This morning I was able to make it out to the Anne Arundel Community College Campus for a race around the Earl Scott Trail area of Arnold (Anne Arundel County), MD for the Dog Days 8K Cross Country Run. The event was put on by the Annapolis Striders (http://www.annapolisstriders.org). I ran a lot better than I expected considering I pushed myself yesterday. I was expecting that maybe if I pushed myself a little bit on this fairly challenging course, I would probably land somewhere between thirty-three-to-thirty-four minutes, but instead I kinda came close to breakin' thirty-two minutes and taking thirteenth overall. Not too shabby at all, and I felt like I was gaining on some of the runners in front of me towards the end too, so that sorta told me that I was strong enough throughout to lay down a solid kick at the end (and it was set up nicely for it, with a downhill and straightaway on the track at the end of the course). One thing that sorta got me was when I was comin' close to gettin' through the three-mile mark, I got a little pebble/stone in my shoe, and at first it aggravated me, yet I felt like I was really keepin' a good strong pace and catchin' up to the runners in front of me. Within the last mile, I knew that if I kept up a strong pace, the race would be over soon and at that point it did not seem worth it to stop, take off my shoe, remove the stone/pebble, and then put the shoe back on. Heck at that point it was not even bothering me too much. Had that not happened, I might have actually had a decent chance maybe of breaking thirty-two minutes, but I'm still happy with my time, especially since it was pretty much a minute faster than what I was expecting to run.
Anyway, here are my splits. You can tell on some of them that I slowed down quite a bit towards the middle, mainly because of the stone/pebble in right shoe, plus running on some narrow trails that kind of had me apprehensive about running fast on them for fear of twisting my ankle or worse. You can also tell that I probably went out too fast for what I intended to run, but maybe that helped me:
First 400 meters: 1:37ish (The first part of the course was a lap on the track).
1-mile: 6:02
2 miles: 12:31
3 miles: 19:35
4 miles: 26:10
8K (finish): 32:18 (clock), 32:17 (watch - I definitely started further back in the pack on this one).
I definitely enjoyed this race, I like just about everything on the course. Even the trails were not really treacherous, and that was one of the things that had me apprehensive about doing this event. It was a great turnout, nice weather for the 8 A.M. start, and I saw some people I knew from the Howard County Striders and other events between this side of the Bay Bridge and the Maryland Eastern Shore. This is right up there with my favorite Anne Arundel County, MD races that the Annapolis Striders put on.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that I finished third in the male 20-29 age-group division, something I thought I would not make because usually this race brings a strongly competitive field based on previous years' results. I was really glad that this was my second day in a row where I had a strong race. Plus, I did not feel too much in the way of cramping and no loss of feeling in my legs either. I felt better than yesterday for the most part (okay, I did start out relatively conservatively, but I think that it was a smarter way of entering this race).
All right, well thank you for reading about my successful weekend at the races, and for continuing to encourage me. It was really cool to see some of you at the race this morning and I congratulate you all on gettin' through that course! Hopefully I'll see you at other races and events soon in the near future, have a good night :)
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