By George, I'm slow

On February 14 I made my return to the annual By George 5K on Haines Point, sponsored by the Potomac Valley Track Club. Dori and I celebrated Valentine's Day the previous evening in Old Town so I had a hall pass this morning.

It was a cold morning and anyone that has run at Haines Point knows that the wind coming in off of the rivers makes a cold day feel pretty darn frigid. As always, the standing around at the beginning was the worse. But I was able to forget about the cold for a few moments while exchanging small talk with Jon Palks and Peter Blank.

This race is actually 2 races in one. A 10K is run simultaneously with the 5K. Haines Point is just a just a tiny bit longer than 5K around the point so the 10K runners start a little bit in front of the 5K runners and we all finish at the same place. My goal in these races is to not get passed by the 10K leaders as we all near the finish line. I've been able to do it before... I remember seeing Ted Poulos closing fast 1 year as I crossed the tape...but I'm older, fatter, and slower now.

Perhaps the best aspect of Haines Point is its flatness. You really can't ask for a flatter course. Given that I like flat courses and I actually prefer cold days (once I'm running) I hoped for a good day. My GPS wasn't charged though so I was going to have do this one without any help from technology.

I felt good at the start. I was probably running about an 11 minutes pace for the first mile or so. I had quite a few people around me and I was listening to their conversations to pass away the time. I never have understood people that talked during a race...I can barely squeeze out a "Go Shirley" when I'm in a race...but whatever it takes. As we passed the golf course entrance I had to take my first walk break. My lower legs were hurting pretty good and I know from experience that they actually feel better when I run so I started up again. Unfortunately, they still hurt. I ran on the grass where I could to ease the stress but it didnt help too much. But I perservered.

Being a back of the pack runner I have simple goals. One of my golden rules is to be a net passer over the last half of any race. This tells me that my pace is good and that I'm stronger at the finisg than those near my time. I accomplished that goal today. I had a few runners in front of me over the last 1.5 miles but I kept them close and I passed them over the last 200 yards. They probably wondered "What's up with that guy" but that's OK...I need that challenge.

However, I did fail at keeping the 10K leaders from passing me. I finished the 5K in 36:49, good for 163rd out of 182 finishers, while 3 10K's finished before me. The 10K winner, Matt Lowe, finished in an impressive 34:45. BTW, I estimate that my "chip" time would have been about 10 seconds faster than my official time so that means a 2009 5K PR for me at 36:39. Waa-hoo for me.

Other finishers in the 5K included Peter Blank, who won the race walk with a time of 30:35; Jon Palks with a time of 24:41, and Shirley Sameshima with a time of 28:42. Jay Wind had a nice 10K with a time of 43:56 which was good enough to win his age bracket.