Gotta "Jump Back In" On This Running Thing!

A few years ago when I was a long-term substitute teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia (Howard County), MD in 2007. During that time, we saw this new Disney movie called "Jump In". The movie had popular stars like Keke Palmer and Corbin Bleu, and it was about this teen who was a boxer (played by Corbin Bleu, who was also in the popular "High School Musical" series) who got into competitive double-dutch jump-roping through a team that his sister was on. He finds that he is good at it and can excel at it. I know this may sound a little corny, but I felt inspired by this movie, especially since I was getting into my first endeavor of running in a running event in every Maryland county before 2007 ended. The kids seemed to like it for the most part. There was this one song from Corbin Bleu (I think it was him who was singing it) that seemed to stick out from the movie, the chorus of which went something like this: "Push it, push it to the limit, limit, 'cause you're in it to win it, win it!"
The students seemed to find it upbeat and inspiring. Again, not to sound too corny, I did too!

So I find myself thinking back to movies like that lately, especially since I think I am in my biggest running rut since I began running about 13 years ago in the seventh grade. I feel like I have not put in as much effort as I have been to run three miles under 22 minutes since the summer of 1998 before I started high school! So far, my fastest 5K has been recently, around 22:10 on a flat track as a split on an independent 5.5-mile outdoor track run. Up until that point, I don't think I had run a 5K in under 23 minutes in over a month! It has probably also been about two months now since I have run under a six-minute mile (then again, I haven't really been trying to do that as much as I have been focusing on building an endurance base with steady distance runs). Usually when I come back from breaks from running, I can usually run better times for certain distances, and without it being more of an ordeal (and of course there is also the challenge this time around of me getting adjusted to the heat). One example of this was back in 2006 when I ran the Metric Marathon of 26.2 kilometers (approximately 16.3 miles) in Howard County, Maryland, and that has been the longest race I have run to-date. Not long after that, I took a break from running for about a month or so after running a relatively longer race for me, and running so well at quite a higher quantity of races leading up to the Metric Marathon. When I started back around mid January of 2007, I started off trying to do more of my runs on a smoother and flatter surface: an outdoor track (usually the one at Hammond High School where I was living at the time in Howard County, Maryland). I worked all the way up to about 4.5 miles on the track during that winter of 2007. I remember on one of those runs, I had done four miles in about 26:25 on no more than four hours of sleep from working a long very early morning shift just before I ran that run. Then, not long after, I had a pretty strong 28:05ish thereabouts for 4.5 miles on the track. With that run, I think I remember going through the first mile around 6:06/6:07ish, the second mile in an even 12:13ish, my 5-kilometer split was right around the lower end of 19 minutes, and had my leg not started cramping up around then, I probably would have broken 28 minutes on that solo run. Back then I was reasonably happy with that. Now over three years later, I would probably celebrate ferociously if I ran a time like that for 4.5 miles, even if it were on a flat track.
I am not complaining, I am just making a point about how I seemed to have notably slowed up. This time around I have worked my distance runs up to 5.5 miles on the track and I think that is how far I will run on a track at this particular point. Here is how some of them went that I remember:

3.5 miles - I remember the heat was a pretty challenging factor here, as I worked fairly hard to run this distance in about 25:56

4 miles - Friday afternoon run, I ran this in about 30:04

4.5 miles - Another Friday afternoon run at a pace fairly similar to the recent 4-mile run on the track. Towards the end of the run, I had a feeling that I might be able to run my 4-mile split a little faster than I had done the four-mile run recently, and I wanted to get it under 30 minutes, and I went through four miles in 29:56 thereabouts, and kept up the slightly-under-7:30-mile-pace and finished the 4.5 miles in about 33:38.


5 miles - I started out on this track run relatively slowly, and that's what I wanted. In fact, I ran the first quarter-mile with my cellphone, leaving a voicemail with my girlfriend, Kay, as I was talking through a wired headset. I was going quite slow, and I went through the first quarter-mile in 2:53 (and usually I;m at least a minute faster than that). Then, the next lap I still held onto my cell phone and that slowed me up a bit, though I was still able to pick up the pace considerable. After those first two laps I was able to put my cellphone down with my other stuff, and I was able to maintain a relatively chill pace (though still faster than what I ran my first lap in). My first mile was 9:27, though my second mile must have been about an 8:02 since my 2-mile split was about 17:29. I ended up finishing the five-mile distance in 40:31, averaging about 8:06-per-mile, which is quite an improvement over the 9:27-mile I first went out at.


Then, came the next day (which is now this past Tuesday, May 25, 2010), when I ran 5.5 miles (the last in this series of track distance runs that I hope to do for a while). It was hotter than many of the other days I had been out running lately. Since I noticed a lot of my times were right around or barely under averaging 7:30-per-mile, I wanted to see if I could run this distance in under a 7:30-per-mile-pace (which would mean running it in under 41:15). If I did not run faster than that time, I would probably try that goal with this distance again in the near future.
I think oftentimes when I set goals like that, I go out a little faster than intended to really try and meet that goal.
That's what happened with the first mile, which I went through in 7:03, one of my faster miles I have run since I started back at the beginning of this month. Then, I must have dropped around a 6:57 the next mile, because I was at 14:00 for the second mile. Then, I ran through 2.5 miles in 17:35/17:36. All I knew was at this point, I was running faster on this training run than I had on all of my other ones this month.
To my pleasant surprise, I slowed a bit, yet still went through three miles in 21:14, which was obviously faster than the 21:58 I had run the approximately-2.9-mile distance of the Queen Anne's County 5K Police K-9 Chase I had run on Kent Island on Saturday, May 15, 2010, and this was 3 miles, a little bit longer than 2.9 miles (and up until this point, that race was probably the fastest time I had run for a distance around three miles this month). I went through about 5-kilometers (approximately 3.1 miles) in 22:10, my fastest 5K this month as I mentioned earlier. Okay, all those stats aside, I pressed on feeling a little more encouraged, yet apprehensive that the heat would eventually get to me or that my somewhat stiff right knee/leg would start giving me more noticeable problems. Yet, God helped me keep going. I noticed that my mouth was not nearly as dry as it had been lately with the heat, and I felt a little more like my normal running self.
At about 3.5 miles I was at around 24:49 I think, then I was very delighted to have run my fastest four-mile time in a while as my 4-mile split was 28:45 (a minute-and-eleven seconds faster than the 29:56 I had run recently on a 4.5-mile run). I was feeling quite optimistic about this, and I think my 4.5-mile split was around 32:40ish. With less than a mile to go, I was very confident that God would get me through this in a healthy manner.
Throughout the run, I toyed with the idea of trying to do the whole thing in not only under 41:15, but under 40 minutes as well, though most of the time I thought it would be too much of an exertion. However, after running through five miles in 36:10, I prayed that God would help me finish this five-and-a-half-mile run in under 40 minutes. And He helped me do just that as I picked up the pace a little bit to run those last two laps in about 3:30, and finish the entire run in a time of 39:40, surpassing my goal for the run by well over a minute!

I don't want to jump the gun here and call this a "break-thru run" where I may be "breaking out" of this rut I have been finding myself in with running, but it was so sweetly ironic. The longest training run I have done this month has pretty much been my fastest, surpassing in pace what I ran my 3.5-mile, 4-mile, 4.5-mile, and especially my 5-mile-run times earlier this month. I will honestly admit that this was one of the runs where I really felt stronger than many of the other ones I ran this month. I think that it made a noticeable difference not having the dry mouth bother me as much (if at all, I really do not remember noticing it). Perhaps if it was allergies causing it, they may be subsiding now.

I know I gotta stay focused and not allow the fact that my running has pretty much been in a rut this school year (which also involved taking two breaks from it) cause me to lose hope that things can get better again. I gotta trust that whatever happens with it, that God is in control and that this is happening for a reason; the nobility and goodness of which I may never come to understand. I feel that the devil may want me to get down on myself about it, but I have to remember that he is the enemy that has come to kill and destroy, and in God's name I will not and do not want the enemy to have that kind of foothold in my life! This gift and passion for running, like anything else, is a gift from God that He can give and take away as He pleases and sees fit for His perfect will. I am gonna make the best of where I am at, maybe do more races as the weather gets a little cooler towards the fall, and just try to enjoy my running in its present form. Things could be a lot worse, and as I try to think and say many times, I am blessed to be running.



"Push it, push it, to the limit, limit!" - Corbin Bleu from "Jump In"


Races I Have Done This Year as of Tuesday, May 25, 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 )



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

Hoping to make a few sales in the future!

Some of you may have heard, I have been spending time lately at my parents' house working to help clean out some of my things I left there in their basement, when I moved to Baltimore County, Maryland over two years ago. It was a pretty interesting experience, going through older stuff, some of which I had almost forgotten about. I went through some clothes, electronic games, Magic the Gathering playing cards, books, toys, etc. They brought back some great memories. One of the things I spent a lot of time sorting out in terms of figuring out what to keep and what to sell/give away, were the computer and videogames (and I feel that I have collected many). As some of you may know (especially if you knew me growing up), I was really into videogames for a fair majority of my childhood all the way up to towards the end of high school/college. Over time, God replaced my sometimes relatively unhealthy attachment to electronic gaming with Himself and running. I have to say for one thing, this whole adventure of setting goals of running races throughout Maryland really is much more fun (and meaningful to me) than playing electronic games (no offense to them). Not to sound too narcissistic, but sometimes when I am working hard on a running goal, I sometimes feel like a hero from a videogame whom I may have wanted to be like when I was younger (I know that sounds pretty corny :)
I thought it would be harder to think of parting with some of those games and toys, yet I think that God has helped me to accept it and really open my eyes to the beauty and variety of the world... The REAL world as God created it!
So, I am getting ready to sell these electronic games (they are mainly older ones for computers and different videogame systems) as well as some books and movies that I am considering parting with. I am going to see if some of my friends may be interested in buying some/taking some off of my hands, and if that does not work, I will probably resort to places like Amazon.Com, E-Bay.Com, some flea markets/thrift shops/pawn shops, and I may even list some here on this blog in case any of you are interested in buying it (and if this interests you already, please let me know and I will do what I can to let you know what I may have). I'd like to take photos of these items if I can (with the help of the new camera my parents bought me for my recent 27th birthday, thank you mom and dad :) and list them, which can prove time-consuming. I will keep you all posted on this all the same, and if I choose to try and advertise sales of these items on here, I will work to develop a blog entry with a list of the items and their prices/conditions.
Thank you all for stopping by, and I wish you a blessed day :)

Working out so far

Hey there everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I got some decent runs in, and it has been nice for it with the recent weather around central Maryland that has seemed to fluctuate between autumn-like and spring weather. I've usually tried to get some runs in when its cooler, and when it has been hotter I think I am doing a little better with the heat. Right now I am focusing on getting some distance runs in, and I hope to do more speed work a little later on (and I may try to strategize it to have more of those workouts occur during earlier times of the day when it is not quite as hot).

I tell you, since I started running earlier this month, I have been averaging around 7:30ish-per-mile, and that feels challenging enough, almost as if I am pushing to run under 6:20-per-mile. So yea, a pace that once not so long ago seemed relatively easier for me is now becoming more of an exertion (and that involves me running it around a flat track). I know I have had trouble adjusting to the heat this spring, and earlier this school year I had problems with lower blood-sugar levels, and I suppose they helped "conspire" to really slow me down to where I find it challenging to run 5-kilometer distances (approximately 3.1 miles) around 23 minutes. It's a bit disheartening to think that a year ago I was doing 5K races in under 6-minutes-per-mile pace (not that far under it, usually turning in 5K times well between 18 and 19 minutes), and my training pace was typically under 7 minutes-per-mile for my distance runs. I need to trust the Good Lord that He knows what He is doing with this and that He has His good reasons and plans for it!
One thing worth mentioning that I don't usually mention here is that I have been trying to lift weights about 3-4 times a week, doing relatively smaller workouts each day. There is a weight training class that I help out in at the Homewood Center where I work, and there are several different exercises that I do there to try and boost muscular endurance to help with my running (and my running helps the muscular endurance in turn, or so it seems). I have had a goal for most of the year to do about 3 sets of 15 repetitions on a majority of the different exercises that I do (meaning I try and work out at a lower weight than the maximum that I could lift, so that I could try and do more repetitions with that particular exercise and increase the weight at a hopefully steady pace). Towards the middle of the school year around the start of winter, I had a goal of trying to do 3 sets of 15 repetitions on the lat pull-down and also that same amount on the seated row machine, both exercises at 105 pounds of weight. I remember for the longest time I had started out at 45 pounds on both of those machines, and it was hard for me to get going on it, because at the beginning of the school year was when I was having difficulties with the lower blood-sugar levels when I would work out. As a result, I would feel kinda woozy/dizzy from just picking up the weights, bending down to stretch, and other such relatively simpler physical activities. Once I started getting better about munching on a little bit of food around the times I would work out, I felt like I was able to start moving up closer to the winter break. The winter break, followed by the "second winter break" when we got all that snow throughout Maryland and the surrounding states in early-to-mid February, and of course spring break, were all a bit of a setback in that I did not do those exercises at home, so it took me a little longer to work up to where I am now on those exercise machines. Last Wednesday (May 19, 2010) or last Thursday (May 20, 2010) God helped me get that difficult goal on the rowing machine when I did 15 repetitions of 105 pounds on it for 3 sets. I was happy and ready to focus on the lat pull-down. Then, today (Monday, May 24, 2010) I sat down at the lat pull-down, planning to only do 2 sets of 15 repetitions of 105 pounds. I thought that would have been a challenge since I was hungry and I did not sleep as much last night. Yet, God blessed me with energy on the first set, and I felt confident I could handle two more and try and finish out this goal today instead of waiting until later in the week to attempt it. The third set felt pretty hard within the last five repetitions as I could feel a kind of burning around my stomach and arms. I knew I was almost done and that God would help me through... And He did! As of today, I finished out my goal on the lat pull-down of doing 105 pounds 15 times, and doing 3 sets of those 15 repetitions :)

So that has been going pretty positively. I am thinking I may want to work on my pull-ups goals. The most pull-ups I have ever done was a little over five years ago in the spring of 2005, when I did 27 in the Maggs Gymnasium at Salisbury University in Wicomico County, Maryland. I would like to try and top that; it would be great I think to be able to get into the lower-to-mid 30's on the amount of pull-ups I can do, God-willing. I am not trying to brag, though I would like to be more open about goals on this blog. I think it maybe a doable goal for me to get to 29, quite possible even 31 pull-ups by the end of this year. That would be neat. Two years ago, I was lifting weights fairly often, and I was doing more with the bench press. I had started to bench a little more than my own body weight (which at the time was around 145 pounds, and last week at the doctor's office I weighed in closer to 151, which is great because I feel that I can stand to gain a few pounds :) I would like to eventually get to workouts where I can bench press a little more than my body weight more regularly. God-willing this can happen for me. I want to stay healthy of course, and if I have health/injury problems, it will be hard for me to stay consistent with this kind of training.
Of course, I have running goals. There are a couple of running goals related to a couple of running courses on the Maryland and Delaware Eastern Shores, and I will get into all of that at a later post hopefully. Thank you all for stopping by and reading this! I enjoy sharing this kind of material on this Maryland-Wide Running Quest blog :)


Races I Have Done This Year as of Tuesday, May 24, 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 )



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

Running a race around all the general areas of the Cross-Island Trail on Kent Island, Maryland

Saturday, May 15, 2010 - This was last Saturday and that is when I did the inaugural Queen Anne's County Police K-9 Chase 5K in Stevensville (on the Kent Island area of Queen Anne's County), Maryland. This took place at the Terrapin Nature Center area towards western Kent Island right after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. There is a well-paved and well-shaded trail that runs along Maryland State Route 50 on throughout much of Kent Island called the Cross-Island Trail, and up until this Saturday, I had pretty much done a race on every area of the Cross-Island Trail. However, I had never been to this western section of the trail around the Terrapin Nature Center. That was until God helped me find out about and participate in the inaugural Queen Anne's County Police K-9 Chase 5K.
The race started and ended on the Cross-Island Trail, though just about all of it was on these natural and gravely trails going off the Cross-Island Trail. There was a lot of shade on this course, which was great for me because I feel like this spring I have been more sensitive to the heat and having challenges adjusting to it. Although this race did not really take place ON the Cross-Island Trail as much as I thought it would, I would still say that I had run in the general area of the one area of the trail that I had not run. We had covered quite a bit of ground around it throughout the race.

So when I got there I was one of the first people there (I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get there in case I hit traffic around the Bay Bridge or got lost on an area of Kent Island I had not been too before). I definitely did not want to miss out on running a race around the only area of the Cross-Island Trail I had not done a race around (not like this has been a goal for me over the years to do, but once I realized that this was the only part of the Cross-Island Trail I had never run on, and then I saw this race, I made it a priority to do so). I left myself plenty of time to stretch and warm-up. However, when I started jogging really short and easy to warm-up, my mouth was feeling dry and I felt pretty tired and that if I got into the race I might get heat exhaustion or something like that. I started praying about it, and I resolved to make this the second race-in-a-row where I would run with a water bottle (a little over a month ago on Saturday, April 10, I had run the inaugural Hills of Milltown Challenge 5K (which I heard was more like 3.45 miles, and I had run with a water bottle about half-way through that hilly course, and that had been my last race before this one in Queen Anne's County). Earlier in the week, I decided to slow my goal at this race from trying to run under 21 minutes to running under 22 minutes, though now I was willing to let that fly out the window and just worry about getting through the race. I really hoped I could finish, preferably without negative incident or feeling really cruddy afterwards. I just kept on drinking and praying. I took like three water bottles from the cooler, one of which I decided to run with and that was about no more than half-full of water by the time I had finished drinking out of it before the race began.
One really notably interesting thing about this race was that since it involved the Queen Anne's County Police K-9, people could run with their behaved dogs on a leash. And believe me, there were a few runners with dogs who got ahead of me by a pretty solid margin.

And on that note, the race started in a pretty tight bottleneck as we ran off of the Cross-Island Trail onto this slighty narrower gravel trail off to the side of the Cross-Island Trail. This worked well for me, because it made for a slower start and I wanted to start slow to pace myself well. The first several minutes I focused on getting into a pace where I could enjoy the energy and not slow up too much to take swigs of water from the water bottle. We took the trail through the woods towards this small beach right by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. About half-way to the beach, this young gentlemen sped past me holding onto his dog's leash, because his dog was bounding ahead of everyone. I was like, "dang, if they keep going that pace, they might win the race!"
As we neared the beach, I hopped over a really small sand dune and I was on the sand. We angled to the left as we entered the beach and we ran on the sand for a really short time before picking up a gravel trail again to run along the outskirts of the small, quiet beach. At this point, I felt like I had slowed because my mouth was feeling fairly dry and I knew I had quite a ways to go, and I felt pretty vulnerable to having the heat really get to me. Since I was going slow, I should have really slowed enough to enjoy the beauty of the placid waters and the feel of the nice sea breeze. Though, there was a larger part of me I think that wanted to press on to make sure I finished. I felt like around this point, the best I could hope to finish this 3.1-mile distance race would probably be somewhere between 23-and-25 minutes thereabouts.
Not long after that point, I was running on this sandy or maybe gravely portion of trail parallel to Route 50, head east. I felt myself huffing and puffing, and knowing that I still had quite a while to go before finishing, I prayed aloud that Jesus would help me through. Within a minute afterwards, the course made a left turn and we ran on this grassy surface down a straight stretch. It was on this stretch heading back towards the woods that a strong breeze came up. Just then, I remembered something that my girlfriend Kay had told me a little over a month ago in regards to my allergies and the pollen in the air, something about trying not to breathe through my mouth (and I am pretty much a mouth breather) too much outside with allergens about, especially in windy weather. Thinking of this, I suddenly felt compelled to close my eyes very briefly as I ran and breathe through my nose. After that, I quickly opened my eyes and before I knew it I was almost to the end of the grassy stretch, and getting closer to the woods. I was catching up to a few other runners (one of which was that gentleman who had running really fast with his dog and blew by me within the first mile of the race). I remember telling that gentlemen that it took real talent to run like he was running with his dog. Somehow, God had blessed me with the ability to tell him that quite coherently when I was running.
And from then on, I felt like God was really helping me power through the rest of the race!
I did not notice much dryness in my mouth after that. In fact, I felt more energized, and I began to pick up the pace.
Sometimes the funny thing about running on trails with a lot of turns and bends is that runners can be less than one-hundred meters behind you or ahead of you (and if you are like me and are used to wearing glasses), yet it may seem like they are miles away from you. Well, once we reached the end of the grassy stretch, I had gained the lead of the pack I was in (not the race, there were probably still many runners ahead of me at this point). There was an ambiguous looking course marker at a junction where the trail either went straight or right, and I had a hunch based on blue ribbons I saw on the right, that we were supposed to angle right, so I ran right and followed the trail through the woods. It did not take long for me to pick up the pace and put some distance between me and the few other runners I had passed back where that fairly heavy breeze hit (and it did feel good as it was getting hotter out). However, after I had made that turn to the right, I did not see any signs of course markings or other people around. At this point, I would not have been surprised if I had been supposed to run straight instead of right, and it would probably only be a matter of time before I saw something or saw someone who would confirm my suspicion that I had taken a wrong turn and that I was probably going to be in this race for longer than I thought I would be.
I think I had started praying about it in probably real jarbled words as I ran, and as the trail wound left, a couple of folks on bikes came from the other way and I asked if they had passed other runners and they said yes. I was so happy to hear this, because this suggested that I had probably been going the right way all along. Not long after going by those folks on their bikes, I saw a course marshal standing by the parking lot where I parked which was also near the entrance of the Cross-Island Trail. They pointed that I run left to make a small loop back through some of the woods to come up the gravely trail towards the finish line area (the one where we had started this race on).
After making this left turn, the grassy trail ahead straightened out long enough for me to see several runners not much further ahead. With renewed energy, I was started to close the gap on them before the course started bending towards the right. After that there were several more turns, and then a course marshal handing out water (I think). Then, very shortly after that, there was a right turn and about 20-30 yards ahead of me was the finish line. Seeing that and seeing that I could actually finish it in under 22 minutes, I bolted towards it and up the slight hill to cross the finish line strongly in 21:48 (well that's what my watch said, yet they got me in around 21:58). I had now run a race in all the areas of Kent Island, Maryland's Cross-Island Trail, and I was very grateful to God to have finished that race, and not only that, but to have finished feeling healthier than when I began.
After catching my breath I looked down, and in my hand I still held my water bottle. This could very well have been the first race I have run carrying a water bottle the whole way through. Another "milestone" race for me :)

I felt pretty well after the race. I drank water and I was able to hang out outside talking to people all the way through the awards ceremony. It was great to meet people and see this one gentleman I had not seen for about a year-and-a-half at least. The heat did not bother me then and I felt quite amped that I ran on the Cross-Island Trail on some parts of it I had not seen by Kent Island High School, and a little beyond to where the Cross-Island Trail goes through Old Love Point Park, and then I turned around. On that walk-jog, I prolly did not put in any more than 3 miles round-trip. It was such a nice morning. Afterwards, I stopped at a deli to pick up lunch, before driving back over the Bay Bridge to meet up with Kay. As I was leaving, the area was growing more crowded in celebration of the Kent Island Day, which happened to be taking place that same weekend!

So I am quite happy about that race! As a result, I finally ran in the one area of the Cross-Island Trail I had never been too. I did find out from a couple of people who ran that race that their odometer on their i-pod-like devices (or whatever they were), said that the course was like 2.9 miles in length instead of the advertised 3.1-mile/5k distance. That did not surprise me or irk me; I thought that running under 22 minutes was a little fast for how relatively chill my pace was towards the beginning. That said, I think my finish time would have been a little over 23 minutes had I kept going at that pace for a 5K, and that would have been more believable of a time for the effort I felt I put into that race. Whether or not they lengthen the course a bit to an actual 5K distance, I think it is a swell race and I hope they have it in the future, because I would probably be quite interested in returning to it. This race helped me feel more confident that God-willing if I keep at running, perhaps later on this spring/summer I can run some 5k distances in under 22 minutes, and hopefully improve from there. I think God treated me much better with this race than I deserved, especially with that burst of energy the last 6-or-7 minutes or so of the race. I was not expecting that, and again, I am was blessed to be a student of God's lesson that He is in charge and in my weakness, He is strong :)


Races I have run on the Cross-Island Trail on Kent Island (Queen Anne's County), Maryland


- Saturday, September 23, 2006 - Inaugural "Run for the Sun/Son" Two-Mile Run - Old Love Point Park, Stevensville - Winner - 13:49 (first mile was about 8:58, and the second was about 4:51)


Saturday, March 21, 2007 - Inaugural Race to Impact 10K Run - Chester - Winner - 38:51 (after finishing this race, I gained some inspiration to try racing in every Maryland county before 2007 was over :)

Saturday, December 8, 2007 - Jingle Bell Run 5K (it was actually a little shorter than a 5K) - Kent Narrows - Winner - 16:29


Saturday, May 15, 2010 - Inaugural Queen Anne's County Police K-9 Chase 5K (around 2.9 miles) - Terrapin Nature Center area - Stevensville - 10th overall - 21:58.9 (as of finishing this race, I have run a race in all the general areas around the Cross Island Trail :)

I may get to run a race, the conclusion of which I can say I have run a race on every area of the Cross-Island Trail in Maryland

(Image of the Cross-Island Trail going through the Kent Island area of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, and this is from http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/trailNRT/CrossIs-MD.html)


Greetings everyone, I know it has been a while since I have posted. I have just caught up with rehashing my memories of my running on Saturday, March 20, 2010, when the Good Lord got me through three road races on that relatively hot first day of spring! I have been doing all right. I think things at work have been going pretty solid, and Kay and I have been together for a great year now and in fact we are coming up on our 13-month anniversary :) As you may have read in the previous post, a lot of my problem in that third five-mile race in Frederick County, MD came from dry mouth that made me feel dehydrated. This was a problem that continued on as I trained and did a couple of other races in April. I decided not long after April started that I take a break from running and see what was up with that. There's a strong suspicion from the doctor that it could be allergies (the pollen has been pretty strong this year, probably from the heavy snowfall we got last winter). I also think it could be side-effects from my acid reflux medicine. That remains to be seen I suppose.

Anyway, I started back a couple of weeks ago, and it has been pretty slow. I was surprised that I still had it in me to run a pretty flat two-mile loop in Columbia (Howard County), MD in 13:44 (I mean, running anything under a seven-minute-per-mile pace lately has been pretty challenging). I was pretty happy about that. I ran about 3.5 miles on a flat track with a 5K split of about 24:08 and finishing the35. miles in about 26:56. Then, a few days later, I ran four miles on a track in 30:04 (a little faster of a pace than the 3.5 miles). My 5-kilometer split on that I think was around 23:32. Quite slower than what I was turning out earlier this spring, where I was workin' hard to just get under 21 minutes on hilly road races. And even slower than the sub-19-minute 5K's I have become pretty used to running on 5K courses of varying difficulties these past several years. It's amazing what you take for granted with your running times until you start slowin' up. My gosh, I am worried how much slower I would go in a more hilly and hotter 5K race if I am turning out times like that on a flat track and that feeling like a pretty solid workout. Ah well, I gotta start somewhere and be smart about this. The heat still seems to be drying me out a fair amount, though when it's cooler (like low 50's or 40's), it does not really bother me that much (and the wind certainly helps). I am thinking it wise this spring and summer season to not really get much into the races. I just want to train and at least build up a solid mileage base. That way, God-willing I will be in much better shape for the autumn, and then I can see about perhaps doing races with a bit more frequency in weather that would be a little easier for me to adjust too, because it has been pretty hard for me this time around to get used to this heat (and I am sure the pollen has not been the most helpful in that either).

Anyway, I actually hope to do my first race in a little over a month this coming Saturday, May 15, 2010. In fact, I am hoping to get over to the Maryland Eastern Shore for the first time since doing the 30th Annual Mike Sterling 10K at the National Hard Crab Derby in Crisfield Maryland on Labor Day weekend for this new 5K at the Terrapin Nature Center area in Stevensville, which is on Kent Island in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. There is this new Queen Anne's County Police K-9 Chase 5K, and it has geographic implications that it will occur (at least some of it will) on the Cross-Island Trail (which runs along Maryland state highway 50 throughout a good portion of Kent Island, from pretty close to the Bay Bridge eastwards to Kent Narrows). I hope that I am right about this. If that is true, then something really special may be accomplished in me finishing this particular race.

Back on Saturday, September 23, 2006, I ran this new Run for the Sun/Son 2-Mile Run on the Cross-Island Trail that started and ended at Old Love Point Park in Stevensville. I really enjoyed that venue. The trail was really flat, and well-shaded (great to do things on in the warmer weather). So when I saw on MarylandRunning.Com that there was this new Race to Impact 10K Run scheduled on Kent Island on Saturday, March 21, 2007, I leapt at the opportunity to hop in this race to benefit Shore Christian Fellowship's mission trip to Peru. This race took place in Chester, MD, starting and ending by the old Club One gym building. The race went out to the Love Point Park area in Stevensville and we actually turned around where the Run for the Sun/Son started and ended. Oh that brought back some nice memories. I really enjoyed running this race, even though its length proved quite challenging. With God's help I ran a 38:51, one of my best 10K times to date. Later on that evening while I was thinking about that race and thinking about its location in Queen Anne's County, God helped use that very race to inspire me to run a race in every county of Maryland in that year of 2007 (since I had run a race in Queen Anne's County, which is relatively challenging to find year-around running events, so if I had wanted to try and run a race in every Maryland county in a year, I had just done one in one of Maryland's more challenging counties to find a race in). And that's how I got going with this blog and into paying attention to such details about the location of the races I do. Therefore, the Cross-Island Trail is a really special place for me, and every time I hear about a race occurring on it, I take considerable interest. In fact, towards the end of that year, I found out about this Jingle Bell Run 5K that started and ended near the Island Athletic Club in the Kent Narrows area of, went out to the Club One area of the trail in Chester near where the Race to Impact 10K started and ended, and then went back to Kent Narrows. That Jingle Bell Run had been going on for about several years, and when I did it in 2007, it was definitely shorter than a 5K, yet I enjoyed the course. I was fixing to do it again in 2008, but then I heard they canceled it and I do not think they have brought it back since then. That was the last time I ran a race on the Cross-Island Trail.
The last time I was there was a joyous occasion. Last July was when Kay and I celebrated our three-month anniversary, and after eating at the Fisherman's Inn around the Kent Narrows area, we hung out on the Cross-Island Trail and had a terrific time.
So many nice memories of it!
There is one area of the trail I have yet to run a race on, and that is the western-most part of it near the Terrapin Nature Center area. I have never even been on that part of the trail. I have kept meaning to check it out, and now with this new 5K this Saturday I will have the chance to do just that. God-willing I make it to and through this race, and if this race goes through the area I think it does on the Cross-Island Trail, I can say that I have run a race on all of the areas of the Cross-Island Trail in my lifetime!!!! You may think it sounds kind of corny, though if you think about how over the past half-decade, or even decade, races along this Cross-Island Trail are somewhat hard to come by (considering advertising for some of them does not seem to make it to the larger running and racing databases all that much), and also considering I have never even lived in Kent Island to pick up on this stuff word-of-mouth all the time, I think that this is something to be proud of, and certainly a blessing to be grateful for! I am looking forward to doing this!
I know I have just started back running, and before I took my brief break in April from it, my running was not that strong. Based on how I have been doing, I think a realistic goal for me would be to get under 22 minutes by a decent margin (granted that this 5K course is accurate, and not too long or too short). Either way, I want to finish. I am sure I may have my troubles out there, and I probably won't look all that great running/huffing-and-puffing, so believe it or not, I am actually planning on coming to the race in a nice suit and tie. Since this is a special occasion for me personally, I can at least try to look good (because I don't think I'll be looking that great at all once I start running, haha). I will change into my running clothes when it comes closer to the race.
I am hoping to have a nice time, take some nice photos, and enjoy being back on the Maryland Eastern Shore. The last time I was there was to visit some friends in Salisbury with Kay, and that was back in September not long after I had run the Mike Sterling 10K. I hope Kay and I can return there for future visits as well.

All right, thank you all for reading this. If you are interested in doing that inaugural Queen Anne's County K-9 Police Chase 5K, please check out: http://www.active.com/running/stevensville-md-md/queen-annes-police-k9-chase-5k-2010

I gotta get going and get up early for work tomorrow. I am going on a field trip with some of the high school students I work with to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. I have not been to this zoo since I was two, and I probably have some very slightly vague memories of it at best. That should be interesting!

If any of you show up there, please say "hi", and I look forward to meeting/seeing you again. Please keep me in prayer as well! Thank you and God bless :)

Recap of my experiences with the three road races I ran on Saturday, March 20, 2010

(Pictured on the left is me finishing the inaugural Francie's Family 5K at Middletown Park in Middletown (Frederick County), MD (thank you Victor Cretella for sending me that photo. Then the photo to the right is a group photo of the participants before the 2nd Annual Matt Boles 5K Fun Run at East Middle School in Westminster (Carroll County), MD. I am the first person on the left in the third row. I am wearing a white t-shirt and glasses (and this photo is courtesy of http://www.matthewandcaitlinbolesfoundation.com/home.html)).



And what a Saturday it was (not to mention it had gotten warmer than it probably normally would for that time of year on the first day of spring). I definitely am grateful for the experience, though it took me a little while to recover from it.

Let me review. Within a week leading up to Saturday, March 20, 2010, I had carefully been studying some running/racing databases and race calendars, and I was able to see an opportunity for me to try something I had never done before: Attempt to run in three road races in one day between two different counties that were next-door to each other. The three races were the first annual Francie's Family 5K in Middletown (Frederick County), MD at 9 A.M. followed by the 2nd (or maybe 3rd annual) Matt Boles 5K Fun Run at East Middle School in Westminster (Carroll County), MD, at 11 A.M., and then I headed back west into Frederick County, MD for the 28th Annual "Forest of Needwood"/"Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial Run"5 Mile Road Race in the Knoxville/Petersville/Brunswick area near the Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia state lines. They were all pretty hilly (the Matt Boles 5K probably being the least hilly, and the "Forest of Needwood"/"Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial Run" probably being the most hilly, not to mention the longest race).
I was quite excited to have an opportunity to attempt this. Knowing I was not quite in the best racing shape as I have been in recent years, I did not expect to run really strong times, though I hoped to get through these races fairly well. I was able to get in contact with the coordinators of these races and get directions to them. By the end of the week, I was ready to roll... And do my share of huffin' and puffin' too!

Saturday morning, with probably no more than a little over six hours of sleep, I went downstairs to a bowl of cereal and some other foods for breakfast. Not long after breakfast, I got on the road pretty early, leaving plenty of extra time before the 9 A.M. start of the Francie's Family 5K. I was looking forward to this one, because it was at the Middletown Park right by Middletown High School. When I started out with competitive running with the Howard county Junior Striders in 1997 as a middle-school student, we had had a couple of 4-kilometer (a little less than 2.5-mile distance) cross country races at this rather hilly and grassy park. the latter of those two meets was the Regional Championships, where I finished 10th out of 10 runners in that race. Now, the top-12 at Regionals qualify for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Nationals (it may work a little differently now than it did in 1997), so by default I was able to qualify and run at the A.A.U. Nationals for Cross country that fall, even though I was last. I thought that was a great experience, a real true blessing looking back on it.

Then, in high school my senior year in the spring of 2002, we had our 2A West Outdoor Regional Track & Field championships at Middletown's high school track. I remembered running really well there at that two-day meet. Thursday, I was on a 4X800-meter relay team with three other guys (we were all high school seniors I believe), and I remember running the first leg in a 2:05 split, my fastest 800-meter time to date. We got a relay team time of 8:35, and we finished fourth and were able to advance to the Maryland State Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (again, another terrific experience). Then, we came back almost two days later on Saturday, and I ran the 1,600 meter in the junior varsity heat and finished it in about 4:58 (my first half was 2:30 and my second was about 2:28). Later on, God helped me pull myself together to run a really strong and even-paced 2:12 800-meter run in the junior varsity heat.
In short, I have some nice memories of that place and I was glad to be going back there for the first time since 2002 when I was in high school.

I thought I was still a little familiar with the area, however, I think I got a little confused with Mapuest.Com directions and road signs regarding Alternate Route 40 West in Frederick County. I was getting pretty close to the park, leaving myself about an hour or so to spare before the race started, I made a wrong turn, and when i went to turn around in Frederick, I ended up missing a turn and I went all the way out to Myersville in Frederick County. I had to get out and ask people for directions twice, and in short, I was lost/disoriented for about an hour. When I finally got to the suburban area surrounding the Middletown Park in Middletown, I rolled down the window and yelled out to the young course marshals were, asking them where to park. One of them said it may be too late to register at this point (it was about ten minutes before the start), but he pointed anyway. Me in all of my visual brilliance thought he was pointing left when he was really pointing behind him, so I drove off to the left and after a couple of minutes of just seeing more of the neighborhood and not the park (nor the people involved with the race), I realized I made a wrong turn once again, turned around, and went the correct way that the course marshal had originally pointed me. I parked, grabbed my check, and ran harder than I probably should have before a race, up this steady hill (which we would run town at the very beginning of the race). I reached the top where the festivities were, and I asked apeson or tow where the check-in/registration tables were, and eventually I found them (by that time I felt like I had gotten a good ways into the race).
I reached the table and was relieved that it was not too late for me to get in the race. I was thankful to God for that! I did not want to miss a single of the three races I had planned to do that day. After I registered, I stretched out and drank some water.

The first of three races I had planned to do that day started off all right. We started off running down the steady hill I had run up to get to the registration table, and within a couple of minutes or so, we were out of the park. Up ahead, there seemed to be a crowd of younger, high-school-age runners ahead of me. We made a right into this neighborhood, and we ran through the flat roads of this neighborhood where the first-mile marker was. I passed the first mile in about 6:10 and I was astounded as that was faster than I had anticipated going out at. Then again, having a downhill at the beginning of the race and kind of allowing myself to be pulled along by the pace of the faster runners would most likely result in a fast first-mile split. I knew that it would most likely get hilly later in the race, so I tried to run cautiously
Soon after the first mile we ran out of the neighborhood and by some shops. The hills started to lightly roll, and I slowed to a 6:30 the second mile, coming through the two-mile mark in about 12:40 (that included me slowing up a little bit to get some water from the water stop). Still, this was faster than I had anticipated, and I knew if I kept up that 6:20-pace-per-mile, I would run this 5K in under 20 minutes.
However, that was not to be so in this race. Just after the second-mile mark we made a right on this road and it got more hilly. Then, we made another right to go on a road towards Middletown High School where the finish line was, and this was probably by far the largest hill in the race. For at least about two-to-three minutes, I was slowed pretty thoroughly running up this pretty challenging and steady hill. There was a gentleman running a little ways ahead of me at a pretty good clip, and he decided to stop and walk briefly. I was tempted to do the same, though I thought it would just be best to get it over with sooner by running. Once I was blessed enough to reach the top, I was pretty beat, and the gentleman who stopped and walk quickly caught up and passed me, and at that point I was not even concerned about my chances of breaking 20 minutes at this race. I just wanted to finish, yet not finish too aggressively so as to make it harder for me to recover. After all, I had planned on running two more races that day and I knew I was not in the best running shape, so I had to budget my energy so-to-speak.
After that hill, there may have been a few more, but if there were, they were so small in comparison to the large one we had run up, that I can't rightly remember it at this point. I remember running onto the back of the Middletown High School campus and making a lot of turns. Up ahead, I saw the arch of balloons that was the finish line, and that was where I wanted to be.
After making several turns, I made a left and there may have been a slight downhill, but I was nearing the finish line in probably no more than a hundred yards. I think I picked it up and finished strongly around the last left turn into the finish line to finish in 21:07. Wow, that hill must have really slowed me down. I was on pace to run in the 19:40's by the two-mile mark, so probably the hill, heat, and my current level of condition contributed to me slowing fairly significantly in that last mile or so. At the time, though, I was happy to be done with the hilly race and to hopefully recover enough to get it together for the next two that I planned to do (though I was pretty sure at that point that that first race of the day would probably see some of my faster running for the day, and that I would just slow up from there). I was talking to this one gentleman there before I left, and he had some sorta GPS/odometer device there, and he was saying it was slightly longer than a standard 5K, and that it was 3.15 miles. So if that were really true, than I probably covered an actual five-kilometer distance in just under 21 minutes. Either way, I was pretty happy with the race :)


With less than two hours until the 11 A.M. start of the Matt Boles 5K Fun Run in Westminster (in the neighboring Carroll County to the east), I did not stick around much after I finished. I hopped in the car and drove to East Middle School in Westminster where the race was. I really had to make sure I followed directions well, as sometimes I have gotten easily confused trying to navigate my way through Westminster. I think I made a stop or two using the restroom and filling up on water. I think the drive was supposed to take about an hour, give-or-take.
I got to East Middle School I think within 20 minutes of 11 o'clock. I got out and quickly paid the registration fee. While I was warming up, I enjoyed talking to a couple of well-dressed gentlemen who were at the race (I forget the particular reason) who were from a Church of Latter-Day Saints, and they were certainly dressed dapper for it. I enjoyed telling them about how God has helped me with my running and how I was trusting him to help me on my endeavor to run three road races in one day. I just hope I did not come off as bragging.
I found out that the course was pretty interesting: Five laps around the back fields of the middle school, and then after completing the fifth lap, running about a third-of-the-way into another lap, and then angling left onto the track to do about 300-meters-plus on the track to finish (a full lap is 400 meters, so in other words we had to do almost a full lap at the end of the race). I am not much for running laps, even if it is on a cross-country course. Yet, I was not expecting to run very strong, so I resigned to just going out at a chill pace and seeing what would happen. I noticed that we would start on a slight downhill, run along the flat back field, and then coming up towards the school we'd go up a somewhat challenging hill (nothing like what I encountered at the Francie's Family 5K Fun Run in Middletown, MD earlier that morning, though), then it would flatten out for a little bit before going up a very small, but fairly steep hill right near the school's blacktop. I knew I would have to pace myself well. One nice thing was that towards the end of each lap, the water stop would be there (and they would actually hand-out like these tiny water bottles of water with their caps on them, which appears to be a lot more water than water in a plastic cup you'd see at your typical water stop for a 5K).
One thing that made me anxious about this race was that it started a little later than 11 A.M. In fact, they wanted the participants to get in a group photo. I was hoping there would be no technical difficulties. I wanted to get started with the race, as I had the "Forest of Needwood/"Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial Run" Five-Mile Road Race that was just over an hour away back in Frederick County to the west, and that started at 1 P.M. in less than two hours There were at least one or two photos taken (one of which is to the right at the beginning of this lengthy post).
Right after that the race coordinators gave final instructions and we were off. A great host of young high-school and college-aged runners took off in a pack ahead of me and I was trying to start off slow (though I do not know if that worked too well). After going up the hills on the first lap, I knew I definitely needed to try and pace myself better, as that hill felt harder than it looked and having run a 5K less than two hours beforehand probably did not help. I went through the first lap feeling all right, and then in the second lap I was feelin' like it was to grab a bottle of water from the water stop. However, by the time I was done the second lap, I was hoping for the race to end soon.
The next two laps, I seemed to slow up significantly, and even though i deliberately allowed myself to slow down to conserve energy to make it through the rest of this race as well as the next, I don't think it made it easier. I wanted the race to end, but I seemed at a loss of energy (and of fluids) to try and pick up the pace much faster than what I was going.
I think during the fourth lap, I grabbed another water bottle from the water stop and thought to myself I had one more lap and then some to go. Normally, that remaining distance would not have seemed as daunting as it did in this race. As I ran (especially up the hills) I think I was praying to God for strength (if I was not He was giving it to me, because after all, I did get through the race :) As I ran up the hills the last time and ran towards the end of the fifth lap, I was grateful that it looked like it would all be slightly downhill and flat from there.
I turned towards the left after completing the fifth lap, proceeding to enter the loop another time, only this time when I reached the bottom of the hill about a third-of-the-way into the loop, I made a left onto the track. Once I was on the track, I had a little less than a lap of it to run before I reached the finish line on the other side of it. As I ran down the back straight-away of the track, my mind went back to the inaugural "A Day at the Races 5K" at Queen Anne's County High School in Centreville, MD that I had run almost two years ago that day. The "A Day at the Races 5K" was run on the Queen Anne's County High School course, and like this course I was running, there was a full lap on the high school's track before finishing the race. Even though I heard that course was a little shorter than a 5K at the time, I had just managed to tuck under 19 minutes with an 18:59.
I felt relatively stronger than I did finishing this race. With my stopwatch saying I was 23 minutes into the race and on my way to the slowest 5K I have run probably since 2006 when I ran a 29:06 at the impromptu 5K they held in lieu of the annual Mike Sterling 10K as part of the National Hard Crab Derby in Crisfield (Somerset County), MD. In fact, at this Matt Boles 5K Fun Run I was running, I was huffing and puffing, and I realized it was going to take significant work to have a strong enough finish to run this 5K under 24 minutes. I believe I prayed that God would give me the strength to finish well here and/or to break 24 minutes on this course.
I rounded the last turn on the track and then ran down most of the straight-away on the track into the finish line in a time of 23 minutes and 54 seconds (even though I thought I heard someone yell 23:50 to me when I crossed the finish line, I think for honesty's sake I will go by the time on my stopwatch and say I ran about 23:54 on this course).
If you have been following me on this blog, you will know that the 23:54 I ran there was the slowest 5K I have run in over three years. I do not think I have ever run a 5K slower than that ever since I began my endeavors to run in running events in every county in Maryland. Though, at the time, I was just happy to have finished. I was quite run-down from having run two 5k's within pretty much two hours of each other, and having a five-miler to do in less than two hours in Frederick County. Not to mention, I felt a little on the dehydrated side despite having drank water on the way to this race and slowing up at the water stops throughout the race.
I would not be surprised if I found out that that course was a little longer. I liked the loop, I felt like I had run about two minutes faster or so for how tired I felt after running the 23:54. Then again, I was not in my best running shape and that was my second race of the day. Perhaps my current level of conditioning was just not up to par enough to run stronger with doing multiple races in the same day.
Like I said, I did like that race. It was fun and family friendly. In the future, I could see myself coming back to it.
I did not stick around much afterwards. I wanted to get to my third and final race of the day (and longest); "The Forest of Needwood"/"Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial Run" Five-Mile Road Race in the Knoxville/Petersville/Brunswick area of Frederick County, Maryland. This race was about an hour-and-two minutes away from East Middle School in Westminster according to MapQuest.Com, and I quickly got in the car, figuring at best I would probably only have about 10 minutes or so tops to get my race bib and stretch out before the race.
On the way there I definitely felt tired, and a bit dehydrated. I ate a little bit, though not too much to cause cramps. Yet I wanted to make sure I got something in my stomach to help maintain good blood-sugar levels before this next run. On the way to this five-miler, I realized that this was one of the few times in the past several years that I really felt like I was not interested in doing the race. I think I had had my fill of racing for the day (and probably for the rest of the weekend). Normally, I would feel excited about doing multiple races within a weekend, and occasionally even within a day like this day. Yet, I knew that I was over half-way done with this goal, having finished two-of-the-three races I had set out to do, and I was confident that God would get me through this race somehow even though I was feeling pretty run down. I felt like I was back in high school or college, and not wanting to go to practice (or hoping that practice was canceled for some reason) because I was not feeling well or I was feeling tired from staying up late and doing homework (yea, believe it or not, I actually cared enough about school back then to stay up late to get work done). I felt like I was getting ready to walk into a dentist appointment with my teeth and gums already aching...
I think you get the idea.
I focused on guzzling water on the drive there (and I think I may have made one stop to use the restroom or something, I can not exactly remember). My mouth was feeling kind of dry, which was not helping me feel more hydrated, and I remember it certainly feeling a lot warmer than it normally would be in March during this first day of spring. As I drove, I continued to pray that God would help me through the race. At this point, I felt fairly worn-down and I decided not to worry about my goal of running the race (which I heard was pretty hilly) in under 35 minutes (which is a seven-minutes-per-mile pace), even though I thought it would be nice to perhaps take home an age-group award. When I got into the parking lot of the church, I was thankful that I made it there with about 10-15 minutes before the race started, and I told God that I knew I was safe in His hands!

I got up to the starting line of the race, not long after I rolled up in the parking lot. I was still feeling pretty dried up and at that point I was hoping just to get through the race without any serious harm to myself. At the starting line, I saw this gentleman that I've known for a long while from the Howard County Striders. I mentioned to him that this was to be my third race of the day. Then, right after that another gentleman who heard me say that to him, told me he overheard me say that and he thought it was cool that I was doing all those races. I felt encouraged and a little bit better about what I was about to do, and I think I thanked him and wished him a good run.
Soon after, the race started, and I started pretty close to the back so that I would not be drawn out at a faster pace with the faster runners who tend to start at the very front of the starting line. I focused on keeping a good steady pace, yet there did not seem much that could distract me from my thirst/dryness in my mouth. I quickly realized it was probably not the best idea for me to have left my water bottle by the finish line like I normally do; I should have run with it since I was feeling thirsty, it was hot, and I was going slow enough as is so having to run carrying a water bottle would not have been much of a hindrance.
Now I had to wait for the water stops (and I hoped there were more than one), and they probably would not start coming up until towards the middle of the race. Would I be able to hang in there all right?
I went through the first mile in just under 7:30. Normally that would be a slower first mile for me to go through in a five-mile race, yet I was already feeling fatigued and run-down, so I did not see myself getting much faster.
Not long after going up and down the hills of the first mile, I made a left and caught up to this woman who must have overheard me talking to the gentlemen at the start of the race, and she said something to the effect that she thought it was cool that I was doing all those races, and she wished me well. I felt encouraged. I felt like with what that woman said as well as what other people had said about my endeavor to do three road races throughout the day, it was as if there was a cheering squad for me the whole way through (and I am not trying to sound narcissistic I just felt that way).
However, I was starting to slow significantly and that woman I had caught up too, easily caught up to me and passed me, and I don't think I caught up with her again for the rest of the race. At that point, I started not to care if I were even the last person to finish. I just wanted to finish.
The dryness in my mouth had begun to give way to feelings of woozines and a bit of queasiness. I felt like I could still walk (or run rather) in a straight line, but I felt like I was beginning have a bit of heat exhaustion, and I felt like I was huffing and puffing just to keep jogging/running. I was praying and going back-and-forth in my mind about whether to stop and walk, or just drop out of the race. I had heard of people "bonking" out of races and I was wondering if I were experiencing something that should lead me to do the same. In my mind I knew that this started out as a fun goal, and I did not anticipate much tragedy that would come of it. Man was I naive. I had not been doing as many longer distance runs as I should have to do this endeavor in a more "reasonable and prepared" fashion. I should have run with water in this particular race. I should see my doctor about my heartburn medicine, the side-effects of which were a likely cause of my mouth becoming dry. I had much to look forward to in the near future, such as meeting up with some friends at the Arundel Mills Mall in Anne Arundel County, MD later that evening, picking one of my best friends (Brian) up from work, and then the following day seeing my girlfriend Kay and attending her nephew's baptism. I did not want to miss out on any of that by making myself ill from getting heat exhaustion out in this race.
The thought of dropping out of the race was crossing my mind, and it would do so quite a few times before crossing the finish line.
God had given me sufficient strength to get through to around the two-mile mark, where the first water stop was. I took at least two cups of water and stopped to walk real briefly before, I started jogging again. I was hoping that little hydrating reprieve would help me feel a little better. Though, after a couple more minutes, I felt about as dehydrated, woozy, and tired as I had before. I was spurred on by inspiration to glorify God in this racing goal, and also thinking of Kay and other things I had endured in this race helped boost my spirits a little bit.
I was beginning to feel quite run-down by the time I had run over more hills on these open country roads, and when the course made a left-turn at the bottom of this hill, I saw a course marshal there. I stopped, and asked him if he had some water I could have, and he said he did not. I asked him where the next water stop was, as my mind was debating whether or not I should ask this guy to just drive me back to the start/finish line area, or press on and see what would happen. This was about half-way into the race, and if the first half was going this rough, the second probably would get much uglier for me.
He told me the water stop was right around the fourth mile, and I thought that would be cool to have another water break and have about a mile to go before finishing the race. With that, I walked left along the course and the total time that I had stopped and walked a bit was probably just a little less than a minute at the most.
I started jogging again, the little puddles and streams of water running in ditches along the road looked so appealing for me to kneel down and drink from them, even though they were probably really filthy. I was tempted to do that, though I don't think I rallied enough mental wherewithal to do that, and that was probably a good thing.
I went through mile three in somewhere probably over 25 or 26 minutes. At this point, I did not care about my time and me even placing in the top two or three in my age group seemed out of the question. I just wanted to finish, and I hoped I would not have to drop out (and it would be nice to not have to stop anymore until the finish either).
The distance between me and the runners ahead and behind me had widened quite a bit on these hilly open roads. If any runners came near me, it was pretty much them passing me relatively easily. I just focused on keeping on. I was praying that God would help me get through, hopefully without getting sick, getting heat exhaustion, without going to the hospital or medical tent (if they had one) after getting through this race, and of course I was concerned with being able to drive an hour-plus home after the race. These thoughts and prayers seemed to race through my sluggish body.
The third-into-the-fourth mile did not seem too hilly (it still was, just not compared to some of the ones I encountered earlier in the race). I caught up to a few runners as we neared the fourth-mile mark and I tried to encourage them without shouting too much (I did not want to expend much more energy than I had too). However, to my dismay, I saw that the fourth mile was a left turn away, yet, it was pretty much atop what was probably by far the longest and most grueling uphill in the whole race.
I knew one way or the other I would have to top that hill, whether I'd be walking, riding back with someone, or running/jogging up. I prayed for God's help on that hill, and I was really pleasantly surprised that I slowly and steadily kept up with the other few runners I was around, and I was able to get up that hill without stopping. I reached the top, and took probably about two or three cups of water. I think I ran through the four-mile mark in about 35-36 minutes. The race director was there, and he cheered me on, wishing me well on my third race of the day (I had told him earlier on that I was endeavoring to run three road races in one day, and that his was my third one of the day). That really encouraged me, and I was grateful that before and between all three of these races today, God had put people in the midst of it all to say supportive words.
The last mile seemed to be a blur of huffing and puffing as I shuffled/jogged a fair stretch of what seemed to be a steady downhill. I saw quite a few runners ahead of me, though I think they had gotten there from behind by passing me. I did not care. I knew I had a realistic chance of finishing this race, and hopefully those two times earlier in the race I had stopped would be the only times I would stop in this race. I wanted to finish soon, and more importantly, I wanted to finish without incident. I had plans after wards, especially the next day with Kay and her nephew's baptism!
I had to be strong, and most importantly, lean on God for that strength. Stopping to walk/stretch-out in a race does not happen for me that often in a race, and that was humbling. Usually, I do care to some degree about what place I come in or what time I run in a race, so this was most unusual that I had reached a point in this particular race where I did not care about it. One thing resonated in my mind pretty clearly even before I started this race: God is strong in my weakness (and the Bible says so)!
We reached a bridge going over a road (possibly Highway 340 going between Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, the ladder two states' borders I was near at this point). Around here, I think I heard someone yell out to us that we had about a quarter-of-a-mile left. Ah yes, pretty much one full lap on a track's distance around. Of course, this was not a flat track.
I think after crossing the bridge, we made a right onto this road, and it was a steady uphill. The finish line ribbons and many people stood around it and I was so happy to see it. As I ran past the church on the left, this gentleman who was cooling down (who I usually do well keeping up with) jogged by in the direction I was coming from and, he asked something to the effect of "hey Noah, are you cooling down?" And I said something like, "believe it or not, I am about to finish!" I think that surprised him because he is used to seeing me running much faster than I was.
And I was too!
I angled to the left and rather clumsily tried to dash through the finish line, that I crossed in about 44 minutes and 55 seconds, just under a nine-minute-per-mile pace (with a couple of stops, not too bad)! I was sooo happy to have that over with (even though it was a well put-on race). I slowly bent over to grab my water bottle next to the finish line chute and I definitely felt some pretty heavy acid reflux for a second or two from bending after the race.
Water bottle in hand, I did not really stop to chat or cheer on others like I normally like to do after I finish a race. I walked quickly into the shade and air conditioning of the church, grabbed a chair in a small backroom, and plopped down in it... And I stayed in that room for probably the better part of an hour drinking water until I felt recovered enough to get back outside into the heat.
While I was chilling there, a few guys and maybe one or two women had walked by to use the bathroom and cool off there. I enjoyed their company (and I really could not remember any of their names, maybe one gentleman's name was Fred, I dunno, I was pretty out-of-it). I was a little concerned that I may have been affected with heat exhaustion, though after thinking about Kay and realizing I should probably text her to let her know I got through the races safely, I felt much better (without much wooziness), and I was able to get outside, go to my car, and get my cell phone to send her text messages.
Not long after I went to my car, they began the awards ceremony. I figured I'd stick around and listen, and cheer on people I knew there who earned awards... And I was blessed to be one of them. In fact, I won the male 25-29 age-group division! What? I could not believe it! God had blessed me with an age-group win with one of the most weakest race performances I had ever run!
In my weakness, God is strong!
It turned out that the only other gentleman in my age group division was the overall winner of the entire race, and by default I won the age group! Whoa! I was so pleasantly shocked in that I was not even expecting to place at all in my age group (I think they only awarded the top-two in each age group). Wow! That medal I won the size of a Cub-Scout/Boy-Scout uniform medal is one of the sweetest prizes God has won for me, and I think it will serve as a tangible reminder to me that all things are possible with God, and that in my humble weakness, He prevailed and was strong for me!
God really saved me out there from my own ambition and recklessness with my health and running. It could have gone over a lot worse. And instead, He not only got me through the races, He helped me do so with age-group awards. I was floored by it! I still think it was an incredible age-group award. I do believe that was the slowest 5-mile time I have run in a 5-mile race to date, and that had come after my slowest 5K I had run in the past few years. The "Forest of Needwood"/"Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial Run" 5-Mile Road Race I think has been the most challenging 5-miler I have run. I say that not because of the condition I came to the race with, nor the warmer weather, but just because of the consistently rolling and challenging hills. I have run some pretty hilly 8K's and 5-milers on cross-country courses, yet I do not think they had the quantity of hills that this one did. I am sure there are even much tougher ones out there, and I think that this one sufficiently made me want to stay away from that distance for a while, haha!

So looking back I really think that this endeavor was not about how strong I could appear for doing those three races in one day: It was about allowing those experiences to wear me down so that it was less of my efforts and more of God's grace and provision, which was more than I needed to get through (I got to take home some hardware)!! I wanted to thank all of you who prayed for me, cheered for me, and supported/encouraged me in some way (and that includes all of you I met that day at the races too). I think that this was a worthwhile experience, at least spiritually. I think it humbled me with my running in a way that I think I needed to be. I do not see myself doing something like this again anytime soon, and if I do, I would really prefer to have done more longer runs as to help "train" specifically towards, than I did with this (I sorta found out I could perhaps do this within a week beforehand). I would also pay more attention to the weather and make sure I maintain good hydration habits. I wanna say that that may help me run faster, though I have to remember that God worked through me when I was weak, and when He is at work, it is GOOD! I am grateful for how God helped these three races to fall on the same day, in the locations that they did, at the times that they did, and under the collaboration and leadership that it did, and that it drew the participation that it did. I think that all helped make this experience what it was...
In my weakness, God is strong. In my fading, God brings power and life :)


Races I ran on Saturday, March 20, 2010

9 A.M. - Inaugural Francie's Family 5K - Middletown Park, Middletown (Frederick County), MD - 10th overall (20-29 male age group division winner) - 21:07.25


11 A.M. - 2nd Annual Matt Boles 5K Fun Run - East Middle School, Westminster (Carroll County), MD - 23:54


1 P.M. - 28th Annual "Forest of Needwood"/"Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial" 5 Mile Road Race - Knoxville/Petersville/Brunswick (Frederick County), MD - 35th overall (25-29 male age group division winner) - 44:57 (clock time), 44:55 (watch time)

Happy Easter!

May God bless your Easter in a victorious way with joy, peace, and love :)