One Year Anniversary of running and racing in every Maryland county :)

Monday, September 15, 2008





Through the grace of God on Saturday, September 15, 2007, I managed to succed at my quixotic goal of running in a running event in every county of Maryland (including Baltimore City as well as all three counties of Delaware) within a year. On September 15, I ran the 12th Annual North Beach 5K Run in North Beach, Maryland in Calvert County, the final county I had remaining in my Maryland-wide running/racing quest! It was a wonderful year, and despite some injuries and a couple of periods of time off of consistent running and racing, I've done many races and running events since then :) It has been terrific to have made new friends, in and out of running social environment, and it's great to still be in touch with many of you I met back in 2007 and much earlier. I thank you all for your support, encouragement and attention in my running, well-being, and most importantly, my faith in God, who blessed me with the ability to follow through on this goal and still be running today! Thank you again for reading these blogs and I look forward to updating them as well as seeing/talking with you soon.



I hope to soon post a list of the running events I ran in 2007 below in the near future! I hope you all have a wonderful night and may God bless you all as He has me :)

Running in all of Delaware's counties in one week - Phase 3 - Kent County, DE

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Fortunately, the race that I intended to do this evening started well after I got off of work in Howard County, Maryland (and I got off at around 2:40 in the afternoon), so I had ample time to drive over to Smyrna (Kent County), Delaware for the 4th Annual Firefly 5K Run/Walk. I was feeling pretty excited about doing this race, because afterwards I could say that I ran a race in all three of Delaware's counties (Kent, New Castle, and Sussex) within a week, God-willing everything works out of course.

One thing that I was sorta worried about was that my stomach was bothering me, but I wasn't feeling so sick to my stomach that I thought it would weaken my performance, or worse, lessen my chances of me getting through the race of approximately 3.1 miles (which is 5 kilometers or "5K" as it is commonly referred too). Over the past ten years that I have been running, me having a rather sensitive stomach often has conflicted (or tried to conflict and discourage) with me and running/racing. Yet, by God's grace it has helped make me stronger, at least mentally. So now these stomach pains that used to send me to the health room in grade school probably more often than the other students, seem like rather smaller annoyances. I think being in shape definitely helps too, because I wasn't all that athletic for a good portion of my life to say the least, especially in grade school. Maybe it was just nerves in anticipation of finishing out this rather short-term goal.

Anyway, I got through the work day and drove out around the Dover area of Delaware (and Dover is the capital area of Delaware) to Smyrna for the Firefly 5K. I got to the race site (which was at Sheridan's Irish Pub in what looked to me the more downtown area of Smyrna). I was pleased to see several buddies and friends I have met this past year (and quite recently) at various races, such as Danny, Steven and Don. They did not come to the race to see me attempt this Delaware running and racing goal, but they wanted to do the race too (still, it was great that they were there :)

The course was pretty much flat (except maybe in the last mile there were some light rolling hills) and it went mainly through the suburban neighborhoods of Smyrna. Therefore, after the rather crowded start, it didn't seem to take too much to go through the first mile in about 5:34ish (which was the fastest mile I've run I think since coming back from a bit of time off in April-through-May :) I knew I probably wouldn't be able to hold it, and I was losing sight of the runners in front of me, yet maintaining my position in the race. I went through the neighborhoods, never feeling like the course was monotonous because of all the turns we seemed to make.

As this one street was curving to the left, I went through the two-mile mark in about 11:43ish, which was the fastest two-mile time I've hit since coming back from my recent time off (and if it wasn't, it sure as heck was close to it :) At this point I was feeling pretty tired, but I pressed on, knowing that the finish line and the finish to this Delaware-based goal was less than a mile's-worth away (granted I didn't make a wrong turn and get lost). There were still a fair amount of turns in this last mile, as well as a few rolling hills. By the time I got to this place where I jogged with my buddy Steven in a warm-up, I knew I was within about a minute or so of the finish line. I pushed up the hill, and headed straight, almost missing the right turn I think (and if I did almost miss it, I think a course marshal corrected me), and I made a right towards the finish line, and saw that the clock was still under 19 minutes. Seeing that I could still possibly break 19, I bolted down the gentle slope and through the finish line with a finishing time of about 18:53 :)

BY GOD'S GRACE I HAD RUN A RACE IN ALL THREE OF DELAWARE'S COUNTIES IN FOUR DAYS... WELL WITHIN A WEEK :)

WOOHOOO!!!!


YAYAYAYAYAAAAAAAAH!!!


It was a terrific evening with a nice post-race awards ceremony and celebration afterwards. I cooled down and hung out with people. I remember going into the pub afterwards and I might have gotten a quick bite or drink before I headed back to my place in Baltimore County, MD. I was happy to have completed this. Even though it was only a week-long endeavor, it sure was a lot of driving and races within a week of each other. The day before I even started running in these races in Delaware, I had run in the 32nd Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 5K in Kent County, MD on Saturday, May 24, 2008. Then, on Sunday, May 25, I had run in the 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler, followed by the 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K on Monday, May 26. And one of the really amazing things was was that I had hardly done any speedwork and was recently coming from back from a brief time off of running consistently, and I was still able to do many of the 5K races faster than the previous ones; and the 31:45 I ran at the Masser Five-Miler was one of the faster 5-mile times I had run in the past year :) Well, the 18:53 at the Firefly 5K probably wasn't quite as fast as the 18:36 I ran a couple of days earlier at the Mary Husty 5K, but I think that one was a tad bit shorter, but I still think the Mary Husty 5K was slightly faster. God is amazing, and He even blessed me with performances well enough to earn me age-group awards at these four recent races (I finished sixth overall in this Firefly 5K and second in the male 20-29 age-group division :) This was a terrific week, and the races and people helped make it so :)



So ends that "trilogy" of running races in Delaware; a state I still look forward to running races in. Right now, I'm looking forward to doing races and running events in more counties of Maryland, especially ones I haven't done any yet in in Maryland this year. Some races in the near future that I would like to do is the Inaugural Friends of the Howard County Library Fun Run/Walk right near where I grew up in Columbia (Howard County), MD on Saturday, June 7, 2008, the General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon in the Indian Head (Charles County) area of southern Maryland on Sunday, June 29, 2008 (and this would be my first triathlon if I ran it :), the 27th Annual Rock Hall Flat Five in Rock Hall (Kent County), MD on Friday, July 4, 2008, as well as try and do more out in western Maryland like in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington Counties. Plus, it would be swell to run in some cross country races as well as maybe some track & field ones, but I dunno about the latter, as they would seem to coincide with days I may be working at the Teens on Tour Summer Camp with all the day trips we would be taking.

Since I have been behind in my posting this recent spring and summer, I plan on giving details on the General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon and then picking up the blogging (hopefully now on a little more consistent level) from how many races I've done... And don't worry, I'll try and bring back a list of counties I have done running events in this year :)

Thank you all so much for reading this and supporting me on it!



Delaware
(Italicized ones are Delaware counties that I ran in the week of 5-25-to-5-31-2008)

Kent County

- 4th Annual Firefly 5K Run/Walk - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - Smyrna - 6th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) - 18:53 (I have completed my goal of running a race in every county of Delaware within a week :)

New Castle County
- 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K – Monday, May 26, 2008 – University of Delaware, Newark – 8th overall (male 19-29 age-group division winner – Now I’ve won my age group in all three counties of Delaware in my lifetime :) – 18:38 (clock), 18:36 (watch)

Sussex County
- 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler – Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Lewes – 12th overall (3rd in male 25-29 age-group division) – 31:47 (clock), 31:45 (watch – My pace got faster later in the race :)

Running in all of Delaware's counties within a week - Phase 2 - New Castle County, DE

A photo of students walking to class over a footbridge over the Laird campus area of the University of Delaware Campus... This was a point that we ran over early in the Friends of Mary Husty 5K!

Monday, May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day :)

I got up at a fairly early hour after a good night's sleep! I think I was still feeling pretty sore from the Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 5K I had run two days ago in Kent County, MD, the Masser Five-Miler I ran in Sussex County, DE yesterday morning, and the dancing and moving around at last night's wedding. However, I was still determined and pumped up to continue my quest this week to do a race in every county of Delaware this week. I already finished Sussex County yesterday, and I still had Kent and New Castle before me. This morning I planned on getting a race done in New Castle County: The 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K in Newark.

The drive up there wasn't that bad; I don't think much more than a little over an hour from where I live in Baltimore County, MD. The drive up Interstate 95 was comfortable, no real traffic (which is the nice thing about getting up early to drive to races and running events).

I got to the University of Delaware campus with plenty of time to spare to register, pick-up my t-shirt and race packet, warm-up and chill out a bit before the race. I knew I would have to stretch out good, because there were sure to be some hills on this course, and afterwards, I made plans with some of my roommates and friends to play a pick-up game of soccer later that day. Today was going to be pretty busy if I got to do everything that I wanted to do, and I was blessed by God's grace to not be feeling too run down after what I had run and done on Saturday and Sunday. I considered myself most fortunate to have Memorial Day off from my job in the school system so that I could make it to this race.

While warming up and running over to the starting line, which was located at this part on campus called "the Towers", I enjoyed running by all of the trees, buildings and dorms on campus. I had gone for a college visit here back in high school, and I had run some track meets when I ran for Salisbury University, but I never realized quite how large the campus is nor how much taller some of the buildings are compared to some other college campuses.

It was a bright morning, not too hot as I recall. I remember the racing conditions being pretty nice.

We started this race in the middle of this small street and we went down a slight hill and then went over this bridge (which I knew would be quite a bottleneck-sorta-situation, so I just sorta chilled at first). After that I started to try and build into the run as we got back out on the roads and went down a fairly big downhill onto the dirt roads of the nicely shaded Brandywine Park, where we would run the rest of the race (and it was a big relief to know we didn't have to run back up that rather large hill we ran down on the way back). I think I went through the first mile in about 5:48ish and I was surprised that I still had it in me to run like that after running pretty well for my level of fitness in the previous two races. In addition, I kenw I was coming back from an injury and had not been running all that much. I kept pressing on, trying to keep up with these younger runners (there were quite a few high-school/early-college-age runners in front of me). In fact, I think it was someone right around that age-range that won the race. We reached a turn-around point at the bottom of this hill, and then had to turn around, and run back up the hill (which I thought was kinda tough because it sorta threw off my momentum to have to slow down and turn around after a downhill). I was fortunate enough to gain back some momentum and keep on truckin' over the moderate rolling hills of the course.

After this point, I started to begin feeling really exhausted, but I kept pressing on. There were a couple of younger runners just ahead of me, and I was glad, because they sorta pulled me along by motivating me to keep up with them. At this poitn there were gently rolling hills along the shaded road of the park. The road bent to the left and I knew the finish line was coming up in another minute or two, 'cause I remembered passing by it after running down the big hill. I began to surge in anticipation for the finish line, and as the road bent to the right I saw it, and finishing ahead of me was a young girl (who ended up winning the female division out right). I bolted in several seconds behind her in 18:36 (according to my watch), my fastest 5K in a while (well, I actually thought that the course was a tad bit short than an actual 5K, but that's okay). I was definitely happy with my time, and graetful that I was already back to running sub-19-minute times for the 5K after having just run my first sub-20-minute 5K in a while not very long ago.

I cooled down by running out of the park and around some of the University of Delaware's campus. It took me a while to figure out where the starting line was so that I could find and retrieve my water bottle that I left there. After I found that, I jogged over to where the awards were to stretch for a bit. Then, I cut out before the awards started to get back to my place so I could meeet up with my roommates and some friends to play a pick-up game of soccer (which was so fun despite how tired I was from all my recent running, and I hadn't played in a while). I think it helped to be fit from all of the recent running.

Later on, I pleasantly found out via internet results that I had won my age-group division (male 19-29) at the Friends of Mary Husty 5K! WHOOOHOOO! That was huge, because it did not take me long to realize that God has blessed me with either winning my age group or winning the race overall, at least once in all three counties of Delaware within my life time :) That is so awesome and I'm really happy about it. It definitely has set up some positive momentum as I continue to get back into better running shape and get ready to run the 4th Annual Firefly 5K Run/Walk in Smyrna (Kent County), DE on Wednesday, May 28, where I will hopefully finish out my Delaware county-wide running quest within a week!

Stay tuned for the final installment of this "trilogy" :)

Delaware

(Italicized ones are Delaware counties that I ran in the week of 5-25-to-5-31-2008)

Kent County

New Castle County

- 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K – Monday, May 26, 2008 – University of Delaware, Newark – 8th overall (male 19-29 age-group division winner – Now I’ve won my age group in all three counties of Delaware in my lifetime J) – 18:38 (clock), 18:36 (watch)

Sussex County

- 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler – Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Lewes – 12th overall (3rd in male 25-29 age-group division) – 31:47 (clock), 31:45 (watch – My pace got faster later in the race :)

Running in all of Delaware's counties within a week - Phase 1 - Sussex County, DE

Sunday, May 25, 2008

It has certainly been a long time since I've gotten around to updating and I definitely apologize to those of you who have been loyal to checking up on my blogs.

Anyway, as you may remember from last post, on Saturday, May 24, 2008, I ran in the Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 5K in Chestertown (Kent County), MD. 5K is short for "5-kilometers", which is approximately 3.1 miles. I ran about 19:12, which was my best time at that race and I was certainly pleased to have my first sub-20-minute 5K race in since I took a bit of a break from running because of a plantar fascitis injury in my right foot. That was a fun race; saw a few friends and people that I know from other races throughout Maryland and Delaware... It seemed like a huge party, and I certainly felt like I got the "party" aspect of Chestertown Tea Party :) I did that race and it helped kick off my endeavors in the next week to run a race in all three counties (Kent, New Castle, and Sussex) in the state of Delaware within that week. I knew it would be fairly challenging; but also doable. The first county on the map would be Sussex County, which has a lot of the Delaware beaches like Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, and Fenwick Island. The race is called the 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler in Lewes, Delaware. The flat race starts and ends at Cape Henlopen High School and goes through some more rural areas at first, then into housing developments, and then through a more downtown area before finishing back in front of the high school.

I had a nice idea laid out for this. After the Chestertown Tea Party, I would drive from the west end of the Maryland Eastern Shore where Kent County, MD is over to Ocean City on the east side of the shore in Worcester County, MD. My friend Joe lives around there and he was interested in doing hte race, so he would let me stay the night at his place.

I stayed in Chestertown for quite a while and had me a nice crab cake or two (thanks for showin' me where they were Rob)! Afterwards, I still realized I had some time on my hands and I took a scenic little trip to the quaint Chesapeake Bay-side town of Rock Hall, which is also in Kent County. The town is a little over 300 years old now, almost as old as Chestertown, and it has this five mile race on the Fourth of July called the Rock Hall Flat Five, which I would like to do (hopefully this year). I hear it's reputably really hot. I know from past visits if you go more towards the downtown/center of town area, you can see at least some of the faint markings of the course arrows and directions in the ground. It's pretty neat.

After Rock Hall I started to make my way southeast towards Ocean City. I stopped off in Denton (Caroline County), MD to get some munchies from a convenience store, and I saw a couple of people asking for money for medicine. I lent them money and we started talking about some important things; mainly God and faith in Him. They said they had similar beliefs that I did in the salvation of Jesus Christ. Their names were Lori and Sonny, and I told them about how God helped me run a race in every county of Maryland last year and how I was faithful that He would help me in my quest in this coming week to run all three of Delaware's counties within that week. They seemd to think it was neat. I thought it was a terrific interaction, one that I probably wouldn't have had had I not been heading over towads teh coast on this quest.

I got to Joe's place adn we chilled. He decided not to do the race the next day. It worked out, 'cuase he ended up having people over (I think some of which were friends from out-of-town). Needless to say he definitely stayed up really late, and while he was having his party/get-together, I was able to fall asleep pretty nicly in the net room. I woke up in the middle of the night a time-or-two, but not for very long. When I woke up early to hit the 7:30 A.M. race about 40-some minutes away near Rehoboth Beach, I was feeling rpetty tired and not expecting too much, but I preseed on anyone, knowing that I would be beginning this week-long (well hopefully shorter-than-that) endeavor, hopefully in earnest once I started waking up more.

I got to Cape Henlopen High School (the race site) with enough time to warmup and stretch a bit as well as register for the race. I'm glad it started before 8 A.M. because I felt it was already starting to get hot. I figured that probably running in very high 32's, porbably 33-minute range for the five-miler was the best I could reasonable hope for for the shape I was in and having run pretty ard the day before.

The race started and I felt myself build into it. The first mile or so was pretty much on country roads, with fields alongside of us. I went through the first mile in about 6:27, and I thought I wasn't feeling too bad, but I probably wouldn't be able to hold that pace later on in the race. However, when the second mile came up in a sburban neighborhood, I went through it in about 12:54 and I was like "wow, I'm keeping my pace even, because two miles in 12:54 is a 6:27-per-mile-pace." It's neat how math tends to make more sense to me in the context of running. We went back out into a country road again, and I went through 3 miles in about 18:54/18:55ish, and soon after, the 5K in 19:39. Wow, now I had picked it up to under a 6:20-per-mile pace. I was running faster further into the race than when I started; this was so cool! I felt all right, and not only was my 5K split only 27 seconds slower than what I ran in the previous day's 5K race in Chestertown, MD, but I was under 20 minutes and feeling like I still had enough energy to press on.

Now at this point we had reached another housing area, and there were more houses and buildings. I got the sense that perhaps we were entering a more downtown/central section of Lewes. I think around here I saw a water tower, maybe a factory/plant or two, and some telephone lines. We made a left turn soon after the 5K point, and we kept straight on this road through the town. It was nice to have people cheering for us as we ran by. I think I remember going through four miles in aobut 25:20-something (probably in the high 25:20's) or 25:30's. At any rate, I was feeling confident that I would probably be able to break 32 minutes for five miles, which was a lot faster than I had been expecting and a sign that I thought I was getting into better shape than I had been. However, at this point I was feeling pretty tired and there were some people a good ways ahead of me, and quite a few not-to-far behind. Still, God helped me and gave me strength to press on . My right foot maybe felt a little tender, but it was not hurting as much as it had in the past recently.

I was grateful to see the school come into sight, because I knew the race was almost over. With the people behind me gaining on me (at least that' what it sounded like), I was able to dig down a little more and get enough energy for a strong kick at the end. As I bolted through the line, I looked at my watch and saw that I had run it in about 31:45. WOW! That was terrific :) I had not only run faster than I expected , but I had started out running the first couple of miles at a 6:27-per-mile pace, but then built into it more from there to where I was running a 6:21-per-mile pace on average. The clock time had me at 31:47, which was fine, 'cause I started a little ways back in the pack and it took me a couple of seconds to reach the starting line, which is where I start my watch.

I couldn't believe that I had run that time for five miles. Yea, I know it's flat, but I had been getting back into consistent running and I had run what I thought was at a pretty tough pace for a 5K the previus day, so id did not thing I woudl be able to even really run under 33 minutes, if so barely.

It was a terrific morning to say the least. Aftwerwards, I hung out and was pleasantly surprised to see that I had earned an age-group award (3rd in the male 25-29 age group category). I saw a lot of people and friends I've met through college and the Maryland and Delaware Eastern Shore races. The gentleman that won it in 27 minutes-and-some-seconds was a former teammate of mine from Salisbury University's cross country and track & field teams. He had always been a strong runner and I was glad to see that he was still running some solid times. I am happy for him!

I had to leave the race soon after that, 'cause my friends from college, Erica and Josh were getting married later that evening at their local church in Reisterstown (Carroll County), MD, so I had quite a few hours worth of driving ahead of me to get back to my place in Baltimore County to get cleaned and dressed up, and then head over to Reisterstown for the wedding (which was just within an hour or so of where I lived).

The wedding was an awesome one; one of the most lavish and beautiful ones I've ever seen. They even had a worship cermeony as part of the wedding ceremony with some dancers at the beginning of it. My friend and I carpooled from the church to the receptoin and we kinda we were following a coupla other people there, but I think they made a couple of wrong turns. It was funny, because we kept having to turn around in the road, which fortunately was not that big or crowded. The reception was at this country club or maybe it was a very nice hotel. Great food, dancing, and company there... I saw a lot of people and friends from colllege, especially from Campus Crusade for Christ, and on-campus ministry that I was a part of at Salisbury University. Wonderful times; terrific photos were taken and lots of fun was had. I am very happy for Josh and Erica.

I didn't stay up that late I felt, I think I was back at my place by midnight. I didn't want to stay up much later, because I knew tomorrow (Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2008), I would be heading up to the University of Delaware in Newark (New Castle County), DE to run in the 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K. Of all three counties in Delaware, at least this would be the closest one to where I was living at in Baltimore County, only taking a little over an hour to get there if the traffic wasn't that dense. I knew this one would probably be fairly hilly. Having run two races two days in a row, I didn't know how much energy I would have for next day's 5K. At least I was thoroughly happy with how I had run this weekend so far, and I'm sure whatever I would run in the next day, would not change that.

Stay tuned for my next installment of the Delaware Counties running trilogy!

Delaware Counties I have run in the week of May 25 - Saturday, May 31, 2008

Kent County

New Castle County

Sussex County

- 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler - Sunday, May 25, 2008 - Lewes - 12th overall (3rd in male 25-29 age-group division) - 31:47 (clock), 31:45 (watch - My pace got faster later in the race :)

Prologue to my "Delaware Week Trilogy": The Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

For the past two years I have made it to the Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic; which includes a choice between two races; a 5-kilometer (about 3.1 miles long) race or a 10-mile race. Both courses are relatively flat with gently rolling hills. It is actually still one of the more hilly races I've encountered on the relatively flat Maryland Eastern Shore and I would say aside from the Governor's Bay Bridge Run that goes from the Maryland Eastern Shore across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the more central area of Maryland, that the Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic is one of the most popular races on the Maryland Eastern Shore. One of the things that keeps me coing back is how well the event is put on (including the free Rita's snowballs after the race, YUM)!!! I also like how people from all over Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania (just to name a few states) come to the Maryland Eastern Shore for this race. After running a race in every county of Maryland last year, I really got to see a lot of familiar faces from all over Maryland at the race, which was really awesome. I stayed there long after I finished just hanging out with and talking to other runners I hadn't seen in a while. It definitely put the "party" in post-race party. I saw some people from the Howard County Striders, Annapolis/southern Maryland area, the Maryland Eastern Shore, and even from western Maryland. My friend, Phil (who was kind enough to send me the photos above) was one of the people who came from western Maryland to do the event. He was staying with his friend, Don (who is also pictured above). I met Phil last June, when I went to Garrett County to run in the First Annual Grantsville Days 5K in Grantsville, MD. When I saw Phil at that race, I saw him wearing a Stockley Stride 5K race t-shirt, and I thought "wait a minute, I think that's a race that the Sea Shore Striders put on in Sussex County, Delaware near the Rehoboth Beach area). I started talking to him about it and I found out he used to live on the Eastern Shore and had done his share of races on the Maryland and Delaware Eastern Shore. In fact, I had my 2006 Crab Derby Mike Sterling 10K t-shirt on and he mentioned that he had run that 10K a long time ago in Crisfield (Somerset County), MD. Needless to say, we had a fun time hitting it off at a western Maryland race talking about the Eastern Shore. It was pretty cool to see the effects that going all over Maryland for races was having on what I could bring to a conversation about races in different places of Maryland. So yea, Phil and I kept in touch via e-mail and he became a supporter of me in my Maryland-wide running endeavors and a friend too. That is one fine example of how I feel God has blessed my endeavors in running in running events in different counties of Maryland; I would probably never have met some of the people I have met nor experienced some of the things I have expereienced had I not attempted it!

Back to the Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic... In 2006 I ran the 5K in 19:21; a time which at the time I knew I could definitely improve upon. In 2007, I ran the 10-miler and struggled through that because I lost feeling in my legs for a large portion of the race because I was not eating or resting as much as I should have (it was probably more or less due to not eating as much). I ran just under an hour and fifteen minutes by my watch (even though the clock read 1:15:01, but I think that discrepancy was because I started a little ways back from the starting line at the start of the race and I did not start my watch until I got to the starting line). This year I decided to go back to the 5K, 'cause at this point I was getting back into consistent running, and I thought a 5K would be more appropriate to my current fitness level.

I went through the first mile in about 5:46, and I was like "whoa that's the fastest mile I've run in a while!" The course had changed this year. Instead of starting on a downhill start on Washington College's campus, it started flat on the roads by the entrance to Wilmer Park in Chestertown. The end was still the same for both the ten-mile and 5K races: Wilmer Park. I don't think the change of the course affected the relatively easy first mile, the end of which, however, was on a slight uphill. From the second mile we went up a steady upgrade on a country road. Two people were ahead of me in the 5K, one person ahead of me running the 10-miler (in case I didn't mention it before, both races started simultaneously), and another person running the ten-miler was just behind me before we turned around near the half-way point. At that point the ten-milers went straight while us 5K'ers retraced our steps the way we came.

I passed through two-miles in about 12:05, not bad at all. I remembered that my best time at this 5K was 19:21 (even though the course was slightly different when I ran it back in May of 2006 with the starting line being more up in the college campus than in front of Wilmer Park), and I thought that if I kept up the pace I could definitely beat that time. The two-mile mark was at the beginning of a steady down hill where we then made a left and took a long flat road back the way we came towards Wilmer Park. even though it was flat, I found this stretch of road kind of tough because of some moderate wind resistance. I felt the wind slowing me a bit as well as fatigue from not having run this hard in a while. God helped me press on and soon I ran over a bridge that went over the Chester River (I think that was the body of water that the course crosses over), a landmark letting me know I was closing in on the finish line. I tried to maintain a solid and strong form and I came up on Wilmer Park, made a right turn into the park and ran down the slight downhill to cross the finish line in the parking lot below in... 19:12!!!! Wow! My first 5K in a while and already it was in the lower 19's. The clock had gotten me at 19:15, and my watch was at about 19:12, and that was because it took me about three seconds to get to the starting line after the race started, and I started my watch at the starting line. Since I hadn't run in a while and I had two other races I planned on running in in the next two days, I really wanted to go conservatively. Yes my pace definitely slowed, but I thought it was a nice first 5K since I started back with consistent running, and I thought that this 5K included more uphills than the 2006 version with a different starting area. Plus, there was the wind. I'm pretty happy with it; it was about nine seconds faster than the 19:21 I ran at that 5K in 2006 (even though the course was slightly different back then).

I had a lot of fun at the post-race party, because like I said before, I recognized and got to catch up with other people I had met at races and running events throughout Maryland. That was probably one of the most fun things about it.

Now one of the reason I did this race was because it was sorta on the way to Ocean City (Worcester County), MD where my friend Joe lives. Even though that's on the other side of the Maryland Eastern Shore from Chestertown (which is on the west end of the Maryland Eastern Shore in Kent County), I thought it still put me a little closer than going to it from my place in Baltimore County, Maryland. We were talking about doing the Masser Five-Miler the next day in Lewes (Sussex County), Delaware right by Rehoboth Beach. None of us had done that one before, and I wanted to do it to start my week-long endeavor of trying to run in a running event in all three counties of Delaware within a week. After that I would hopefully go on to do the 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K right by the University of Delaware campus in Newark (New Castle County), Delaware on Monday, May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day). Soon afterwards I would hopefully make it over to Kent County, Delaware for the 4th Annual Firefly 5K in Smyrna, DE, where I would finish out my week-long goal, God-willing!

Having gotten a really solid sub-20-minute 5K in after not much running really boosted my confidence and led me to look forward to the three (hopefully) upcoming races in and all over Delaware.

Also worth mentioning is the photos above taken after the run. The left photo (from left-to-right) is one with Dr. Lee Masser, and my friends Don and Phil, and then myself. Dr. Masser is a famous runner, having made many contributions to the running community and I hear he runs in at least like a hundred races-a-year. As a matter of fact, the Masser 5-Miler I had planned to run the next day is named after him and it is one of the more famous and popular races in Delaware. In fact, its promotion reaches all the way to Columbia (Howard County), MD where I grew up. Don is pretty cool; he's famous for doing ultra marathons and running from Easton (Talbot County), MD to Salisbury (Wicomico County), MD and then back. While these locations are both on the Maryland Eastern Shore, the run there and back is well over a hundred miles worth! Very inspiring stuff; several months back I read a newspaper article about his LONG distance running. Phil was the friend I made when I ran the Grantsville Days 5K back in the June of 2007 in Garrett County, MD and he is friends with Don. He came from western Maryland with his wife to spend the weekend with Don and run the race. It was great to see them both there.

In the photo on the right, it shows the awards that Don (right), Phil (middle), and myself earned in our age groups (that was a wonderful bonus to be blessed with age-group-based performance awards at such a prestigious event :)

Thank you for reading about my running and a bit about my social life that has come with it. I also really thank you all who have been praying for me on my week-long Delaware-wide running endeavor; God can definitely help with that. Your support and attention are awesome! I look forward to having details about how my attempt on running in running events in all three of Delaware's counties within a week went down.

Take it easy and enjoy :)

I interrupt these updates to tell you I am getting ready for my first triathlon attempt...

... Yup that's right, I am going to tri and do a multi-sport event: The General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon at General Smallwood Park in Marbury/Indian Head (Charles County), MD. I have been doing a lot of cross training coming off of my plantar fascial injury with biking, swimming, and weight lifting and I thought it would be neat to tri and set a goal with it in addition to my running, so I decided to train for a triathlon that includes a 750-meter swim (that's a bit less than half-a-mile), a 16-mile bike ride, and a 5K run. Another reason I've been doing it is because it's a running event in Charles County, a county in Maryland where I at least have trouble finding year-around running events, and if I haven't told you, I'm now trying to do a running event in every county in Maryland within half-a-year's time period this year, and I think this triathlon would fall nicely into that schedule.
I think this will be a big step for me athletically. To have come from a kid who was afraid of going underwater or going into the deep end of a local neighborhood pool, to getting ready to do a triathlon, is an awesome testimony of God's transformative powers in my life. There was a time in my life where I felt that at least among my group of peers and other kids and teens my age, I would be the least likely to attempt something like this, now I feel like I'm in shape enough to justify tri-ing a triathlon! I have a lot of faith that God will get me through and I hope that this can help boost my testimony of how Jesus Christ has changed and continues to change my life. I would say the best way you could support me is with prayer; especially for all the logistics involved, the transition areas between the swimming, biking, and running parts of the event, and just for good health and safety, and most importantly, I would like for this to glorify God and to do this as if I am serving God. If you could pray for me in any way in regards to this, that would be much appreciated!

Now I know that my last post came from events I did around the beginning-to-middle of May (like Mother's Day), and I've leapt to the present in my posts. I really apologize for my slow rate of updating on this thing the past couple of months. I'm looking forward to getting caught back up with it. Between May and now, I've done quite a few races and events; experiences I would like to share about on this blog. It's about a month-and-a-half's-worth of material, but I'm hoping to cover it. I think it's been taking time to actually make and do these events, plus training for the triathlon, has slowed me down in writing. I'm fortunate I've been able to use the weight room, stationary bikes, and swimming pool at Howard Community College, since I've taken teaching certificate courses over there.

I hope that at least with this post I've brought you up to speed on my next and current running-related endeavor. My next post should be back to mid-May about some running events I did back then (along with some photos hopefully). Also know that I'm pretty sure my level of running fitness has improved since May and I have been running fairly consistently again (like five-to-six times a week thereabouts). I'm hoping to get back into a more structured running regimen that would include interval workouts, possibly fartleks (I think it's Swedish for "speed play" where you go for a run and run some parts of it hard and other parts of it easy), and long runs within a week-or-two's worth of training.

I also hope that once I'm all caught up on updating (and God-willing I hope that happens), I'll probably bring back the list of the running events I've done in each county of Maryland so far this year.

All right, thank you all so much for reading. It is a blessing to have your attention, support and prayers. God-willing I get through this triathlon, I'll get the details about it once I've caught up to that point in my updates. If you would like details sooner, just e-mail or call me. All right, God bless you all and enjoy the day and weekend :)

"May Day, May Day... I Got Lost!"

Sunday, May 18, 2008 found me heading back up yet again to Cecil County, Maryland for another race: The Paws for Life/Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue May Day 5K. This race took place at this farm with some well-paved and relatively safe trails in Chesapeake City, MD. It looked appealing because about a year ago I had driven through a bit of Chesapeake City and I thought it was scenic, so when I came upon mention of this event on Active.Com, I figured it may be something to consider. My friend Joe from the Maryland Eastern Shore (who ran with me earlier in May at the McCready Health Services Foundation Founder's Day 8K in Crisfield (Somerset County), MD said he was planning on coming to the Baltimore area for the Preakness horse races. We were talking about doing the May Day 5K possibly and that sort of got me in the mindset to do it for fun, even though this was the week I started back with running on my own. However, his plans to come visit and go to Preakness did not work out. Yet, I still had it in my mind to go to the race, and I figured that since I was also available to do it, I'd give it a shot.

So I was once more on the road again towards cecil County. The previous week I had done a 4K in the same county (the Run for Reading 4K in North East), and you can read the previous blog entry for more details on how I accidentally cut that course a bit short... Little did I know that at this race I would perhaps... compensate for that.

I got to the race area which looked like a rural farm area along a long straight country dirt road with trees on both sides, almost as if I were driving down an aisle towards some huge mansion or castle (and we probably covered a little over a quarter-mile's worth of that long flat and straight road in the last part of the race). The farm building and stables seemed to really be the only signs of human activity out there in rural Chesapeake City. I was glad to see a fair turn out of other participants and people staffing the race. In fact, I saw one guy I knew (who had helped design the course), and the last time I had seen him was over a year ago back in early April of 2007. He helped direct this informal trail run up in Fair Hill (Cecil County), MD. It was the Fool's Frolic 22K (I ran the shorter 5-6 mile route that they had there). It was the first Cecil County running event I had ever run and it was after that race that helped me make a decision to try and run in a running event in every county of Maryland before 2007 ended... And that's sorta what got me started on these blogs. It was great to see him and catch up with him. We had kept in touch via e-mails after that trail run and he seemed interested and supportive of my Maryland-wide running quest, and it was just nice to see him again.

I felt all right warming up. I was surprised to feel decent, because yesterday I had gone running/walking with my friend, Corrie (that young lady I met when I was volunteering at the Bryant Woods Montessori Backyard Dash 5K Run in Columbia in late April). We went a lot further than expected. We went around Lake Elkhorn Howard County and then took the bike paths all the way out to the Jessup-Savage area of Howard County, and then all the way to the Savage Mill (which is a quaint antique mall for the most part in Savage, MD). We walked around the Savage Mill a bit and then retraced our steps (minus taking another lap around Lake Elkhorn). We probably ended up covering about eight-to-nine miles, and a large majority of it was walking and talking. I was fine with it; it was great weather, great company, and great conversations. Just walking that distance is a good enough work out for me on most days, haha!

The race started on that long dirt road I described and then quickly made a left turn into some shaded trails where a majority of the race course was. I did not feel that tired or fatigued at all like I did a little bit the previous day after the long run/walk Corrie and I did. In fact, just around when we made that first left turn, I boldly moved into the lead and I felt great and put on a bit of a surge to extend that lead. I felt good running in the shade along the soft and fairly non-treacherous trail. I knew that the coordinator who spoke course instructions before the race started said that there was to be another turn coming up before going into the woods (at least that's what I thought), and to follow the markings. So when I came to a marker, I thought I saw it pointing down a trail to the right, so I took that, thinking that it looked like a more obvious direction for the course to go. I shot down the slight constant decline of the dirt road/path that I was on. I was away from the shade of the trees with the tree line to my left and a small open field to my right. I also must have really put on a solid lead, because I did not hear anyone following me.

I got close to the river towards the bottom of the hill, expecting to see a marker to tell me to turn left back into the woods, but I did not see anything at all except for some abandoned log cabin/small house by the river side and a dirt driveway in front of it (well at least I did not think anyone was home). I began to get worried and ran around in a circle around the driveway looking for some course markings or signs of the race, but I did not find any. I looked behind me and saw no one coming, and then I saw the river and I thought I had heard mention of running along a river or something in the instructions. Then, it occurred to me that after seeing that marker when I made a right turn onto this road, that I had not seen any markers on my way down towards the river/creek (of course, it was hard to think clearly or see clearly when running that hard). Either way, I was pretty sure my worry was validated:

I had made a wrong turn! Yikes!

I've heard that phrase a lot about pride coming before the fall, but even though I was not that prideful when I took the early lead in the race, had I stayed behind someone for longer, I probably would not have made the wrong turn.

I did not dally once I realized this and ran back the way I came, uphill this time. Several minutes later I made it back to the shaded trail, which I realized I should have stayed on and looked at the course marker more closely, realizing that it did in fact point straight ahead into the woods versus the dirt road leading out of the woods. Frustrated at myself for messing up big time in following the race course directions, I felt a strong surge of adrenaline help power me through the trails. Now I'm usually a bit apprehensive about running trails, but these seemed well-paved and I did not want to slow up; I wanted to compensate for taking myself almost ten minutes-worth off of the course.

About midway through on my "dash" through the woods, I looked at my watch and I think I remember it was nearing the upper teens. I knew I still had a ways to go to complete the intended five-kilometer course, even though I was probably getting close to finishing 5 kilometers worth of running anyway... It just was not on the proper course... DoWT!!! (in a Homer Simpson kinda tone).

I figured from this point it would probably be more of a realistic goal to try and finish the race in under thirty minutes. With that in mind I tried to keep up the solid pace. When I came to a small uphill that led to a clearing I ran out into the clearing but soon realized that htere were no markers nearby. Then I looked further ahead and saw runners running across the far end of the meadow from the woods on the right.

"GRRR! Mr. Wood you've done it again!"

My second wrong turn on the course probably cost me at least the better part of a minute, and I wasted no time in getting back to that small hill and looking at the marker closely, angled off to the left and continued to follow the creek/river to my right. Eventually I was clear of the woods and I ran through the fields, catching up to about two or three other runners. Before I knew it, I made a left turn onto the long flat finishing stretch on the dirt road with columns of trees on both sides that I drove down to get to the race site at Mitton Farm. Even though this road was really flat, it seemed so long. I would say I kicked for a little over a quarter-mile's worth towards a finish line that seemed so close yet was further than it looked down the straight road. Here, I think I really felt the exhaustion of having gone further than intended and having pushed the pace, but fortunately I was almost through the course.

I dashed across the finish line in 29:18 and doubled over to catch my breath. I could still feel some adrenaline from frustration at having gone the wrong way twice, and some from almost catching a young lady in front of me near the finish. 29:18... Now I would say that going at the pace I was going at, that I had covered at least 4.5 miles and that I had probably run about 9-10 minutes extra in going the wrong way twice. Ah well, at least it gives me extra motivation to come back to this race next year (I do believe they said they would try and have it next year), or at least some time in the future, and see how I would do going the correct way and HOPEFULLY being in much better shape having done more consistent running. I was pleased that the long run/walk that Corrie and I did the previous day did not at all seem to wear down on me while running this race. In fact, I think it served as a solid confidence booster 'cause I knew I could run/walk for about 8-9 miles and still feel all right enough to do a 5K the next day. I was also blessed that I earned second place in the 20-29 age-group division (and I think age group awards only went two deep in each age-group division). The bottom photo is of me with my medal for placing second in my age-group. Also worth noting in the right photo above is that you can see my car (it's the gold Saturn on the left from where the woman is standing). The top two photos I think either came from the Paws for Life website (http://www.pawsforlife.org) or the Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue website (http://www.midatlantichorserescue.org). I am grateful that I did this race. Chesapeake City is a beautiful place in its more suburban and urban areas right by the water, but the rural area where this event was is just as scenic. I'm glad I at least got to see more of it than what I bargained for ;)-

Later that afternoon, I actually felt motivated to do a Howard County Striders Weekly Series race (they often have them on Sunday afternoons during the fall, winter, and spring). They had a two-miler and a 10-kilometer at Thunder Hill Elementary School in Columbia, MD. I decided to do the two-mile at a chill pace, and that is what I did. I ended up doing the fairly hilly course in 13:36 (which was faster than my two-mile split from the 5K earlier that morning because I had gone the wrong way in that 5K). This race was the fifth in the Striders' Spring Series called the "Vernal Velocity". Soon after the race, I still felt all right and I headed off to church.

All in all, it was a pretty nice day. Glad I did not get lost and that the Good Lord kept me safe, helped me see more fo the rural forestry of Cecil County, and gain some confidence in knowing that I could run longer than I intended too considering I had not been running that much. Thank you for reading up on my second adventure and week-in-a-row of getting lost at a Cecil County race. The previous week I ran accidentally cut the Run for Reading 4K course short, and then I ran longer on this one, so maybe it all evens out :) All right, thank you again for stopping by!


Stay tuned for next weekend's update. I'm sure as some of you have heard, I attempted to run a race/running event in all three counties of Delaware (Kent, New Castle, and Sussex Counties) within a week starting on Memorial Day weekend. I'll try and let you know how it went down. Take it easy!