This is how I've always broken it down. 28:00 and over: below average (does not factor walkers) 23:00-27:59: average 20:00-22:59: fairly decent 18:00-19:59: above average 16:00-17:59: recreational running champions 14:00-15:59: regional high school cross country champions 13:00-13:59: semi-pro 12:59 and under: world class

Sunday, March 16, 2008 Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K Baltimore, MD Temperature was in the mid to upper 40s at race time, with the wind driving it down a bit. Winds gusted upwards of 20mph, per weather.com. Alice and Chains wrote a song about my plight at the starting line... it's called "Man in the Box." I arrived with my cheering posse (i.e., the lovely Val) at the starting line area shortly before 12pm for the 1:15 start time. I did the usual routine... jog five minutes, stretch well, GU, jog 10-15 minutes, stretch. I took into account that we'd probably be called to the starting line about 15 minutes before the start... indeed, people began CROWDING the line at 12:55pm (the race had reached its capacity of 4,000 a couple of weeks ago, although only 3,300 participated/finished). At 1pm, I began jockeying for position somewhere in the front quarter of the pack. The starting pack faced an uphill walk to the starting line, followed by a downhill start to the race. I realized something was wrong when, at 1:05, I glanced around and saw individuals in the starting pack wearing all kinds of cute li'l St. Patrick's Day knick-knacks and gimmicks. Others immediately in front of me discussed how they only wanted to do a 10 minute pace. I tried my best to squeeze my way towards the front, but we were packed shoulder-to-shoulder. The starting airhorn sounded (I guess a starter pistol is ill-advised in the city), and I immediately began jogging my way through the crowd. After crossing the starting line, I quickly started ducking in and out of groups trying to establish position, but I was doing so at an 8:30 pace! I had been boxed in by about a thousand dummies! After about 100 - 200 meters of this nonsense, I jumped off the road and onto the sidewalk, and began weaving my way through all the pedestrians. After passing a huge pack at the bottom of the downhill, I hopped back to the city streets and began cruising. While Charm City Run organized the event, I'm not sure if they were responsible for anything other than packets and the final times (more on that in a bit). The first mile marker was not really marked. However, given that some volunteers were standing around at one part and kind of yelling times, I think I ran the first mile in close to 6 - 6:30, way off the 7:00 I was shooting for. I finished the second mile (which was, in fact, clearly marked) in 13:15, so, once again, I had slowed down considerably in the second mile. However, I'm certain I kept the pace better than 7:30. However, after reaching the "turn around" point shortly before the second mile marker, I was hit with the full force of wind. Everyone around me seemed to be slowing down. I tried to push past the wind, but I was overcome by fatigue. After some panting and grunting, I reached what I assumed was the three mile mark at 18:30... I assumed only because it sounded like a volunteer was yelling, "This is three miles, right here!" Because I was in pain, I didn't consider that I would have to have run a 5:15 third mile to get to that point. Instead, I began kicking like I had 200 meters to go. Instead, it was closer to 400 - 500 meters, and I was on the verge of collapsing near the finish. I think the only thing that saved me was see Val with about 50 meters to go. Regardless, my labor did not go unrewarded... I finished with a time of 20:57, establishing a new post high school PR! I think the best part of the race was that, due to being boxed in, I rarely went more than 20 meters or so without passing someone, while I was passed by all of 10 people in the race. I literally passed hundreds upon hundreds of people today! http://www.charmcityrun.com/eventResults.cfm?eventid=710 You'll see me listed at #196 out of ~3300. However, the results are listed by gun time instead of chip time. I think I finished closer to 160th. I'll probably go thru and do an official count when it's time to do the scoring. Overall, I enjoyed the race. I'm a little upset that if I had run 20:57 at a race in Baltimore on 3/15, I woud have finished second overall and first in the age group. The weather was much better than anticipated a few days ago... it was expected that we would see rain AND snow up until about noon, and winds would be gusting near 30 mph! I guess those nights doing interval workouts and hills in that kind of weather paid off today. My next race is expected to be the Hospice next month. While a sub 20 performance may not happen until later this year, it is currently in my sights...

Your time of 20:57 is excellent, exceptional, and EXTRAORDINARY. But this isn't the first time you've smashed way past a modest goal time (ie, Step By Step). Breaking 20:00 in 2008 should be no sweat now. And I've been thinking all day about how windy it must have been up there, as bad as it was here. Did running a race at the somewhat unusual time of 1:30 p.m. affect your performance in any way? Also, I'm very curious about something. What happened to Alden?? And I'm stunned by that overall winning time of 14:44.

I tried to find Alden, but gave up after several minutes of vainly attempting to pinpoint his time among the thousands. I think Hospice is definitely going to be a League Event. In addition to the usual runners, both Phil and Billy plan to compete. I haven't decided for sure if I'm doing any races before then, though (the Invisible Children 5k is a possibility).

Crystal and I are running the 5K at Hospice, because I got my company to sign up a team for the Defender's Cup, which is scored from 5K runners' results. I'd kind of like to do a 10K, but, I've already committed to 5K at Hospice.

Perry: Two 10Ks are on the schedule... the MCVET 10K in Baltimore on 5/25, and the Kiwanis 10K in Crofton on the weekend of 6/7. I think DR was leaning towards the latter, so that may be the next big League event after Hospice.

Crofton sounds a lot closer to me than Baltimore