Photo of Queen Anne's County High School found on http://www.boe.qacps.k12.md.us/qhs/.... And this time it wasn't on or around the Kent Island area either, but in Centreville, Maryland!
This morning I had the pleasure of making it out to Queen Anne's County High School for the Second Annual "A Day at the Races" to help benefit the high school's girls' soccer team. This is an event that has track races for younger runners as well as an open mile race, and this year they added a 5K run on the high school's cross-country course. I found out about this event a couple of weeks ago after running the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Denton (Caroline County), Maryland from another participant in that race. I was happy to hear of an upcoming race in Queen Anne's County, a Maryland county that does not seem to have very many year-around running events (at least from what I can find out about over here in Howard County, MD). It even drew me in more when I found out it would be cross-country, 'cause I tend to run well in cross-country races and enjoy them.
After warming up and taking a ride with one of the event coordinators as well as some other participants (a couple of which I knew a little bit) in his van to check out the course, I found out that the course was probably not a full 5K, but somewhere between 3-and-3.1 miles (and after running it I felt it was closer to the 5K distance of approximately 3.1 miles). The race started in one of the school's athletic fields and we went up a short hill (which we had to go up two other times throughout the course of the race). Since this was on the Maryland Eastern Shore, there were hardly any hills on the course and we had just gone over one of the few. It did not take me long to make my way out to the front with my buddy Darryl, who I've seen at some of the Maryland Eastern Shore races over the past couple of years and who seems to be getting stronger as a runner.
I felt pretty strong at the beginning, and it helped that people (including my friend Allison who was watching) were cheerin' for me. I was also wearing my yellow Hammond High School Cross-Country t-shirt that I would wear to cross-country and track & field practice for a good portion of high school. It was kind of just like high school days running at the cross-country meets (only this time I would hopefully be running slightly stronger times). I was hoping to run a strong race and finish faster than 18:28, which is what I ran my previous 5K in a couple weekends ago in Baltimore City, MD at the Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K. After going through the first mile in front of Queen Anne County High School's front entrance in 5:46 and feelin' all right, I felt I was in good position to run that goal.
However, as I got around the baseball fields and backstops I felt the wind start to pick up and my body begin to fatigue. Not long after, there came some parts where the course narrowed into a bit of a wooded trail with some sand/loose dirt on it, but that did not slow me down too much. After entering this trail, I ran up another short but somewhat steep hill and encountered a field full of really green plants. As I quickly made a right, I knocked over a cone and I was slowed by the rough and uneven ground. Needless to say, I was grateful it was only a short distance through this field to the cone that I had to reach and turn-around, before I picked the trail (and the cone) back up.
After following the trail out of the woods, I was back behind the high school's campus and ran into another lightly wooded area, past a lake (which people apparently call "Lake Woe-be-gone" or something like that and one of the race coordinators mentioned that the two-mile point on the course was probably right around there, but it must have slipped my mind to check my watch). Shortly afterwards, I came up a light hill and ran on a narrow, well-mowed portion of the field next to the track, and then repeated a loop that went right through the starting line. Fortunately the end of this loop was a light descent towards the track, and I could feel myself begin to pick up speed despite how fatigued I felt. Just as I neared the track (on which I knew I had to run a lap and then some before finishing, I saw out of the corner of my eye a boys' lacrosse practice occurring and a ball had rolled outta bounds. I managed to slow, scoop it up and sorta lob/toss it back to one of the players, and then pick up the pace and dart into the track where Allison and some other spectators (including a woman dressed as a lion, the school's mascot) cheered me on. I'm not one who likes to be a show-boater, but with as tired as I felt as a result of the wind and probably a lot of the recent running I've been doing, I was grateful for it and it kept me going. After beginning my lap on the track I felt pretty tired and thought this would seem long (not to mention I felt like I was running into the wind running in this direction). I knew after the lap I would then run onto the football field in the middle of the track and run from one goal post to the goal post on the other end (about a 110 yards according to one of the event coordinators). When I reached a point where I had a little over a 100 meters to go before finishing the lap, I heard one of the race directors yell something along the lines of, "you're at 18 minutes and you have about 200 meters to go!" I knew that I probably still had a little over 200 meters to go, but that maybe if I worked hard enough I could still get under 19 minutes. So I kept on pushing (and having Allison and the other spectators yelling and cheering for me definitely helped) and by God's grace I dashed across that football field against the wind and crossed the finish line in 18:59!
I am happy with it! I know I wanted a little faster, but I guess with the wind and some of the uneven ground in some parts, it made it more challenging. I'm also grateful that my right foot, which was feeling a bit tender and achy the past couple of days did not give me any noticeable pain at all (and I was running in my spikes, which could sometimes make my feet feel a bit uncomfortable). I wonder if it's just that right now my body responds better to cross-country terrain or if God simply stepped in and removed the pains! My right foot feels a bit tender now, but not nearly as much so as earlier this week. I was blessed to have gotten through that race without such bothersome aches and pains. Hopefully I can run more cross-country races like this later on this year; I felt like I was running hard for most of the way too! I'm hopin' to maybe get back to this event sometime in the future. I like the course and it's the first race I've done in Queen Anne's County that has not been on or around Kent Island (not that I have a problem with Kent Island, I just thought it'd be neat to do a race elsewhere in Queen Anne's County for a bit of a change).
In addition, I got to run in the open-mile on the track (it may have just been 1,600 meters, but that's not much of a difference). I took this easy, sort of as a cool-down almost, but was pleasantly surprised nonetheless to be able to hang with a couple of the lead runners (who were a bit younger than I). I remember going through about 800 meters in 3:09, 1,200 meters in 4:45ish, and then finishing in 6:34. I remember I ran with the girl who ended up winning this race right through 800 meters, meaning she probably hit about 3:09, and her finish time was about 6:16 I think, so I do believe she ran a negative split (where the second half of a distance is run faster than the first half, because she would have had to have run about 3:07 for the second half of a 6:16 time in a 1,600 meter/1-mile distance if she went through the first half in 3:09). I thought that was pretty cool. Running behind her, it did seem that she was picking it up and full of energy!
I got to see a lot of people that I knew, including Allison, Darryl, Lucia and their families. It was so much fun getting to talk with them and meet new people as well. I was blessed with an "OK" to go ahead and display the results on my Queen Anne's County running events Blogspot.Com blog at: http://runinqueenannescountymd.blogspot.com, and I'm hoping in the next week or so to have results of this event posted there.
All right, thank you all for reading. Tomorrow I hope to do a long distance run nice and easy around my neck of the woods in Columbia/Jessup/Savage (Howard County), MD. Part of it will include running to and from a low-key Howard County Striders 10K race on the bike paths around Lake Elkhorn (it's the last in the Winter "Operation Iceberg" Series for this year too. Hopefully it works out that I can make this race. Since it's near an area that I like to run on a lot, I try to make it a point to run the Striders' races here.
I hope you all have a blessed night and great job for all who ran at "A Day at the Races" today :)
Running Events I have done this year as of Saturday, March 29, 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
- Kelly St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock 5K – Sunday, March 16, 2008 – Baltimore City – 61st overall (guntime-based) – 18:33 (guntime), 18:28 (chiptime)
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
- First Annual St. Patrick’s Day 5K – Saturday, March 15, 2008 – Denton – 2nd overall (20-29 age group winner) – 18:58 (clock), 18:55 (watch)
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
- Leap of Faith Fun Run (7K prediction run – Approximately 4.35 miles) – Sunday, February 17, 2008 – Abington (Harford County, MD) – 3rd/4th overall (8th closest to predicted time) – 27:24 (predicted time: 28:00)
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
- Road Runners Club of America Ten-Mile Club Challenge – Sunday, February 24, 2008 – Columbia (Howard County), MD – 122nd overall – 1:07:58.85 (clock), 1:07:52 (watch)
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
- A Day at the Races – Saturday, March 29, 2008 – Queen Anne’s County High School, Centreville:
- 5K (on the high school cross country course) – Winner – 18:59 (probably a little shorter than a 5K, somewhere between 3 and 3.1 miles)
- 1,600 meter/1-mile track open fun run – 3rd overall – 6:34
Saint Mary’s County
Somerset County
Talbot County
- Talbot Kids Fun Run (advertised as three-miles, but less than that) – Saturday, March 8, 2008 – North Easton Sportsplex (Rails-to-Trails), Easton – Winner – Probably ran low-to-mid 14’s based on the times of other runners (I did not run my watch on this one)
Washington County
Wicomico County
- Mid-Shore Family YMCA Funny Bunny 5K Run – Saturday, March 8, 2008 – Salisbury – 2nd overall (20-29 age-group division winner) – 19:35
Worcester County
Events outside of Maryland
Delaware
Kent County
New Castle County
Sussex County
District of Columbia – Washington
- 410th Tidal Basin 3K – Wednesday, March 19, 2008 – Tidal Basin, Washington D.C. – 9th overall – 10:46
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
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