Someone took home some hardware... It wasn't me, and it wasn't from a race...

Oh my, summer of 2010 has come and gone without an update on this blog. I have definitely been busy, with what, much of it I will tell in this blog.


When I last wrote on here, I was getting ready to do Katie's Run 5K in New Germany State Park in Grantsville (Garrett County), Maryland on Satuday, June 5th and I would also be with Kay part of the time. I was going to take her up towards southwestern Pennsylvania to meet one of her friends and spend the night with her, and I would spend the night with my friend Phil in western Maryland. That is where I left off.

Before I start talking about running here again, in case I did not mention it before, I was blessed to get into the Prince George's County Resident Teacher Dual Certification Program (which is an alternative route to teacher certification in both elementary education and special education). I got pretty busy with right quick, as the cohort I am with and I took two accelerated graduate-level education courses (and I had not even taken any graduate-level courses until these), interning as student teachers in a couple of different summer school settings in Prince George's County, and then going to other trainings/staff developments before I became a first grade special education teacher (which I currently am). So I am in my first month-and-a-half of teaching and it is pretty busy (and it is tougher on me mentally and emotionally I think because I feel like I have so much to learn about it that I do not know, so it's quite intimidating to say the least). God-willing I will get through all right and I am blessed to still be able to go to church, spend time with Kay, run, and eat. Starting this job my sleeping and eating felt thrown off quite a bit, though I think it may be starting to improve (at least my eating might be).


So back to the Katie's Run 5K that I ran in June. I spent the night before at my friend Phil's and his wife's house in western Maryland. The night before, my stomach was hurting (I think from indigestion of eating too much, and maybe also nerves of the upcoming race and other things). I woke up feeling all right, and as I drove off to the race, it was dreary/overcast, and ironically enough I was flipping through the radio stations, I heard a song I used to hear on the radio a lot in middle school when I was a rather avid listener of alternative/"modern rock" on 99.1 WHFS (which is no longer a radio station on 99.1). The song was Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic" (the song where its chorus goes "it's like rain (or rather "rayayne" on your wedding day"... And it looked like it was going to rain...

And what was even more ironic... I was getting closer to New Germany State Park, and me in my most excellent geographical no-how, somehow took the highway the wrong way and headed in the wrong direction right into southern Pennsylvania. YIKES! Right around the time I realized I was going the wrong way, I was flipping through the radio, when I heard some classical music playing... It was "Canon in D Major", by Johann Pachelbel, and it seemed a more quicker version, which was so funny because it was matching the more hurried mindset and mood that I was in once I realized I was going the wrong way and that I might miss the race as a result. I turned around at a hardware store after asking for directions and I felt like I floored it back down the highway. I hear that "Canon in D Major" at quite a few weddings, though today it seemed like my "rushing to get to the race" theme... Ironically, I think God used it to foreshadow what was to come later that day...


I was blessed to make good time, and I got to the race before it started, so I was able to start on time. The neat thing about this being an early June race up in the mountains of western Maryland was that it was pleasantly a little cooler and I did not have to contend with the heavier heat I had been trying to adjust to with my running during hte spring. The race started and we quickly got off the road onto some fields, around which was the first mile marker, that I managed to run through around the lower 6:30's (which I thought was pretty ambitious for me. I had heard this course was pretty challenging, and a lot of it was on trails. I wanted to make sure I ran safely and that I did not lose my glasses again like I had the previous weekend at the Patapsco State Park Trail Run (I dropped out of the race early on because I lost my glasses while crossing the river). Fortunately there were not any such crossings at this race.

The second mile was relatively flat with some subtle downhills and uphills, and then that party ended around the start of the third mile when there were plenty of uphills and at least one or two switchbacks. It seemed pretty challenging for the shape I was in, and my stomach was starting to hurt again. I am grateful that God kept me going all right, and that I did not trip or roll my ankle like I sometimes tend to do on these trail runs. It probably helped that I was running uphill, as it seems I roll my ankle on downhills since I often go faster downhill.

I'd say with about a half-a-mile to go, the uphills were over and we started on some downhills and it flattened out to a straight shot along a nice trail through the woods. At this point I was starting to pick up momentum, and there was a younger gentleman not too far ahead of me, but I did not really want to kick it in hard to further hurt my stomach and it would probably have slowed me up on recovering from this scenic race. Sure enough the trail opened into a field, and there was the finish line that I crossed in about 22:52. I can not quite remember what my goal was for the race, though I knew that I had hoped to be under 23 minutes and I felt like I worked for it!

I think it had started drizzling during the race, so we all quickly gathered in this building where the post-race celebration was. I did not earn an age-group award at this race, though that was fine because I enjoyed the race and I was feeling pretty tired with much on my mind about picking up Kay in Pennsylvania and then making the long drive back.


Fortunately, they had shower facilities in this building and I was able to take one before getting on the road for a long drive ahead...


I drove from Grantsville to the Bedford area of southern Pennsylvania (which has some really nice quaint small-town sections that I got to check out) to pick up Kay. Once I met her, we took a nice little walk around the parking lot to get stretched out for the drive back.

We had a nice drive back through rural southwestern Pennsylvania, and back into western Maryland. We got to drive through some of Garrett County along Highway 219 South. It was nice stopping at a McDonald's in Deep Creek right by the Deep Creek Lake area. Kay really thought it was beautiful, and it had been many years since she had been there. It had been over a year-and-a-half since I had been there with a church retreat in November of 2008. It was so great to be out there in the mountains with her, and this had been the furthest west in Maryland since we had been dating for over a year and I looked forward to the next as long as she would have me.


After eating at McDonald's the sun was starting to go down and it was getting a little cool and overcast. We headed west further into the mountains of Garrett County.


Now having a thing for running races (not to mention travelling through) all of Maryland's counties, I gained appreciation for something: I learned from my friend Phil about Backbone Mountain, and how that was Maryland's highest elevation point right in Oakland, Garret County, Maryland's county seat. Ever since Phil told me about it almost two years ago, I had wanted to see it, and after doing some research on the internet, I found out that the highest point on Maryland's state roads system was also there on Route 50 on Backbone Mountain. I knew that Kay and I enjoyed spending time in the car together, driving and having picnics, even right from the start of our relationship. I thought it would be excellent to surprise her by taking her up to Maryland's highest point on the state roads system on the way back.

As we drove through rural Oakland around the Redhouse, Maryland area, I had Kay put on her eye covering so that she could not see where I was taking her. It had started raining, and I was a bit disappointed because I wanted her to come out of the car and have a good look at where we would be along the road on Backbone Mountain... After all, it's not like this was in either of our local backyards!

As we drove up the mountain, leaving the fields and farmhouses below, I felt quiet, confident, and grateful that we were almost at the top. I was quiet because I did not want to let on where I was taking her, and confident that she would enjoy being up on the mountain.

Kay already had her raincoat on and I donned my Baltimore Ravens coat my parents gave to me as a present in December of 1998 (my freshman year of high school, and in fact I got that jacket after running an 11:55 at an indoor track and field meet at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Baltimore, Maryland; the first time I had broken 12 minutes in the 3200-meter race... Just an interesting side note).

It was already around 7 PM when we got there, and raining. We were tired, though I really wanted her to see the well-shaded area by the highway that was Maryland's highest point on its highway system. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up, and I was not going to let rain get in the way.

I had Kay take off her blindfold and look around. Kay and I both like toys, and attached to a fun kiddie toy I gave her was attached a note, and on that note was how much I liked and cared about her. I thought it was a perfect setting for it.

I had Kay step out of the car, telling her it would only be a couple of minutes. She stepped out of the car slowly, and I was shaking... Though probably not from the cool rain.

Here I was, with my girlfriend that I really liked, treasured, felt safe around... Someone who was so kind, loyal, compassionate, supportive, and beautiful to me. Kay is what God wants me to find in a woman; of that I am convinced. Here I was with Kay, on top of Maryland's highest point on its highway system. Maryland's highest point. I had been to every county of Maryland, having done something I truly enjoyed (running), and now here I was geographically higher up than Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Saint Mary's, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties with the woman I hoped I would always be with. Talk about HIGH POINTS, I felt like I was living one... And that's what I told Kay.

I turned to Kay and I told her that we were at Backbone Mountain, Maryland's highest point on its state roads system. I told her that being with her has been one of the highest points of my life so far (and I hoped she agreed).


I remember back in high school, I needed to log service hours for Hammond High School's National Honor Society. One of the things I did was volunteer for Special Olympics in indoor basketball and outdoor track & field. I helped coach and support the athletes. I thought it was neat to help people who could not easily do what I enjoyed doing, be able to do those things (like running). They had a saying, I think it was actually a prayer, asking for God to give them the strength to win, and if not, to help them be bold in the attempt.

This day, I wanted God to bless me with boldness among other things.

Kay seemed to think it was sweet that I told her that being with her had been one of the highest points of my life so far. I guess I could not have asked for a better outcome.

C'mon Noah, don't say something stupid now.

My heart was beating faster under the 2007 National Trails Day Run t-shirt I was wearing. I had run that National Trails Day Run outside of historic Saint Mary's City in Saint Mary's County in southern Maryland on Saturday, June 2, 2007. That was my first race I had ever done in that county, and I ran it because that was during my first attempt at running a race in every Maryland county within the year 2007. That was a little over half-a-year before I met Kay at a New Year's Eve party at my friend Karen's house a right at the very end of 2007. How interesting, Kay grew up not too far from Saint Mary's County.


Even more interesting, this was the t-shirt I had worn the night we met on New Year's Eve!


Now I've had a crush on many a female; of that I will not lie. I've pursued some of them, and fortunately for them it did not work out, and fortunately for me it did not work out because I was very happy with Kay. It did not seem very long ago that just having a girlfriend that I really liked to hang out with, go to movies with, and have come to some of my races, seemed way too above me. I remember all those times going to a high school without a date. I remember all those times it seemed like just about everyone I knew had a girlfriend/boyfriend, except for me. I remembered the times I had asked girls that I liked out (or tried to ask them out), though it just did not work. I was not bitter about that now. Taking into consideration all of the girls I liked since I was a wee little kid (and having a crush on Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" counts here with me people) all the way up to when I became interested in Kay, what I said hoped would come to really mean something to Kay: I told her that of all the women I liked and had been involved with (and believe me I've been single just about all of my life up until Kay and I started going out on Sunday, April 19, 2009), that she was the woman that I had really been looking for, and that she was the one I wanted to be with.

Things seemed to grow quiet around us in the surrounding woods by the road; I do not even think I heard the rain.

I told her that we had entered this relationship holding hands, and I wanted to go forward in it holding hands. Then, I took her hand accordingly before she could back away or question what I was doing or why I was saying what I was saying.

It seemed to take a while for me to get to the ground, but in reality, it was only a matter of a few seconds around 7:18 P.M. on Saturday, June 5, 2010, when I got down on my right knee, pulled out an emerald-cut ring I bought on Saturday, August 22, 2009, looked Kay in her soft brown eyes... AND ASKED HER TO MARRY ME!!!!

SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Moments after Kay and I got engaged on Backbone Mountain, Maryland's highest elevation point in general and on its state roads system, we walked along the highest point on Maryland's state roads system, hand-in-hand, seeming to forget the soft rain! We were happy, energized, and just plain stoked! That was what we needed for a long drive back. We talked on the drive back, already drafting wedding plans and people we would look forward to telling the news too!


"It's like rayayne on your proposal day!!!!"

Well it was like Alanis Morrisette sang about rain on your wedding day, except it rained on our proposal day, and that was fine because it was all part of the memory. If it actually rains on our wedding day... That will be just fine!

It was nice how I had heard "Canon in D Major" by Pachelbel earlier that morning. In all honesty, I was hoping for wedding bells in our future that morning. That stomachache I had the previous evening was probably also compounded with anxiety of proposing to Kay coupled with weather reports of rain around the time I planned to propose to her. It was a great blessing to be able to even do a race the day Kay and I got engaged.


We plan to be married on Saturday, November 20, 2010 at her church, and we plan to be attending that church as a married couple, God-willing everything works out.


So that is probably another reason I have not gotten to blogging. Mainly it has been work-related stuff, though I have allowed myself to become pleasantly occupied helping Kay and both of our families prepare for our wedding that is now about a month-and-a-half away :) I am also looking to move to Calvert County, which is in southern Maryland within this month to rent a place by myself and then have Kay move in with me once we are married.

Well even though, I did not come away with any "hardware" (that's what us runners seem to often call rewards from races) from that day's race, Kay is now wearing one of the most beautiful pieces of hardware I have ever seen around her finger, and if anyone was going home with that around her finger that day, I am glad it was Kay :)

Races I Have Done This Year as of Saturday, June 5, 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

5). Saturday, March 20, 2010 (9:00 A.M.) – Inaugural Francie’s Family 5K – Middletown Park, Middletown (Frederick County), MD – 10th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) – 2!:07.25

6). Saturday, March 20, 2010 (11:00 A.M.) – 2nd Annual Matt Boles 5K Fun Run – East Middle School, Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 23:54

7). Saturday, March 20, 2010 (1:00 P.M.) – 28th Annual “Forest of Needwood”/”Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial” 5 Mile Road Race – Knoxville/Petersville/Brunswick (Frederick County), MD – 35th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) - 44:57 (clock time), 44:55 (watch time)

8). Saturday, April 3, 2010 – 2nd Annual Race for Joe 5K – Borough of Franklin Park/McCandless Township (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania – 13th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) – 21:01 (clock time), 20:57/20:58 (watch time)

9). Saturday, April 10, 2010 – 1st Annual Hills of Milltown 5K Challenge (it was closer to 3.45 miles according to someone’s GPS) – Historic Ellicott City (Howard County), MD – 10th overall (3rd in male 19-19 age-group division) – 24:21

10). Saturday, May 15, 2010 – 1st Annual Queen Anne’s Police K-9 Chase 5K (it was around 2.9 miles) – Terrapin Nature Center area, Stevensville/Kent Island – Queen Anne’s County, MD – 10th overall (4th in male 21-30 age-group division) - 21:58.9 (as of completing this race, I can say I have done a race on all general areas of the Cross-Island Trail on Kent Island :)

11). Sunday, May 30, 2010 – Patapsco Trail Run – Avalon Area, Patapsco State Park, Catonsville (Baltimore County-into-Howard County-and-back-to-Baltimore County), MD – Dropped out a little after a mile into the race because I lost my glasses after a river crossing. I am grateful to )God I got back and out of the woods all right

12). Saturday, June 5, 2010 – Katie’s Run 5K - New Germany State Park, Grantsville (Garrett County), MD – 21st overall – 22:55 (clock), 22:53ish (watch)… This was the day Kay and I got engaged!!!!! :)

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