Sunday, March 21, 2010
Survived doing three road races in one day!
Just wanted to let you all know that I am fine and recovering all right from yesterday's (Saturday, March 20's) effort to run a the inaugural Francie's Family 5K Fun Run, the Matt Boles 5K Fun Run, and the 28th Annual Forest of Needwood/Jennifer Shafer Odom Memorial 5-Mile Race was a success! I will relate the details hopefully in the near future. It was humbling to see that I have quite a ways to go to get back into the running shape I was in like last spring and in the few recent years. I am grateful that God really blessed me by getting me through the races despite some health and logistical challenges (nothing serious), and with great memories. Take it easy everyone!
Friday, March 19, 2010
March Running Off To A Fairly Nice Start For Me!
Hi everyone, I hope you all are enjoying this more spring-like weather (well at least around the central Maryland area it is feeling that way). I am grateful that with longer daylight hours, I feel like I have had more consistent time to run, and as a result, I think things are going in a positive direction with it for the first time since we got the almost-three-feet-of-snow a little over a month ago. It feels good to be able to run up and down hills again!
On Sunday, March 7, 2010, I did a fun, low-key race, the first race I had done in almost two months. It was the Howard County Striders' Weekly Winter Series (a.k.a. "Operation Iceberg")#6 at Oakland Mills High School, where they had a 2-mile race and a 6-mile race that involved running the two-mile loop three times. I am not much for running laps though I wanted to go further and run at an easier pace, so I did that. I have run this course several other times over the past 10+ years, my slowest time being about 45:48 on Wednesday, August 18, 1999 (this was when I was the summer just before starting my sophomore year of high school and I had done a long run earlier that day at cross country practice, so no wonder why I felt like I was huffing and puffing a bit). Then, around June of 2004 (during the summer break between my sophomore and junior years of college), I ran my fastest time on that course to date, a relatively even-paced 38:36. So there is over an eight-minute range of times I had run on this course. Yet, I was glad I had run it on this pleasantly warm day.
My first mile was about 7:14, not too bad. The second mile was real consistent, coming through in 14:28, the result of another 7:14 mile. Then, I slowed quite a bit the third mile, which I went through in about 22:04 thereabouts. Mile 4 was about 29:35ish I wanna say. However, at that point I was starting to feel a little better. I had thought that due to my level of fitness, I thought I was gonna run my slowest time on the course to-date (slower than the 45:48 I had run there over 10 years ago), though when I saw that I was on pace to actually run it in under 45 minutes, I think that helped get my hopes up, and I felt myself begin to pick up the pace on the third and final lap. I went through five miles in about 37:01, and then ran about 6:54 that last mile to finish in 43:55. I was huffing and puffing after that, and running the last mile of a six-mile race in just under 7 minutes felt like me running the last mile of a six-mile race in just under 6 minutes (just to show how far I feel like I gotta go to get back into the kind of running shape I have been in the last coupla years). However, I am certainly not complaining, because I am fairly happy with the consistent pacing of this relatively flatter race that I ran, not to mention I had managed to run the second half a little faster than the first. This was my third-slowest/fourth-fastest time I had run on this course, so that was encouraging for me to think about as I consider myself in the "getting back into solid running shape" condition at the moment.
Last Saturday (March 13, 2010), I ran my fourth race this year so far: The "Third Helping" of the Pi Mile (3.14-mile) Trail Run at Patuxent High School in Lusby (Calvert County), MD. This was a pretty hilly (and muddy from recent rain) cross-country course held for its third consecutive year around the date of March 14 (get it, March 14 is 3/14 on the calendar, just like pi (the mathematical number that is 3.14...), and therefore the race is 3.14 miles (just a slight bit longer than a 5-kilometer distance of 3.1 miles). They even gave PIES away as prizes, pretty clever :)
The mud and turns on the course made it difficult to pick up any solid momentum. That did not upset me much, as I expected to run slower (heck, I was expecting to run around 22 minutes to cover a distance I would have expected to have covered at least a minute faster on other kinds of courses). So I went through the first mile at the top of a rather steep hill with these wooden "railroad crosses" (I think that's what they referred to those wooden blocks as) in about 7:28. I felt like I had run a mile in 6:28. Haha!
The second mile had some interesting hills. I almost fell on my behind coming down this steady and wet hill, and then coming up`another hill I slid and fell forward and my glasses came off (but fortunately they did not break like in that St. Roch Trail Run in Cecil County, MD last July). I quickly grabbed them up and crawled up the remaining yard or two of the hill (which I later found out was called "crawler's hill", and I found out first-hand why a little bit. Fortunately I was not hurt and I figured I was already going slow enough. Soon after I went through two miles in about 14:58, having only slowed a couple of seconds off of the 7:28 one-mile I ran. Well so much for hitting 22 minutes (a time that I would have to average 7:20-per-mile to hit), but with as tired as I was feeling I did not really care too much at that point. I just hoped to make it through safely without taking a major face-plant.
Fortunately, within the third mile I think I was finally able to get into a stable rhythm, and I believe that the last 1.14 miles of the race were my fastest (I think the last mile I ran there may have been right around the low-to-mid 7:20's, just slightly faster than what I was averaging. The last mile was much the same as the first two: Narrow, but safe trails and open fields around the Patuxent High School campus. I ran up the last hill coming out of the woods, and then it was pretty much flat from there. I ran by the track and finished close behind a younger gentleman in a time of 23:29. This is definitely slower by comparison to other 5K's I have run this year alone, however, given the muddy, slippery, and hilly conditions, it felt like I had run under 21 minutes thereabouts, and I was happy to have finished the race at that point. It was awesome to have my girlfriend, Kay, there cheering me on from the car (by honking the horn when I came near the parking lot), and then walking across the field in her nice pretty dress shoes to cheer me on at the finish line. She is so wonderfully encouraging :) It was also a bonus I got to come away with a nice blueberry lattice pie from finishing in the top-two in my 20-29 age group, yummy!!!!
So these past couple of racing experiences have been encouraging to me. I know I do not currently have as much speed as have had before, though God-willing that can improve. It seems like I have been blessed with a nice solid pacing ability. My paces throughout both of these races have been pretty even and I have been able to finish the last mile of both of these races relatively strongly. I am happy about these and I think it has given me confidence to attempt something unique tomorrow: I am going to try to run in three road races between Carroll and Frederick Counties in the central-western Maryland region. God-willing if I can make it to and through these races, that will be a personal record for me of running in three ROAD races in one day. I have run two road races in one day, and of course at track meets I have run more than three events in one day, so this should be a bit of a different experience. The first one I hope to do is the inaugural Francie's Family 5K Fun Run at Middletown Park in Middletown (Frederick County), MD starting at 9 A.M. I have run before at Middletown Park in races with the Howard County Junior Striders when I was in the eighth grade, and then in my senior year I ran at Middletown High School for the 2A South Regional Championships for Outdoor Track & Field. It's a nice area, and plenty of nice memories (which I can get into later if anyone is interested). After the Francie's Family 5K Fun Run (http://franciesfamily5k.com/?page=about), I hope to get over to a little eastbound to Carroll County for the second annual Matt Boles 5K Fun Run in Westminster (it should be a cross-country race from what I hear). The Matt Boles 5K Fun Run is scheduled to start around 11 A.M. Then, at 1 A.M. the 28th Annual Forest of Needwood/Jennifer Shafer Odom Memorial Run 5 Mile Road Race is scheduled to take place in Petersville (in Frederick County again). I have not run this five-mile race before. As a matter of fact, all three of these races are ones I have yet to do.
I know I am not in the best running shape compared to what I have been (at least speed-wise), though I am confident that God has equipped me to and will help me through this endeavor, and hopefully I can have fun with it too! I am excited that Kay is enthusiastic about it as well it seems. I know she does not run, though she is very supportive of me in this area of my life :)
As far as specific goals for the races, I hope to run at last one of the 5K's in the lower end of 20 minutes (and that would more likely occur at Francie's Family 5K Fun Run since that is the first one and the other 5K, the Matt Boles 5K Fun Run is cross country which could have all sorts of challenging terrain). I would like to finish the Forest of Needwood/Jennifer Shafer Odom Memorial Run 5 Mile Road Race around 35 minutes (a pace averaging seven minutes-per-mile). It would be cool to place in my age group in at least one of the races to be eligible for an age group award. We will see. I think those time goals should be fairly challenging for the kind of shape that I am in, and God-willing I do all three of these races tomorrow, it should total up to about 11.2 miles worth of races, and I have not done a long run much longer than around 7 miles. I am gonna have to trust God on helping me run and pace these races smart. I hope I am well fed and not feeling ill or injured. IF I do not achieve any of these goals tomorrow, that is fine, I think this will be a neat and fun experience, and with my second part-time job, it probably will not be that very often I will get to do this. I want to enjoy the experience, and I think that is one of my larger goals for this, and that seems quite achievable!
All right, thank you all for stopping by, and I hope that you have a blessed and enjoyable weekend :)
Races I Have Done This Year as of Friday, March 19, 2010
1). Friday, January 1, 2010 – 3rd Annual Southern Maryland Community Network Resolution Run 5K – Prince Frederick (Calvert County), MD – 9th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) – 20:38 (clock time), 20:34 (watch time)
2). Sunday, January 10, 2010 – Mighty Medford Freeway 5K – Medford/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 8th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) – 20:25
3). Sunday, March 7, 2010 – Howard County Striders “Operation Iceberg” Winter Series #6: Oakland Mills Middle School 6-Mile Race – 17th overall – 43:55 (ran at an even pace, and ran negative splits too )
4). Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 3rd Annual Pi-Mile (3.14-mile) Run – Patuxent High School, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 7th overall (20-29 male age group division winner) – 23:29.0
Please check out the events I did in 2009:
http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2009/12/reflection-on-2009.html
Please check out the events I did in 2008:
http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2008/12/
not-much-longer-until-2009.html
Please check out the events I did in 2007:
http://runineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2007/09/
i-ran-in-running-event-in-all-of.html
On Sunday, March 7, 2010, I did a fun, low-key race, the first race I had done in almost two months. It was the Howard County Striders' Weekly Winter Series (a.k.a. "Operation Iceberg")#6 at Oakland Mills High School, where they had a 2-mile race and a 6-mile race that involved running the two-mile loop three times. I am not much for running laps though I wanted to go further and run at an easier pace, so I did that. I have run this course several other times over the past 10+ years, my slowest time being about 45:48 on Wednesday, August 18, 1999 (this was when I was the summer just before starting my sophomore year of high school and I had done a long run earlier that day at cross country practice, so no wonder why I felt like I was huffing and puffing a bit). Then, around June of 2004 (during the summer break between my sophomore and junior years of college), I ran my fastest time on that course to date, a relatively even-paced 38:36. So there is over an eight-minute range of times I had run on this course. Yet, I was glad I had run it on this pleasantly warm day.
My first mile was about 7:14, not too bad. The second mile was real consistent, coming through in 14:28, the result of another 7:14 mile. Then, I slowed quite a bit the third mile, which I went through in about 22:04 thereabouts. Mile 4 was about 29:35ish I wanna say. However, at that point I was starting to feel a little better. I had thought that due to my level of fitness, I thought I was gonna run my slowest time on the course to-date (slower than the 45:48 I had run there over 10 years ago), though when I saw that I was on pace to actually run it in under 45 minutes, I think that helped get my hopes up, and I felt myself begin to pick up the pace on the third and final lap. I went through five miles in about 37:01, and then ran about 6:54 that last mile to finish in 43:55. I was huffing and puffing after that, and running the last mile of a six-mile race in just under 7 minutes felt like me running the last mile of a six-mile race in just under 6 minutes (just to show how far I feel like I gotta go to get back into the kind of running shape I have been in the last coupla years). However, I am certainly not complaining, because I am fairly happy with the consistent pacing of this relatively flatter race that I ran, not to mention I had managed to run the second half a little faster than the first. This was my third-slowest/fourth-fastest time I had run on this course, so that was encouraging for me to think about as I consider myself in the "getting back into solid running shape" condition at the moment.
Last Saturday (March 13, 2010), I ran my fourth race this year so far: The "Third Helping" of the Pi Mile (3.14-mile) Trail Run at Patuxent High School in Lusby (Calvert County), MD. This was a pretty hilly (and muddy from recent rain) cross-country course held for its third consecutive year around the date of March 14 (get it, March 14 is 3/14 on the calendar, just like pi (the mathematical number that is 3.14...), and therefore the race is 3.14 miles (just a slight bit longer than a 5-kilometer distance of 3.1 miles). They even gave PIES away as prizes, pretty clever :)
The mud and turns on the course made it difficult to pick up any solid momentum. That did not upset me much, as I expected to run slower (heck, I was expecting to run around 22 minutes to cover a distance I would have expected to have covered at least a minute faster on other kinds of courses). So I went through the first mile at the top of a rather steep hill with these wooden "railroad crosses" (I think that's what they referred to those wooden blocks as) in about 7:28. I felt like I had run a mile in 6:28. Haha!
The second mile had some interesting hills. I almost fell on my behind coming down this steady and wet hill, and then coming up`another hill I slid and fell forward and my glasses came off (but fortunately they did not break like in that St. Roch Trail Run in Cecil County, MD last July). I quickly grabbed them up and crawled up the remaining yard or two of the hill (which I later found out was called "crawler's hill", and I found out first-hand why a little bit. Fortunately I was not hurt and I figured I was already going slow enough. Soon after I went through two miles in about 14:58, having only slowed a couple of seconds off of the 7:28 one-mile I ran. Well so much for hitting 22 minutes (a time that I would have to average 7:20-per-mile to hit), but with as tired as I was feeling I did not really care too much at that point. I just hoped to make it through safely without taking a major face-plant.
Fortunately, within the third mile I think I was finally able to get into a stable rhythm, and I believe that the last 1.14 miles of the race were my fastest (I think the last mile I ran there may have been right around the low-to-mid 7:20's, just slightly faster than what I was averaging. The last mile was much the same as the first two: Narrow, but safe trails and open fields around the Patuxent High School campus. I ran up the last hill coming out of the woods, and then it was pretty much flat from there. I ran by the track and finished close behind a younger gentleman in a time of 23:29. This is definitely slower by comparison to other 5K's I have run this year alone, however, given the muddy, slippery, and hilly conditions, it felt like I had run under 21 minutes thereabouts, and I was happy to have finished the race at that point. It was awesome to have my girlfriend, Kay, there cheering me on from the car (by honking the horn when I came near the parking lot), and then walking across the field in her nice pretty dress shoes to cheer me on at the finish line. She is so wonderfully encouraging :) It was also a bonus I got to come away with a nice blueberry lattice pie from finishing in the top-two in my 20-29 age group, yummy!!!!
So these past couple of racing experiences have been encouraging to me. I know I do not currently have as much speed as have had before, though God-willing that can improve. It seems like I have been blessed with a nice solid pacing ability. My paces throughout both of these races have been pretty even and I have been able to finish the last mile of both of these races relatively strongly. I am happy about these and I think it has given me confidence to attempt something unique tomorrow: I am going to try to run in three road races between Carroll and Frederick Counties in the central-western Maryland region. God-willing if I can make it to and through these races, that will be a personal record for me of running in three ROAD races in one day. I have run two road races in one day, and of course at track meets I have run more than three events in one day, so this should be a bit of a different experience. The first one I hope to do is the inaugural Francie's Family 5K Fun Run at Middletown Park in Middletown (Frederick County), MD starting at 9 A.M. I have run before at Middletown Park in races with the Howard County Junior Striders when I was in the eighth grade, and then in my senior year I ran at Middletown High School for the 2A South Regional Championships for Outdoor Track & Field. It's a nice area, and plenty of nice memories (which I can get into later if anyone is interested). After the Francie's Family 5K Fun Run (http://franciesfamily5k.com/?page=about), I hope to get over to a little eastbound to Carroll County for the second annual Matt Boles 5K Fun Run in Westminster (it should be a cross-country race from what I hear). The Matt Boles 5K Fun Run is scheduled to start around 11 A.M. Then, at 1 A.M. the 28th Annual Forest of Needwood/Jennifer Shafer Odom Memorial Run 5 Mile Road Race is scheduled to take place in Petersville (in Frederick County again). I have not run this five-mile race before. As a matter of fact, all three of these races are ones I have yet to do.
I know I am not in the best running shape compared to what I have been (at least speed-wise), though I am confident that God has equipped me to and will help me through this endeavor, and hopefully I can have fun with it too! I am excited that Kay is enthusiastic about it as well it seems. I know she does not run, though she is very supportive of me in this area of my life :)
As far as specific goals for the races, I hope to run at last one of the 5K's in the lower end of 20 minutes (and that would more likely occur at Francie's Family 5K Fun Run since that is the first one and the other 5K, the Matt Boles 5K Fun Run is cross country which could have all sorts of challenging terrain). I would like to finish the Forest of Needwood/Jennifer Shafer Odom Memorial Run 5 Mile Road Race around 35 minutes (a pace averaging seven minutes-per-mile). It would be cool to place in my age group in at least one of the races to be eligible for an age group award. We will see. I think those time goals should be fairly challenging for the kind of shape that I am in, and God-willing I do all three of these races tomorrow, it should total up to about 11.2 miles worth of races, and I have not done a long run much longer than around 7 miles. I am gonna have to trust God on helping me run and pace these races smart. I hope I am well fed and not feeling ill or injured. IF I do not achieve any of these goals tomorrow, that is fine, I think this will be a neat and fun experience, and with my second part-time job, it probably will not be that very often I will get to do this. I want to enjoy the experience, and I think that is one of my larger goals for this, and that seems quite achievable!
All right, thank you all for stopping by, and I hope that you have a blessed and enjoyable weekend :)
Races I Have Done This Year as of Friday, March 19, 2010
1). Friday, January 1, 2010 – 3rd Annual Southern Maryland Community Network Resolution Run 5K – Prince Frederick (Calvert County), MD – 9th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) – 20:38 (clock time), 20:34 (watch time)
2). Sunday, January 10, 2010 – Mighty Medford Freeway 5K – Medford/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 8th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) – 20:25
3). Sunday, March 7, 2010 – Howard County Striders “Operation Iceberg” Winter Series #6: Oakland Mills Middle School 6-Mile Race – 17th overall – 43:55 (ran at an even pace, and ran negative splits too )
4). Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 3rd Annual Pi-Mile (3.14-mile) Run – Patuxent High School, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 7th overall (20-29 male age group division winner) – 23:29.0
Please check out the events I did in 2009:
http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2009/12/reflection-on-2009.html
Please check out the events I did in 2008:
http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2008/12/
not-much-longer-until-2009.html
Please check out the events I did in 2007:
http://runineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2007/09/
i-ran-in-running-event-in-all-of.html
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