Picking up some momentum!!!!

Well as many of you readers remember, last Wednesday, June 13th, I tried to run a track race in Frederick County, but it was postponed as a result of the storm over there and since I was busy for most of last week, I could not get in any other running events. However, the next day, Thursday, June 14th, I still managed to have a great run that was almost as fast as my time in the Survivor Harbor three-mile race I had run the previous weekend in Baltimore City. Since I did not race on Wednesday, I was rarin' to have a great workout on Thursday instead. I decided on trying to improve my time from almost seven years ago on this course that was almost 3.2 miles that started and ended in front of my house. During high school, I would often run it hard to stay in shape for the 5-kilometer distance in cross country, and sometime during the summer (I think it was in July) of 2000, I ran 20:28 with my split around the 5K mark at about 19:27.

However, last Thursday, I wanted to break 20 minutes on that course, a feat I did not think myself capable of back when I ran on that course frequently. I was hoping that since I've improved significantly since high school, I might have a shot at beating my best time on that course. I knew that lately my running was going so-so and last Sunday I had run a nice three-miler in about 17:53, but I did not have too much confidence that this would be that easy for me. Plus, I was fairly tired from working at Wilde Lake and playing basketball with the kids mere hours before.

I did this run in the afternoon right after I got home from Wilde Lake and before my late-afternoon/evening shift at Safeway, and I was blessed that the weather was not too hot or humid at all. In fact, I think it was under seventy degrees, great running weather for me!

The first quarter mile and then some was pretty much down hill and that helped me go through the first mile in about five minutes and forty-eight seconds (which in my recollection, was my best first-mile split on this course by about two seconds :)) I stayed strong for the next mile, going over some rather moderate rolling hills and a flat portion into the third mile. However, right around two-and-a-half miles, I could feel my legs tightening up, especially around my right foot (where I've had tendonitis issues during college). I kept on pressing though, into the last and more hilly phase of the course, knowing that (hopefully) I would be done in about five minutes or so.

After climbing one of the toughest hills on the course towards teh end and near where the three-mile point roughly was, my watch said 17:19 thereabouts and that gave me a lot of encouragment to pick up the pace (which to people goin' by probably looked like a funny sorta limp and hop). I was pleased to see that I went through about three miles in about 17:54/17:55, only a mere second or two slower than last Sunday's three-mile race in Baltimore City. I went through the point where I thought the 5K was about at in about 18:34 and tried to keep the pressure on. I knew that when I had run my best time on the course of 20:28, it had taken me about a minute and a second to run from the roughly estimated 5K point to the finish of the course, and I knew now that I was definitely fit enough to get through that distance in under a minute, and that even if I did not, I would probably still succeed at my goal.

I think I probably managed to slur a quick prayer of thanks as I tried to charge towards my street and driveway where the course ended. During this final stretch, I looked down at my watch and it read about 19:10, and I knew that if I kept pushin' I would definitely break 20 minutes.

Almost twenty seconds later, I bounded across the finish in about nineteen minutes and twenty nine seconds, shattering my old best time from almost seven years ago by fifty-nine seconds and covering that final stretch in fifty-five seconds!!!!! I was really happy, motivated, and encouraged from that point on that I was getting back into better physical running shape. I'm sure I pretty much ran faster than most of my three-mile and 5-kilometer distance races in the past month of May, so I'm lookin' forward to upcoming races. I just hope they don't get rained out or that my body does not cramp up as much either.

Although I missed out on running a Frederick County race the night before, it worked out because I was able to accomplish this smaller goal that I felt was a long time coming :)

Running Events I have done this year as of Monday, June 18, 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
- Survivor Harbor 7-mile/3-mile – Sunday, June 10, 2007 – Baltimore City – 2nd overall (3-mile run) – 17:56 (clock), 17:53 (watch)

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

– PopPop and Pinhead Trail Scramble (about 5-6 miles) – Saturday, June 9, 2007 - Perry Hall/Gunpowder Falls State Park area – Not sure yet about my finishing place, I haven’t seen the results yet - 52:14

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 (1st in male 20-29 age group) – 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) – 1:15:01 (clock), 1:14:57 (watch)

Montgomery County
- Gaithersburg Firebirds 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 :)

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

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