Primaries today!

Hey there everyone, I hope you are all enjoying "Super Tuesday" (or the "Chesapeake Challenge"/"Chesapeake Caucus" as they're callin' it in Maryland). All the best with voting if you are fixin' to do that!

I'm grateful that the public schools in Howard County, Maryland were closed today because of voting, because I think my body could use that extra time to recover (and I got some work done for my evening teaching certificate classes at Howard Community College). In my last entry you may recall me gripin' about my stomach achin' (most likely from my attempt to eat a one-pounder cheeseburger from Cheeburger Cheeburger). Well, as I was finishing up that last entry, I started to feel queasy again, but fortunately I did not get much more sick than that, and even though I was feeling tired and a bit yucky in my stomach, I still decided to go to work (as I was pretty sure I did not have anything contagious, but that it was something I brought on myself from attempting to eat so much). I was pleasantly surprised to feel my appetite come back and to feel a little bit better towards the last couple of periods during the school day while I was working. I am still eating light, but I think I'm doing better and I'm feeling a little less drowsy too. I didn't run yestreday because I did not think that running out in the cold and wind would be a very effective way to recover.

Today, I did manage to get a little run in (probably a little more than 5.5 miles). I started out joggin' nice and easily for about five minutes and eighteen seconds until I got to the front entrance of the building where I was supposed to vote, stopped my watch, quickly voted, then started my watch and got back into my run. I think I picked it up a little bit from this point on. My legs still felt pretty tired from all of my running the previous weekend (and also probably from not eating a lot recently). I went through the turnaround point in about 21:40 and finished my run in about 43:23. I was really happy to have run so evenly, the second half of my run about three seconds slower thereabouts than the first. I may have felt tired, but at least I kept it even without even making much of a deliberate effort to do so. Tomorrow and Thursday evening I have class at Howard Community College, but afterwards I hope to go to the gym there and maybe get some miles in on the treadmill so I don't have to run in the dark and the cold.

I'm grateful to be feeling a lot better than I was a couple of days ago. I did not realize that even attempting to eat such a large cheeseburger would make me feel that ill (and I'd hate to imagine how much worse I probably would have felt had I eaten the whole thing). I thought that maybe running beforehand would boost my appetite, I guess not. Maybe it was because I ran a lot faster than I expected, or maybe I came down with some sorta stomach bug hardly related to my attempt to eat the cheeseburger. Either way, it is not as much fun as I thought it was, and certainly not as much fun as trying to run races in different counties of Maryland and Delaware, so I've been praying about this and I feel like I'm gonna walk away from the challenge to eat at least one one-pounder cheeseburger at every Cheeburger Cheeburger location in Maryland. Unless God wants me to take it up again, these past couple of days have made me lose inspiration to do it. That burger made me so full and ill enough to throw off my eating schedule, and that could negatively affect my running and overall health, and if I was eating a fairly large quantity of those burgers this year, I could really do some damage to my running, body and who knows what else. So I'd figure it'd be best to turn away from it, at least for now, while I have not really made much progress on it. I felt like by attempting a challenge like that with my own stomach challenges, I was trying to slay a dragon by jumping in its fiery mouth. So there!

All right, I'm off to eat a little dinner (and I'm grateful to be feeling a little hungry :) Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all have a good evening! God bless you all :)

Running Events I have done this year as of Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Maryland

Allegany County

Anne Arundel County

-Valentine’s Day 5K Run – Saturday, February 9, 2008 – Kinder Mill Farm Park, Millersville/Severna Park – 10th overall (3rd in male 20-29 age group division) – 17:59.15 (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

- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #5: Jeffers Hill Neighborhood Center 15K (first 15K I’ve done as part of the H.C.S. weekly series :) – Columbia – 11th overall – 1:10:11

Kent County

Montgomery County

- 5th Annual Walnut Hill Ribbon Run 5K – Sunday, February 10, 2008 – Gaithersburg – 2nd overall – 19:51

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 meter split I believe was right around an indoor track best time for me as well :)

- 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