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.