Gettin' busy with the turkey trots...

.... And the three running events I did last weekend seem like just a warm-up compared to the four-to-quite-possibly eight races coming up in the next several days (a few of which are Thanksgiving-themed). In case I haven't made it clear yet, I am trying to run a hundred races before 2008 is over. Around the time I finished out my half-year-long goal of doing running events in every county in Maryland, I realized that I had done a little over eighty races this year and I figured that since I'm getting closer to the one-hundred mark, and since I would like to cut back on the number of races I do next year, I thought it might be worth it to shoot for it. So don't think I've completely lost if you've noticed my efforts to up the number of races I do each week recently, haha!

On that note, last weekend's races went pretty well. My first one last weekend was on Saturday morning (November 22, 2008) at Denton Elementary School in Caroline County, MD. It was my fourth year-in-a-row running in the Turkey Trot Two Mile Fun Run in Denton. It was pretty cold and windy (in my opinion), and the course started at the elementary school, went out into the Martinak State Park around this boat ramp by the water, and then back to the front of the elementary school where the finish line was. I was pleased to have run it in 11:29, my fastest two-mile time since this past February. I think I might have been able to go a bit faster than that had it not been windy. A couple of years ago in 2006, I ran this race in 11:06 and to this day that is my best time on that course. It's certainly conducive to fast times and if I'm fortunate enough to run it more in the future, I hope to see faster times. It was great to also see some people that I recognized and knew from other races. I handed out copies of a recent Star Democrat (a Maryland Eastern Shore newspaper that covers a large portion of the Maryland Eastern Shore) article that they had of me and my recently successful endeavors of running in a running event in every Maryland county in a half-a-year to people I knew/people who were supportive and enthusiastic about it and they liked it. I am glad I was able to share it with some of the people I've seen year after year at this race; it was almost like family and not to" toot my own horn" or anything like that, but it was neat to see how happy they were for me. Plus, back when I first ran this race in 2005 (I ran it in 11:54 at the time), it was one of the road races that got me interested in the Maryland Eastern Shore running scene and "researching" more races and running events that occur around that area, which went on to help me in my Maryland-wide running and racing endeavors :)

So I left that race feeling pretty happy, even though I knew I had a longer and more hilly, but fun and friendly event later that night: The Symphony of Lights Dazzle Dash in Columbia (Howard County), MD. This is where runners run through the Symphony of Lights loop in the Symphony Woods/Merriweather Post Pavilion area of Columbia. You can run the approximately 1.4-mile loop as many times as you'd like between when it opens at 5:30 P.M. and closes at 8 P.M. Last year I had run it twice (as most people seem to do since it's closer to 5-kilometers, a very common distance for running events and races) and I did it in about 17 minutes and 38 seconds. I thought that was pretty swell for me at the time because I was just getting back into running from taking a little time off. This year I wanted to try for three or four miles and keep up a consistent pace throughout (preferably four laps in under forty minutes if I ran four laps, meaning each lap would be a little faster than ten minutes). I knew that the loop was hilly, so I wanted to pace myself well, especially since I had run a hard two-miler earlier that morning.
I started off faster than I expected, having some younger runners taking off fairly quickly ahead of me. Yet, I still felt all right and in control. It was pretty cold, but I guess there was something about running through the night with the lights all around that sort of riled my adrenaline. I went by the finish area in about 8:03, figuring I was holding on pretty well for the first lap. Then, much to my surprise I ran by the finish area for the second time in about 16:57, running about twenty seconds or so faster than I had run last year, while I still had a ways to go before I finished. WOW! It seemed like a lofty hope to run faster than I had run last year on this course as a split for a longer distance, but God helped bless me with the strength to persevere, and knowing that I was running faster than last year for a longer distance than last year (plus being happy with the race earlier that morning), I felt pretty strong and confident.
I went by the finish area a third time in about 26:19, and then at the beginning of the fourth lap I began to think that I was still feeling strong and that I could probably handle a fifth lap (which would end up being about 7 miles-worth if not close to it). I quickly prayed about it as I ran, hoping that if I felt all right through the fourth lap it would be all right to go for a fifth. Plus, if I ran four laps it would be about 5.6 and I felt like with the pace I was going, I could probably get 10-kilometers (approximately 6.2 miles-worth) in under forty minutes, something I haven't done in over a year I don't think. That encouraged me to stay strong and as I went by the finish line area for the fourth time in about 35:25, I felt confident I could handle another lap.
Throughout this run I prayed that God would help bless me with strength (or something like that) and I was grateful for how smooth I felt. During the second and third laps I passed by quite a few walkers and joggers, so I had to do some dodging, but other than that I felt smooth. Now, coming up the steady curving hill near the front of the amphitheater stage (where my high school graduation was in 2002) of the Merriweather Post Pavilion, I began to feel my legs stiffen with fatigue, but I knew I was almost done and as the course went down hill and then on an uphill with holiday lights on both sides, I began to feel strong again. Up ahead I could see the cars driving by on the road ahead, and I knew I would be making my last turn, a left, towards the finish area. Shortly after making this left turn I looked at my watch which read 44:01, and I felt myself pick up the pace, because I thought I might have a chance of breaking 45 minutes. I ran through the finish area and up a hill by this stadium light (this is around where I finished last year since they do not seem to have much of a clear-cut finish area) and stopped by the front of the stadium light in 44:55. Whoohoo!!! If this wasn't 7 miles, it was certainly close and I hadn't run this long of a distance that well in probably over a year and I'm sure that if I did not break forty minutes for my 10K split, I certainly came close and it was probably my fastest 10K for over a year as well. Who knew I would do so well at this fun run, especially after a two-mile race that left me feeling pretty wiped earlier that morning. God is great in providing strength and I felt Him helping me to maintain nice and steady all the way through.

After the Symphony of Lights run, I went over to my friend Amy's place for a game night to celebrate her recent birthday. That was fun and it was great to eat food there after the two running events. I was surprised that I had no troubles staying awake and alert there after running pretty hard, yet pretty well both times.

The final race I ran of last week was the "Legends of the Fall"weekly series race put on by the Howard County Striders at Swansfield Elementary School on Sunday afternoon (November 23, 2008). They had a one-mile and 5K option, both of which were pretty hilly, and I opted to do the 5K and do it no harder than a moderate-to-brisk pace. I thought it would be nice to run it in under 20 minutes, but if that didn't happen, it wouldn't have hurt my feelings, because I thought that my body should recover at least a little bit from yesterday's runs.
However, the race had some pretty significant downhills within that first mile (and you had to come back up them throughout the race too), so it was hard not to go out faster than expected. We started off on the roads in the Swansfield neighborhood of Columbia, MD and then went into the bike paths. However, due to no course markings or nearby course marshals, some of us accidentally cut the course a bit short (nothing too dramatic in my opinion), and I should have caught the mistake because I have run this course several times over the years, but I guess I was kinda out of it and fixated on trying to keep up with the people in front of me. So it surprised me a bit to see myself come through the finish in about 19:05, which is only 2 seconds shy of my best time on that course of 19:03 that I ran a few years ago in June of 2005. I thought I was coming on fairly strong towards the end, but I wasn't expecting to be close to my best time on the course. Later on while talking to other runners and one of the race coordinators, I realized that we had turned back to o early in the woods on the bike path and that I should probably add at least 20-30 seconds to my finishing time, if not a bit more. I'm still fairly confident that I was on pace to run a full 5K in under 20 minutes. At least when I ran that 19:03ish back in 2005, I had run the course fully so I had actually run a bit further back then than I ran there this past Sunday afternoon. But I'm still pleased with how I ran on that hilly course after Saturday's runs.

Thank you all for reading about my races this past weekend. I'm grateful to have your attention and enthusiasm. This Thanksgiving weekend, aside from running in quite a few races ranging between 3 miles and 15 kilometers (approximately 3.1 miles), I hope to spend some time with my family on Thanksgiving and see some of my friends. A couple of races I'm thinking about doing in the near future is the 20th Annual Anne Arundel Community College Turkey Trot 5K in Arnold (Anne Arundel County), MD tomorrow at noon (Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - please check out http://www.aacc.edu/physed/turkeytrot.cfm if you are interested) and then on Thanksgiving morning (Thursday, November 27, 2008), run in the Howard County Striders' 10K Prediction Run at the Jeffers Hill Neighborhood Center in Columbia (http://www.striders.net for more details on that event if you are interested).

I'm gonna go ahead to a local library and try and get some work done. If I don't get back on this blog before Thanksgiving, I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and holiday season :)