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?

First blog

Well, I suppose it is time to break down and join the 21st century. By that I mean beginning to write a blog. My focus for this blog will be to track my running exploits and to list my goals and observations. Maybe I'll also use this space to give my views on the world and life in general but we'll play that by ear.

Regarding running, I should start by saying the title of my blog adequately describes my running skils. I am indeed a slow runner. I couldn't break 30 minutes in a 5K this year. However, I am a prolific runner, having completed my 101st race of the year just earlier today.

As this nearly the new year, I've been thinking about my goals for 2008. I can start with the knowledge that I never want to run 100+ races in a year again. It's just too much work! My weekends were dictated by what races were being run nearby. I also found that I rarely ran other than in races. Not surprisingly, my times this year really suffered. Just last year I was able to break 28 minutes in a 5K. So this year we are going to focus more on quality and less on quantity (I'm glad I did the 100 though...it's a nice sense of accomplishment).

Anyway, this year we'll run between 50 and 60 races but my main metric will be total miles run, be it either in races or training runs. I'm looking to average 2 miles a day for the whole year. My cardiologist is on board with this amount of mileage and I think it will make me an overall better runner while reducing the stress that comes from racing so much.

OK...there it is! My goal for 2008 is out there for everyone to see. Boy, if that doesn't give me inspiration to get up every day and run and I don't know what will. I'll check in frequently and give updates on my status. Until then...all the best!