Nice mile repeat workout

Hey there! Today, March 24 marks my one-year anniversary of when I ran the inaugural Race to Impact 10K that started and ended around Chester (Queen Anne's County), Maryland and ran along Kent Island's Cross-Island Trail. Pictured above is a photo of me (left) with some performance awards from the race, standing next to the race coordinator. The race is important, not only because it raised funds for the Shore Christian Fellowship Church's Impact Ministries to go to Peru for a missions trip (I think to pretty much help serve in orphanages), but because I think it led to me being struck later that night after I finished the race, with the challenge of running in a running event in every county of Maryland before 2007 was over (the endeavor that eventually led to me starting up these blogs a little over two months later to chronicle my progress). I just thought it was a pretty neat date to remember, as that was when I first thought of actually trying to do races and running events in every county of Maryland within a year (and of course that includes Baltimore City).

Today's running involved doing three one-mile repeats around the bikepaths behind Hammond High School and the surrounding neighborhoods in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland. These are on the same hilly bikepaths where I ran the two-mile repeats last Friday and where I did a lot of my running with the team and by myself when I ran for Hammond High School. After warming up about two miles, I started off on the first repeat (whihc involved me slowing up for a second or two to drop a piece of mail int he mail box that my mother wanted me to drop in there, and I was glad to comply, so that it would actually slow me up at the start of this first interval, so I could build into the first mile repeat and into the workout. I was well-pleased with how I ran. The first mile repeat involved running along roads adn I did not get to the wooded bikepath area until almost the end of that ile, so I was sort of slowed by having to check for traffic while crossing some streets, but I dont' think it slowed me that drastically. Then, the second and third mile repeats were in the woods ont eh bike path with rolling and larger hils, but they were both faster than the first mile repeat and they were really CONSISTENT! My times weren't quite as fast as what I was turning out in practice during college (and sometimes during college years, but of course they were usually either on the track or on relatively flat courses). Here's how I ran this morning:

Rep#1 - 5:57
Rep#2 - 5:46
Rep#3 - 5:47

The second interval had a fairly long hil towards thee end of it before flattening out into a gradual downgrade. I think I would hav eactually run a bit faster than the second interval on my third one, but on the third mile repeat the finish was right on a short, but fairly challenging uphill. No complaints, I'm grateful for the consistency of it and for the fact that they were all covered in under six minutes. I felt like I had a solid workout!

Now I'm off to Howard Community College to lift some weights (the gym was closed for spring break last week, so I'm gonna try and take it easy on myself in it as I start lifting after not lifting for a little over a week). Tomorrow, the Howard County Public School System re-opens from Spring Break and I'll go back to work at the Homewood Center. I'll be working with a long-term sub for a good duration, so hopefully it goes wel in supporting her and helping her to learn how things are done in the classroom as well as getting to know some of the high school students we work with better. I feel like this spring break has gone by pretty fast, but then again, I felt like it was pretty fun in that I got run three races over spring break (in Caroline County, MD, Baltimore City, MD, and then in Washington D.C.). Plus I got to spend time with friends and spend a lot of time cleaning up/packing up things in my room to move in with my friends in Baltimore County in a couple of weeks. I'm sure I'll have a lot to kepe me busy with work, school, moving, running, and family and friends, so I may not be able to update on here as frequently for a while. But do keep the comments and e-mails coming, because I'm confident that I tend to do well with responding to those. And thank you in advance for them!

All right, I hope you all have a blessed day and week :)

Running Events I have done this year as of Monday, March 24, 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

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