Today has been pretty awesome so far (well everyday God makes is good, but He is helping me see a great deal of good in it today). I'll start with some decent news and then move onto the better news (in muy opinion). After I ran the Valentine's Day 5K Run at Kinder Mill Farm Park in the Millersville/Severna Park area of Anne Arundel County, Maryalnd, I went over to the Annapolis Maryland Cheeburger Cheeburger in Anne Arundel County and made my first attept at eating a one-pound cheeseburger. They looked a little bigger than I recalled seeing them when my friend ate one, but oh well it looked good. I started out all right, but then it got the point where I had to pick it apart with my hands and nibble on it every few minutes, because I was getting full and strating to feel sick to my stomach (and I still do). After almost two hours of sitting, eating/nibbling, praying, reading, and talking to people who sat at the bar next to me (and I met some really nice interesting poeple who seemed to think what I was doing was fairly cool, I even gave one of them a link to this blog) I realized that my burger (that was probably about a little over halfway-to-three-quarters of the way done) was probably going to go bad, and since I was already starting to feel a little sick to my stomach, I did not want to deal iwth food poisoning, so I decided to come back another day and attemptt eating a pounder again at the one in Annapolis, Maryland. I thought that maybe running a race beforehand might boost my metabolism, but I guess I thought wrong (and I also idd not expect to run that strongly today either). Back in college, I had a series of stomach problems, and one of the school nurses were saying that it was because I was eating foods like burgers and pizzas after running, and that they were too "rich, which could very well have caused the stomach aches. However, this has not happened that much since graduating college, but I guess it's still relevant. Maybe next time I won't do that and I'll make sure I have a bigger appetite. Even taking it slow it can be tough (at least for me, but then again, I am probably more of an underdog for this undertaking, which is what is sort of inspiring me to take this on). It was pretty cool to meet nice people there and get encouragement for what I was doing, with both my eating and running. I got some nice advice and I found out from one of the servers that I did not really have to eat the buns on the burger, that the "pound" was all in the burger meat. I might just try and settle for the "meat" of it from here on out with this endeavor if I continue with it. I feel like I may have gotten in a little bit of the deep end with an attempt like this, but in a way it's sorta giving me more drive to stick with it. But I hope to keep it healhty, fun, and God-centered. I do not much care about getting attention or press-coverage, but if it serves to inspire others to healthier lifestyles and to pursue their callings despite obstacles in their lives, then so be it. I hope that God can use me as a witness for Him in doing this, of course!
And now for the great news about the Valentine's Day 5K Run that the Annapolis Striders (http://www.annapolisstriders.org) put on before I attempted to eat this cheeseburger. I came to the race wanting to run under 18:30 for the 3.1-mile distance, and let's just say I ran a lot faster than I bargained for (and it did not feel all that bad either, although it was challenging. I went through the first mile of a couple of rolling hills in a surprisingly quick 5:33, then I kept it goin' even after a fairly long and steady uphill and downhill to go through two miles in about 11:18 (a little faster than my recent 3,200 meter races I've run the past couple of weekends on flat indoor tracks, of course back then I had at least two races in before running the 3,200 meter event). I knew that I was going to run a really strong time, and I tried to keep it together well in the third mile. I could feel myself begin to fatigue, but tried to hold on. Then, there was a short, but fairly challenging uphill towards the end of the race, at the top of which was the three-mile mark, which I went through in about 17:26 and I knew that if I really kicked it in I might just have a chance of crackin' 18 minutes (don't get me wrong, I was pretty happy to be well under a six-minute pace at this point near the end of the race with a little less than two hundred meters left). Well, once I crested the top of that last uphill, I dashed down the short downhill following it, and then cut a sharp left (which I felt in my right ankle but it didn't slow me up), and I bolted to and through the finish line just as the clock ticked to 17:59, my fastest 5K in a long time!
YESSS!!!!
I feel really great about it:) I have not run a 5K that fast in almost a year and I have not broken 18:30 in a 5-kilometer race since running a 5K split in the Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day 10K Fun Run in Ridgely (Caroline County), Maryland on Saturday, April 21, 2007. I also have not run faster than 18:30 in the 5K distance since I turned 24 on Wednesday, April 25, 2007. I'm grateful to be within 20 seconds of my 5K PR (which is about 17:42/17:43 as a split in an 8K race from my freshman year of college back in the late summer of 2002). Needless to say, I am pleased and confident in my running. I think running a lot of those shorter distance events at the recent indoor track & field meets at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Maryland and the Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington, Virginia, have really helped me develop the strength and endurance necessary to run a time like I did today. Plus, I took the spikes out of my racing flats and tried running in those (I don't recall ever doing that for a road race, but I've seen a lotta other people my age, younger, and older doing that, so I decided to try it out). I thouht it worked out pretty nicely. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
Hopefully my stomach feels a little bit better tomorrow as well. Tomorrow in the late morning, I hope to make it over to Gaithersburg, Maryland in Montgomery County to run in the Walnut Hill 5K Run around the Walnut Hill Shopping Center. I hear it's a fairly unique low-key running event, where you go through the same intersection five times. Heck, I'll try it once and it'll help me get in a Montgomery County, MD running event this year. Plus, I think it somehow benefits the "Fifty-Plus" Races-Per-Year Club, which I became a part of last June. I hope to take this 5K a lot easier than today's (I don't plan on even wearing my "racing flats"), and probably not run any faster than the mid-to-upper range of 19 minutes. Afterwards, I hope to get back around the home front in Columbia for the Howard County Striders' Weekly Series race that starts and ends at the Jeffers Hill Neighborhood Center. They are scheduled to have two-mile, 10-Kilometer, and 15-Kilometer race options. I hope to run the 10K or the 15K nice and easy, sort of as a recovery and as a means to get in some solid mileage for the upcoming week (and I've never done any of their 15K's before either). This week I've gotten a little over 40 miles in worth of running for the first time in months, and I'm getting conscious of my mileage-per-week with my running because I hope to run in the Road Runners Club of America Club Challenge 10-Mile Run in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland. The course is near where I live and I think it goes through the Allview neighborhood where I do some of my runs and by Atholton Elementary School (where I went to elementary school). It looks pretty hilly, especially towards the middle in the Allview neighborhood, and since I tend not to run those longer races as strongly, I hope to run under an hour-and-ten minutes (a seven-minute-per-mile pace). It would be great in my mind if I can do it in about an hour-and-eight minutes, or maybe an hour-and-seven minutes. Somewhere in that range. God-willing it can happen. I hope to be healthy for it. It's coming up soon on Sunday, February 24, 2008, and it's a competition between different area running clubs and teams. I hope to run for the Howard County Striders, the club I've belonged too for the last ten years or so. I've run it back during my sophomore year of high school in 2000 (I ran 1:13:48) and then again my senior year of high school in 2002 (I ran 1:13:33). I struggled then, and even though the courses were different than it is now back during those two years, I expect to be challenged by this race. However, recent races like the one I had this morning as well as the recent indoor track races I've run, gives me confidence for this.
Thank you all for reading about my eating and running. I hope you all have a good night and enjoy the weekend. God bless you all :)
Running Events I have done this year as of Saturday, February 9, 2008
Maryland
Allegany County
Anne Arundel County
-Valentine’s Day 5K Run – Saturday, February 9, 2008 – Kinder Mill Farm Park, Millersville/Severna Park – (3rd in male 20-29 age group division) – 17:59 (my best time on course :)
Baltimore City
Baltimore County
- Baltimore Road Runners Club (BRRC) Grand Prix Series Eight-Mile Run – Sunday, January 13, 2008 – Loch Raven Reservoir – 11th overall – 53:34
Calvert County
- First Annual Southern Maryland Community Network Resolution 5K Run/Walk – Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – Prince Frederick – 4th overall (20-29 age group winner) – 18:47
Caroline County
Carroll County
- Winfield Mile – Tuesday, January 1, 2008 – South Carroll High School, Winfield – 6th overall (2nd in 20-29 age group) – 5:11 (clock), 5:10 (watch)
Cecil County
Charles County
Dorchester County
Frederick County
Garrett County
Harford County
Howard County
- Howard County Striders (H.C.S.) Weekly Series (“Operation Iceberg”) #1: Burleigh Manor Middle School 5-mile run – Sunday, January 6, 2008 – Columbia/Ellicott City area – 7th overall – 32:18
- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #3: Atholton High School 5K Run – Sunday, January 20, 2008 – Columbia – 6th overall – 18:38
Kent County
Montgomery County
Prince George’s (P.G.) County
- Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex Track Showcase (indoor track) – Sunday, January 27, 2008 – Landover:
- 1,500 meter race – 15th overall - 5:04.9
- 800 meter race – 2nd overall –2:17.5
- 3,200 meter race – winner – 11:24 (best indoor track time for that distance by one second, and the 10:43 3,000 I believe was right around an indoor track best time for me as well J)
- Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex Track Showcase (indoor track) – Sunday, February 3, 2008 – Landover:
- 800 meter run – 3rd overall – 2:15
- 3,200 meter run – 2nd overall – Have not gotten time yet, but I’m sure it was close to the 11:24 I hit there last weekend :)
Queen Anne’s County
Saint Mary’s County
Somerset County
Talbot County
Washington County
Wicomico County
Worcester County
Events outside of Maryland
Delaware
Kent County
New Castle County
Sussex County
Virginia
Accomack County
Arlington County
- Potomac Valley Track Club All-Comers’ Indoor Track & Field Meet – Sunday, February 3, 2008 - Thomas Jefferson Community Center, Arlington:
- 1 mile run – 6th overall – 5:17.0
- 800 meter run – 6th overall – 2:22.5
- 3,000 meter run – 7th overall – 10:59.8
Northampton County
Cheeburger Cheeburger Locations in Maryland I Have Eaten One-Pound Cheeseburgers:
Abington/Bel Air (Harford County)
- Nothing yet
Annapolis (Anne Arundel County)
- Nothing yet
Burtonsville (Montgomery County)
- Nothing yet
Columbia (Howard County)
- Nothing yet
Hunt Valley (Baltimore County)
- Nothing yet
Olney (Montgomery County)
- Nothing yet
Perry Hall (Baltimore County)
- Nothing yet
Rockville (Montgomery County)
- Nothing yet
Timonium/Baltimore (Baltimore County)
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