Finished a Washington County event!!!

Good evening everyone! On Tuesday evening at Hagerstown Community College, I was fortunate enough to be able to finish and participate in the Tom Ausherman Memorial Series Race#1: 2-mile/1-mile event in Hagerstown, MD (which is in Washington County). The weather was wonderful, not too humid, hot, or windy. The event ended just before the rains came and I was definitely appreciative to have gotten this event in without any intereference from the weather. The event was put on by a PA-based running group called the Chambersburg Road Runners, and the people there were really nice.
This has been the furthest west in MD that I've raced I do believe, and it certainly has been this year, and the rolling, yet somewhat long hills gave me a preview of what's to come in Allegany and Garrett counties, I'm sure. Whenever I mention this endeavor to run events in different counties in Maryland to people, quite a few of them have mentioned Allegany and Garrett counties as tough ones because it's so mountainous and hilly, so I'm glad I was able to get Washington County in as some solid "hill work" I suppose. In a coupla weeks I will hopefully be available to run some races/events up in those two counties, so I should really start to focus in on some more hill-based running if I want to run decently in those counties... Anyway, I finished about 11:36/11:37, and my one-mile split was about 5:47/5:48, so I was really pleased that my pace was even and that I was about twenty seconds faster than my two-mile split of 11:57 two-mile split at the National Trails Day 5K+ trail run in Saint Mary's County last Saturday! I barely finished sixth overall and was glad to have gotten into the top-ten in such a competitive field of high school standouts and strong runners who were young and old. Hopefully my running performances are starting to go in a more positive direction once again, we'll have to see.
The day after the race, I called up the Francis Scott Key Resort in Ocean City about the upcoming third "Splash and Dash" series race at Stephen Decatur High School to get a Worcester County running event in, but then I found out that the 5K was postponed until either Saturday, June 23rd (which was when I planned to run the Grantsville Days 5K in Garrett County if I'm fortunate enough to be available for it) or on Saturday, June 30th (which was when I planned to run in the Lonaconing Iron Furnace 5K in Allegany County if I'm fortunate enough to be available for the event), so I'm glad it's being postponed, but I'm thinkin' because I have some opportunities to run events in western MD on those days, I might just suck it up and travel all the way out to the far Maryland Eastern Shore the day after goin' all the way out to Garrett County (if I end up doing that race), which would be on Sunday the 24th of June, for the post-poned River Run 5K that TriSportsEvents puts on in Berlin, MD. That will be a lot of traveling from west-to-east-to-west across Maryland within about two weeks, but if I'm available to do those events, it would be a huge blessing and it would help me to cover some serious ground on this project. Plus, I almost feel "thwarted" in my attempts to run an event in Worcester County, the only county on the Maryland Eastern Shore where I have not run a running event yet. I mean last weekend the River Run was postponed because of the storm and now the Splash and Dash 5K was postponed. Hopefully I can at least get a Worcester County running event in soon. However, I will not grump or complain about it much more. I know I'm blessed to have covered the territory I have already in this goal and to have performed as I have in the process and I have to keep in mind that God knows what is happening and He has plans for me that are better than my own, so I'm not going to get worked up about it. Again, last Sunday's service was a great "pick-me-up" to say the least, and I woulda missed it had I done the River Run instead.
Also, on the bright side, this Saturday is open for me to run a Harford County running event up towards northern Maryland. The Renaissance All-Sports Athletic Club (R.A.S.A.C.) is putting on a "Pop Pop and Pin Head Trail Scramble" run that's somewhere between five and six miles in the Gunpowder Falls area. I'm under the impression it's sort of a low-key trail run and I know they had it last year, so I'm sure it was a success if they're havin' it this year. I'm not workin' this Saturday morning and hopefully I can make this one and it will not cost too much to get in this event, so I can get a trail run in Harford County. Since it will most likely be a trail run (and I usually don't push those too hard for fear of injury), I'll prolly not work that one too hard and save my energy for the Survivor Harbor three-mile race the next day on June 10th. Hopefully there I can push myself to run a strong time on a nice course and get a Baltimore City event in in the process! We'll see what happens.
Sorry this blog has gotten so long, but if I wanna be accurate with this, I want to at least relate what's on my mind with this. I thank any of you reading/following this so much and I appreciate your attention and any support too! God bless you and have a good night!

Running Events I have done this year as of Thursday, June 7, 2007

Maryland

Allegany County – Nothing yet

Anne Arundel County
– Governor’s “Non-Bay Bridge” Run (2.93 miles) – Sunday, May 6, 2007 - Sandy Point State Park/Annapolis – 8th overall (1st in 20-24-year-old age group) – 18:09 (clock), 18:07 (my watch)

Baltimore City – None yet, but hopefully soon!

Baltimore County
– Patapsco State Park Avalon area trail race (a little over 6 miles) – Sunday, May 13th, 2007 – Near University of Maryland-Baltimore County/Arbutus area – 18th overall – 58:03

Calvert County – Nothing yet

Caroline County
- Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day Fun Run (10K) – Saturday, April 21st, 2007 – Ridgley – 1st overall – 37:59 PR!!!!! :)
Carroll County
- Westminster Road Runners Club (W.R.R.C.) Predicted Time Four-Miler – Saturday, March 10, 2007 – Westminster/Bachman Valley area – 2nd person in, 14th closest to predicted time – 25:34 (my predicted time was 27:00, I was 1:26 fast, whoops J-)

- Andy Hayes Memorial 5K Run – Saturday, April 7, 2007 – Westminster/near Farm Museum – 2nd overall – 18:47

Cecil County
- Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area (N.M.R.A.) Fools Frolic 22K (I ran the much shorter 5-6 mile route) – Sunday, April 1, 2007 – Fair Hill/Elkton – First person in, but it was not much of a race, just pretty much me and another gentleman chillin’ and chattin’ our way through – 1 hour, 21 minutes, 55 seconds

- Run4Fun 5K Run/Walk – Sunday, June 3, 2007 – Elkton – 5th overall (1st in 20-29 year-old age group) – 19:29

Charles County
- Civista Health Services Run for Wellness 5K – Sunday, May 20, 2007 – LaPlata – 5th overall – 19:14 (clock), 19:08 (chip)

Dorchester County
- Dorchester Family YMCA Healthy Kid’s Day Fun Run (1.9 miles, mainly flat cross country) – Saturday, April 14, 2007 - Cambridge – 1st overall – 10:54 (ran negative splits too J)

Frederick County – Nothing yet

Garrett County – Nothing yet

Harford County – Nothing yet

Howard County

- Howard County Striders (H.C.S.) Weekly Winter Series (a.k.a. “Operation Iceberg”) # 3: Atholton High School 5 Kilometer – Sunday, January 21, 2007 – Columbia – 15th overall – 19:43

- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #4: Thunder Hill Elementary School 2miles – Sunday, January 28, 2007 - Columbia - 30th overall - 20:17

- Penguin Pace 5K – Sunday, February 4, 2007 – Columbia – 8th overall (1st in 20-29 age group) – 18:43.86

- H.C.S. “Operation Iceberg” #6: Thunder Hill Elementary School 2 miles – Sunday, February 18, 2007 – Columbia – 2nd overall – 11:52 (my best time on that course J)

- Outback’s 5K for the YMCA – Sunday, March 11, 2007 – Ellicott City – 9th overall – 18:01.05 (clock), 17:59/18:00 (my watch)

- H.C.S. Spring Series Race (“Vernal Velocity) #1: Burleigh Manor Middle School 2 miles – Sunday, April 1, 2007 - Ellicott City/Columbia area – 2nd overall – 10:51 (best time on the course J)

- Inaugural Musical Madness 5K – Saturday, May 12, 2007 – Maple Lawn/Fulton/Scaggsville – 7th overall (1st in 20-29 age group category) – 18:48.71

Kent County
- 31st Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic (10 miler) – Saturday, May 26, 2007 – Chestertown – 31st overall (2nd in 20-24 age group) – 1:14:57

Montgomery County
- Gaithersburg Fireirds Track one mile race – Thursday, April 12, 2007 – Gaithersburg – 3rd overall – 5:04

Prince George’s (P.G.) County – Nothing yet

Queen Anne’s County
- Shore Christian Fellowship Church’s Inaugural Race to Impact (10K) – Saturday, March 24th, 2007 – Chester/Kent Narrows/Kent Island (it was all on the shaded Cross Island Trail) – 1st overall – 38:51

Somerset County
- 2nd Annual McCready Health Services Foundations Founder’s Day 8K Run & 2-mile walk (8K) – Saturday, May 5, 2007 (El Cinco de Mayo) – Crisfield – 1st overall – 31:58 (ran faster there this year than last year J)

Saint Mary’s County
- National Trails Day 5K (it was a little more than that, probably closer to 3.5 miles) – Saturday, June 2, 2007. – Historic St. Mary’s City area – 1st overall – 21:38

Talbot County
- Oxford Day 10K – Saturday, April 28, 2007 – Oxford – 1st overall – 38:35 (big improvement over last year’s time here, and a well-paced race on a relatively short amount of sleep :)

Washington County
- Tom Ausherman Memorial Series #1 (2-mile/1-mile) – Tuesday, June 5, 2007 – Hagerstown – 6th overall(2-mile race) – 11:36/11:37

Wicomico County
- Salisbury University Track & Field’s Seagull Home Opener Meet – Saturday, March 3, 2007 – Salisbury
- 1500 meter run – 7th overall – 4:48.7
- 800 meter run - 2nd overall – 2:12.5
- 4X400 meter relay (alumni team) – 4th overall (1st alumni team) – 4:01.5

- 4th Annual Tim Kennard 5 mile River Run and 3 mile walk – Sunday, March 4, 2007 – Salisbury – 14th overall (3rd in the 20-24 age group division) – 31:25 (clock), 31:14 (chip – Nice performance for me that surpassed my expectations, especially after running three track races less than twenty-four hours ago J)

Worcester County – Nothing yet

Events outside of Maryland

Delaware

Kent County
- March Moonlight Madness 5K – Thursday, March 1, 2007 – Wyoming – 2nd overall (1st in male 20-29 age group division) – 18:28