Tonight I celebrated Passover with my family as well as some friends of the family. It was nice to come to my parents' house and have a nice meal and see my younger brother, who I haven't really seen in a while or spent much time with lately. It was terrific to hang out with them and enjoy the pleasantly warm evening outside on the porch afterwards.
I think it's really great that Passover falls on this weekend, because tomorrow is Sunday, April 20, 2008 - Marking my five year Anniversary of accepting Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as my personal savior and lord. I accepted and continue to accept that He laid His life down in my place when I would have faced eternal hell for my sinful life, and then He was resurrected three days later (one of the main reasons Easter is celebrated). I don't deserve that graceful gift, but He loves me and everyone else so much that He would rather die for me and my life than go through eternity in Heaven without me because I would be wasting away in hell without Him. On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2003, my friend Lydia helped lead me to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior and His gift of salvation via an instant messenger conversation over the internet in my dorm room at Salisbury University on the Maryland Eastern Shore in Wicomico County. Since then, I have been growing in my faith (a faith I had rejected/insulted/was ignorant and naive of for almost twenty years), and have been taking on a more positive perspective as I fall more in love with Jesus Christ and try to live for His glory. I know April 20 or "4-20" seems to get a fairly bad rap for a variety of reasons, so I'm grateful that I ended up making this decision towards God and for my own salvation on an April 20. I was raised Jewish, but beyond Sunday School and a Bar Mitzvah back in 1997, my religion did not play much of a role in my life until I found my Messiah (Savior): Jesus Christ. I guess to be politically correct, I'm a Messianic Jew (a Jew who knows that Jesus Christ is the Messiah; a "Jew for Jesus" as some say). However, just like I've felt for much of my life, my religious name is not important as the uncondition love, unending friendship and eternal life that I have in Jesus Christ :)
Just thought I'd post this up here; since many of you seem supportive of my faith in God as well as my running! (and I definitely thank you for that :) I hope to enjoy tomorrow and get a little work done and hopefully make it to a church service. I'm also hopin' to run in Clyde's 10K in Columbia (Howard County), Maryland tomorrow morning. I have not run that race since the spring of 2001 when I was a junior in high school and I enjoy it because it was my first big road race (on Saturday, April 16, 2000 was when I first ran it) and it was my first sub-forty-minute 10-kilometer (approximately 6.2-mile) race. It's a rather hilly one, but God-willing I'll be able to run a smart race and not feel all injured and such.
All right thank you all for reading as well as for your support and prayers. I wish you all a blessed Passover and weekend :)
Running Events I have done this year as of Saturday, April 19, 2008
Maryland
Allegany County
- Spring is Here! 10K - Sunday, April 6, 2008 - Cumberland - 7th overall (20-29 age-group division winner) - 41:40
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
- First annual Great "Dead Man's Hill" Downhill Mile - Friday, April 4, 2008 - Brunswick - 4th overall - 4:50 (fastest mile-time in a while and my fastest mile-time off of a track :)
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! :)
- 16th Annual Mt. Hebron High School Viking Backers Viking 5K - Sunday, April 13, 2008 - Ellicott City - 2nd overall - 18:52.20
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
- Ocean City Half-Marathon 5K - Saturday, April 12, 2008 - Ocean City/West Ocean City - 2nd overall - 19:11
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
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