Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Fortunately, the race that I intended to do this evening started well after I got off of work in Howard County, Maryland (and I got off at around 2:40 in the afternoon), so I had ample time to drive over to Smyrna (Kent County), Delaware for the 4th Annual Firefly 5K Run/Walk. I was feeling pretty excited about doing this race, because afterwards I could say that I ran a race in all three of Delaware's counties (Kent, New Castle, and Sussex) within a week, God-willing everything works out of course.
One thing that I was sorta worried about was that my stomach was bothering me, but I wasn't feeling so sick to my stomach that I thought it would weaken my performance, or worse, lessen my chances of me getting through the race of approximately 3.1 miles (which is 5 kilometers or "5K" as it is commonly referred too). Over the past ten years that I have been running, me having a rather sensitive stomach often has conflicted (or tried to conflict and discourage) with me and running/racing. Yet, by God's grace it has helped make me stronger, at least mentally. So now these stomach pains that used to send me to the health room in grade school probably more often than the other students, seem like rather smaller annoyances. I think being in shape definitely helps too, because I wasn't all that athletic for a good portion of my life to say the least, especially in grade school. Maybe it was just nerves in anticipation of finishing out this rather short-term goal.
Anyway, I got through the work day and drove out around the Dover area of Delaware (and Dover is the capital area of Delaware) to Smyrna for the Firefly 5K. I got to the race site (which was at Sheridan's Irish Pub in what looked to me the more downtown area of Smyrna). I was pleased to see several buddies and friends I have met this past year (and quite recently) at various races, such as Danny, Steven and Don. They did not come to the race to see me attempt this Delaware running and racing goal, but they wanted to do the race too (still, it was great that they were there :)
The course was pretty much flat (except maybe in the last mile there were some light rolling hills) and it went mainly through the suburban neighborhoods of Smyrna. Therefore, after the rather crowded start, it didn't seem to take too much to go through the first mile in about 5:34ish (which was the fastest mile I've run I think since coming back from a bit of time off in April-through-May :) I knew I probably wouldn't be able to hold it, and I was losing sight of the runners in front of me, yet maintaining my position in the race. I went through the neighborhoods, never feeling like the course was monotonous because of all the turns we seemed to make.
As this one street was curving to the left, I went through the two-mile mark in about 11:43ish, which was the fastest two-mile time I've hit since coming back from my recent time off (and if it wasn't, it sure as heck was close to it :) At this point I was feeling pretty tired, but I pressed on, knowing that the finish line and the finish to this Delaware-based goal was less than a mile's-worth away (granted I didn't make a wrong turn and get lost). There were still a fair amount of turns in this last mile, as well as a few rolling hills. By the time I got to this place where I jogged with my buddy Steven in a warm-up, I knew I was within about a minute or so of the finish line. I pushed up the hill, and headed straight, almost missing the right turn I think (and if I did almost miss it, I think a course marshal corrected me), and I made a right towards the finish line, and saw that the clock was still under 19 minutes. Seeing that I could still possibly break 19, I bolted down the gentle slope and through the finish line with a finishing time of about 18:53 :)
BY GOD'S GRACE I HAD RUN A RACE IN ALL THREE OF DELAWARE'S COUNTIES IN FOUR DAYS... WELL WITHIN A WEEK :)
WOOHOOO!!!!
YAYAYAYAYAAAAAAAAH!!!
It was a terrific evening with a nice post-race awards ceremony and celebration afterwards. I cooled down and hung out with people. I remember going into the pub afterwards and I might have gotten a quick bite or drink before I headed back to my place in Baltimore County, MD. I was happy to have completed this. Even though it was only a week-long endeavor, it sure was a lot of driving and races within a week of each other. The day before I even started running in these races in Delaware, I had run in the 32nd Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 5K in Kent County, MD on Saturday, May 24, 2008. Then, on Sunday, May 25, I had run in the 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler, followed by the 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K on Monday, May 26. And one of the really amazing things was was that I had hardly done any speedwork and was recently coming from back from a brief time off of running consistently, and I was still able to do many of the 5K races faster than the previous ones; and the 31:45 I ran at the Masser Five-Miler was one of the faster 5-mile times I had run in the past year :) Well, the 18:53 at the Firefly 5K probably wasn't quite as fast as the 18:36 I ran a couple of days earlier at the Mary Husty 5K, but I think that one was a tad bit shorter, but I still think the Mary Husty 5K was slightly faster. God is amazing, and He even blessed me with performances well enough to earn me age-group awards at these four recent races (I finished sixth overall in this Firefly 5K and second in the male 20-29 age-group division :) This was a terrific week, and the races and people helped make it so :)
So ends that "trilogy" of running races in Delaware; a state I still look forward to running races in. Right now, I'm looking forward to doing races and running events in more counties of Maryland, especially ones I haven't done any yet in in Maryland this year. Some races in the near future that I would like to do is the Inaugural Friends of the Howard County Library Fun Run/Walk right near where I grew up in Columbia (Howard County), MD on Saturday, June 7, 2008, the General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon in the Indian Head (Charles County) area of southern Maryland on Sunday, June 29, 2008 (and this would be my first triathlon if I ran it :), the 27th Annual Rock Hall Flat Five in Rock Hall (Kent County), MD on Friday, July 4, 2008, as well as try and do more out in western Maryland like in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington Counties. Plus, it would be swell to run in some cross country races as well as maybe some track & field ones, but I dunno about the latter, as they would seem to coincide with days I may be working at the Teens on Tour Summer Camp with all the day trips we would be taking.
Since I have been behind in my posting this recent spring and summer, I plan on giving details on the General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon and then picking up the blogging (hopefully now on a little more consistent level) from how many races I've done... And don't worry, I'll try and bring back a list of counties I have done running events in this year :)
Thank you all so much for reading this and supporting me on it!
Delaware
(Italicized ones are Delaware counties that I ran in the week of 5-25-to-5-31-2008)
Fortunately, the race that I intended to do this evening started well after I got off of work in Howard County, Maryland (and I got off at around 2:40 in the afternoon), so I had ample time to drive over to Smyrna (Kent County), Delaware for the 4th Annual Firefly 5K Run/Walk. I was feeling pretty excited about doing this race, because afterwards I could say that I ran a race in all three of Delaware's counties (Kent, New Castle, and Sussex) within a week, God-willing everything works out of course.
One thing that I was sorta worried about was that my stomach was bothering me, but I wasn't feeling so sick to my stomach that I thought it would weaken my performance, or worse, lessen my chances of me getting through the race of approximately 3.1 miles (which is 5 kilometers or "5K" as it is commonly referred too). Over the past ten years that I have been running, me having a rather sensitive stomach often has conflicted (or tried to conflict and discourage) with me and running/racing. Yet, by God's grace it has helped make me stronger, at least mentally. So now these stomach pains that used to send me to the health room in grade school probably more often than the other students, seem like rather smaller annoyances. I think being in shape definitely helps too, because I wasn't all that athletic for a good portion of my life to say the least, especially in grade school. Maybe it was just nerves in anticipation of finishing out this rather short-term goal.
Anyway, I got through the work day and drove out around the Dover area of Delaware (and Dover is the capital area of Delaware) to Smyrna for the Firefly 5K. I got to the race site (which was at Sheridan's Irish Pub in what looked to me the more downtown area of Smyrna). I was pleased to see several buddies and friends I have met this past year (and quite recently) at various races, such as Danny, Steven and Don. They did not come to the race to see me attempt this Delaware running and racing goal, but they wanted to do the race too (still, it was great that they were there :)
The course was pretty much flat (except maybe in the last mile there were some light rolling hills) and it went mainly through the suburban neighborhoods of Smyrna. Therefore, after the rather crowded start, it didn't seem to take too much to go through the first mile in about 5:34ish (which was the fastest mile I've run I think since coming back from a bit of time off in April-through-May :) I knew I probably wouldn't be able to hold it, and I was losing sight of the runners in front of me, yet maintaining my position in the race. I went through the neighborhoods, never feeling like the course was monotonous because of all the turns we seemed to make.
As this one street was curving to the left, I went through the two-mile mark in about 11:43ish, which was the fastest two-mile time I've hit since coming back from my recent time off (and if it wasn't, it sure as heck was close to it :) At this point I was feeling pretty tired, but I pressed on, knowing that the finish line and the finish to this Delaware-based goal was less than a mile's-worth away (granted I didn't make a wrong turn and get lost). There were still a fair amount of turns in this last mile, as well as a few rolling hills. By the time I got to this place where I jogged with my buddy Steven in a warm-up, I knew I was within about a minute or so of the finish line. I pushed up the hill, and headed straight, almost missing the right turn I think (and if I did almost miss it, I think a course marshal corrected me), and I made a right towards the finish line, and saw that the clock was still under 19 minutes. Seeing that I could still possibly break 19, I bolted down the gentle slope and through the finish line with a finishing time of about 18:53 :)
BY GOD'S GRACE I HAD RUN A RACE IN ALL THREE OF DELAWARE'S COUNTIES IN FOUR DAYS... WELL WITHIN A WEEK :)
WOOHOOO!!!!
YAYAYAYAYAAAAAAAAH!!!
It was a terrific evening with a nice post-race awards ceremony and celebration afterwards. I cooled down and hung out with people. I remember going into the pub afterwards and I might have gotten a quick bite or drink before I headed back to my place in Baltimore County, MD. I was happy to have completed this. Even though it was only a week-long endeavor, it sure was a lot of driving and races within a week of each other. The day before I even started running in these races in Delaware, I had run in the 32nd Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 5K in Kent County, MD on Saturday, May 24, 2008. Then, on Sunday, May 25, I had run in the 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler, followed by the 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K on Monday, May 26. And one of the really amazing things was was that I had hardly done any speedwork and was recently coming from back from a brief time off of running consistently, and I was still able to do many of the 5K races faster than the previous ones; and the 31:45 I ran at the Masser Five-Miler was one of the faster 5-mile times I had run in the past year :) Well, the 18:53 at the Firefly 5K probably wasn't quite as fast as the 18:36 I ran a couple of days earlier at the Mary Husty 5K, but I think that one was a tad bit shorter, but I still think the Mary Husty 5K was slightly faster. God is amazing, and He even blessed me with performances well enough to earn me age-group awards at these four recent races (I finished sixth overall in this Firefly 5K and second in the male 20-29 age-group division :) This was a terrific week, and the races and people helped make it so :)
So ends that "trilogy" of running races in Delaware; a state I still look forward to running races in. Right now, I'm looking forward to doing races and running events in more counties of Maryland, especially ones I haven't done any yet in in Maryland this year. Some races in the near future that I would like to do is the Inaugural Friends of the Howard County Library Fun Run/Walk right near where I grew up in Columbia (Howard County), MD on Saturday, June 7, 2008, the General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon in the Indian Head (Charles County) area of southern Maryland on Sunday, June 29, 2008 (and this would be my first triathlon if I ran it :), the 27th Annual Rock Hall Flat Five in Rock Hall (Kent County), MD on Friday, July 4, 2008, as well as try and do more out in western Maryland like in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington Counties. Plus, it would be swell to run in some cross country races as well as maybe some track & field ones, but I dunno about the latter, as they would seem to coincide with days I may be working at the Teens on Tour Summer Camp with all the day trips we would be taking.
Since I have been behind in my posting this recent spring and summer, I plan on giving details on the General Smallwood Sprint Triathlon and then picking up the blogging (hopefully now on a little more consistent level) from how many races I've done... And don't worry, I'll try and bring back a list of counties I have done running events in this year :)
Thank you all so much for reading this and supporting me on it!
Delaware
(Italicized ones are Delaware counties that I ran in the week of 5-25-to-5-31-2008)
Kent County
- 4th Annual Firefly 5K Run/Walk - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - Smyrna - 6th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) - 18:53 (I have completed my goal of running a race in every county of Delaware within a week :)
New Castle County
- 7th Annual Friends of Mary Husty 5K – Monday, May 26, 2008 – University of Delaware, Newark – 8th overall (male 19-29 age-group division winner – Now I’ve won my age group in all three counties of Delaware in my lifetime :) – 18:38 (clock), 18:36 (watch)
Sussex County
- 15th Annual Masser Five-Miler – Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Lewes – 12th overall (3rd in male 25-29 age-group division) – 31:47 (clock), 31:45 (watch – My pace got faster later in the race :)
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