Too Hot To Trot 5 Miler NCR Trail - Cockeysville, MD August 17, 2008 - 8:00am I suppose the irony of the name of this annual race was lost on no one this morning, especially those of us who were up at 5:00am. It was warm by January standards, but fairly chilly by mid summer standards. For this first time since June, I got up three hours before gun time to consume my pbj on bagel and a couple of quarts of water. It was quite chilly while I was walking Molly. I could definitely see my breath, and I had to don long sleeves for the first time in many months. The race start/finish line was at the Papermill Road parking stop at the NCR Trail (Alden is fully aware of where this is). This is approximately 0.5 miles from the start of the trail, so the race course would be a simple out-and-back, to the 3 mile post. Val and I were the ninth and tenth people to sign up, out of about 100-130 people. This was my first experience at a BRRC race. I was pretty happy with what we got. The race number was very simple. There wasn't the traditional "bib," but a much smaller piece of paper showing the number (these were still professional looking, just much smaller). There was no race shirt, but I certainly didn't expect one for $6. There was a decent spread after the race though. Watermelon, donuts, munchkins, bagels, oranges... I got the impression that some of the food may have been brought by several generous runners, but I could be wrong. There were even a couple of port-a-potties present! I went thru my normal pre-race stuff with Val... jog for a half mile, stretch for about 15-20 minutes, GU, jog another mile, port-a-pottie. I think Val may have been a bit more nervous than me, as this was her first race since Thanksgiving. We went down to the starting line, and I noticed a few things. First, although the temperature was up to the mid-to-upper 60s, it was a bit cooler on the trail. This is because the trail is largely shaded, and runs along a large creek. Second, the lack of butterflies in my stomach was causing me some worry. I previously had concerns that I wasn't taking this race seriously at all, despite that it was the opening race of The League's Fall season! Therefore, I took my place in roughly the middle of the starting pack. After all, had I run 37:00 last year, I would have finished 55 / 124. The race was very competitive, much like I was expecting from the small group. The front pack was off like a shot, and I quickly began to weave in and out of a few runners. My vigor for racing quickly found me, and I began to speed up. I probably ran the first half mile at about 3:20, much faster than my intended goal pace. For the next 1.5 miles, I settled into roughly a 7:15 pace that I felt I could maintain. The water stop was well-placed (about 1.5 miles into the race, and therefore 1.5 miles from the end as well), but I wasn't a big fan of how they filled up the cups almost all the way. These were the green Gatorade cups, so each probably had enough water for a couple of mouthfuls. I generally like to take a swig and roll-out. Regardless, I hit the two mile mark at about 14:15. However, I got wrapped up in the midpack competition and decided to drop my pace again. I had been playing a passing game with a few people that I got tired of, and left them far behind me. The turnaround spot was awkward, but this was inevitable. This spot on the trail was only wide enough to accomodate 5-6 people running abreast, so I imagine this turn was similar to the one you guys faced on that handicap ramp DR wrote about. I managed to get through this with very little trouble, but was still quickly passed by a couple of people who seemed to holding themselves back until the second half of the race. A few minutes later, I saw Val coming the other way. She was also jockeying for position with a few chicks, but was holding her own. After giving her a quick "GO VAL!" or something similar, I focused everything on keeping my stride tight to my body (in terms of width), and speeding up my turnover bit by bit. My next bout of competition came at about the four mile marker. I finally caught a group of three guys I had zeroed in on about a half mile previously, and saw that two were fading fast. The third stayed with me for another half mile, and I offered words of encouragement in order to keep him with me. After all, I felt I needed something to keep motivated. As he fell further and further back, I looked down at the Forerunner... 4.70 miles. I realized that this was the perfect time to justify the fast 400m finish that I do at the end of every interval workout. I opened up my stride and felt the pre-vomit pangs. However, I kept up until the very end. My reward was not vomiting! My unofficial splits: 1- 7:01 2- 7:14 3- 7:02 4- 7:06 5- 6:50 I believe my official time will be roughly 35:15 - 35:20, which I was thrilled with. That's about a 7:04/mi pace, about 20 seconds faster per mile than I was shooting for. While I'm very happy about this time, it was really the perfect race-day storm. The temperature was nice and cool, humidity felt low. Additionally, the NCR Trail is notoriously flat. To give the SOMD people an idea, it is similar to how the Step-by-Step/Jingle Bell course is flat. Both have their subtle inclines/declines that may affect your pace without knowing it, but the NCR Trail has no hills like the one in front of the Tiki Bar area. If this were something that people wouldn't consider a PR course, I likely would have been closer to 36:30 - 37:00. Still not bad for the first race of the year. After the race, there was a modest awards ceremony with "budget" trophies. There were very nice glass frames holding a certificate type paper for the first three men and women overall, as well as masters and grand masters. The spread was also modest, but more than I would expect for the price tag. I was extremely impressed with how this race seemed to be pulled off with minimal flaws. The BRRC community is incredibly close knit. It was like a family reunion where the people don't seem to harbor resentment over petty issues. I'd love to think that this race will set the tone for my fall season. I like to think that had I worn my racing flats, I may have been a bit closer to 35:00. The next day or two will certainly be easier, but after that I'll have a full 4.5 weeks of training until my next race, the 2nd Annual Get Ready! Get Set! Get Fit! 5K at Towson University. Guess what my goal time is. I'll let Val tell her story of the race if she chooses, but I'll first say that I couldn't have been prouder of the race she ran today. Her pace was considerably faster than at the Chaptico Classic last year, and not too far off her pace from the Get Fit! 5K last year. With Alden and Adubb poised to impress next week, and Joe, Perry, and DR running the Chaptico Classic the following week, I think it's going to be a great season.

Well done! Looks like you did a superb job of pacing, and if it'd been a 10k I have no doubt that you would've been sub-45:00. Those "budget" trophies sound better than the duplicate plastic cups and socks that the Chaptico Classic awards --- and that race costs $24 more!

Those are incredible times. I think you are poised to destroy some high school times if you haven't already. (It's almost as if your future is most prom... no, I won't say it.)

http://brrc.com/brrc2008/2008TooHotToTrotRaceResults.html Updating the BRRC website is not always a strength of the BRRC, but better late than never. Rick - 35:20, 38 / 104 Val - 42:30, 77 / 104 The rough part about running these BRRC races is that they can be insanely competitive. If I got into the best shape of my life and did nothing but BRRC races in a season, I might still finish near the bottom of the standings!

P.R. neglected to mention that he ran an excellent PR 10k time today --- 41:42, did you say? Well, after five years, I finally achieved my long-running goal to break 20:00 at the Chaptico Classic 5k. Or at least I think I did. If I really did, it was by no more than a nose, nay, a nostril! I don't have time to write a decent account now, so hopefully I'll be motivated to do so tomorrow. And I'd really like to see the official results (times generally weren't mentioned during the awards ceremony).

They just posted the results to the mailing list 5K Men 20 to 29 #1 = Noah Wood of Catonsville, MD, 25, 4th overall, 19:10 (6:10/mi) #2 = David Raley of Mechanicsville, MD, 25, 12th overall, 19:59 (6:26/mi) #3 = Emmett Schaller of Leonardtown, MD, 23, 32nd overall, 21:55 (7:03/mi)

Joe - We haven't heard anything from you, yet. How did you feel you did? http://www.runraceresults.com/LiveElite/ If you type the names of some friends of ours, you may get a pleasant surprise.

DR - I texted you and Joe a picture that my brother sent me recently. It was of a newspaper headlining proclaiming that SMR was eyeing the WCAC XC title. How did the team fare yesterday? For that matter, how did Chopicon do?