The Hills of Cabin John

OK, I wish I could say I didn't know what I was getting myself into with this 5K held by the Montgomery County Road Runners on May 4. Unfortunately, with a race name that includes the words "The Hills", its hard to say that you didn't realize it was going to be a difficult course. I had also run the race a couple of times before so I certainly had no excuse.

The race stats out easy enough. We begin in a parking lot and then take a few turns on a paved pathway. For the real racers in the group, this is where you want to jockey for position because once you are on the trails passing is tight. I held my position near the back of the pack for about 3/4 of a mile. Then we encountered a short but steep billy goat section of the trail complete with exposed roots and rocks. I had an 8 year old boy nipping at my heels at this point so I pulled over and walked down the hill rather gingerly. The last thing I needed to do was rebreak my foot. The kid blew by me on the hill and the remaining trail runners passed me during the next 1/4 mile.

When I have fallen into last place in the past I have always tried to stay in contact with the runner in front of me so I could try to pass them with a kick at the end. That was not to be on this day. The last time I saw the next to last runner was about 1 1/2 miles in and she was several hundred yards in front of me. Then the trail cut back into the woods and I never saw her again until the refreshment stand after the race.

As I came out of the woods and starting making my way to the finish line I told a volunteer that I was last and that his work was done (I always try to do that if I know I'm last). He asked if I was OK. I must have looked like Hell. I struggled through that last 1/4 mile and suffered the indignity of having the race announcer welcome me over the loud speaker as the last runner in the race. :) A time of 44:46 qualified the race as my worst 5K ever. I came in 145th out of ...hm, 145.

Notable finishers in this race were:
Chad Young 17:34 (male winner)
Amy Ferro 22:14 (female winner-only 15 years old!)
Kirk Gordon 24:08 (he's suffering from a groin injury)
Peter Blank 26:06
Dee Nelson 27:49
Shirley Sameshima 28:59
Christina Caravoulias 37:10
Tristan Duelge 38:01 (The 8 year old that passed me. Way to go kid!)
Kate Sugarman 39:22 (The next to last place finisher).

In looking at the results, I'm truly ashamed that I finished in last by more than 5 minutes. I clearly quit out there. A time of 37 or 38 minutes would have been acceptable but not 44 and change. Argh!