How long is this gonna take?

Just a few short days after the Atoms 5K, I was back out ready for more pain. This time I was running the DC Road Runners Club annual 1 hour track run. The goal is to run as far as you can in 1 hour.

Last year the race was held on a hot August evening. The weather on the evening of May 20 was actually kind of cool. I thought given my recent improvement that perhaps I could put together a decent run but I found myself winded after only 1 lap. This was going to be a long night! After running that first lap and counting out my number of laps to the counters at the start/finish line I walked the 100 yard straight away. I used this walk/run combination for the entire race.

I ran and walked my way to a 10:17 first 1600 meters. Not great but not awful for the fat, old guy! Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. I ran the second 1600 meters in 11:39. I was starting to feel it. As long as I stayed under 12:00 minutes per mile though I would be happy. I actually sped up a slight bit during my 3rd 1600 with a time of 11:30. It was during this portion of the race that I asked Bob Platt, the race director, if this could instead be a 30 minute run. He scoffed at the idea and said that real runners run for an hour. Oh well...I tried.

I should point out that being on a track and being as slow as I am, I was being passed constantly. When I first started running races in 2001 I really hated track events for that reason. While I'm still not crazy about being passed so frequently, I've come to terms with my abilities (or lack thereof) and I'm now as comfortable on the track as on the road. That's particularly the case when I know that no one is waiting for me to finish.

There are a few runners that I could identify before they passed me. They all had unique sounds. These included Ed Grant, Jay Wind, Jim Scarborough, Kirk Gordon, and Lisa Schaefer. I had known that Jay was pretty lod before this run but I didn't realize that the others had a noticeable "tell". I can tell Kirk not just from his breathing but also from the sound of his stride. BTW - Kirk is suffering from a pretty bad grion pull. I wish him well.

One runner I could always identify AFTER he passed me was our local joggler, Barry Goldmeier. It's hard to miss a juggler running by you.

Bob was manning a water and gatorade table for us between turns 3 and 4. I always slowed doiwn for a drink during the first lap of a new 1600 meters. He did a geat job and no one went thirsty like other races I have run (hello Spring 5K, Army 10 Miler...are you listening?)

I was really starting to struggle on my 4th mile. I finished this 1600 meters in 12 minutes flat. At least I wasn't over 12 minutes. Given my earlier times, I knew I was going to average under 12 minutes per mile. I tested that logic a little with a 12:40 final 1600 meters. That means I did an 8K in 58:04. I stopped at 8K last Summer but I still had a bit more in me so I kept plodding along for the remaining 2 minutes. As the horn sounded I had the 2 leaders right behind me mid way through the back straighaway. I was amazed at how close they were. Scott Ruplinger beat Karsten Brown by a mere 3 meters. While they nearly completed 10 miles, I finished at 8,268 meters. I'll take it!

Let me give a couple of shout out's. First, I was really impressed by Ed Grant, the president of DC Road Runners on his ability to manage his pace. He averaged 7:07 per 1600 meters over 13,400 meters, which is pretty darn good by itself. But what impresses me is that all of his 1600 meters were between 6:58 and 7:13(twice). Nice job Ed.

Also quite impressive was the aforementioned Barry Goldmeier. He ran 9,368 meters while juggling 4 balls. But he also did it while increasing pace fopr each 1600 meters.10:45-10:22-10:17-10:11-9:48. Quite impressive!

And finally, Greg Chiconas deserves a mention for running just a couple of days after completing the DE marathon. Karsten also ran the marathon (and won his age group!) but he's not 62 years old like Greg. Nice job.

The complete list of finishers is below...

1 Scott Ruplinger M 26 15,857
2 Karsten Brown M 34 15,854
3 Matthew Pyle M 35 15,755
4 Tom Stone M 42 14,478
5 James Moreland M 55 13,900
6 Ed Grant M 51 13,400
7 Patricia Zerfas F 46 13,016 First woman
8 James Scarborough M 50 12,958
9 Jay Wind M 58 12,800
10 Kirk Gordon M 52 12,557
11 Greg Chaconas M 62 11,072
12 Lisa Schaefer F 37 10,954
13 Shirley Sameshima F 41 10,882
14 Patrick Leonard M 40 9,600 Withdrew at 37 minutes.
15 Barry Goldmeier M 43 9,368 Juggled
16 Tim Ramsey M 49 8,268

Atoms 5K

On the morning of May 17, I hauled myself over to Annandale H.S. for their annual Atoms 5K. It was a well attended race as it was part of the GrandPrix series. It was also a nice, sunny day...though a bit cool at the start. It was honestly a very nice day to run.

I saw a few friends before the race began. Peter Blank was there of course as it was on his home turf. Also running was my co-worker, Michael Adeniji. He was given #1...not because he was the pre-race favorite but because of his name. But a lot of people didn't realize that so there were a few oohs and ahhs as he lined up for the start of the race.

The race began on a road beside the schools football field. We ran the length of the school grounds and then ran into the neighborhood. Roads weren't closed so there was some car dodging. Approaching the 1 mile mark we had to climb the toughest hill of the course. I thought about running up it and then reconsidered as I thought about the 2 miles still to come. The rest of the course was relatively flat with a few small rolling hills.

While nothing to write home about, I did end up running one of my best 5K's of the year, and certainly my best race since my surgery. My time was 34:36. I came in 91st out of 98 males and 155th out of 187 total runners. I'm hoping to continue this improvement and get into the 32's sometime soon. Ultimately, I want to be running consistently at 10 minutes per mile or less so I really want to get to around a 31 minute 5K.

Key finishers in this race were:
Joseph Tessema 16:12 (overall winner)
Michelle Cunningham 19:16 (female winner)
Karen Young 22:43 (50+ club, 8th female)
Ted Poulos 17:22
Bill Stahr 20:03 (Good race Bill!)
Jay Jacob Wind 21:54
Michael Adeniji 22:10 (slicing nearly 1 minute off of his first 5K time!)
Jim Scarborough 23:05
Peter Blank 23:22
Brian George 34:10 (I don't know him but he's the guy that finished in front of me. I'll get you next time Brian!)

Until next time, happy running!