Inauguration '09!

Earlier today (Tuesday, January 20, 2009), while sitting in the classroom at the Homewood Center where I work among the students and some fellow staff members, we watched televised coverage (I think it was CNN) of Barack Obama becoming the United States of America's forty-forth President. I am glad we got to view such an historical occurrence in our nation's history in school; I think it was mighty important for both staff and students to see. I thought President Obama spoke well and I was certainly awed by the size of the crowds (which I think could very well have been bigger than New Year's Eve at Time's Square in New York City)!

Neat stuff. Anyway, I was actually right near our nation's capitol (Washington, D.C.) for my first few races of the year at the "Inaugural" Indoor Track & Field Meet put on by the Potomac Valley Track Club (http://www.pvtc.org) at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington (Arlington County), Virginia. It was in northern Virginia right outside of D.C. , and since it was right near where Obama's Inauguration was scheduled to occur in the next two days, it was called the "Inaugural" meet. I ran in the one-mile race, the 800-meter race (which is about half-a-mile), followed by the 3,000 meter race (which is about an eighth-of-a-mile less than two miles). Even though I said I was thinking of running in the 500 meter race, they did not actually have that race distance at this meet.

The one-mile race was actually kinda... quirky for me (and it was not because it was my first race of the year either): My right shoe came untied about half-way into the race and it slowed me up, especially towards the end of the race where I really tried to pick it up on the eighth and final lap, and I almost tripped a time or two (not to mention I thought I had almost whacked this gentleman I overlapped on that last lap too trying to keep my balance). These were the knew racing flats I picked up just before Christmas, and I guess I gotta get used to tying them tighter. I had run in the "Elite" heat for this event, because it was a faster heat. You can see from my lap splits below where I started slowing up. I probably was not going to maintain the 5-minute pace I started out at towards the beginning of the race, but I'm confident I would have been faster than the 5:26 I ran had my shoe not come untied.

Lap 1 - :38
Lap 2 - 1:15
Lap 3 - 1:52
Lap 4 - 2:31
Lap 5 - 3:12
Lap 6 - higher 3:50's
Lap 7 - Low-to-mid 4:40's
Lap 8 (finish) - 5:26.7

My shoe actually came off when I really tried to kick it in within the last 10 meters/yards or so of the finish line. I thought it was kinda funny. I was trying to beat 5:17, my previous best mile time on this track from last year, and I think I would have run faster than 5:17 had my shoe not come untied. Fortunately I got through all right, no one was hurt, and I think breaking 5:30 with that going on for at least half the race is not that bad of a mile time (and it probably would have been a much slower time had I run with it untied the whole race).

The 800 meter went a lot better. My buddy, John, who was also competing at this meet, offered to call out my splits for me each lap on this four-lap race. I was gunning to break 2:20 since my previous best time on this track from last year was about 2:21, and I was pleased with my splits during this race:

Lap 1 - :34
Lap 2 - 1:08
Lap 3 - 1:42
Lap 4 (finish) 2:17.78

I had run my best 800 meter time-to-date on that track, and I think it helped make a large difference that my shoe stayed tied :) The first three laps were about 34 seconds each, and then my last was about 35 seconds, so I thought that was pretty even.

After the 800 meter race, I still had the 3,000 meter race, but I was feeling more exhausted now. Still, I felt somewhat confident that I could beat 10:59; my best time from last year at this meet on this track. They divided this race up into two heats, and I went in the second and faster one. I don't quite remember all of the splits that I hit each lap on this 15-lap race, but I think I was able to get a majority of them.

Lap 1 - :39ish
Lap 2 - 1:21
Lap 3 - 2:00ish
Lap 4 - 2:40ish
Lap 5 - 3:20
Lap 6 - 4:04
Lap 8 (1,600 meters) - 5:26 (this was almost as fast as what I ran the mile race in :)

Lap 14 - 10:01
Lap 15 - 10:46 (I thought I had one more lap to go)
Lap 16 (what I thought was the finish) - 11:27.8

Yep, somewhere around the middle of the race I had lost count and did an extra lap. I guess I thought I was doing a 3,200 meter (which is just a tad bit less than two miles) instead of a slightly shorter 3,000 meter. I was feeling pretty exhausted towards the end of the first half of the race, and I was glad I was able to keep my one-mile split only a few mere seconds shorter than what I ran the mile in earlier that morning in the one-mile race I felt kinda like I was punched in the stomach the last coupla laps, and perhaps it was because of the dryer air quality in the indoor track. In coming through the second-to-last lap in 10:46, I was feeling a bit demoralized in thinking that it did not look like I would be able to beat 10:59 for this race, but when I soon realized I had done an extra lap, I realized what I thought my second-to-last lap was in fact my new personal best time-to-date on this track for the 3,000 meters. I had beaten my previous best time by 13 seconds (having run about 10:46 en route to doing an extra lap). So I had run 3,200 meters (and 11:27 isn't always that slow of a time for me in that distance). God is awesome; He helped me out a great deal in running these personal best times at this indoor track at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center. Even while running one race with an untied shoe for about the last half, and then doing an extra lap in another, He still helped me maintain and get through each race strongly. While none of these times are my actual personal best times for those actual distances, they are my personal best times in those distances at that particular venue.

For the most part, I think this meet has helped me become more confident for the upcoming indoor track & field meets (which are open/all comers meets) at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover (Prince George's County), Maryland the next couple of Sundays (January 25 and February 1, 2009 - http://www.pvtc.org). I'm hoping to run some of if not the all the same events at these meets that I ran at the indoor meet this past Sunday in Arlington!!!!

Thank you all for reading and I look forward to seeing some of you soon!

Races I have run so far in 2009!!!!

- Sunday, January 18, 2009 - "Inaugural" All-comers Indoor Track & Field Meet - Thomas Jefferson Community Center, Arlington (Arlington County), Virginia:

1-mile race - 14th overall since some mile times run in other heats were faster than mine, (7th overall in the "Elite heat") - 5:26.7 (not bad considering my shoe came untied around half-way into the race :)

800-meter race - 2nd overall - 2:17.78 (my best time in this event at this track venue and very well-paced too :)

3,000 meter race - 15th overall (13th overall in the second heat) - 11:27.8 (I accidentally ran a lap extra and ran about 3,200 meters worth, and my 3,000 meter split was about 10:46, which would have put me at about 8th overall and 8th in this particular heat. This is also my best time-to-date for 3,000 meters at this track venue :)