The race is put on by the Annapolis Striders
and is held in Severna Park, Maryland.
I estimate the field was about 300 strong. Not a big race, but large enough to have a lot of company along the course.
Typical of many Annapolis Striders events, the race fee was only $5, with an optional $7 race singlet.
The weather was not too bad. After several
days of cool, dry mornings, this morning was warmer and more humid. Enough to take into consideration in a race plan, but
not so bad as to be brutal, like at last week’s 10 mile race.
The course was rolling. The first half
went out through neighborhoods and the second half came back on the B&A Trail, where I do all of my training. Uphill 1st
and last miles. Roller coaster 2nd and 3rd miles with a couple of quite steep, but short, hills. Mile
4 was a nice downhill mile, as my splits show, to set up a tough finishing Mile 5. The entire last 5/8 mile was uphill, except
for the final 50 yard sprint to the finish line.
I had a tempo run scheduled for today,
which I would have run on much of the same route as this race. So, I decided during the past week to use the race for that
purpose. My tempo (LT) pace is 8:55. I ran the race in 44:10 for an average pace of 8:50.
My splits were 9:08, 9:08, 8:48, 7:50, 9:16. The last two mile splits reflect the course terrain, not poor pacing.
In fact, I held back a little in mile 4 since I was very familiar with what was coming in the last mile. I run those two miles
at least 5 times each week in training.
I worked a bit to hold the pace for 5 miles.
But, that was because of the warm, humid conditions and the hills. I’m confident that it would have been a very comfortable
race at that pace in cooler, drier weather. I’m satisfied.
Oh, yeah, the race site was only 3.5 miles
from my home. So, I ran to the race site as a warm up. I didn’t stay for the post-race ceremony afterwards. Just ate
a banana and bagel, bought a singlet, picked up flyers for future races, then ran the 3.5 miles home to shower, eat breakfast
and go to an afternoon Orioles baseball game. Met a delightful young lady running along the trail on the way home. Ran and
chatted with her for a mile. She ran Boston this year and hopes to qualify for the 1999 Boston at Steamtown. I invited her to join us on the Forums. Hope she
does. She’s nice.
Good race. Good ball game. (Orioles won.)
Good crabcake sandwich for dinner after the game. Just an all round good day!
Jim2
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