Post-2007 Maryland-Wide Running Quest: October 2007

Saturday, October 27, 2007

10!!!!

Well, I made it to and through the rainy 10 - The Race 5-Kilometer Run this morning in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland. Having not run since the Sneakers and Creepers 5K in Wicomico County, Maryland on Sunday, I was feeling a bit winded from the start, but held on all right. The race started at the Merriweather Post Pavilion and went all the way out to Clemen's Crossing Elementary School before turning around to finish at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. The race was not that hillly, maybe some rather light rolling hills, but a little more challenging than the last two 5K's I've run on the Maryland Eastern Shore.
I ran all right, a 20:44 according to my watch (the clock read about 20:46 since it took me a couple of seconds to reach the starting line after the race and clock started). I was cramping up a little bit in my right leg (especially around my right foot), an area of my body that has been hurting me a little bit before I began this "off-season". I don't plan on running again or hopping in a race for fun again until maybe later in November, and then, perhaps I'll start running more consistently.
Lance Armstrong came to participate in this event. Apparently he's a very strong runner as well as an excellent biker. I heard he ran about 17:41 and when I saw him at the turn-around point on the course, it looked like he was in third and I heard he finished around there. I don't think they really kept track of places, awards, or results in general, so I have no idea exactly what place I finished. I can only guess that maybe I was perhaps in the top twenty, probably the top thirty. It was a pretty nice run and the temperature was great considering the light rain during the most of the event.
Despite hurting a little bit when I ran and getting cold and wet afterwards, I thought it was a pretty cool event. Maybe they'll have it here next year. I took several photos around the Merriweather Post Pavilion area, hopefully I can get 'em here in the near future!
I'm gonna get goin' soon and head out with some friends to a Halloween party thingy. I'm thinkin' of dressin' up as someone caught in a "timewarp" sorta thing, I'll dress sorta half casual modern, and half-medieval witht he help of my Rennaissance Festival garb.
I hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Salisbury University's Homecoming Weekend - Sneakers and Creepers 5K Run!

Hey there, last weekend I spent some time with some of my friends around Salisbury (Wicomico County), Maryland for the Homecoming game (which Salisbury University, my alma mater, won, GO SEAGULLS! :) Had a fun weekend, aside from spending some time at the game, I got to see friends, eat out a few times, play pick-up games of two-hand-touch football and ultimate frisbee, and I even got to run in a free 5-Kilometer run in Salisbury for fun on Sunday, October 21, 2007. This race was called the Sneakers and Creepers 5K. They had a clock, but I do not think they were really going to have results or awards because it was meant to be more of a low-key thing. However, I heard the random prizes were really cool (I did not stick around long after I finished, as I wanted to get to church in Hebron (Wicomico County), Maryland later that morning).
I guess I was in such a rush, plus with running into and chattin' with people that I know from the Maryland Eastern Shore running scene, I forgot to take photos. IT was a pretty nice run, mostly flat with a few light hills. The race started and finished at the Peninsula Regional Hospital in Salisbury and it went through some shaded neighborhoods all the way out to and around the Salisbury University campus (which I thought was pretty cool). Like the previous wekeend in Rock Hall (Kent County), Maryland, I ran another 20:10 (although the clock probably said something like 20:15, I started about five seconds I suppose after the race started since I was a good distance back in the crowd when the race started). I built into it and ended up gaining ground on other runners. I felt a lot stronger in this run than I did at the Oyster Run 5K Race the previous weekend in Rock Hall, I don't think I was really hurting anywhere. Towards the end, I almost missed the last big turn and I think that slowed me up, so I could very well have turned in an ever-so-slightly faster 5K time than I did the previous week. Plus I was maybe a little sore from playing football and frisbee yesterday (though I was blessed enough not to feel it). Also, the person who finished right around where I did said that he thought I probably got around fourth place. Hey , I could believe it, since the gentleman who finished first said he ran about a 19:01.

Well, I'm thinkin' I'm gonna try to slow it down even more in these races and events that I "hop in just for fun", because I am not really running or trainiing consistently and I'm supposed to be letting my body rest up. Although I felt strong and healthy on this last run, I still think it's important to rest up while I can. I hopped in the race in Rock hall the previous weekend because it seemed interested, and I ran this one in Salisbury because it was free and I was in town. The next race I hope to run for "fun" will porbably be this wekeend around home in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland. This is called 10-The Event 5K Run (or something like that) that starts and ends at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia. I wan tto go because I hear Lance Armstrong, of Tour-de-France fame will be there, but instead of biking in the twenty-mile or metric century bike rides, he is apparently running in the 5K run. Maybe, just maybe, I might get to meet him, and even tell him about my recently successful endeavor to run in a running event in all of Maryland's counties this year. For more information on this rather unique event, check out:

http://10theevent.com/

Thank you all for reading and I apologize for my slacking on these blogs. I hope you all have a good evening and upcoming weekend :)

Running Events I have done this year as of Thursday, October 25, 2007

Maryland

Allegany County

- Queen City Striders Junior Striders Cross Country meet (1 mile and 2 mile) – Tuesday evening, June 19, 2007 – Paris N. Glendenning Park/Frostburg

- One mile race – 2nd overall – 5:51

- Two mile race – 7th overall – 12:37

Anne Arundel County

– Governor’s “Non-Bay Bridge” Run (2.93 miles) – Sunday, May 6, 2007 - Sandy Point State Park/Annapolis – 8th overall (1st in 20-24-year-old age group) – 18:09 (clock), 18:07 (my watch)

– Metro Harriers’ fourth summer track and field all-comers meet – Thursday, July 19, 2007 – North County High School, Ferndale/Glen Burnie, MD

– 1,500 meters – 1st overall – 4:42

– 800 meters – 2nd overall – 2:21

– 3,000 meters – 2nd overall – 10:41

– John Wall Memorial Track Run (One mile) – Saturday, July 21, 2007 – Broadneck Senior High School track, Annapolis – 6th overall (1st in 20-29 year-old age group) – 4:53

– Dog Days 8K Cross Country Run – Sunday, August 5, 2007 – Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold – 13th overall (3rd in 20-29 year age group) – 32:18 (clock), 32:17 (watch)

– National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Coalition Run for Her 5K – Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis – 7th overall - 22:26

Baltimore City

- Survivor Harbor 7-mile/3-mile – Sunday, June 10, 2007 – Baltimore City – 2nd overall (3-mile run) – 17:56 (clock), 17:53 (watch)

Baltimore County

– Patapsco State Park Avalon area trail race (a little over 6 miles) – Sunday, May 13th, 2007 – Near University of Maryland-Baltimore County/Arbutus area – 18th overall – 58:03

– PopPop and Pinhead Trail Scramble (about 5-6 miles) – Saturday, June 9, 2007 - Perry Hall/Gunpowder Falls State Park area – 5th overall - 52:14

– Bull Run Invitational Reunion Run (3 miles) – Saturday, September 29, 2007 – Hereford High School, Parkton – 24th overall – 19:45 (clock), 19:41 (watch)

Calvert County

- 12th Annual North Beach 5K – Saturday, September 15, 2007 – North Beach, MD – 3rd overall – 18:48 – The event that marked my completion of a race in all my goal areas of Maryland!!!! :)

Caroline County

- Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day Fun Run (10K) – Saturday, April 21st, 2007 – Ridgley – 1st overall – 37:59 PR (Personal Record/best time in that distance!!!!! :)

- Caroline Hospice Remembrances Five-Miler – Saturday, September 22, 2007 – Federalsburg – 3rd overall (1st in 20-29 age group) – 33:59

Carroll County

- Westminster Road Runners Club (W.R.R.C.) Predicted Time Four-Miler – Saturday, March 10, 2007 – Westminster/Bachman Valley area – 2nd person in, 14th closest to predicted time – 25:34 (my predicted time was 27:00, I was 1:26 fast, whoops :)-

- Andy Hayes Memorial 5K Run – Saturday, April 7, 2007 – Westminster/near Farm Museum – 2nd overall – 18:47

- Inaugural River Valley Run 5K – Saturday, August 25, 2007 – River Valley Ranch, Manchester – 5th overall (2nd in 20-29 age group) – 19:15 (clock), 19:13 (watch)

- 4th Annual Eldersburg Labor Day 5K Rogue Race – Monday, September 3, 2007 – Eldersburg – 7th overall (1st in 20-29 age group division) – 19:35.0 (best time at the event :)

Cecil County

- Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area (N.M.R.A.) Fools Frolic 22K (I ran the much shorter 5-6 mile route) – Sunday, April 1, 2007 – Fair Hill/Elkton – First person in, but it was not much of a race, just pretty much me and another gentleman chillin’ and chattin’ our way through – 1 hour, 21 minutes, 55 seconds

- Run4Fun 5K Run/Walk – Sunday, June 3, 2007 – Elkton – 5th overall (1st in 20-29 year-old age group) – 19:29

Charles County

- Civista Health Services Run for Wellness 5K – Sunday, May 20, 2007 – LaPlata – 5th overall (1st in male 20-29 age group) – 19:14 (clock), 19:08 (chip)

Dorchester County

- Dorchester Family YMCA Healthy Kid’s Day Fun Run (1.9 miles, mainly flat cross country) – Saturday, April 14, 2007 - Cambridge – 1st overall – 10:54 (ran negative splits too :)

Frederick County

- 11th Annual Frederick Steeplechasers Run for the Pie 10K – Saturday, July 14, 2007 – Frederick 4th overall (1st in the 20-24 age group) – 42:39

Garrett County

- 1st Annual Grantsville Days 5K – Saturday, June 23, 2007 – Grantsville – 8th overall (3rd in male 20-29 age group division) – 18:37 (clock), 18:36 (watch)

Harford County

- 2nd annual Eden Mill 5-Miler (4.8 miles approximately) – Sunday, July 1, 2007 – Eden Mill Park, Pylesville – 2nd overall – 30:37 (clock), 30:35 (watch)

Howard County

- Howard County Striders (H.C.S.) Weekly Winter Series (a.k.a. “Operation Iceberg”) # 3: Atholton High School 5 Kilometer – Sunday, January 21, 2007 – Columbia – 15th overall – 19:43

- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #4: Thunder Hill Elementary School 2miles – Sunday, January 28, 2007 - Columbia - 30th overall - 20:17

- Penguin Pace 5K – Sunday, February 4, 2007 – Columbia – 8th overall (1st in 20-29 age group) – 18:43.86

- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #6: Thunder Hill Elementary School 2 miles – Sunday, February 18, 2007 – Columbia – 2nd overall – 11:52 (my best time on that course :)

- Outback’s 5K for the YMCA – Sunday, March 11, 2007 – Ellicott City – 9th overall – 18:01.05 (clock), 17:59/18:00 (my watch – my best time on that course :)

- H.C.S. Spring Series Race (“Vernal Velocity) #1: Burleigh Manor Middle School 2 miles – Sunday, April 1, 2007 - Ellicott City/Columbia area – 2nd overall – 10:51 (best time on the course :)

- Inaugural Musical Madness 5K – Saturday, May 12, 2007 – Maple Lawn/Fulton/Scaggsville – 7th overall (1st in 20-29 age group category) – 18:48.71

- Damien F. Massella Run for Recovery 5K – Sunday, June 24, 2007 – Columbia – 52nd overall – 19:58.12 (clock), 19:55 (watch)

- Centennial Fun Run (one mile)#3 – Tuesday, July 10, 2007 – Ellicott City area – 1st overall – 5:11 (tied my second-best time on the course :)

- Centennial Fun Run (one mile)#4 – Tuesday, July 17, 2007 – Ellicott City area – 12th overall – 5:44

- H.C.S. Summer Series Race (“Summer Sizzler”) #3: Burleigh Manor Middle School 2 miles – Wednesday, July 18, 2007 – Ellicott City/Columbia area – 1st overall – 11:02

- PRE – Season Cross Country Races – Saturday, August 11, 2007 – Oakland Mills High School, Columbia

- 5K – 11th overall – 18:53 (best time on the course :)

- 3K – 5th overall – 15:12

- Emerson Community Fun Run (one mile) #6 – Tuesday, August 14, 2007 – North Laurel – 1st overall – 5:27 – Hit the fifty-races-per-year mark with this for the Fifty-Plus Club :)

- Emerson Community Fun Run (one mile) # 7 – Tuesday, August 21, 2007 – North Laurel – 1st overall – 5:26 (my best time on the course :)

- H.C.S. Summer Series (“Summer Sizzler”) #7: Burleigh Manor Middle School 5 miles – Wednesday, August 22, 2007 – Ellicott City/Columbia area – 3rd overall – 32:33

- 16th Annual Police Pace 5K – Sunday, September 9, 2007 – Columbia/Ellicott City area – 16th overall – 18:37.69

- H.C.S. Fall Series Race (“Legends of the Fall”) #1: Swansfield Elementary School 5K – Sunday, September 16, 2007 – Columbia – 8th overall – 19:27

- H.C.S. Fall Series Race (“Legends of the Fall”) #2: Longfellow Elementary School 2-miles – Sunday, September 23, 2007 – Columbia – 4th overall – 13:37

Kent County

- 31st Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic (10 miler) – Saturday, May 26, 2007 – Chestertown – 31st overall (2nd in 20-24 age group) – 1:15:01 (clock), 1:14:57 (watch)

- Inaugural Oyster Run 5K Race – Saturday, October 13, 2007 – Rock Hall – 2nd overall (1st in 20-35 “open men” age group) – 20:10

Montgomery County

- Gaithersburg Firebirds Track one mile race – Thursday, April 12, 2007 – Gaithersburg – 3rd overall – 5:04.88

- Comus Cross Country 5K – Sunday, August 12, 2007 – Comus/Dickerson – 10th overall (1st in age group division) – 20:29

Prince George’s (P.G.) County

- 49th Annual Larry Noel Greenbelt 15K and 3K (15K) – Sunday, September 2, 2007 – Greenbelt - 13th overall (2nd in 20-29 age group division) – 1:06:50

Queen Anne’s County

- Shore Christian Fellowship Church’s Inaugural Race to Impact (10K) – Saturday, March 24th, 2007 – Chester/Kent Narrows/Kent Island (it was all on the shaded Cross Island Trail) – 1st overall – 38:51

Saint Mary’s County

- National Trails Day 5K (it was a little more than that, probably closer to 3.5 miles) – Saturday, June 2, 2007. – St. Mary’s City area – 1st overall – 21:38

Somerset County

- 2nd Annual McCready Health Services Foundation’s Founder’s Day 8K Run & 2-mile walk – Saturday, May 5, 2007 (El Cinco de Mayo) – Crisfield – 1st overall(8K) – 31:58 (ran faster there this year than last year :)

- 60th Annual National Hard Crab Derby, 28th Annual Mike Sterling 10K – Saturday, September 1, 2007 – Crisfield – 4th overall (2nd in 20-29 age group) – 41:48

Talbot County

- Oxford Day 10K – Saturday, April 28, 2007 – Oxford – 1st overall – 38:35 (big improvement over last year’s 42:04 here, and a well-paced race on a relatively short amount of sleep :)

Washington County

- Tom Ausherman Memorial Series #1 (2-mile/1-mile) – Tuesday, June 5, 2007 – Hagerstown – 6th overall(2-mile race) – 11:36

Wicomico County

- Salisbury University Track & Field’s Seagull Home Opener Meet – Saturday, March 3, 2007 – Salisbury

- 1,500 meter run – 7th overall – 4:48.7

- 800 meter run - 2nd overall – 2:12.5

- 4X400 meter relay (alumni team) – 4th overall (1st alumni team) – 4:01.5

- 4th Annual Tim Kennard 5 mile River Run and 3 mile walk – Sunday, March 4, 2007 – Salisbury – 14th overall (3rd in the 20-24 age group division) – 31:25 (clock), 31:14 (chip – Nice performance for me that surpassed my expectations, especially after running three track races less than twenty-four hours ago :)

- Sneakers and Creepers 5K – Sunday, October 21, 2007 – Salisbury – approximately 4th overall – clock (20:15ish), watch (20:10)

Worcester County

- Francis Scott Key Family Resort “Dash and Splash” Run/Walk Series 5K Race#3 at Stephen Decatur High School (on the track) – Saturday, June 30, 2007 – Berlin – 1st overall/only finisher – 18:52 (clock), 18:50 (watch) – Finished out the Maryland Eastern Shore portion of my endeavor with this event :)

Events outside of Maryland

California

San Diego County

- 30th Annual Scripp’s Ranch Old Pros Run and Bike 10K and 2-mile Fun Run (10K) – Wednesday, July 4, 2007 – Scripp’s Ranch neighborhood, San Diego – 73rd overall-39:08 (clock), 39:05/39:06 (chip)

Delaware

Kent County

- March Moonlight Madness 5K – Thursday, March 1, 2007 – Wyoming – 2nd overall (1st in male 20-29 age group division) – 18:28

New Castle County

- 2nd Annual Wilmington Games 5K – Wednesday, July 25, 2007 – Wilmington – 5th overall (2nd in 19-29 age group division) – 19:35 (clock), 18:35 (watch-probably would have been low-to-mid 19’s since I accidentally missed a turn and cut the course a bit short near the end)

Sussex County

- 25th Annual Y.M.C.A. 5-Mile Run/Walk – Sunday, July 29, 2007 – Deauville/Rehoboth Beach area – 13th overall (1st in 20-29 age group division) – 31:59 (clock), 31:57 (watch) – Completing this race, I have run in all three Delaware counties this year!!!!!!!!! :)

- Seven Sisters, Four Brothers 6th Annual Venus on the Half Shell 5K – Saturday, August 4, 2007 – Dewey Beach – 9th overall (2nd in 20-24 age group division) – 18:36 (clock), 18:35 (watch)

District of Columbia – Washington

- Hugh Jascourt Memorial Four Miler – Thursday evening, June 21, 2007 – Northwest Washington D.C./C&O Towpath area – 17th overall – 26:04 (clock), 26:01 (watch)

Rock Hall, Maryland Oyster Run 5K Race

Oh man, it's been a while since I've updated. Well this entry's about a race I ran in a couple of weekends ago (on Saturday, October 13, 2007 to be precise). These photos are from this race, which was called the inaugural Oyster Run 5K Race, part of the Oyster and Seafood Festival in Rock Hall (Kent County), Maryland. I had a good time there in the quaint bayside town. Not many year-around running events in Kent County, so I found it a priviledge to get in another one (the only other one I ran in this county this year was the Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 10-Mile Run on Saturday, May 26). This was the first race I ran in just for fun since I started my "off season" this month in October.
However, I was pleasantly surprised to have still finished second overall, first in my age group (which consistsent of 20-to-like-35-year-olds), and I ran a 20:10. Had I not started off so... casually and not been cramping up a little bit, I probably would have broken twenty minutes. That was faster than I expected to run. I was thinkin' maybe two or three minutes slower. Then again, I guess maybe the short jogs I did earlier in the week may have helped, and also that the course was really flat and had some nice shaded areas, but still, 20:10 was a pretty strong 5K time considering I am not trying to run hard.
It was a pretty neat experience. Visiting Rock Hall two times earlier this year and going on runs through the town both times, I thought it would be cool to actually do a race in the town. Almost a year ago I heard about the Rock Hall Flat Five around the Fourth of July, but I passed on that this year to go to San Diego to visit my relatives (which was an awesome time). However, I was blessed to have found out about this event. Less than twenty people ran in it and I think one person walked. I hope it happens again in the future and maybe with a bit of a larger turnout too. The folks putting on the race let me give some coverage and post the results through my Blogspot.Com account and you can check 'em out at your leisure at: http://runinkentcountymd.blogspot.com Click on the "Oyster Run 5K Race" link and you should be able to see the results as well as some photos I took.
Thank you all for reading, so glad I finally got to run a race in Rock Hall, Maryland too. Enjoy the evening :)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Maryland Renaissance Festival Photos from last Saturday!

Hey there everyone, as you may remember, I mentioned in my last entry that I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville (Anne Arundel County), Maryland. My friend Laura and I met up there and spent a few fun-filled hours gettin' lost in the Medieval atmosphere. Above I included six photos that came out nicely from last Saturday, October 6, 2007 when we went.
In the bottom right photo is a stage with two comedians, "Hack-and-Slash", on it. I really like their Medieval standup and swashbuckling comedies. I saw them last year at the Maryland Renaissance Festival as well. In the upper right-hand photo is a photo of the sun setting over part of the large grassy parking lot outside of Revel Grove, where the RenFest usually occurs in Maryland! We had a great time, lots of Irish, folk, Medieval-sorta music!
Although it was a little hot, I thought it was nice to be outside and it was cool just to walk around in the shaded wilderness as opposed to running.
My "off season" has been goin' all right. Yesterday, I ran for the first time in about a week-and-a-half and I ran for about twenty-four minutes and twenty-nine seconds. I was taking it real easy. I ran about two laps on the track (approximately a half-mile). The first lap was in about two minutes and the second lap was in about a minute-and-fifty-eight seconds. Had I kept up that pace, I would have been hitting just under eight-minute-per-mile pace throughout the run! Though, I knew that was not the case, I was probably going a lot slower for the duration of the run. I ran from the King's Contrivance Village Center in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland to Hammond High School (where the track is that I ran on), and then back to the village center where I parked my car.
Then today I went for another, probably shorter run with my friend Walton. It was really neat to run with him, because he is thinking about running more consistently (I hope I'm right on that). We ran for about fifteen minutes and forty-nine seconds on some bike paths that run along Kindler Road in Columbia. Those are nice shaded paths, I remember running around that area quite a bit when I ran high school cross country and track.
My next run I hope to do will actually be in a race in Kent County, Maryland. This Saturday, October 13, 2007 I hope to run in the inaugural 5K "Oyster Run" in Rock Hall as part of the relatively small bayside town's Oyster and Seafood Festival. The registration begins at 8 A.M., and the actual run is at nine. I like the small town and I think that since this year I have been "in the business" of running races in all the different counties of Maryland, I thought it would be great to run one in Rock Hall. I know for the longest time, during the Fourth of July (or sometime around then), there is the Rock Hall Flat Five throughout the town. However, I don't think that too many people outside of the Maryland Eastern Shore know about it. I found out about it through word-of-mouth. Had I not gone to visit my family in San Diego, California around the Fourth of July, I may have done that one. I am grateful that I went to California, I had a great time and did well for myself in the Scripps Ranch Old Pro's 10K Run on the Fourth of July, and I still have an opportunity to run a race in Rock Hall. I do not plan to go that hard since I have not been running much lately, but I hope to enjoy myself and maybe have a bit of a strong finish. We'll see what God allows, if anything it will be a great reason to pay that town another visit!
Well thank you for reading and viewing my photos of the Renaissance Festival. I hope you all have a good night and enjoy the upcoming weekend :)

Running Events I have done this year as of Thursday, October 11, 2007