Here a race, there a race, everywhere a race, race!

I ran a race tonight! Our club runs a series of track races on Wednesdays through the summer at a local high school - they call it the Summer Decathlon. Tonight we ran the 800M.
I haven't raced that distance in...well, maybe I've never raced that distance before. So it was tough for me to decide what time goal I should have. I figure I can probably run about a 6 minute mile, so for 1/2 a mile I guessed maybe a 5:30 pace, or 2:45 for the 800M. That sounds slow from what I remember of high school track, so maybe I could go a little faster...

The weather was absolutely wonderful, and our whole family came out for the evening. After a group warmup of about 1 mile, the 800 heats were ready to begin. We had a large turnout, so there ended up being four heats total, slowest first. My two oldest kids, Raeann and Lincoln, ran in the first heat. Neither of them runs much (I"m hoping that changes a bit this summer, thanks largely to the Summer Decathlon!) so I didn't expect them to be too fast. I was thinking Lincoln might break 6 minutes, and Raeann, who knows? She really prefers to walk. It's hard to get her to run steadily for any distance, she always defaults to a walk.

Well soon they were off and they grabbed a strangle hold on the last two places early. But that's ok, there was only one other kid running, and all the others were grownups who ran regularly. Frankly, I was just hoping that they wouldn't get lapped! For the first lap they both ran steadily, much to my surprise! Lincoln paced himself very well and stayed a good 10 yards or so ahead of Raeann. What thrilled me was that Raeann ran the entire first lap without stopping! Meanwhile, I'm running like a nut inside the track from was side to the other to cheer them both on.

Lincoln kept his steady pace all the way around to the final straightaway and then picked it up a bit for a final kick! He finished in 5:01 which I thought was great. Raeann took a couple of short walk breaks on her 2nd lap, but also finished well and came in at 5:36. I think they both were proud of their accomplishments and hopefully will want to do this again!

Two heats later it was my turn. There were a TON of runners in it, maybe a 14 or so, probably because most of us were too chicken to run in the fast heat with the burners! I picked a spot 2/3 of the way out on the arc and in the second row. I was far enough out to have a little daylight at the start and accelerated comfortably into the first turn in roughly 6th or 7th spot, but then had to navigate a bit until coming out of the turn I was hitting my stride again and moved up to around 4th. After 100M, I was mildly surprised to have gotten there that easily, and tried to open up for an easy stride. By about 300M the speed was no longer coming so easily! I started losing a place or two here and there, and with 200M to go I was running right in the middle of the pack. I was running alongside my friend Mark, who I thought I could beat in a 5K, and who I thought I could outkick, but gosh, he was running a strong race! Well, I let everything loose and kicked. During the final 100M I moved up about 5 places, and finished in 2:42 and something like 4th place in my heat. I'm satisfied with that result, and particularly happy about getting that kick in. That was fun!

Next were the speedsters! The final heat had maybe 8 runners, and the leaders were flying! Chad went out fast and came through the first lap with a slight lead over Victor. That's when Victor made his move and he overtook Chad in an allout sprint along the back straightaway. Both of them were just smokin'! Coming out the final turn Chad dug down for everything he had, and with a slightly longer stride and slightly stronger kick was able to re-capture the lead and cross the finish line first in 2:11. It's been quite a while since I've been to a track meet, and I'll tell you what. It was exciting and inspiring!

Jay, if your injuries are doing better you should come out sometime. Next Wednesday night they're doing the 3200M.

And as far my subject title, next Tuesday the center where I work is holding a 5K race at lunchtime! Then the next day is the 3200M. Then a week later the 600M, followed by the Baltimore 10 Miler that weekend. This is getting good!!!

The Inaugural Deer Dash 5K

This morning my kids and I participated in the Deer Dash 5K and 1 mile fun run at Deer Crossing Elementary School in New Market (MD). This was a little tricky with Andrea in Las Vegas, but all in all it worked out pretty well. Temps were around 70 with high humidity under thickening clouds.

Upon arrival I was expecting to have to push Skylar in her stroller for the race, but I soon found the Lincoln actually WANTED to keep Skylar! With a lot of other kids present, a nearby playground, and several people milling around that knew me, I wasn't too worried about leaving Skylar with Rae and Linc, so I was free to run all out! Yeah!

Shortly after signing up (a little disappointed that they were out of T-shirts - more for the kids than for me), we bumped into Jay Silvio. It was great to finally meet someone from the MCM Forum in 3D! Still on the mend from hamstring and calf issues, Jay was planning on taking this race conservatively (which meant maybe he wouldn't win).

Lincoln and Raeann signed up for the 1 mile fun run. Lincoln's funny when you get him to one of these things. He takes his event seriously. He joined me for part of my warm up, and later on he ran some more on his own before his race started.

But the 5K was first. I planned out my target splits based on my most previous 5K earlier this month, although I expected this to be the hillier course. At the Mission of Mercy 5K, I simply went out a bit too fast (6:40 the first mile) and faded to the 7:20s for the last 2 miles, for a 22:08. I wanted to run a more even race this time, and especially take it easy early since I knew hills were coming. As for the hills, I drove part of the course yesterday and knew the start was mainly downhill, hills were plentiful along that drive, but didn't seem too bad. Nothing I shouldn't be ready for. There were a couple of segments of the course which I could not drive because they were on bike paths. I assumed those parts were fairly flat. (Idiot!)

I figured I'd try to run a 7 min first mile and then slow a bit through more uphills to the 7:20s for the second 2 miles. If all went well, maybe I could repeat that 22:08.

So we start and I refrain from getting caught up in the sprinters off of the starting line. I consciously take it easy, letting several more people get ahead of me than in that last 5K race. Through that early downhill and just ran easy and felt decent, confident that I was running a smarter race this time.

My first mile split? 6:35. WTF! I actually went out faster than last time! And again I paid for it. Although I attacked the hills steadily, I soon learned that those bike trail sections were the worst parts!!! Down down down up up up! I'm at 14:30 after 2 miles. I'm not far into the 3rd mile, trudging along more bike path, cursing the course planners and the word "sadistic" pops into my head!

During the race there were a couple of cul-de-sac out and backs which allowed us to see runners in front of and behind us. The first time I saw Jay I think he was in about 4th place. Later I think I saw him again, but don't know what hisplace was. Tim O'Keefe, who I tried to shadow in the MOM 5K, was again well ahead of me, as were many of the same runners that I knew from the Steeplechasers: Steve Dobson, Steve Pilarcik, Chad Connors, the Blacks (Ron and Beverly). Beverly finished one place ahead of me at the MOM 5K, probably 30 seconds faster.

Today I keyed on Beverly as much as anyone else, and I was actually staying with her a little better this time than last. I think the hills might have been hurting her just a tiny bit more.

Another runner I have to mention is a little kid; a middle schooler! I recalled passing him around mile 1 thinking here's another of these kids that sprinted at the start and used everything up. Well, he proved me wrong a mile later by passing me again! He and Beverly were the next runners ahead of me during the last mile, along with another guy that I saw Beverly pass.

With a 1/4 mile to go we turn into the driveway for the school. I notice Jay doing a cooldown and he cheers me on. A couple seconds later I hear the MCM Forum Battle Cry, "Suck it up, Ron, suck it up!" Aw, shit, so I do. With a quick burst I pass the guy that Beverly had passed. Then things get a little interesting.

The course at the finish does a double zig-zag (it goes zig-zag-zig). Entering the first zig, one could also bear left (cutting through a phalanx of cones) and start down the final zig. As I'm picking it up, I see that both the kid and Beverly had done this! Having driven the course previously and studied the finish, I knew I had to stay right and I did. (Chalk that up to experience - it ain't always bad to be in your 40s!) They both get back on track, but by this time I've caught right up to them and had passed the kid. Beverly is still maybe 30 feet ahead of me. So we get to the zag. At the zag, one could also take a wider turn and go to the final zig, but in reverse, to the finish line. To my shock Beverly is doing just that! I'm seeing her head to the finish in one direction and I see someone else coming from the opposite (correct) direction! They're on a collision course! I put my head down and go down the zag. Beverly had done herself in.

My kick is not particularly strong at this stage and, wouldn't you know it, the kid comes flying by me on the left! He had my respect at mile 2, but now I was downright impressed! I pick it up and stay with him around the bend for the final zig, but I'm thinking that unless he totally burns out, I can't pass this kid. He's ran a great race and earned his place. I shadow him to the finish line and I finish in 23:09, maybe 2 seconds back of The Kid, Billy Czajkowski. I end up in 29th place out of 263 finishers (top 11%). That percentile is really skewed, though, because there were a TON of middle and even elementary school kids running.

Given the hills, I'll take the 23:09. I'd like to be at the point where I go sub 23 no matter what, but I guess I'm not too far from that. I'm curious what I could do on a flat course.

'

Raeann is ready to run her mile!

The 1 mile fun run goes well for Raeann and Lincoln, and I pushed Skylar along the course as well. Lincoln finished in around 7:39 and says he finished somewhere between 5th and 8th, but I suspect that the distance was a bit less than a full mile. I end up running along with Raeann most of the way. She's not particularly intense when it comes to races, nor particularly coordinated, but she'd run and walk her way steadily. She finished with a kick and came in at about 13 minutes. All 3 kids got finisher's ribbons!

We stuck around for the awards - Jay took 2nd Overall - and grabbed some food. Chatted with several people and took a couple pictures. The band that played the whole time was surprisingly good, if you ask me. I don't expect bands playing in Frederick County to be playing music that I'll like, but they did!

A fun, challenging, and educational race!

Jay Silvio and I after the race

Less than Brilliant

Most people have these little moments of brilliance, like when they’re looking all over the place for their glasses, and the glasses are actually sitting on top of their head. I sort of did that one a notch or two better on Saturday.

Our family went shopping at Target. When the 5 of us shop, the important thing is to keep track of Skylar, our youngest, who is closing in on 3 years old and knows quite well what SHE would like to shop for, thank you very much! We can ask Raeann or Lincoln to watch over Skylar for a couple seconds at a time, but in a busy department store I’d rather not rely on kids that are easily distracted themselves. So, while Andrea does most of the shopping, I do most of the Skylar-tracking. Every now and then she wants a ride on my shoulders, too, which is nice.

So we’re in Target for, like, an hour. We checked out clothes for Raeann and Andrea, socks for me, and had slowly passed through the toy section. All pretty much without a hitch.

Then we came to the Nintendo DS aisle. Raeann has decided she wants to buy High School Musical for the DS, so she was really checking this area out. Skylar and I were with her, and Andrea and Lincoln were an aisle over. I was amazed by one of the games they had on display. It was one of these new basketball games where, I swear, it looked just like live action NBA! The player movement was amazing. If you only glanced quickly at the screen, you’d think it was a real game on tv! Unbelievable!

Noticing that Skylar was not with us anymore, I backed out of the aisle and over to the intersection where Andrea and Lincoln now were. Looking around, there was no sign of Skylar!

“Hey! Where’s Skylar?” Andrea looked at me. Her brow furrowed just a bit. The sense of urgency that a parent should feel when their 2-year-old is missing didn’t seem to be there, though. That angered me a bit.

“Where’s Skylar? IS SHE WITH YOU???”

Andrea’s mouth dropped open. Then I happened to notice my hands. They were firmly grasping ankles. Tiny, 2-year-old, pink-socked ankles. Uh-oh.

I can imagine how this looked to Andrea. There’s her loving, frantic husband, standing there demanding to know where his precious daughter had gone, while said daughter sat patiently perched upon his shoulders all the while! Andrea later told me that she thought I was kidding around at first. It wasn’t until she saw the panic in my eyes that she knew I wasn’t.

My shoulders slumped. I was relieved, but thoroughly beaten. Not sure how I’ll ever live this one down.

Into the Heart of Darkness...

Friday night at 10pm 4 other runners from the Frederick Steeplechasers and I met at the Brunswick Train Station along the Potomac River for our headlamp run. Despite rain earlier in the day, forboding clouds all evening, and a vicious breeze in the parking lot when we pulled up, the weather actually cooperated very well. I was shivering in the parking lot in my shorts and long-sleeve tee, even though it didn't seem all that cold (low 50s), while we waited for the last runner to show up. Once we hit the trail we were out of the main breeze and I quickly got comfortable. And a short while later the moon and stars were out.

It was a great run; we had a blast! Thanks to the rains of the last week, there were puddles EVERYWHERE! Between the 5 of us, I think we only had 2 headlamps that were kicking out significant wattage, so spotting oncoming puddles became a full-time job for the 2 runners that happened to be in the lead. Throughout the night there'd be calls of "Puddle left!", "Puddle right!", "Stay in the middle! "Oh, squishy here!", or "Oh, Shit! That was a puddle!" Try as we might, none of us could evade the small ponds very consistently, and after just a few miles we all had pretty wet feet.

But so what? The company was great and running at night along the towpath was really cool! We only had one instance of primal fear - while still near the railroad tracks, a LOUD shot rang out into the night. We're still not sure what it was, but it sound like a cross between a rifle shot and some really good fireworks being launched very nearby. Or maybe something impacting steel very hard. We all jumped and then froze when it happened - I think we all immediately thought gunshot. After a few seconds, Andrea said, "What the hell are we just standing here for? Let's get out of here!" Good thinking. We scrammed!

The rest of the night was peaceful. But the Potomac was raging! The water level was way beyond anywhere I'd ever seen it before. 10, 20, 30 feet out into the water there were still trees sticking up out of the water that obviously should have been on land. Very impressive display by Mother Nature!

Our pace was fairly relaxed, usually a little sub-10 minute per mile pace, and we took several breaks to walk, eat, or take care of more urgent matters. Three of my four companions (Mary, John, and Andrea) were in training for a 100-mile race in Ohio this coming August! Only Uli and I have never gone farther than 26.2. I no longer felt like my 16-mile long run for the week was so significant! For such a long race as that 100-miler, you've really got to tone down the pace so that you've got something left at the end. I think our pace tonight was faster than what they'll do, but the walking mixed in will probably be similar to what they end up doing. The running style was the same.

So it took a while. We did 16.7 miles in about 3:20. Got home around 2:30am .

Hope to do this again sometime!

Mother's Day Weekend

Hope any mothers reading this had a great day! No running for me today (Sunday). Instead we did some hiking up to the top of Maryland's Sugarloaf Mt. Skylar rode in the backpack most of the way (see above). Here's our journey in pictures:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v377/robisch/Mothers%20Day%2008/?albumview=slideshow

Yesterday, I ran a local 5K, the Mission of Mercy Run for MOM in Frederick. The morning here in Maryland was quite rainy, but I decided that I didn't care about a little rain. I figured anything that might lower the turnout might give me a better shot at placing in my age group!
Well, fortunately, the rain started to let up right as we were starting. There were 89 runners, and for the first time in a long while, a very long while, I stepped up near the start line for a race. I was hoping to take a legitimate stab at a very old PR of mine for the 5K. I believe that's from the 1987 Bastille Day 5K in Chicago, where I managed a 6:59 pace for roughly a 21:38 time. However, based on training runs, I didn't think that I was quite back to running a 7 min pace for 3 miles. My more reasonable goal was breaking 22 minutes, which I haven't done in probably about..., well, since that Bastille Day!

I knew many of the other runners, and my strategy was to try to shadow my friend Tim, who runs between 20 and 21 minute 5Ks almost like clockwork, for as long as possible. I figured I'd rather start too fast than too slow. I was thinking I'd shoot for a 6:50 or so first mile.

Well, the horn blows and we're off! I took off fairly fast and quickly found myself in the unusual position ( for me ) of being fairly near the front, like AHEAD of the bell curve, not TRAILING it! After the first few hundred yards - and no sign of Tim yet - I become alarmed. OMG what if Tim's taking it easy for some reason? He was my pacer! The alarm was short lived, however, as Tim soon came up and passed me. Whew! So I tucked in behind him.
I think I stayed with Tim for the first mile. 6:37. Faster than I wanted, but during that mile the couple of times I checked my GPS I was going faster than expected. I felt okay so I tried to maintain that pace. A half mile later I was beginning to drop off of that pace, and Tim was pulling away. The rest of the way was simply a struggle to keep my pace as fast as possible. Mile 2 was about 7:28. Mile 3 was 7:26. My kick at the finish was fairly weak, for me, and I finished at 22:08. That got me 5th in my age group, and 17th overall out of 89 (top 20%). And a stat that I've notice Jerry (from the MCM forum) frequently notes: one woman finished ahead of me (in 16th) place. Top 20% is really good for me! It was cool to actually be ahead of most of the other runners for a change. An odd thing, that.

Not a PR, but this was a solid 5K time for me that I haven't seen in many years, so I'll take it! Next 5K, look for me to challenge that old PR!

A Taxing Day

Ah, Tuesday. I remember it well...

Went to bed at 3am after working on taxes. Got up at 6:30. Called off work to keep doing taxes (NOT the way I like to use my leave time!). Spent pretty much all day doing taxes. Raeann home at 3:25pm. Left house at 3:30pm to take her to Speech Therapy at 4pm. Left speech by 5pm. Drove to downtown Frederick and got Rae a sandwich at a little Italian place down the street from the church where chorus would be. 6pm Musicianship class for Rae across the street from chorus practice. I drop her off, hang out for a minute or two, then cross street and change into running gear in the bathroom at the church where she has chorus rehearsal starting at 7pm, immediately following musicianship. Drop stuff off at my car and begin warm up. By 6:30 I'm at Baker Park and ready to run!

Actual time of running was just under 50 minutes for the 6 miles, but that includes a 5 minute break. Finished by about 7:40. Run to car (.21 miles). Change shirt to a dry long sleeve. Run to Olde Town Tavern (.4 miles). Meet two other runners there and go in for a cheeseburger and fries. Bacon and mushrooms on the burger. Steak fries. Important note for future reference, OTT has ping-pong. People show up to play doubles there on Tuesday nights.
Food takes a while though. Get burger at 8:20pm. Down it and leave by 8:30pm.
Run .4 to church to get Raeann who finishes around 8:30pm. Drive home.

Doing taxes by 9:30pm, finishing State. Done and efiled shortly after 10pm. Beautiful choreography for the night!

Trail Run from '06

Just ran across this on my hard drive. From 2 years ago, but I figured I might as well post...


March 19, 2006
Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD
4 to 4.5 miles; trails; somewhat hilly

I have run chronically for many years without keeping a journal, but now as I have begun to run steadily for a prolonged period, it occurs to me that perhaps keeping a log of some of my runs might someday prove worthwhile to me, or perhaps even to someone else. The way I see it, I’ve been keeping a journal of my stargazing observations for some time and, if writing about sleepless nights of sitting quietly and staring at smudges of dark grey superimposed over a black background can be done interestingly enough for me to keep doing it, then perhaps recording my running adventures (ok, “adventures” overstates it, but you catch my drift) might also prove worthwhile at some point.

So I begin with a Sunday morning trail run at Little Bennett Regional Park. Accompanying me on this run was my avid running companion, Red, our golden retriever / yellow lab mix. Little Bennett has many accesses to the local roadways; our destination was about a 15 minute drive, down Clarksburg Road to a small gravel parking lot located at a couple of trail heads right alongside the road. Although Red loves to go running and loves to go for rides, he’s a bit of a car-retard. Upon opening the car door he’ll partially enter the car by sticking his head and front paws in the car while he continues standing on his hind legs outside the car. As athletic as he is at less than 2 years old, this is not a position from which he can jump and thus he ends up stuck and gumming up the works. I coax him back out and try to give him a running start to encourage him to actually leave the ground, but again he ends up half in, half out. If I ever want to get in the car, I’ve actually got pick up all 75 lbs of retriever and toss his ass on the seat. But then, of course, he doesn’t go right over to the passenger’s seat because, Oh-my-God! there’s a parking brake handle in the way! After some spirited shoving, whereby my forceful action is equally and oppositely counteracted by Red’s claw’s fabric-shredding grip upon the upholstered driver’s side seat, his body’s center of gravity is finally leveraged over the parking brake and he’s forced to actually move his paws to the passenger seat.

Thus begins this trip and now I realize this journal may end up being more about my dog than my running. Oh well. The drive over to Little Bennett is otherwise uneventful, though Red never really seemed to get quite comfortable in the small bucket seat. (There’s plenty of room in the back of my Suburu, but he wouldn’t jump in there either!)

We arrive at Little Bennett and I tie my car key to my shoe and have a look at the large sign showing the Little Bennett trail system map. Plenty of options here! I decide to head uphill on Kingsley Trail, mainly because it was really the only trail that I was familiar with. Our run would take us to the end of Kingsley Trail, then left onto Purdum Trail for about eight tenths of a mile. From Purdum Trail we’d take the 2nd left onto Browning Run Trail. This would lead back across Clarksburg Road and eventually to the gravel service road which runs perpendicularly from Clarksburg Road on the opposite side from our parking lot. Roughly 4 miles or so. After a bit more stretching, Red and I were off!

The sky was blue and the temp was a chilly 32 F, but there was little wind and I wore plenty of fleece so I was never cold. Kingsley Trail is wide and not nearly as uphill as I had originally thought, but I soon discovered that part of what I thought was still Kingsley Trail was actually already Purdum Trail. Kingsley Trail ends at the Froggy Hollow Schoolhouse; what I had thought was the continuation of Kingsley was actually the beginning of Purdum Trail. This is where the steeper uphill begins. Red ran happily alongside or a half-stride ahead of me.

Purdum quickly departs from the main trail and becomes a true hiker’s trail in the woods. The grade was steep and the trail wound back and forth for a bit like a strand of freshly boiled spaghetti. The path came quite close, at one point, to the original wide service trail that I was no longer certain which I should be on. We stuck to the smaller trail, however, and that turned out to be the right decision. Although early in the run, between the steepness and my path uncertainty, I actually switched to walking for a minute.

Soon we topped the rise and were running again on Purdum Trail which had turned leftward and became much broader again (Most of the trails in this part of the park are suitable for horses or bikes.) The trail also leveled off and Red and I settled into a nice rhythm. We passed through a fairly isolate campground and said hello to one of the early risers. Once past this campground we were back in the woods and here the Browning Run Trail became quite enjoyable as we began a series of gradual descents. Our pace quickened while we actually exerted less effort, and the activity transformed from a typical run to more of a Pole Position-like game involving more steering and breaking than actual running. Stumps and larger rocks serve not as obstacles, but rather as convenient decelerators. The path eventually leveled off again and soon crossed over Clarksburg Road.

The trail continued on for about another mile along Browning Run. In some places the footing was a little tricky due to horse-trodden sun-hardened dirt that felt like you were running over billiard balls. Keeping to the side we soon passed this area and resumed at a good pace. The trail was only mildly hilly, with really the only memorable uphill section occurring just before the trail passed across the gravel service road that headed back to the parking lot. We turned left onto this road for the final ¾ of a mile of our run on very level, even surface. All the while Red quietly and happily kept pace on my left.

We arrived back at the car after about 45 minutes of a wonderful early spring run!