The race is part of the Annapolis Striders
Championship Series, so the local running community was out in full force. It’s also sponsored by the North Arundel
Hospital, which is located near the race site. The race originated and is held in memory of Pat O’Brien, who was a member
of the Annapolis Striders, one of the top female runners in the Baltimore area during the 80's and an employee of the hospital
before succumbing to cancer several years ago.
It was unusually cool for a June
race. Sixty degrees at race time, but very humid. Rain showers that the weatherman predicted would arrive later in the day
showed up overnight. It rained almost right up to race time and all day following the race. But, not during the race. The
humidity would take a toll on many of us....especially us older runners. Every runner I talked with after the race who was
over 50 years old said that it made the racer harder than it should have been with the coolness we enjoyed. Cool and humid
still beats hot and muggy, though. J
The certified course was directly out and
back with the first and last 1.2 miles run through neighborhood streets and the middle 3.8 miles on the B&A Trail. I do
all of my training on the B&A Trail, but not this section of it. The first 1.2 miles was mostly uphill, the next mile
was rolling and the third mile to the turnaround a gentle upgrade incline. The terrain was reversed coming back, so the last
1.2 miles was an overall downhill.
As usual, I set three goals for the
race. This was just my second race since the end of March (the other was a 5k five weeks ago); it came at the end of my hardest
training week since January; I have trained little since March; and the course was moderately hilly. So, I factored those
considerations into setting my goals as follows: Floor goal - beat last year’s time in this race of 57:59.....not a
very challenging goal considering the weather difference from last year’s warm and muggy conditions and the progress
I’ve made in the past 12 months. Realistic goal - 55 minutes.....which would be considerably slower than my 50:38 at
Azalea Trail the end of March but acknowledges my current lack of conditioning. Ceiling goal - 53 minutes.....in my dreams!
J Obviously, I didn’t expect it to be a particularly good race....and it wasn’t. But, it
was “OK.”
During the first mile, I realized that
I wouldn’t have a chance to reach the ceiling goal and probably not the realistic one, either. Also, my mildly arthritic
left hip was bothering me after a big jump in mileage this week. So, I decided to treat the race as a hard tempo run rather
than an all out race and backed off just a bit. No point in risking an injury in a race that didn’t mean a lot when
all I’m doing now is building a base for a marathon training program.
My splits for the first three miles were
9:09, 9:11 and 9:21. I reached the turnaround at 3.1 miles in 28:35 and realized that there was a risk that I might not even
make my floor goal, if the wheels fell of the cart in the second half and I ran positive splits. So, I decided to start pushing
just a bit. The tact I chose was the time-honored one of concentrating on picking off runners in front of me. In the second
half, I passed 32 people and was passed by three for a net position improvement of 29. Meanwhile, my splits improved to 8:55,
9:14, 10:21 (8:32 pace) for the last 1.214 miles for a second 5k split of 27:36.....a minute faster than the first 5k. My
finish time was 56:11....a full 5:35 slower than the Azalea Trail. At least it beat my floor goal by a reasonable amount.
At the 6 mile marker, I caught the
last runner who had passed me more than mile earlier and I had never let get more than 20 yards ahead of me. She was as tall
than I am (6'1"), at least 20 years younger and a lot leaner. (Of course, everyone is a lot leaner and younger than I am now.
J) We had a downhill finish from there. When I pulled alongside her, I said “Let’s go!”
She looked at me quizzically. I yelled again “Let’s go!” and waved my arm toward the finish line. She smiled
and we took off side by side. We really kicked hard and ran stride for stride ‘til a few yards from the finish, when
she found a little more than I had left and beat me by a stride. After passing through the chute, she gave me a hug (made
my day! J) and thanked me for spurring her to a finishing kick that she didn’t
know she had in her. She also thanked me for “being a gentleman” and letting her beat me. I didn’t tell
her that there was nothing I could have done about that. J
Incidentally, although I didn’t list
a 6 mile split above, there was a 6 mile marker and I did record it on my watch. But, it indicated that my 6 mile split was
9:00 and that I ran the last .214 miles in 1:21, which is a 6:19 pace. I don’t believe either. I pushed the 6th
mile, which was overall downhill, to pass a few runners.....and catch the lady. I’m certain that I ran it faster than
9:00. OTOH, even with the solid kick the lady and I had, there is no way I ran the last .214 at a 6:19 pace. Since I’m
confident the certified course is accurate overall, I can only conclude that the 6 mile marker was misplaced.
The post race refreshments included
a hot breakfast buffet in the hospital cafeteria. Eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits, bagels, strawberries, bananas, ice
cream sandwiches, assorted juices and sodas, coffee and beer. It isn’t often I have a beer with breakfast. J The T-shirt that this race offered in previous years was deleted this year, which isn’t unusual
for Annapolis Strider events, except for the Annapolis 10 mile Classic and the Bay Bridge Run. But the entry fee was only
$8 for which there was a good race and excellent breakfast.
I’m satisfied with my race
today. I would have really liked to have been within 2-3 minutes of my Azalea Trail race, but you can’t goof off like
I’ve done for almost 3 months and expect to run well. Besides, I did beat last year’s time by 1:48. At least that’s
some progress! J
Jim2
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