Pushing through to the next stage

Ok, I'm tired, I thought, as I crossed the line of the Crystal City Twilighter-the last of the string of summer races I ran between May and July. For some reason, when driving to the race, I made a wrong turn and drove to Alexandria and had to turn around. I guess that's why I left so early. Thankfully Nate steered me in the right direction and got to the start just in time to pick up my packet and warm up with the GRC team. Right before the start, thunder clouds started rolling in. Uh oh, I thought, Nate cheerfully said "This is going to be fun!" on the warm-up. It ended up raining lightly before the race which actually cooled off the heat a little bit. The Crystal City Twilighter was quite competitive, dozens of guys sprinted in front of me from the start. I paced myself to a 4:57 first mile, just about where I wanted to be, then fell off pace quite a bit. I'm not gonna lie- I was dissapointed to slow down to 10:24 at the 2mile split. I was hoping to run 15:55 but I knew that wasn't going to happen at the rate I was going. I tried to focus and just ran what I could, I split 15:55 for the 3rd mile, and finished up in 16:31. My best time out of the three 5ks I've run this summer, but not what I was hoping for. I hate the 5K, honestly, I have never ever had a good race in the 5K. But I ran it for a reason. After the race, I ran a 20 min cooldown with some of the guys, had a good conversation with Dickson about Marathon training, and found Beth who was waiting very patiently for me. Getting out of the parking lot was a hassle, and it took a long time since Crystal Drive was still closed. As we neared toward home, for some unknown reason 270/495 came to a halt. Apparently something was seriously going wrong, and later would find out the ALL of 270 was CLOSED. There was no sign indicating this as we were merging to 270, so it was one big waste of time. Good thing Beth suggested to go on 495 and loop around, because that's when we saw everyone trying to merge away from 270. Of course, when I finally got home, the power was out. Greaaat.. All right, enough of that..


I think it all hit me at once, all 7 races I did between May and July. I did this for a reason though. We all know I am not a 5k runner. I am a Marathoner. I did this to toughen me up. To get my legs bulletproof. All of these races are geared towards one goal: getting stronger in the Marathon. The results from May-July are below:


May 16-Germantown 5M: 28:02
June 7-Capital Crescent 5K- 16:42
June 13-Lawyers Have Heart 10K- 34:58
June 20-Baltimore 10.2 Miler- 58:02(56:53 10 Mile)
July 4-Autism Speaks 5K- 16:48
July 18-Rockville Twilighter 8K- 26:52
July 25-Crystal City 5K- 16:31


Overall I am happy with the results and my training and fitness are progressing in the right direction. Now I am glad to take off a much needed vacation from racing as well as work. I am going to the Outer Banks to get in a strong week of mileage this week. It will be hot, but again, will get me stronger. I am not racing anymore until September. This will be good, 6 solid weeks of training, then a real good test of fitness at the VA Beach Rock N Roll Half Marathon on Sept 6.

Wednesday-16 Mile Med-Long Run

On Wednesday I drove to the Old Angler's Inn Lock, but ran on MacArthur Blvd towards DC. I ran slow the whole time for 1:53:00. I ran until I got to the top of the hill past Maryland Ave, then turned around. It was a nice run, although I was tired afterwards. I'll do some short stuff Thurs and Fri to prepare for the 5K Saturday.

26:52-PR at the Rockville Twilight 8K

The Rockville Twilight run was a blast. I met up with the GRC crew for a warm up of the first loop of the course. My legs felt good, and the weather was great for this time of year. The race started out fast as usual, I went out strong, with Jake and Wardian right ahead of me(!), then settled into a rhythm. I wanted to go out no faster than 5:10 for my first mile, and I did just that, splitting 5:10 for mile 1. By this point I was working with Murphy, and Billy behind me. After the first loop, the intersection back at the starting line was a pure adrenaline rush. The crowds were roaring, and I heard Beth and Ashwin cheering for me, and a little furthur down I heard a very obvious pelkey yell "GO PUFF, GET TWO GET TWO!" 2Mile split was 10:37. Slowed a bit, but thats ok, I wanted to average around 5:20 pace, so I had to make sure to push it in the upcoming miles. I did push it, and Murphy helped me get there, we worked together through mile 3- 16:03. As we made our way up the hill around Montgomery College, I could see Patrick Reaves not too far ahead. Murphy started to surge ahead, I tried to stay within contact of him. Mile 4 split was 21:28, Murphy had gained some ground on me at this point, I just gotta dig deep in the straighaway to hopefully get a PR, I thought. Neal Hannan came up next to me and we worked together for a few minutes before he started kicking it in, passing me in the last 1/2 mile. I didn't have any kick(lol), I just kept running strong the whole way, hoping to break 27. I had a feeling I would, but I just ran as hard as I could in the final half mile, and right at the end, Billy kicked right by me to edge me by a second, but I was happy to see the clock read 26:52. A 24 second PR. I was happy to take it. I felt strong afterwards too, congratulating other familiar faces who ran as well. I give a big thanks to my awesome girlfriend who has continued to support me in all of my races, no matter how well I do. Thanks so much sweetie!

Sunday I slept in and ran late in the afternoon/evening for a 12.5 mile moderate distance run. I started from Violettes Lock, and ran up past mile 27 to the dirt road...forget the name of it..that lead out to seneca road. I then ran on seneca back to rileys lock and finished the last mile back to violettes. Good run, and 56 Miles total for the week. I am now really pumped for the Crystal City 5K next Saturday.

Thursday: 10.5 miles relaxed

I took a nice afternoon drive after work to Edward's Ferry and ran a loop of the duel ferries. It was hot, I kept the pace relaxed and ran for a total of 1 hour and 10 minutes. Saw a pretty decent sized snake on the towpath about 20 minutes before I finished.

Monday and Tuesday

Monday and Tuesday of this week were distance runs. Monday- 9 miles from Swain's Lock, Tuesday- 7 miles at Old Angler's. I was a little sore on Monday, and the run helped loosen up some of that soreness by starting out real slow and picking it up towards the end. Tuesday I was tired, just getting through another run to flush out some waste in my legs. I felt good afterward, and my soreness is almost gone, just tired.

Solid Week of Distance Running

This week was a good week of distance running for me, putting the miles in my marathon legs. I hit 60 miles this week, the highest I've gone since training for the Frederick Marathon. On Tuesday I did a nice 10 Mile run at Old Angler's Inn, and Friday I did a Mini Track Workout to get my legs going faster again. 2x800meter with jog/run recovery: 2:25, 2:20. Felt nice running a little faster again. Saturday I went to the Capital Crescent with Beth and ran a solid 8 Miles there. Sunday was a long run with the GRC Team. We met up at The Line and ran through Rock Creek Park and other parts of DC/MD that I am unfamiliar with. Ran through the Zoo again which was fun. Drank a lot of water, I wanted to stay on top of my hydration today, it was humid. It was a solid, semi-hilly run of less than 18 miles. I finished up in 1:56:00 total. The first hour flew by. Lots of guys showed up, made the run merrier.

Decent 5K Workout

Saturday I ran in the Autism Speaks Potomac 5K. Warmed up with Dirk and Max. I went out hard(5:00 first mile), then settled in and finished in 16:48. Splits: 5:00, 5:24, 5:46. The course was tough, but not nearly as tough as the Baltimore 10 Miler I ran 2 weeks ago. I am certainly not a 5k runner, but I'd like to run sub-16:00 in the Crystal City 5K in 3 Weeks. I ran an easy 4 Sunday, less mileage least week. This morning I ran an easy 3.5 miles, another easy 4 in the afternoon with Mickey.

Friday DC Run

Since I had work off today, as well as a bunch of others, the GRC team met at the store for a 10 mile run. Ran throughout the nicer parts of DC and the Mall. Added on a little extra afterwards on the towpath, 12 miles total for the day. 5K race tomorrow.

Summer Running

This past Sunday I did a nice run starting from Edward's Ferry down on river road to White's Ferry, on the canal back to Edward's Ferry, this is otherwise known as "the dual ferries run". I added on once I got back and got in about 13 miles for the day, and 55 miles total for the week. This week I have been doing moderate distance runs, with a 5k race coming up on July 4th.