the neighborhoods. There weren't quite as many people out with hoses this year to splash people as they ran by but thats OK with me as I always worry about wet socks and blisters when I see those hoses.
I ran nearly all of the first mile with only one very brief walk break in an OK 11:00. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep that up though. The big hills were still ahead. I think I passed through the halfway point in about 29 minutes. I was slowing down and the heat was taking its toll. It didn't look like I could break an hour. That was immediately verified as I had to walk almost all of the next mile. I was whipped. The only thing that kept me going at this point was Barry Goldmeier, the local joggler. He was running this evening with very cool glow in the dark balls. I always hate being passed by Barry...nothing personal...I just think I should be able to beat someone thats running while juggling 4 balls! But I really thought I should beat him in a nighttime race. (It was after 9:30 by this point). He would pass me, I would struggle to keep up, he would drop one of his balls and have to stop to pick it up and I would race by ("race" is relative). We went back and forth like this until he passed me for good as we ran around Montgomery College.
It was as we ran around Montgomery College that I knew something bad had happened on the course. Two paramedics on bicycles that had been riding leisurely through the crowd and that had passed me about a mile before came by me in the opposite direction at this time and riding at a serious pace. A little further ahead we came across a fire truck that had obviously been providing water to runners but he was hurrying to pack up and get on the road, which he did about 2 minutes after I passed him. As I ran by the truck I heard a voice on a radio name an intersection just a hundred yards from where I had just run and where the course took us by with less than a mile to go.
From that point on, I heard a lot of sirens. I knew someone must have gone down and I silently wished the best for them. I wondered if I knew the person. Since I run in so many races I've gotten to know a lot of runners but the runners I know run a lot of races. This race brings out people that only run a few times a year.
Mile 4 was very slow as I contemplated life and also frankly really struggled with the heat. I drank 3 small glasses of water at the last water stop before Rockville Pike. I always like running on the Pike. It's a straight, slightly downhill road that is well paved and well lit. Drivers frequently lean out of their cars and offer encouragement (or sometimes the opposite of encouragement but thats for another blog). You cant see the finish line but you can see the buildings that are besides the finish line so you get a feeling of progress. I was able to run most of the Pike and I passed quite a few people during this little stretch run. I ran by the intersection mentioned on the ambulance drivers radio but the scene had been cleared.
As I entered Rockville Town Centre I gave one last push and ran through the finish line. The announcer commented on my Pikes Peek T-shirt, though he couldn't pull my name up fast enough to get it out before other runners started coming in behind me. I finished in a disappointing 66:31 but I didn't punish myself because of the heat. I kept telling myself during the race...don't die, don't end up in a hospital tonight, and don't throw up (I was suffering from reflux from about mile 2 on). I accomplished all 3 so I had view the race as a success of sorts.
While taking off my chip the announcer asked the crowd if anyone knew a runner by the name of X please come to the finsih line. I assumed that this was the runner that went down. I didn't recognize the name and I don't recall it now. The paper the next morning confirmed the worst...a male runner, aged 60 died during the race at the intersection I heard named on the radio. This made the 4th runner (that I know of) that died in a race that I ran in. (Virginia Beach Half Marathon in 2001, the Marine Corp Marathon, and The Army Ten Miler just last year). Femi at work now calls me the "Running Angel of Death".
All kidding aside, this does show the dangers of running. My Mother is constantly trying to convince me to stop running for fear of me becoming one of these runners. She called me when she read the article and was shocked that I also ran in the race. But what I always tell her is that while I acknowledge that I am more at risk when I run then if I were at home sleeping, it makes me less at risk for the remaining hours of the day. I think thats a very good trade off and a risk I can live with (no pun intended). So I will continue to run but I will also continue my mantra of "Live to race again tomorrow".
Here are some of the results from the race:
Mohamed Awol (winner 24:24...are you kiddingme!?)
Mike Wardian 25:30
Darkwing Duck (I'm serious, look it up) 26:56
Jim Moreland 34:12
Lou Shapiro 34:25
Bill Stahr 34:47
Kirk Gordon 35:47
Bob Platt 39:49
Jon Palks 42:26
Barry Goldmeier 64:44
Ric Franke 66:23 (that ticks me off, I never saw him. I would have pushed more if I had seen him. That's the downside to starting in the back. He started over a minute in front of me).
Me 66:31
I was the 1103rd male out of 1113 male finishers.
On the female side:
Julie Culley 26:57 (female winner)
Alisa Harvey 29:48 (I'm surprised she ran this given the heat)
Christina Caravoulias 58:52 (good for her!)
There were 870 female finishers and 22 unidentified finishers...so over 2000 finishers. I beat 53 of them. OK, not my best effort.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Halfway home
On July 16, I ran the monthly DCRRC Tidal Basin 3K. It was my 25th race of the year, meaning I am halfway towards running 50 (or more) races this year.
I got to the race site at about 11:50. As usual, I changed in the car. I then went over and signed in. Then I went in search of a bathroom for a quick break. I only had about 5 minutes until the scheduled 12:00 start. I had to jog about 1/4 mile to a bathroom within the FDR Memorial. I got back to the start at about a minute past Noon just as we were moving over to the start line. And then we were off.
I had hoped my little jog to the bathroom would help warm me up, something I usually don't do. But the run seemed to work against me. I was tired early. I made it across the big bridge and then slowed to a gasping walk. It was a very hot day and it was taking its toll. It didn't take long before Joe Broderick passed me at about the 3/4 mile mark. Last month he and I ran close to one another from this point of the race on, with me pulling away at the finish. This time, I had nothing in me that would enable me to respond to Joe's push. By the 1 mile mark he was far enough in front of me that I knew I couldn't catch him.
I thought I was going to run alone during that last .86 miles. But with about .2 miles to go, Kirk Gordon met me on the road and ran in to the finish with me. That REALLY helped me a lot. As bad as my finish time was (Official 22:47, watch 22:42), it would have been a lot worse without him. Thanks Kirk!
Notable finishers in this race were:
Jake Krong 9:22 (winner)
Shauneen Garrahan 9:58!! (female winner)
Ted Poulos 10:11
James Moreland 11:47
Kirk Gordon 12:21
Jay Wind 12:53
Dee Nelson 14:38
Peter Blank 15:26 (ran early and then directed the race and did a great job)
Tami Graf 18:36
Joe Boderick 20:36
Ray Campbell 33:40
Bill Osborn 33:50
I finished 62nd out of 67 race finishers.
I got to the race site at about 11:50. As usual, I changed in the car. I then went over and signed in. Then I went in search of a bathroom for a quick break. I only had about 5 minutes until the scheduled 12:00 start. I had to jog about 1/4 mile to a bathroom within the FDR Memorial. I got back to the start at about a minute past Noon just as we were moving over to the start line. And then we were off.
I had hoped my little jog to the bathroom would help warm me up, something I usually don't do. But the run seemed to work against me. I was tired early. I made it across the big bridge and then slowed to a gasping walk. It was a very hot day and it was taking its toll. It didn't take long before Joe Broderick passed me at about the 3/4 mile mark. Last month he and I ran close to one another from this point of the race on, with me pulling away at the finish. This time, I had nothing in me that would enable me to respond to Joe's push. By the 1 mile mark he was far enough in front of me that I knew I couldn't catch him.
I thought I was going to run alone during that last .86 miles. But with about .2 miles to go, Kirk Gordon met me on the road and ran in to the finish with me. That REALLY helped me a lot. As bad as my finish time was (Official 22:47, watch 22:42), it would have been a lot worse without him. Thanks Kirk!
Notable finishers in this race were:
Jake Krong 9:22 (winner)
Shauneen Garrahan 9:58!! (female winner)
Ted Poulos 10:11
James Moreland 11:47
Kirk Gordon 12:21
Jay Wind 12:53
Dee Nelson 14:38
Peter Blank 15:26 (ran early and then directed the race and did a great job)
Tami Graf 18:36
Joe Boderick 20:36
Ray Campbell 33:40
Bill Osborn 33:50
I finished 62nd out of 67 race finishers.
A little whine would be good right about now.
On July 14, the DCRRC held their annual Bastille Day 4 miler. Having run a disappointing 4 miler just 10 days prior, I was really hoping to run better in this evening race. I left my office in Tyson's Corner at about 5:45... a little late for a 7:00 start at Fletcher's Boathouse. Little did I know that my car wouldn't start when I got to the garage. Not good.
I ran back to the office and found a friend (Femi-mentioned in earlier blogs) leaving for the day. He said he would be happy to help jump my car if I had cables, which I did. The car turned over quickly. After quickly disconnecting the cables and saying my thanks to Femi, I was off! I knew I needed a light traffice night if I had any chance of covering the 15 miles in less than the remaining 45 minutes. Fortunately, it was one of those rare DC evenings where the road was open in front of me. I was held up on the Key Bridge for about 10 minutes but I still made it to the race with time to spare. Warning lights were on in the car during the drive so I decided to try to restart the car as soon as I parked. Sure enough, dead again. Well, I decided to deal with that after the race. My wife still questions my sanity on that decision as she said virtually everyone would have chosen to take care of their car then but I had a race to run!
It was a warm evening but not blistering hot like a few recent races.The first mile go up hill towards Bethesda. I like to take care of hills early so that was fine. Then, of course, I love the downhills. Here I caught up to Sharyn Gordon and I ran right behind her for the 2nd half of the hill. Unfortunately, I had to take a quick walk break at the bottom of the hill and she just kept going. A few people passed me during the third mile but they never got too, too far ahead. I hoped to catch them with a good last mile. One of those people was Father Frank Gignac. I know he's a priest because he always wears a Catholic University T-shirt (my undergrad school) so I looked him up a couple of years ago. He was the asst. track coach back then. The guy is 75 and still looks good! Anyway, I kept throwing spurts at Father Frank during that last mile in a valiant attempt to catch up. I would get to within 20 yards or so and then have to take a walk break. I did this 3 or 4 times, always with the same result. Thinking I lost my chance I took a longer walk break with just 1/4 mile to go. Then I started running again. I was making up a lot of ground in a hurry. I could see the finish line approaching. It was going to be close. In the final 50 yards, I was taking 2 strides for every 1 that he made. As we closed to just 10 yards from the finish, I was just 6 feet behind him. Unfortunately, there was some congestion at the finish line. He blocked most of the available path. I didn't want to bump into him so I ran on his left shoulder. We crosed the finish line nearly stride for stride in an identical time of 47:24. (My watch time was 46:59...it was a narrow starting chute with a lot of runners). But he did beat me by a nose. I think I would have had him if the finish line were clear and we had a bit more room but thats the way a race goes.
I did beat a couple of people that usually run near me...Blair Jones finished right behind me in 49:10 and Ric Franke finished right behind her in a time of 50:51. All things considered, I was happy with my results for this race. I beat a couple of people I should beat, bettered my time from 10 days earlier by over 4 minutes, and averaged under 12 minutes a mile.
Notable finishers for this race were:
Robert Wade 20:36 (Winner)
Karsten Brown 22:28
Ted Poulos 22:39
Kirk Gordon 26:41 (2nd age group)
Marie Sandrock 26:44 (first female)
Jim Moreland 26:53 (3rd age group)
Jay Wind 27:22
Jon Palks 32:59
Sharyn Gordon 43:23
I finished 158 out of 165 finishers. That was my 24th race of the year.
I ran back to the office and found a friend (Femi-mentioned in earlier blogs) leaving for the day. He said he would be happy to help jump my car if I had cables, which I did. The car turned over quickly. After quickly disconnecting the cables and saying my thanks to Femi, I was off! I knew I needed a light traffice night if I had any chance of covering the 15 miles in less than the remaining 45 minutes. Fortunately, it was one of those rare DC evenings where the road was open in front of me. I was held up on the Key Bridge for about 10 minutes but I still made it to the race with time to spare. Warning lights were on in the car during the drive so I decided to try to restart the car as soon as I parked. Sure enough, dead again. Well, I decided to deal with that after the race. My wife still questions my sanity on that decision as she said virtually everyone would have chosen to take care of their car then but I had a race to run!
It was a warm evening but not blistering hot like a few recent races.The first mile go up hill towards Bethesda. I like to take care of hills early so that was fine. Then, of course, I love the downhills. Here I caught up to Sharyn Gordon and I ran right behind her for the 2nd half of the hill. Unfortunately, I had to take a quick walk break at the bottom of the hill and she just kept going. A few people passed me during the third mile but they never got too, too far ahead. I hoped to catch them with a good last mile. One of those people was Father Frank Gignac. I know he's a priest because he always wears a Catholic University T-shirt (my undergrad school) so I looked him up a couple of years ago. He was the asst. track coach back then. The guy is 75 and still looks good! Anyway, I kept throwing spurts at Father Frank during that last mile in a valiant attempt to catch up. I would get to within 20 yards or so and then have to take a walk break. I did this 3 or 4 times, always with the same result. Thinking I lost my chance I took a longer walk break with just 1/4 mile to go. Then I started running again. I was making up a lot of ground in a hurry. I could see the finish line approaching. It was going to be close. In the final 50 yards, I was taking 2 strides for every 1 that he made. As we closed to just 10 yards from the finish, I was just 6 feet behind him. Unfortunately, there was some congestion at the finish line. He blocked most of the available path. I didn't want to bump into him so I ran on his left shoulder. We crosed the finish line nearly stride for stride in an identical time of 47:24. (My watch time was 46:59...it was a narrow starting chute with a lot of runners). But he did beat me by a nose. I think I would have had him if the finish line were clear and we had a bit more room but thats the way a race goes.
I did beat a couple of people that usually run near me...Blair Jones finished right behind me in 49:10 and Ric Franke finished right behind her in a time of 50:51. All things considered, I was happy with my results for this race. I beat a couple of people I should beat, bettered my time from 10 days earlier by over 4 minutes, and averaged under 12 minutes a mile.
Notable finishers for this race were:
Robert Wade 20:36 (Winner)
Karsten Brown 22:28
Ted Poulos 22:39
Kirk Gordon 26:41 (2nd age group)
Marie Sandrock 26:44 (first female)
Jim Moreland 26:53 (3rd age group)
Jay Wind 27:22
Jon Palks 32:59
Sharyn Gordon 43:23
I finished 158 out of 165 finishers. That was my 24th race of the year.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Just wait until I'm 80!
The annual DCRRC Age handicapped 4 Miler was held on July 4 at Carderock. It's a rather unique race where your starting time is determined by your age. It's based on an index established by UST&F. Women over 80 start first while men 25 and under start last. In theory, if everyone ran exactly to their handicap, everyone would finish at the same time. This race gives you a chance to see where you stack up fitness-wise to your fellow runners after discounting age. I started about 16 minutes after the first runner took off. I think the young women get a bit of a break here as they got to start before me but thats the way it is.
The race was along the C&O Canal towpath. We ran north for about 1/2 mile, turned around, ran past the start for another 1 1/2 miles, and then turned around again so we could finish where we started. Most of the younger men passed me close to the 1/2 mile mark. At the turn around I had only a couple of guys behind me. They passed me soon after the turnaround but I passed a younger woman. We traded leads over the next two miles as she ran consistently while I took my usual walk breaks. We caught up to Ric Francke shortly before the 2nd turnaround. He is a fellow older guy that is pretty big so I share a certain empathy for him. However, he is both older(61) and bigger than me so I like to think I should always be able to beat him.
The woman, who I later learned was Deena Johnson(28), passed me for the final time right before that last turnaround and I told her I thought she had me. She shouted encouragement back and said if she could do it, I could do it since she was just coming back from knee surgery. I told her I was also coming back from recent surgery, though it was "only" shoulder surgery. I also mentioned my still healing broken foot. I didn't mention my ongoing bout with bronchitis...who would believe any one could be so unlucky?!
I struggled over that last 2 miles. I really need to work on both my speed and endurance. I limped in with a time of 51:15...a pace of nearly 13 minutes per mile. But, I felt better afterwards as everyone won a prize. I got a new DC Road Runner shoe bag. Always handy to have.
Notable finishers were:
Alan Pemberton (winner)
Kendra Liebert (female winner)
Karsten Brown (12 overall)
Jim Moreland (14th overall)
Kirk Gordon ( 28th overall)
Christina Caravoulias( 120th)
Sharyn Gordon (121st)
I came in at 127th out of 128, beating Ric by about 3 minutes.
The race was along the C&O Canal towpath. We ran north for about 1/2 mile, turned around, ran past the start for another 1 1/2 miles, and then turned around again so we could finish where we started. Most of the younger men passed me close to the 1/2 mile mark. At the turn around I had only a couple of guys behind me. They passed me soon after the turnaround but I passed a younger woman. We traded leads over the next two miles as she ran consistently while I took my usual walk breaks. We caught up to Ric Francke shortly before the 2nd turnaround. He is a fellow older guy that is pretty big so I share a certain empathy for him. However, he is both older(61) and bigger than me so I like to think I should always be able to beat him.
The woman, who I later learned was Deena Johnson(28), passed me for the final time right before that last turnaround and I told her I thought she had me. She shouted encouragement back and said if she could do it, I could do it since she was just coming back from knee surgery. I told her I was also coming back from recent surgery, though it was "only" shoulder surgery. I also mentioned my still healing broken foot. I didn't mention my ongoing bout with bronchitis...who would believe any one could be so unlucky?!
I struggled over that last 2 miles. I really need to work on both my speed and endurance. I limped in with a time of 51:15...a pace of nearly 13 minutes per mile. But, I felt better afterwards as everyone won a prize. I got a new DC Road Runner shoe bag. Always handy to have.
Notable finishers were:
Alan Pemberton (winner)
Kendra Liebert (female winner)
Karsten Brown (12 overall)
Jim Moreland (14th overall)
Kirk Gordon ( 28th overall)
Christina Caravoulias( 120th)
Sharyn Gordon (121st)
I came in at 127th out of 128, beating Ric by about 3 minutes.
Friday, July 18, 2008
You're killing me Femi!
Once again, my so called "friend" Femi talked me into another race I wasn't planning on. This one was the Ashburn Twilight Festival 4 Miler held on the evening of June 28. Dori was in Pittsburgh and I didn't have anything else going on so I figured "why not". As you'll see, I should have said "Why?"
I should have known it wasn't going to go well. First, it took forever to get to the race site. It is well past Dulles. I think the GPS said it was about 35 miles from my house. Second, it was steamy hot. I mean 92 in the shade and very humid. I was soaked just standing in line to enter the race and to get my shirt (the shirt was nice by the way).
I saw Femi before the start and he said he was going to run with a triathalon friend and expected to take it easy. This was his first non-5K race so he didn't know what to expect.
The course was a 2 loop course. The first 1/2 mile of each loop was downhill but the rest was either flat or a very modest uphill. So I cant fault the elevation of the course. The problem was the lack of shade. As mentioned before, it was sunny and humid and the concrete and asphalt was just reflecting the heat back up at us. I was really suffering as I completed the first loop. I got down to the bottom of the hill and decided enough was enough. My heart felt "funny", which for me means I thought I may have had an irregular heartbeat. It had been a few years since I had last been hospitalized with this problem and I had been pretty good about taking my medicine. Nonetheless, I was concerned. I decided to walk my way in. Even then, I was passed by other walkers and I felt tired walking up the modest hills. I couldn't have been happier to finish a race. I would say this was my 2nd worst race behind only the Sea Isle 10 miler last year, where I think I probably did come pretty close to heat exhaustion.
I heard a lot of runners dropped out after the first loop. Looking at the results, it looks like about 70 people did the smart thing and walked off the course. I was stubborn and stayed out, mostly because I was behind my required pace to get to 50 races for the year and didn't want to lose 1 that I was already in. I ended up finishing in 470th out of 481 males that finished the whole race and out of 551 total male competitors. (Note: 413 women finished the 4 miles and 477 finished at least 2 miles. I beat 95 women. This was clearly a tough race for most). My official chip time was 55:44. Yes, that's right...its worse than many of my 5 miles times. Not good at all. I'm hoping that it makes me stronger for the long haul though.
Notable finishers were:
Steve Crane 19:46 Male winner (Wow!!)
Samia Akbar 22:27 Female Winner
Emily Gousen 23:59 3rd woman (I've run in a fe races with her. Fast)
Jim Moreland 27:54 (He's running well-he won his age group)
Bill Stahr 28:33
Jay Wind 28:42
Karen Young 30:26 3rd in her age group...good work
Jon Palks 32:40
Michael "Femi" Adeniji 32:53
John Winkert 40:47
Barry Goldmeier 44:17 (joggler)
Bob Gurtler 44:18
I should have known it wasn't going to go well. First, it took forever to get to the race site. It is well past Dulles. I think the GPS said it was about 35 miles from my house. Second, it was steamy hot. I mean 92 in the shade and very humid. I was soaked just standing in line to enter the race and to get my shirt (the shirt was nice by the way).
I saw Femi before the start and he said he was going to run with a triathalon friend and expected to take it easy. This was his first non-5K race so he didn't know what to expect.
The course was a 2 loop course. The first 1/2 mile of each loop was downhill but the rest was either flat or a very modest uphill. So I cant fault the elevation of the course. The problem was the lack of shade. As mentioned before, it was sunny and humid and the concrete and asphalt was just reflecting the heat back up at us. I was really suffering as I completed the first loop. I got down to the bottom of the hill and decided enough was enough. My heart felt "funny", which for me means I thought I may have had an irregular heartbeat. It had been a few years since I had last been hospitalized with this problem and I had been pretty good about taking my medicine. Nonetheless, I was concerned. I decided to walk my way in. Even then, I was passed by other walkers and I felt tired walking up the modest hills. I couldn't have been happier to finish a race. I would say this was my 2nd worst race behind only the Sea Isle 10 miler last year, where I think I probably did come pretty close to heat exhaustion.
I heard a lot of runners dropped out after the first loop. Looking at the results, it looks like about 70 people did the smart thing and walked off the course. I was stubborn and stayed out, mostly because I was behind my required pace to get to 50 races for the year and didn't want to lose 1 that I was already in. I ended up finishing in 470th out of 481 males that finished the whole race and out of 551 total male competitors. (Note: 413 women finished the 4 miles and 477 finished at least 2 miles. I beat 95 women. This was clearly a tough race for most). My official chip time was 55:44. Yes, that's right...its worse than many of my 5 miles times. Not good at all. I'm hoping that it makes me stronger for the long haul though.
Notable finishers were:
Steve Crane 19:46 Male winner (Wow!!)
Samia Akbar 22:27 Female Winner
Emily Gousen 23:59 3rd woman (I've run in a fe races with her. Fast)
Jim Moreland 27:54 (He's running well-he won his age group)
Bill Stahr 28:33
Jay Wind 28:42
Karen Young 30:26 3rd in her age group...good work
Jon Palks 32:40
Michael "Femi" Adeniji 32:53
John Winkert 40:47
Barry Goldmeier 44:17 (joggler)
Bob Gurtler 44:18
Lucky 21 - Not!
The first Run for the Rainforest 5K was held on the morning of June 21 in Ballston. My friend at work, Femi, kind of talked me into running this one. I decided the day before the race to run it after looking at the course map. It looked like it ran on some of the trails that I have run on in the past, particularly Bluemont, so I thought I would give it a shot.
I got to the race site quite a bit earlier than usual since the web site said parking would be difficult. I signed up and went back to the car to stay cool. It was a very clear, sunny day and I wanted to put off getting overheated for as long as possible. I worked on a Sudoku puzzle while I passed time in my air conditioned car.
It was an odd race start. First, most of us went to the wrong starting point. Someone came and got us about 10 minutes before the start and we walked a few hundred yards to the correct starting line.
It was a big field...too big really to start on a bike path that could handle at most 3 people shoulder to shoulder. It looked like there would be quite a few walkers so I decided to hang out in the back so I wouldn't get boxed in or trampled at the start.
We only stayed on the path for less than 1/4 mile before we had to cross a major intersection. I was like "Hey, I know where I am. I've been to that McDonalds". A cop held traffic for us...I'm sure the drivers weren't happy to see us. Fortunately, since we had just started the field was still pretty tightly bunched so they didnt have to wait long.
We then entered a part of Bluemont park I hadn't visited before. It was a shaded path with homes beside the path. It was a little bit downhill so I was having a decent time.
After about a mile we got to the bottom of the hill and took a right onto a path that I have run many times. We ran by the caboose and the tennis courts and there was no shade at all. Man was it hot! I was gratefull to see the water table ahead. As I gulped down 2 cups of water I checked my watch and was disappointed with what I saw. I knew I wasn't running particularly fast and I also knew that we had to pay for that downhill we had just run. I decided that I wouldn't be setting any PR's today so I took it easy from that point on.
Interestingly, my wife arrived at Bluemont probably just a minute or two after I passed with her running partner. When I got home after the race she said that she saw a race at Bluemont and was surprised that I didn't run in that race. I told her I was at that race! Clearly we need to communicate a little better. :)
I'm glad I decided to not push too hard. The hills we encountered were even tougher than I remembered from my one time running on this part of the trail (North side of 66 back towards Ballston). I alternated running with walking and tried to catch a couple of people in front of me but it remained pretty much status quo for the last mile. It wasn't too bad when we had shade but it was pretty uncomfortable without it.
I finished with a time of 38:29(official time 39:04)...pretty darn miserable even for me. I came in 337th out of 383 finishers...like I said, there were a lot of walkers.
I saw Femi after I finished and he convinced me to stick around for the prizes. I really wanted the wine tasting but I was still happy to win a gift certificate for $20 off of personalized training with Mike Hamberger, who came in 5th in the race. I doubt I will use it but its always nice to win.
Notable finishers for this race were:
Robbie Wade 15:42 male winner
Kristen Henehan 17:23 female winner
(obviously, they didn't have any trouble with the heat or hills!)
Jay Jacob Wind 21:25
Michael (Femi) Adeniji 21:58 (still yet to beat Jay)
I got to the race site quite a bit earlier than usual since the web site said parking would be difficult. I signed up and went back to the car to stay cool. It was a very clear, sunny day and I wanted to put off getting overheated for as long as possible. I worked on a Sudoku puzzle while I passed time in my air conditioned car.
It was an odd race start. First, most of us went to the wrong starting point. Someone came and got us about 10 minutes before the start and we walked a few hundred yards to the correct starting line.
It was a big field...too big really to start on a bike path that could handle at most 3 people shoulder to shoulder. It looked like there would be quite a few walkers so I decided to hang out in the back so I wouldn't get boxed in or trampled at the start.
We only stayed on the path for less than 1/4 mile before we had to cross a major intersection. I was like "Hey, I know where I am. I've been to that McDonalds". A cop held traffic for us...I'm sure the drivers weren't happy to see us. Fortunately, since we had just started the field was still pretty tightly bunched so they didnt have to wait long.
We then entered a part of Bluemont park I hadn't visited before. It was a shaded path with homes beside the path. It was a little bit downhill so I was having a decent time.
After about a mile we got to the bottom of the hill and took a right onto a path that I have run many times. We ran by the caboose and the tennis courts and there was no shade at all. Man was it hot! I was gratefull to see the water table ahead. As I gulped down 2 cups of water I checked my watch and was disappointed with what I saw. I knew I wasn't running particularly fast and I also knew that we had to pay for that downhill we had just run. I decided that I wouldn't be setting any PR's today so I took it easy from that point on.
Interestingly, my wife arrived at Bluemont probably just a minute or two after I passed with her running partner. When I got home after the race she said that she saw a race at Bluemont and was surprised that I didn't run in that race. I told her I was at that race! Clearly we need to communicate a little better. :)
I'm glad I decided to not push too hard. The hills we encountered were even tougher than I remembered from my one time running on this part of the trail (North side of 66 back towards Ballston). I alternated running with walking and tried to catch a couple of people in front of me but it remained pretty much status quo for the last mile. It wasn't too bad when we had shade but it was pretty uncomfortable without it.
I finished with a time of 38:29(official time 39:04)...pretty darn miserable even for me. I came in 337th out of 383 finishers...like I said, there were a lot of walkers.
I saw Femi after I finished and he convinced me to stick around for the prizes. I really wanted the wine tasting but I was still happy to win a gift certificate for $20 off of personalized training with Mike Hamberger, who came in 5th in the race. I doubt I will use it but its always nice to win.
Notable finishers for this race were:
Robbie Wade 15:42 male winner
Kristen Henehan 17:23 female winner
(obviously, they didn't have any trouble with the heat or hills!)
Jay Jacob Wind 21:25
Michael (Femi) Adeniji 21:58 (still yet to beat Jay)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tidal Basin 3k, June 2008 version
It was a lovely day in DC on June 18 and a big field showed up for this month's version on the Tidal Basin 3K. 77 runners completed the race. I think the Park Service starts getting antsy when we get over 35 or 40 people so I hope they didn't see us today.
I had a chance to speak with Charlie Mercer before the raceI was shocked to learn that he had been in a bicycle accident and that he had his foot run over by a car just a few weeks before this race. He showed me the dried blood that was still on his running shoe. He said he was still banged up and he assured me that Ted Poulos didn't need to worry about him this day. We also talked about the newest addition to his family. Congrats Charlie! I've seen you with your daughter and I can tell that you are a great Dad.
The race started a bit late (as usual) as Jay spoke about this race marking the anniversary of Juneteenth. When we took off I setlled into a comfortable pace towards the back of the pack but in front of a few runners. I was passed by a dad with his young daughter at around 3/4 of a mile while I took a brief walk break. Two young women weren't too far in front of me at this point but I was never able to catch up to them.
Now Joe Broderick was another story. I had the lead on him but he nearly caught me during my first walk break. Joe is 70 years old and I can remember running close to him when I first started competing in these races in 2002. He used to beat when I first started competing but then I improved and was consistently beating him in nearly all races. This year has been a different story. With all of my struggles, Joe is a definite threat to beat me in any race we compete in.
I kept an eye on Joe for the remainder of the race. I would look backwards every 2 minutes or so just to see where he was. I had about a 30 second lead on him as we crossed the bridge and began our final leg on Ohio Drive. I tried to stretch out that lead a little as I knew I had to take 1 more walk break before the final sprint. He nearly caught me during this break but I was able to suck it up and sprint to the finish in a time of 20:14 (official time 20:18), which was nearly 4 minutes faster than last month. Joe finished in a very respectable 20:33. We congratulated each other while filling out our finisher cards and I thanked him for pushing me along. He said I did the same for him.
I came in 73rd out of 77 today. My short term goal is to get back to 18 minutes. That would enable me to pass the father daughter duo, as well as the 2 young women. Maybe next time?
I had a chance to speak with Charlie Mercer before the raceI was shocked to learn that he had been in a bicycle accident and that he had his foot run over by a car just a few weeks before this race. He showed me the dried blood that was still on his running shoe. He said he was still banged up and he assured me that Ted Poulos didn't need to worry about him this day. We also talked about the newest addition to his family. Congrats Charlie! I've seen you with your daughter and I can tell that you are a great Dad.
The race started a bit late (as usual) as Jay spoke about this race marking the anniversary of Juneteenth. When we took off I setlled into a comfortable pace towards the back of the pack but in front of a few runners. I was passed by a dad with his young daughter at around 3/4 of a mile while I took a brief walk break. Two young women weren't too far in front of me at this point but I was never able to catch up to them.
Now Joe Broderick was another story. I had the lead on him but he nearly caught me during my first walk break. Joe is 70 years old and I can remember running close to him when I first started competing in these races in 2002. He used to beat when I first started competing but then I improved and was consistently beating him in nearly all races. This year has been a different story. With all of my struggles, Joe is a definite threat to beat me in any race we compete in.
I kept an eye on Joe for the remainder of the race. I would look backwards every 2 minutes or so just to see where he was. I had about a 30 second lead on him as we crossed the bridge and began our final leg on Ohio Drive. I tried to stretch out that lead a little as I knew I had to take 1 more walk break before the final sprint. He nearly caught me during this break but I was able to suck it up and sprint to the finish in a time of 20:14 (official time 20:18), which was nearly 4 minutes faster than last month. Joe finished in a very respectable 20:33. We congratulated each other while filling out our finisher cards and I thanked him for pushing me along. He said I did the same for him.
I came in 73rd out of 77 today. My short term goal is to get back to 18 minutes. That would enable me to pass the father daughter duo, as well as the 2 young women. Maybe next time?
Running after women
Well that title is sure to grab your attention (particularly my wife)! Actually, this refers to the annual DCRRC Run After the Women 5K, held this year on June 16. As most of you know, the DC area is a great running community. One sign of this is the large number of races dedicated to women only. It's a way for top women to show their stuff without having to dodge the men and it also gives beggining women runners a chance to run a 5K in a very supportive environment. My wife Dori ran her first 5K last year at one of these events in Annapolis. Some of the events have races for the men after the leading women have finished. Such was the case this evening in Bluemont.
There was a rather intense thunderstorm that passed through the area just an hour or two before the race. The creek besides the trail was swollen to the brink and the field we had to cross to get from the parking lot to the start was a swamp. Power was out for a large portion of Arlington and many traffic lights were out but we runners perservered.
20 women completed this years version of the Women's Distance Festival. They are listed below:
1 Rebecca Nathan F 42 Arlington VA 19:23 1 F 1
2 Kristin Dahling F 32 Arlington VA 21:12 2 F 2
3 Carolyne Davidson F 30 Alexandria VA 21:19 3 F 3
4 Alison Stone F 27 Arlington VA 21:53 4 F20-29 1
5 Tatyana Steis F 33 Arlington VA 22:01 5 F30-39 1
6 Karen Young F 39 Beallsville MD 22:07 6 F30-39 2
7 Leslie Stanfield F 58 Reston VA 24:35 7 F50-59 1
8 Susan Aaronson F 54 Arlington VA 24:35 8 F50-59 2
9 Jennifer Westfall-McGrail F 52 Arlington VA 24:48 9 F50-59 3
10 Lisa Schaefer F 37 Vienna VA 25:02 10 F30-39 3
11 Saleema Ross F 54 Ft Washington MD 25:02 11
12 Marla Schnall F 43 Falls Church VA 25:58 12 F40-49 1 13 Rita Cronley F 54 Arlington VA 27:27 13
14 Roxanne Hatcher F 49 Pasadena MD 28:15 14 F40-49 2 15 Ieva O'Rourke F 47 McLean VA 28:46 15 F40-49 3
16 Sharyn D. Gordon F 50 Mitchellville MD 31:40 16
17 Kathleen Hanson F 54 Annapolis MD 32:36 17
18 Blair Jones F 64 Washington DC 33:41 18 F60-69 1
19 Yvonne Aasen F 76 Severna Park MD 35:51 19 F70-79 1 20 Iolanthe Good F 18 Falls Church VA 41:37 20 F19&under 1
After about a 20 minute pause, the men were off. I quickly moved to the back of the field but didn't feel too bad. I shouted encouragement to Sharyn Gordon as we passed one another. Sharyn and I have frequently run close to one another towards the back of the pack. She has my number so far this year; though I hope to improve to the point where I can beat her before the year is up.
As you can see from the results below, many of the usual suspects showed up for the men's event. Karsten Brown assumed his usual position in front of the field for a smaller event. He had a big lead when he passed me on the return leg and it looks like he widened the lead even further over the last mile.
You can also see from the results that this was a very competitive field. You were in the bottom 5 with me if you didnt break 23 minutes. I came in last (again) but I was less than a minute behind the runner in front of me (Bob Thurston) so I didn't feel bad about holding people up like I do at some races. Though the official time was 34:35, I show my "chip" time as 34:29. Not great by any means but one of my better races for this year. Maybe things are looking up.
1 Karsten Brown M 34 Front Royal VA 16:22 1 M 1
2 Robert C. Wolfe M 36 Washington DC 17:15 2 M 2
3 Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 17:37 3 M 3
4 Scott Ruplinger M 26 Brooklyn NY 17:56 4 M20-29 1
5 Ben Zeiss M 16 Washington DC 18:04 5 M19&under 1 6 Thomas Gouard M 26 Arlington VA 18:05 6 M20-29 2 7 Devin Kelly M 17 Washington DC 18:29 7 M19&under 2 8 Adam Stolzberg M 32 Arlington VA 18:29 8 M30-39 1 9 R B Brill M 30 Falls Church VA 18:32 9 M30-39 2
10 Matthew Chesnes M 29 Arlington VA 18:47 10 M20-29 3 11 Michael Collins M 26 Arlington VA 18:57 11
12 Brian McGrail M 15 Arlington VA 19:05 12 M19&under 3
13 Ken Riggsbee M 43 Alexandria VA 19:06 13 M40-49 1 14 Will Meyerson M 17 Washington DC 19:16 14
15 Tom Stone M 42 Falls Church VA 19:24 15 M40-49 2 16 Bill Stahr M 47 The Plains VA 20:01 16 M40-49 3
17 Ken Krehbiel M 54 Washington DC 20:03 17 M50-59 1 18 Brian Danza M 27 Arlington VA 20:09 18
19 Timothy Steis M 16 Arlington VA 20:25 19
20 Joe Emerson M 42 Alexandria VA 20:27 20
21 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 20:35 21 M50-59 2 22 Timothy Good M 48 Burke VA 20:38 22
23 Pat Rodjom M 23 Arlington VA 20:53 23
24 Liam McLaughlin M 17 20:55 24
25 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 21:02 25 M50-59 3 26 Ed Grant M 51 Arlington VA 21:06 26
27 Robert P. Trost M 62 Falls Church VA 21:38 27 M60-69 1 28 James Scarborough M 50 McLean VA 21:45 28
29 Eamonn McEvilly M 65 Springfield VA 22:06 29 M60-69 2
30 Greg Chaconas M 62 Washington DC 22:37 30 M60-69 3
31 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 22:47 31
32 Pat Brown M 63 Reston VA 24:14 32
33 Larry Dickerson M 76 Burke VA 27:32 33 M70-79 1 34 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 29:08 1 F 1
35 Bob Thurston M 64 Washington DC 33:39 34
36 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 34:35 35
There was a rather intense thunderstorm that passed through the area just an hour or two before the race. The creek besides the trail was swollen to the brink and the field we had to cross to get from the parking lot to the start was a swamp. Power was out for a large portion of Arlington and many traffic lights were out but we runners perservered.
20 women completed this years version of the Women's Distance Festival. They are listed below:
1 Rebecca Nathan F 42 Arlington VA 19:23 1 F 1
2 Kristin Dahling F 32 Arlington VA 21:12 2 F 2
3 Carolyne Davidson F 30 Alexandria VA 21:19 3 F 3
4 Alison Stone F 27 Arlington VA 21:53 4 F20-29 1
5 Tatyana Steis F 33 Arlington VA 22:01 5 F30-39 1
6 Karen Young F 39 Beallsville MD 22:07 6 F30-39 2
7 Leslie Stanfield F 58 Reston VA 24:35 7 F50-59 1
8 Susan Aaronson F 54 Arlington VA 24:35 8 F50-59 2
9 Jennifer Westfall-McGrail F 52 Arlington VA 24:48 9 F50-59 3
10 Lisa Schaefer F 37 Vienna VA 25:02 10 F30-39 3
11 Saleema Ross F 54 Ft Washington MD 25:02 11
12 Marla Schnall F 43 Falls Church VA 25:58 12 F40-49 1 13 Rita Cronley F 54 Arlington VA 27:27 13
14 Roxanne Hatcher F 49 Pasadena MD 28:15 14 F40-49 2 15 Ieva O'Rourke F 47 McLean VA 28:46 15 F40-49 3
16 Sharyn D. Gordon F 50 Mitchellville MD 31:40 16
17 Kathleen Hanson F 54 Annapolis MD 32:36 17
18 Blair Jones F 64 Washington DC 33:41 18 F60-69 1
19 Yvonne Aasen F 76 Severna Park MD 35:51 19 F70-79 1 20 Iolanthe Good F 18 Falls Church VA 41:37 20 F19&under 1
After about a 20 minute pause, the men were off. I quickly moved to the back of the field but didn't feel too bad. I shouted encouragement to Sharyn Gordon as we passed one another. Sharyn and I have frequently run close to one another towards the back of the pack. She has my number so far this year; though I hope to improve to the point where I can beat her before the year is up.
As you can see from the results below, many of the usual suspects showed up for the men's event. Karsten Brown assumed his usual position in front of the field for a smaller event. He had a big lead when he passed me on the return leg and it looks like he widened the lead even further over the last mile.
You can also see from the results that this was a very competitive field. You were in the bottom 5 with me if you didnt break 23 minutes. I came in last (again) but I was less than a minute behind the runner in front of me (Bob Thurston) so I didn't feel bad about holding people up like I do at some races. Though the official time was 34:35, I show my "chip" time as 34:29. Not great by any means but one of my better races for this year. Maybe things are looking up.
1 Karsten Brown M 34 Front Royal VA 16:22 1 M 1
2 Robert C. Wolfe M 36 Washington DC 17:15 2 M 2
3 Ted Poulos M 46 McLean VA 17:37 3 M 3
4 Scott Ruplinger M 26 Brooklyn NY 17:56 4 M20-29 1
5 Ben Zeiss M 16 Washington DC 18:04 5 M19&under 1 6 Thomas Gouard M 26 Arlington VA 18:05 6 M20-29 2 7 Devin Kelly M 17 Washington DC 18:29 7 M19&under 2 8 Adam Stolzberg M 32 Arlington VA 18:29 8 M30-39 1 9 R B Brill M 30 Falls Church VA 18:32 9 M30-39 2
10 Matthew Chesnes M 29 Arlington VA 18:47 10 M20-29 3 11 Michael Collins M 26 Arlington VA 18:57 11
12 Brian McGrail M 15 Arlington VA 19:05 12 M19&under 3
13 Ken Riggsbee M 43 Alexandria VA 19:06 13 M40-49 1 14 Will Meyerson M 17 Washington DC 19:16 14
15 Tom Stone M 42 Falls Church VA 19:24 15 M40-49 2 16 Bill Stahr M 47 The Plains VA 20:01 16 M40-49 3
17 Ken Krehbiel M 54 Washington DC 20:03 17 M50-59 1 18 Brian Danza M 27 Arlington VA 20:09 18
19 Timothy Steis M 16 Arlington VA 20:25 19
20 Joe Emerson M 42 Alexandria VA 20:27 20
21 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 20:35 21 M50-59 2 22 Timothy Good M 48 Burke VA 20:38 22
23 Pat Rodjom M 23 Arlington VA 20:53 23
24 Liam McLaughlin M 17 20:55 24
25 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 21:02 25 M50-59 3 26 Ed Grant M 51 Arlington VA 21:06 26
27 Robert P. Trost M 62 Falls Church VA 21:38 27 M60-69 1 28 James Scarborough M 50 McLean VA 21:45 28
29 Eamonn McEvilly M 65 Springfield VA 22:06 29 M60-69 2
30 Greg Chaconas M 62 Washington DC 22:37 30 M60-69 3
31 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 22:47 31
32 Pat Brown M 63 Reston VA 24:14 32
33 Larry Dickerson M 76 Burke VA 27:32 33 M70-79 1 34 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 29:08 1 F 1
35 Bob Thurston M 64 Washington DC 33:39 34
36 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 34:35 35
Monday, July 7, 2008
A couple of horse races
One of my favorite events every Spring are the DCRRC Triple Crown Races. Its a low key event run at Ft. Hunt Park featuring 3 different races...one for each distance of the better known Triple Crown. The first race, the Kentucky Derby is 1.25 miles long. After a brief break, we move on to the Preakness at 1 3/16 miles. Then, after another short break, we run the Belmont at 1 1/2 miles. Many runners can run these races as if it were a speed workout. For me, these races a)allow me to run multiple races in a day and without having to drive to multiple locations and b) serve once again to show me how out of shape I've gotten.
The race director for this event is Jim Scarborough. This is the 4th year I have run these races and he has cocnsistently done a really nice job with it. This year he wrote to me about a month before the race and asked if I would be willing to volunteer and help sign people in the morning of the race. I immediately agreed as I was happy to help. I should have checked my schedule though as June 7 was also the day for the Armenian Festival in Alexandria. I'm a member of Alexandria's City Council sub-committee for the Armenian Sister city of Gyumri. This was our biggest day of the year as the festival serves as our big fundraiser for grants that we send to organizations in Gyumri. What was I thinking! It was going to be a long, hot day at the festival and I needed my rest. I probably shouldn't even run these races, much less get up early and help sign people in. Oh well, a committment is a committment so volunteer I did.
Other than getting to the park an hour sooner than I needed to, the assignment Jim gave me was easy. We only had a bit over a dozen show up for the race so it wasn't like I was overwhelmed at any point.
It was a hot, muggy morning with a haze hanging over the park. A heat advisory was in effect for the weekend and a warning had been issued about pollution as well. To make matters worse, a catering company was setting up for a later party in the same shelter we were in and they were getting half a dozen grills fired up. The smoke from the grills just hung in the air and the smell was a bit overwhelming. Peter Blank mentioned to me that he was having a lot of trouble with the smoke.
The start time of the race had been posted incorrectly on the DCRRC website so we started a little late for anyone that only checked that website. That was a problem for me as I needed to be at Market Square by 11 to help setup for the festival.
When we were finally called to the gates (starting line) for a post time of about 845. Ft Hunt Park is almost exactly 1 1/4 miles around so this race had a starting line very close to the finishing line. In subsequent races, we moved the starting line but kept the same finishing line (just like the horse races). Just before the start I told Christina Caravoulias that she would be beating me today. She disagreed but I was soon proven to be correct.
As usual, I started slow and then went slower. After about a 1/4 mile I heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind. It ended up being Shirley Sameshima, who had arrived late due to the erroneous time on the website. She said hi and moved by me quickly. It wasn't long ago when I was only a little slower than Shirley. Not anymore...she has gotten faster and I have gotten a lot slower. She finished over 2 1/2 minutes ahead of me and I had a head start!
Christina and I ran close together for most of the race. I managed to stay in front of her until about .9 miles into the race when I had to stop for a walk break (I know, its pathetic). I drafted behind her for the rest of the race but I just couldn't summon the energy to pass her. As promised, I came in last of 15 contestants. Here are the full results.
1 Michael Rooney M 22 Arlington VA 6:47 1
2 Dan Eddy M 56 Alexandria VA 7:36 2
3 James Engle M 47 Arlington VA 7:42 3
4 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 8:12 4
5 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 8:22 5
6 Peter Blank M 53 Annandale VA 8:36 6
7 James Scarborough M 50 McLean VA 8:39 7
8 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 9:24 8
9 John Haubert M 65 Alexandria VA 9:41 9
10 Janet Townshend F 44 Vienna VA 9:48 1
11 Shirley Sameshima F 41 McLean VA 9:56 2
12 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 10:59 3
13 Tami Graf F 71 Lusby MD 11:56 4
14 Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 12:29 5
15 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 12:34 10
Now, the worst thing about being slow at this event is not the humiliation of coming in last. No, it's the short amount of time for recovery. Most people had at least 2 more minutes to recover and the leaders ahd 5 or 6. I only had time to walk back to the shelter, fill out my finisher card, and drink a cup of water before it was time to line up for the next race. Let's see a horse try to do that!
I knew with the heat and the delayed start I could only run 2 races. With the Preakness being the shortest race and also the next race the choice was easy. (BTW - It's amazing how much longer the Belmont is. That extra 1/4 mile is huge. No wonder we don't see horses winning all 3 races).
I really struggled with the Preakness as the time below shows. It took me over a minute longer than the Derby and it was a shorter race! The conditions were clearly difficult though, as I was not the only runner to slow down in the 2nd race.
I totally lost contact with Christina in this race. I may have been able to suck it up and get a bit closer but I didnt think I could ever catch her and I had to think about saving some strength for the festival. So it was a disappointing finish.
Preakness 1.1875m
1 Michael Rooney M 22 Arlington VA 6:31 1
2 Dan Eddy M 56 Alexandria VA 7:27 2
3 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 7:47 3
4 James Engle M 47 Arlington VA 7:53 4
5 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 8:02 5
6 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 8:17 6
7 David Hayes M 44 Alexandria VA 8:23 7
8 Peter Blank M 53 Annandale VA 8:54 8
9 Janet Townshend F 44 Vienna VA 9:12 1
10 Shirley Sameshima F 41 McLean VA 9:25 2
11 John Haubert M 65 Alexandria VA 9:32 9
12 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 10:17 3
13 Tami Graf F 71 Lusby MD 11:39 4
14 Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 12:27 5
15 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 13:39 10
I said my goodbye's to Jim right after handing in my finisher card for the race. It looks like I missed a good Belmont though as evidenced by the results below.Shirley managed to beat Janet Townshend in this last race and Jay Wind continued to move up in the standings with each race.
Belmont Stakes 1.5m
1 Michael Rooney M 22 Arlington VA 8:03 1
2 Dan Eddy M 56 Alexandria VA 9:33 2
3 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 9:59 3
4 David Hayes M 44 Alexandria VA 10:49 4
5 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 11:10 5
6 James Engle M 47 Arlington VA 11:11 6
7 Peter Blank M 53 Annandale VA 11:31 7
8 Shirley Sameshima F 41 McLean VA 12:06 1
9 Janet Townshend F 44 Vienna VA 12:12 2
10 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 12:40 8
11 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 12:41 3
12 Tami Graf F 71 Lusby MD 15:35 4
13 Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 17:51 5
As always, it was a fun event and I plan to be back next year...hopefully carrying less weight on a cooler day!
The race director for this event is Jim Scarborough. This is the 4th year I have run these races and he has cocnsistently done a really nice job with it. This year he wrote to me about a month before the race and asked if I would be willing to volunteer and help sign people in the morning of the race. I immediately agreed as I was happy to help. I should have checked my schedule though as June 7 was also the day for the Armenian Festival in Alexandria. I'm a member of Alexandria's City Council sub-committee for the Armenian Sister city of Gyumri. This was our biggest day of the year as the festival serves as our big fundraiser for grants that we send to organizations in Gyumri. What was I thinking! It was going to be a long, hot day at the festival and I needed my rest. I probably shouldn't even run these races, much less get up early and help sign people in. Oh well, a committment is a committment so volunteer I did.
Other than getting to the park an hour sooner than I needed to, the assignment Jim gave me was easy. We only had a bit over a dozen show up for the race so it wasn't like I was overwhelmed at any point.
It was a hot, muggy morning with a haze hanging over the park. A heat advisory was in effect for the weekend and a warning had been issued about pollution as well. To make matters worse, a catering company was setting up for a later party in the same shelter we were in and they were getting half a dozen grills fired up. The smoke from the grills just hung in the air and the smell was a bit overwhelming. Peter Blank mentioned to me that he was having a lot of trouble with the smoke.
The start time of the race had been posted incorrectly on the DCRRC website so we started a little late for anyone that only checked that website. That was a problem for me as I needed to be at Market Square by 11 to help setup for the festival.
When we were finally called to the gates (starting line) for a post time of about 845. Ft Hunt Park is almost exactly 1 1/4 miles around so this race had a starting line very close to the finishing line. In subsequent races, we moved the starting line but kept the same finishing line (just like the horse races). Just before the start I told Christina Caravoulias that she would be beating me today. She disagreed but I was soon proven to be correct.
As usual, I started slow and then went slower. After about a 1/4 mile I heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind. It ended up being Shirley Sameshima, who had arrived late due to the erroneous time on the website. She said hi and moved by me quickly. It wasn't long ago when I was only a little slower than Shirley. Not anymore...she has gotten faster and I have gotten a lot slower. She finished over 2 1/2 minutes ahead of me and I had a head start!
Christina and I ran close together for most of the race. I managed to stay in front of her until about .9 miles into the race when I had to stop for a walk break (I know, its pathetic). I drafted behind her for the rest of the race but I just couldn't summon the energy to pass her. As promised, I came in last of 15 contestants. Here are the full results.
1 Michael Rooney M 22 Arlington VA 6:47 1
2 Dan Eddy M 56 Alexandria VA 7:36 2
3 James Engle M 47 Arlington VA 7:42 3
4 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 8:12 4
5 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 8:22 5
6 Peter Blank M 53 Annandale VA 8:36 6
7 James Scarborough M 50 McLean VA 8:39 7
8 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 9:24 8
9 John Haubert M 65 Alexandria VA 9:41 9
10 Janet Townshend F 44 Vienna VA 9:48 1
11 Shirley Sameshima F 41 McLean VA 9:56 2
12 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 10:59 3
13 Tami Graf F 71 Lusby MD 11:56 4
14 Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 12:29 5
15 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 12:34 10
Now, the worst thing about being slow at this event is not the humiliation of coming in last. No, it's the short amount of time for recovery. Most people had at least 2 more minutes to recover and the leaders ahd 5 or 6. I only had time to walk back to the shelter, fill out my finisher card, and drink a cup of water before it was time to line up for the next race. Let's see a horse try to do that!
I knew with the heat and the delayed start I could only run 2 races. With the Preakness being the shortest race and also the next race the choice was easy. (BTW - It's amazing how much longer the Belmont is. That extra 1/4 mile is huge. No wonder we don't see horses winning all 3 races).
I really struggled with the Preakness as the time below shows. It took me over a minute longer than the Derby and it was a shorter race! The conditions were clearly difficult though, as I was not the only runner to slow down in the 2nd race.
I totally lost contact with Christina in this race. I may have been able to suck it up and get a bit closer but I didnt think I could ever catch her and I had to think about saving some strength for the festival. So it was a disappointing finish.
Preakness 1.1875m
1 Michael Rooney M 22 Arlington VA 6:31 1
2 Dan Eddy M 56 Alexandria VA 7:27 2
3 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 7:47 3
4 James Engle M 47 Arlington VA 7:53 4
5 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 8:02 5
6 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 8:17 6
7 David Hayes M 44 Alexandria VA 8:23 7
8 Peter Blank M 53 Annandale VA 8:54 8
9 Janet Townshend F 44 Vienna VA 9:12 1
10 Shirley Sameshima F 41 McLean VA 9:25 2
11 John Haubert M 65 Alexandria VA 9:32 9
12 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 10:17 3
13 Tami Graf F 71 Lusby MD 11:39 4
14 Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 12:27 5
15 Tim Ramsey M 49 Alexandria VA 13:39 10
I said my goodbye's to Jim right after handing in my finisher card for the race. It looks like I missed a good Belmont though as evidenced by the results below.Shirley managed to beat Janet Townshend in this last race and Jay Wind continued to move up in the standings with each race.
Belmont Stakes 1.5m
1 Michael Rooney M 22 Arlington VA 8:03 1
2 Dan Eddy M 56 Alexandria VA 9:33 2
3 Jay Jacob Wind M 58 Arlington VA 9:59 3
4 David Hayes M 44 Alexandria VA 10:49 4
5 Keith R. Campbell M 48 Springfield VA 11:10 5
6 James Engle M 47 Arlington VA 11:11 6
7 Peter Blank M 53 Annandale VA 11:31 7
8 Shirley Sameshima F 41 McLean VA 12:06 1
9 Janet Townshend F 44 Vienna VA 12:12 2
10 Kirk Gordon M 52 Mitchellville MD 12:40 8
11 Bernadette Flynn F 50 Springfield VA 12:41 3
12 Tami Graf F 71 Lusby MD 15:35 4
13 Christina Caravoulias F 53 Silver Spring MD 17:51 5
As always, it was a fun event and I plan to be back next year...hopefully carrying less weight on a cooler day!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Return to the scene of the crime
The inaugural running of the Georgetown 8K was run on May 31. As you can guess from the name of the race, it started and finished in Georgetown. However, the race itself was run on the C&O Canal...yes the very same trail where I fell and broke my foot last October. My really, REALLY bad times can all be traced back to that race. So, I was already nervous about running on this path. But to make matters worse, we had a big thunderstorm come through just a couple of hours before the race, making the course just a wee bit slippery. It was also hot and humid so we didnt have the best race conditions.
What made the race worthwhile was a visit from two friends from DE, Lauren and Mike Digennaro. Lauren and Mike are 2 of the fastest runners in DE and Mike is a nationally ranked runner in the Steeplechase. They have both run 1 marathon each...and they both won them!
Not surprisingly, Mike was the first runner by me that I knew well. He was running in fourth, behind two local Kenyan standouts and also prolific marathoner Mike Wardian. Mike seemed very relaxed and he said hi as he ran by so I knew he wasn't pushing himself to the max.
Lauren was next up. I shouted out to her that she was the 9th woman. She was running in a group with 50+er Bill Stahr. A short while later Jon Palks came by and he gave me a little wave when I cheered him on.
Watching them go by took some of the pain off of my mind but after they passed I was left alone with my thoughts. I ran by where I fell in October just before the turnaround so I actually got to relive it twice! I tried to keep a woman who I later learned was Sara Howard. We kept taking walk breaks and passing one another as one ran while the other walked. She had a friend come back and run in with her over the last mile and that was enough encouragement for her to pass me once and for all. She finished in 1:03:42 (clock time) compared to my clock time of 1:04:40. I did do a little bit better against her if you look at chip times (1:03:06 vs my 1:03:55). Yes, that's right - my 8K time is now worse than some of my average 10K times. Gosh I'm having a bad year!
After the race I ran into Dane Rauschenberg after the race. I was surprised to see him since he moved to Utah not too long ago. He told me he had come in to help Jay Wind with the race. I was also disappointed to learn that his new job in Utah did not work out. It doesn't sound like he's in a rush to move back East though and he said he wants to move someplace new. In the meantime, he is doing motivational speeches around the country where he talks about his adventures from a couple of years ago when he ran a marathon every week for an entire year. Makes me tired just thinking about it!
While talking to Dane, a girl that I passed on my return leg walked in with help. She apparently suffered from heat exhaustion. I told you it was tough out there.
Here are the notable finishers of the race:
Abiyot Abebe (winner) 24:25
Michael Wardian (3rd) 24:48
Mike Digennaro (4th) 25:30
Hirut Mandefro (female winner) 27:46
Bill Stahr 33:06
Lauren Digennaro (8th female) 33:18
Betty Blank 34:45
Karen Young 37:22
Jon Palks 40:44
Barry Goldmeier (the joggler) 55:03
There were 356 finishers. I came in 352nd.
Finally, one of my physical therapists approached me immediately after the race. I was taking of my chip and feeling totally exhausted. I can't find her in the standings so I can't give her a shout out but she said she did OK. We had spoken before during my shoulder therapy about her running and that she lived in Georgetown. I shouldn't have bbeen surprised to see her.
The race started a little late since late registration had to be moved to the nearby running store because of the rain. That gave me a few minutes to talk to Mike and Lauren before the race. Lauren told me she had no goals for the race...she had cut back on her running.
When we finally started, I knew it would be a long day. I had no confidence after my last race and with the conditions I felt it best to just take it easy and survive the race. What I most enjoyed was cheering on my friends, which was easy to do since it was an out and back course.
What made the race worthwhile was a visit from two friends from DE, Lauren and Mike Digennaro. Lauren and Mike are 2 of the fastest runners in DE and Mike is a nationally ranked runner in the Steeplechase. They have both run 1 marathon each...and they both won them!
Not surprisingly, Mike was the first runner by me that I knew well. He was running in fourth, behind two local Kenyan standouts and also prolific marathoner Mike Wardian. Mike seemed very relaxed and he said hi as he ran by so I knew he wasn't pushing himself to the max.
Lauren was next up. I shouted out to her that she was the 9th woman. She was running in a group with 50+er Bill Stahr. A short while later Jon Palks came by and he gave me a little wave when I cheered him on.
Watching them go by took some of the pain off of my mind but after they passed I was left alone with my thoughts. I ran by where I fell in October just before the turnaround so I actually got to relive it twice! I tried to keep a woman who I later learned was Sara Howard. We kept taking walk breaks and passing one another as one ran while the other walked. She had a friend come back and run in with her over the last mile and that was enough encouragement for her to pass me once and for all. She finished in 1:03:42 (clock time) compared to my clock time of 1:04:40. I did do a little bit better against her if you look at chip times (1:03:06 vs my 1:03:55). Yes, that's right - my 8K time is now worse than some of my average 10K times. Gosh I'm having a bad year!
After the race I ran into Dane Rauschenberg after the race. I was surprised to see him since he moved to Utah not too long ago. He told me he had come in to help Jay Wind with the race. I was also disappointed to learn that his new job in Utah did not work out. It doesn't sound like he's in a rush to move back East though and he said he wants to move someplace new. In the meantime, he is doing motivational speeches around the country where he talks about his adventures from a couple of years ago when he ran a marathon every week for an entire year. Makes me tired just thinking about it!
While talking to Dane, a girl that I passed on my return leg walked in with help. She apparently suffered from heat exhaustion. I told you it was tough out there.
Here are the notable finishers of the race:
Abiyot Abebe (winner) 24:25
Michael Wardian (3rd) 24:48
Mike Digennaro (4th) 25:30
Hirut Mandefro (female winner) 27:46
Bill Stahr 33:06
Lauren Digennaro (8th female) 33:18
Betty Blank 34:45
Karen Young 37:22
Jon Palks 40:44
Barry Goldmeier (the joggler) 55:03
There were 356 finishers. I came in 352nd.
Finally, one of my physical therapists approached me immediately after the race. I was taking of my chip and feeling totally exhausted. I can't find her in the standings so I can't give her a shout out but she said she did OK. We had spoken before during my shoulder therapy about her running and that she lived in Georgetown. I shouldn't have bbeen surprised to see her.
The race started a little late since late registration had to be moved to the nearby running store because of the rain. That gave me a few minutes to talk to Mike and Lauren before the race. Lauren told me she had no goals for the race...she had cut back on her running.
When we finally started, I knew it would be a long day. I had no confidence after my last race and with the conditions I felt it best to just take it easy and survive the race. What I most enjoyed was cheering on my friends, which was easy to do since it was an out and back course.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)