... And I guess I was careless and out-of-it enough towards the end of the race to goof up enough. Well, let me start from the beginning. As I mentioned in last evening's blog, I recently changed my plans to run a race in New Castle County, Delaware in the Wilmington area called the 2nd Annual Wilmington Games 5K Run/Walk and I was fortunate to have made the trip there and back and completed the race. I found out about it through a mainly Delaware-based group called, "Races2Run" (they help put on the famous "Seven Sisters, Four Brothers series around the Dewey Beach, DE area, one of which I hope to run in this summer). Their website is simple, it can be accessed at: http://www.races2run.com
The race took place at Baynard Stadium in Wilmington, really close to the Salesianum School, a private Catholic school for boys and also around the Brandywine Park/Zoo area. I ran all right, I finished fifth overall and took second in the male 19-29 age group, and I was glad that I at least got my goal of earning an age group award because my time was not as strong as I wanted. The first mile was fairly fast. After starting on the track, most of it was downhill on this road of faint ruts and even some cobblestones (definitely a unique and scenic feature). Needless to say, since I seem to roll my ankles easily, I took that first part easily and then built into it. From that point on, it was pretty much flat and shaded around this river/creek/lake and then it was kind of a tough uphill towards the end, but nothing too too rough. I was feeling pretty strong through most of it, but then towards the end of the second mile, my legs started to lose feling and it was almost as if they were flailing around. It was very similar to how it was for me at races like the Civista Health Foundation's Run for Wellness 5K in Charles County, MD on Sunday, May 20, the Chestertown Teaparty Distance Classic 10-Mile Run in Kent County, MD on Saturday, May 26, and the Run4Fun 5K in Cecil County, MD on Sunday, July 3. I thought I was doing better for the most part with these issues since like June, but I guess it could have happened for a variety of reasons. Maybe it was because I was hungry, I had not eaten much today and I suspect I had problems like that earlier this year in races because of not eating/sleepin' enough. Heck, just several minutes ago my legs were tremblin' 'cause I was hungry and tired from the race. Maybe I was tired from workin' earlier that day. Or perhaps it was from doing so many strong and well-paced races last week! I can't blame my body for not feelin' a hundred-and-some percent, and this week I've felt that maybe I have not event even fully recovered from the last race on Saturday, July 21, the John Wall Memorial Track Run in Anne Arundel County, MD.
Well anyway, when I ran across the finish line in 18:35, I felt pretty good about the effort, considering I felt my body seem to fall apart in the last mile. I'm glad I've been workin' out some with my uper body, it helps compensate to generate power and maintain decent form if my legs are really hurtin' (or in some cases, almost go numb). However, I quickly found out that I and the person who finished in front of me actually missed a turn towards the end and as a result ran a little shorter. So since I accidentally cut the course a little bit, I knew I did not really run an 18:35 5K, but that had I run the full 5K at the pace I was goin', I probably wuold have hit mid-to-low 19's no doubt. Apparently we weren't the only ones who made wrong turns, I heard others behind us got a little lost/accidentally cut the course.
The real good thing though is that even though the fourth place person (who was in high school and the first place female) and I accidentally cut the course, it did not really afect the results on our end. I noticed that before the first female/fourth place overall finisher (I'll just refer to her as "fourth place" to be brief) passed me in the last mile, the first three runners were so far ahead of us I could not even see them, and at that point there was a fairly sizeable gap probably the better part of a minute behind me, so had fourth place and I run the extra that we were supposed too, she probably still would have finished fourth and me fifth, and we would not have picked up any places or fallen back any (unless of course one of us may have fallen and gotten hurt), but in other words, it would not have affected the results. When I told the race directors/coordinators about this little careless blunder, they understood and came to similar conclusions that I did in that even if we did run the right way, it would not have changed any thing in the results concerning our finishing places except for our finishing times.
So yeah that was my experience running in Wilmington. It's a really nice looking city with some apparently pretty historic areas. I am glad I ran this and met some cool high schoolers, college students, and older folks too. Hopefully my 5K running times this year improve from here!
Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a good night and week :)
Running Events I have done this year as of Saturday, July 21, 2007
Maryland
Allegany County
- Queen City Striders Junior Striders Cross Country meet (1 mile and 2 mile) – Tuesday evening, June 19, 2007 – Paris N. Glendenning Park/Frostburg
- One mile race – 2nd overall – 5:51
- Two mile race – 7th overall – 12:37
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)
– Metro Harriers’ fourth summer track and field all-comers meet – Thursday, July 19, 2007 – North County High School, Ferndale/Glen Burnie, MD
– 1,500 meters – 1st overall – 4:42
– 800 meters – 2nd overall – 2:21
– 3,000 meters – 2nd overall – 10:41
– John Wall Memorial Track Run (One mile) – Saturday, July 21, 2007 – Broadneck Senior High School track, Annapolis – 6th overall (1st in 20-29 year-old age group) – 4:53
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 – 5th overall - 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 (Personal Record/best time in that distance!!!!! :)
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 :)-
- 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 :)
Frederick County
- 11th Annual Frederick Steeplechasers Run for the Pie 10K – Saturday, July 14, 2007 – Frederick 4th overall (1st in the 20-24 age group) – 42:39
Garrett County
- 1st Annual Grantsville Days 5K – Saturday, June 23, 2007 – Grantsville – 8th overall (3rd in male 20-29 age group division) – 18:37 (clock), 18:36 (watch)
Harford County
- 2nd annual Eden Mill 5-Miler (4.8 miles approximately) – Sunday, July 1, 2007 – Eden Mill Park, Pylesville – 2nd overall – 30:37 (clock), 30:35 (watch)
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 – my best time on that course :)
- 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 :)
- Inaugural Musical Madness 5K – Saturday, May 12, 2007 – Maple Lawn/Fulton/Scaggsville – 7th overall (1st in 20-29 age group category) – 18:48.71
- Damien F. Massella Run for Recovery 5K – Sunday, June 24, 2007 – Columbia – 52nd overall – 19:58.12 (clock), 19:55 (watch)
- Centennial Fun Run (one mile)#3 – Tuesday, July 10, 2007 – Ellicott City area – 1st overall – 5:11 (tied my second-best time on the course :)
- Centennial Fun Run (one mile)#4 – Tuesday, July 17, 2007 – Ellicott City area – 12th overall – 5:44
- H.C.S. Summer Series Race (“Summer Sizzler”) #3: Burleigh Manor Middle School 2 miles – Wednesday, July 18, 2007 – Ellicott City/Columbia area – 1st overall – 11:02
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 – 5:04.88
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 Foundation’ss 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 42:04 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
- 1,500 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 :)
Worcester County
- Francis Scott Key Family Resort “Dash and Splash” Run/Walk Series 5K Race#3 at Stephen Decatur High School (on the track) – Saturday, June 30, 2007 – Berlin – 1st overall/only finisher – 18:52 (clock), 18:50 (watch) – Finished out the Maryland Eastern Shore portion of my endeavor with this event :)
Events outside of Maryland
California
San Diego County
- 30th Annual Scripp’s Ranch Old Pros Run and Bike 10K and 2-mile Fun Run (10K) – Wednesday, July 4, 2007 – Scripp’s Ranch neighborhood, San Diego – 73rd overall-39:08 (clock), 39:05/39:06 (chip)
Delaware
Kent County
- March Moonlight Madness 5K – Thursday, March 1, 2007 – Wyoming – 2nd overall (1st in male 20-29 age group division) – 18:28
New Castle County
- 2nd Annual Wilmington Games 5K – Wednesday, July 25, 2007 – Wilmington – 5th overall (2nd in 19-29 age group division) – 18:35 (probably would have been low-to-mid 19’s since I accidentally missed a turn and cut the course a bit short near the end)
District of Columbia – Washington
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