And today, another sort of milestone occurred: My friend whom I'm moving in with stopped by and I gave him my first rent check for the living arrangement and he gave me the keys to the house. I guess now I'm an official resident of that house in Baltimore County, Maryland, whoohoo!!!!! It's pretty cool. I'm lookin' forward to hopefully movin' in this Saturday, April 5, with my larger furniture after hopefully running the Deadman's Hill Downhill Mile in Brunswick (Frederick County), MD. I typically don't do much in the way of these mostly downhill races, but I thought that since this is apparently the first time they are having this event, it might be a neat way to get a running event in Frederick County in this year.
Needless to say, I should have a busy weekend ahead, but I kinda like busying myself with things that are important to me.
On that note, I did manage to run that Howard County Striders weekly series race last Sunday (March 30) on the wooded trails around Lake Elkhorn in the Columbia/Jessup/Savage area of Howard County, MD. I ran the 10K to up my mileage and enjoy a rather easy-paced long run to sorta recover from running the almost-5K-distance pretty hard followed by a one-mile track race, the day before in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. I was glad I was able to have time to do these nice, low-key races. They tend to be a lotta fun with great people, competition, and nice venues. I do a lotta my running around the Lake Elkhorn area too. This was the ninth and final race in the Howard County Striders' 2008 "Operation Iceberg" (Winter Series) racing series.
I went out a bit faster than I thought; 6:53 the first mile. I tried to hold back, even starting towards the back of the pack and it taking about three seconds to reach the starting line where I started my watch, but I guess the mostly flat paths with the occasoinal small-but-steep uphills helped me go out in a sub-seven mile. Oh well, I was still feelin' all right! Towards the 5K turnaround point near the Jessup/Savage area, the ground started getting a bit more gravely and it was almost like I was running on sand on some parts of it. I was surprised to have still gone through 5-kilometers half-way through the race in 21:53 as I turned around to retrace my steps on the out-and-back course. I did not expect that I would be keeping up that kind of a pace for a "recovery" run. Surprisingly, I was fortunate enough to keep it up (and I think having some other people running close by me during most of the race also helped). Towards the end, I felt like putting on a strong surge and ended up coming into the finish in 43:39 (according to my watch), and 43:42 (according to the clock). All right; I still managed to run the second half faster than my first, something that I normally don't do when I've run the two-mile on this venue and the one time I ran the 10K at this venue (when I ran 42:04 thereabouts). Of course, I think I was trying a bit harder when I ran the 42:04 back in 2006. I'm pretty happy with running negative splits, though I don't know if it served it's purpose as an "easy recovery" run. At least I was able to run/jog 7.25 miles worth of warming up and cooling down.
Time to get to stretching for a hopefully nice and easy run (probably about 3-4 miles) this evening. Thank you all for reading about my current (and past) running as well as my getting ready to move. Once I settle in, I may not be updating as consistently as we don't have internet over there yet, so I'll be using computers elsewhere, and even then, I might not have as much time to do photos and give a lotta details. However, it should be better than nothing!
All right, you all have a blessed evening and week :)
Running Events I have done this year as of Tuesday, April 1, 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 :) – Sunday, February 10, 2008 – Columbia – 11th overall – 1:10:11
- Road Runners Club of America Ten-Mile Club Challenge – Sunday, February 24, 2008 – Columbia, MD – 122nd overall – 1:07:58.85 (clock), 1:07:52 (watch)
- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #9: Elkhorn 10K – Sunday, March 30, 2008 – Columbia – 13th overall – 43:42 (clock), 43:39 (watch) – Ran negative splits: 21:53 the first half! :)
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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