Forgive me this peevish anecdote, but during yesterday evening's run, Jessica S. --- the two time winner of the CAASA 5k --- waved and said, "Hey how are you doing" (a progression from simply waving). The circumstances were a bit shady, though, since it was in the gloomy post-twilight when we passed each other.

Whoa, a sub-40:00 10k is a longterm goal of mine, and you've already smashed your way through! And I had no idea that the mayor of D.C. was also such a competitive runner. But you've certainly had a diverse season of successful races this fall, with PR times in the 5k, the 10-miler, the metric marathon, the regular marathon, the 10k, and soon the half marathon.

The First Annual Father Andrew White 5k was without a doubt the most brutally hilly course I've ever had to tackle. Granted I've vanquished courses that featured a non-stop succession of up-and-down, rolling hills (the Komen Race For the Cure 5k in Towson and the Kiwanis 10k in Crofton come to mind), but this was like a version of the Hereford course in which one would have to ascend The Dip no less than four times throughout the 5k. Of course none of the hills yesterday were quite as brutal as The Dip on their own, but the cumulative effect was far more strenuous. And although there were four major uphills, there were only three compensating downhills to speak of. Like Perry's post predicted, the FAW course began along the white fence bordering the Paschal exit and the 320s/lacrosse field; followed closely along the side of the building; made a sharp left upon rounding our old climbing tree; went down Rahall Way/John's Walk; made a sharp right onto the grassy lane dividing the campus road and the walking track; merged onto the campus road and followed that down past Rupert and down the hill; made a wide; heart-shaped loop around the soccer field and the baseball outfield; followed along the base of the hill back to the road leading back up the hill; turned a sharp right at the top; ran the campus back road behind the buildings until hitting the main campus road; turned right and covered the main campus road all the way to the stop sign; turned right onto Camp Calvert Rd shortly before turning left onto the old Leonardtown road; plunged down the long slope leading to the sewage treatment place before abruptly turning uphill; ascended the great hill leading to Leonardtown proper two thirds of the way up; turned left onto Courthouse St, giving brief relief before covering the remainder of the grand hill closer to the courthouse (at this point the course was like the reverse of that stretch in the Hospice 5k); turned right onto Washington St, sending us towards the Leonardtown Square; made a U-turn in front of the post office; turned left onto the old Leonardtown road and trundled all the way down the great hill to the bottom basin; headed back up the great slope leading to Ryken (this was definitely the longest and most arduous ascent --- all the more so since it was in the final mile of the race); a right back onto Camp Calvert Rd; and then, in quick succession, a left onto the main campus road, a right onto Rahall Way/John's Walk and then the final straightaway back to the start/finish line after making a right 'round the climbing tree. I think whoever designed that barbaric course was not planning on running it themselves! I'm just grateful that the sadistic cartographers didn't figure out a way to incorporate the dreaded hill in the woods. But I should give them credit, though, for having the course well organized. Volunteers were all over the place to direct runners --- in addition to two police cars and a motorscooter guide (which did not, of course, brave the cross country segments). As far as the weather, it was astonishingly warm and humid for November. It was downright balmy, I'd say! It'd been raining a good deal earlier that morning, and thus the brief interludes of cross country were ... squishy. In regards to attendance, it was a small, intimate crowd, which is usually to be expected from a first annual event that wasn't particularly well advertised. And, more specifically in regards to talent, upon lining up at the start, I looked around and assessed that not one other person gathered looked like a seriously competitive runner. Appearances, however, can be beyond deceiving! After the go siren ignited the race, I --- possessed by a zealous determination to make Big Guy (wherever he may be) proud --- surged ahead of the pack, reaching the climbing tree before anyone else. Yet upon making the next turn, I was defied by an unlikely rival. A fellow in his 50s with a gray beard and wild, scraggly hair --- who must've been a disciple of Prefontaine back in the 1970s (I later learned that he was a Ryken High School class of '74 alum) --- shot ahead. I kept him within shouting distance for the entire first mile, which was handy because, upon rounding the baseball outfield, he began heading straight up the ultra-steep, Everest side of the hill ... which would've shaved about a quarter mile off the course. "LEFT!" I bellowed from behind, my call augmented by reverberating echoes bounced off the nearby concrete pitching wall. Obviously not purposefully trying to cut corners, he gave me a gesture of gratitude (albeit with a bit of embarrassment) and then resumed the rightful path to victory. The only other participant to give me any chase was a high school lad who couldn't beat me down the Rupert hill after I employed my veteran maneuver --- leaning forward as though I intended to dive down, thus letting gravity do most of the work for me. He was never close enough to say "boo!" after that. Whoops, did I just make it obvious that I finished second overall? So yeah, those hills hilled me. I think I would've had to have pursued extensive hill training to have owned that course. Every step upwards on the hills drained me just a little more, and after achieving each summit I spent the next couple minutes recuperating my pace. In fact, whilst climbing up and up that final slope (which, due to shoulder construction and nonstop traffic from either direction, required me to run face-to-face against all the slow participants still running down it through the one narrow shoulder available), I all but decided to not worry about my time. Nonetheless I still managed to break 20:00 --- though not by much (being that this was my first 5k in two and a half months, and that my training never quite took off as I'd hoped, I really only intended for this to be a "rust-scraping" trial race). And as for that old school runner who won? I thought that he couldn't possibly have finished more than a minute ahead of me, but in reality he crossed the line over TWO minutes before me in 17:41! He must have trained by running up and down the Rocky Mountains or something. Later on when Mike W. the Chaptico Classic race director finished, he --- a veteran of literally hundreds of races --- heaved a defeated sigh and said, "I should have just stayed home today." I would have shared his sentiment ... had I not been awarded a gilded gold medal for first place in my age group!

* FAW "5k": 3.01 miles in 19:57 = 6:38/mi or 20:37/5k * Thanksgiving "5k": 3.21 miles in 20:24 = 6:21/mi or 19:47/5k -3.21 miles @ 6:38/mi = 21:18 -3.01 miles @ 6:21/mi = 19:07 So you see, upon running 5ks two Saturdays in a row, something quite peculiar happened. From the first race to the second, my time went up --- but my pace went down! As the above data indicates, this past Saturday's race was overlong whereas the previous week's was short (I know I neglected to mention that in my race report ... but I blame those hills). I'm afraid I don't have time to contrive a worthy race report today, but I'll say that it was savagely cold in ye olde Historic St. Mary's City on Saturday morning (my car's outdoor thermometer clocked 27 degrees F when I arrived around 8:20 a.m.). In fact, as I attempted to register out on the picnic tables, I went through one pen after another, marveling that they could all be out of ink. Then I was informed that they weren't working because all the ink was frozen! And when that wicked whipping wind began rolling off the St. Mary's River, everyone started whimpering. Anyways, despite running my slowest "5k" time of the year, I finished fifth overall and first in my age group (that marks a three-year streak!), beat a few old rivals (Julia S. the overall Hospice 5k winner, Paul S., and the Son of Walser), and even won a raffle. But oh my, whilst waiting for the awards outside, I was seized by severe chills. I doubt I was the only one!

I would have enjoyed seeing you beat all those people -- I looked at the results this weekend and saw that you had vanquished them. We went to Rehoboth and ran the inaugural Rehoboth Marathon as a relay -- it was quite fun (except for the bitter cold & wind). I'm hoping for a fast & competitive Jingle Bell, and hoping it won't be too cold!

I anchored -- which was fun b/c I spent the whole time passing people, except one guy passed me in the last mile -- about 20sec I later I got inspired to see if I could catch back up to him, but I couldn't do it -- but it did give me a fast last mile. You can see splits down to mile-by-mile if you look at my log -- you can access it from Reports on the group menu on the left (I set it to viewable by group members). Or here is the race entry: http://www.runningahead.com/logs/328d2d63609042099bc341d7b881e24e/workouts/07334be1cb3f494281dbc42525703988 The quick answer is Crystal ran 1:46 and I ran about 1:37. We were both tired, but it was first half mara for each of us, and we could both go faster.

Rick, I just remembered that, awhile back, you posted about a cross country five-miler in early November. Did you do it?

Sorry, I haven't meant to be rude, but I've been pretty busy as of late. I didn't do this race, as I pretty much ran only two days in the four weeks following the Baltimore Running Festival. Since that hiatus, I've done weeks of 20, 25, and 27 miles. I've had several projects/exams that were school-related, and now I have the task of painting the master bedroom over the next several weekends. Being that Val and I will be having our respective families over for Christmas and would like to get rid of move-in clutter from at least the main floor, I'm not exactly sure how high I'll be able to push my mileage this month. That, and I have finals in only a couple of weeks. Regardless, Val and I are signed up for the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler on 12/20. This race is a staple of the Baltimore metro area running community. I think it began in 2000 with only ~125 runners. This year, there could be as many as 2,300 participants. I think I could be fairly well prepared for this race. The course is supposedly very hilly, but so is the area surrounding my neighborhood. However, I don't anticipate setting any PRs for the distance. This will likely be much more difficult than the flat NCR Trail 5 Miler in August, and I doubt I'll have time to get in any significant speed training before then. I'd say the chances of me doing to marathon in March hover at about 60/40.