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After yesterday's Arctic chills this morning feels almost warm, with temperatures in the low 20's. Christina Caravoulias and I meet just after 7am in the downtown Bethesda parking lot. I leave my car and ride with her to the Rockville Metro, chugging electrolyte drink to avoid dehydration. I anticipate frozen water fountains; fortunately I'm wrong. The main fountains every few miles are indeed frozen solid, but the taps on the side that supply "dog water" work fine, so I refill my bottle and Chris takes off a glove to catch water in her cupped hand --- brrrrr!
Further notes on that (2008-01-21) and other recent runs follow ...
2008-01-12 --- ~5 miles @ ~14 min/mi & ~6 miles @ ~10 min/mi --- A red fox dashes away as Mary Ewell and Kevin Lee and I trot along what might be part of the Potomac Heritage Trail upstream of Riverbend Regional Park. Our path follows the Virginia shore of the Potomac just above Great Falls, gentle terrain except where it climbs over steep ridges, smooth except where tree roots hide under the blanket of fallen leaves. Half a mile into the run we reach the hill which Mary and I ran up on 2007-09-29 near the end of a long jog (see MatherGorge). That time I issued the challenge; today Mary throws down the gauntlet. She does half a dozen repeats; Kevin is similarly strong, but I only survive half as many. More hill work needed!
After recovering we continue upstream for a few more miles until the trail leads mysteriously away from the river to a decrepit wildlife sanctuary hut. Nearby is an ancient-looking stone springhouse. We circle the building (almost falling into a pit concealed by leaves) and return. Merle is awaiting us; he has been exploring and photographing the Riverbend Park shoreline and nearby forests.
Saturday afternoon I take Gray to the University of Maryland and discover the gates to Kehoe Track chained and locked against me. No speedwork there! So I jog across campus to Paint Branch Trail and trot briskly from milepost 1.5 to 3.5 and back. The weather is cool and I encounter enough spectators to keep me moving briskly, with mile splits of 9:34 + 9:29 + 9:08 + 8:46 (whooo!). The journey to/from the parking lot near the music building takes ~11 minutes each way.
2008-01-19 --- 5 miles @ ~8.4 min/mi --- In contrast to previous years of single-digit or low-teens temps, it's a positively balmy near-freezing at this morning's '''Shooting Starr''' MCRRC five miler. Jeanne Larrison is volunteering at the registration table and kindly gives me #333 again this year: the Half Beast is Back! Christina Caravoulias is there before me and signs up to run the George Washington's Birthday Marathon Relay that I've printed out the paperwork for; Betty Smith follows suit. Now we only need one more to fill out a Women Masters team! Last year there were three awards but only one team in that category, so it seems like a good bet to try. I'm hoping to run the GWBM marathon myself, perhaps with some of the relay participants. It will be my fifth year in a row for that race.
When the building opens I go in and find Ken Swab, back from work-related travels and about to fly out again. We chat about our families and I express my condolences over his father's recent death. Home construction work is an ongoing ordeal for us both. I try to massage some warmth into my frozen feet. (I ask Ken to help rub them, but even though his employer is into serving the customer he respectfully declines.) The race start is delayed for 15 minutes so we stay inside as long as possible, then emerge to stand near the back of the pack with Christina, Betty, Jeanne, and several other comrades. Chris tells me to go ahead and not run with her. She's in the speed development program and wants to do her own race today. We plan to take a longer run together on Monday, a holiday for us both. Beth Starr, widow of Jim Starr whom this race honors, talks briefly and then we're off.
I commence briskly, hoping to be able to maintain sub-9 minutes/mile as per my recent training jogs. The course, slightly modified from past years, runs through an aptly named Hillandale neighborhood and features multiple long inclines. Ken drops back but catches me near the 1 km area. He reminds me to extend my stride and accelerate downhill. I follow that advice as well as Christina's guidance to attack uphill segments with strong arm motion. It seems to help. After about 3.5 miles my legs start to feel weak, but I keep pushing when I see that I'm on pace for a sub-45-minute time. My splits: 8:23 + 8:05 + 8:21 + 8:41 + 8:19 with an official finish time of 41:51. I'm in 131st place overall, a startling 8 of 16 in my new 55-59 male age group. Whee! It looks like a PR, compared to past results at this race on similar courses: 2007 = 56:31, 2006 = 46:40, 2005 = 53:31, 2004 = 53:21 ...
2008-01-20 --- 11+ miles @ 22+ min/mi --- see Massanutten Mountain South Training Run ...
2008-01-21 --- 13+ miles @ ~16 min/mi --- Christina and I walk to the official Parks Half Marathon starting line near the Rockville Metro station, then jog most of the first two miles down Veirs Mill Rd. Ice on shaded slopes is a sporadic problem, especially once we join Rock Creek Trail for miles 3-10. We walk cautiously through dangerous patches and manage to avoid falling down. As the sun rises so does the temperature, towards the upper 20's.
Wildlife is absent except for a few crows and a frozen squirrel that Chris spots and that I thankfully miss. Leaves at the bottom of a puddle, trapped under a glass-clear layer of ice that reflects the sky, bring to mind the M. C. Escher print "Three Worlds". Dog-walkers bundled up in parkas and scarves look with amazement at our skimpy outfits. (Both Christina and I make a limited concession to the cold and wear tights, unusual for us.) Our walk breaks help us both feel relatively comfortable throughout the journey. In Bethesda Chris picks up a hot apple cider to drink and I drive us back up the Pike to drop her off at her car.
(cf. Jfk2007Preparation (2007-10-26), PotomacHeritage50k2007 (2007-11-04), GrapevineRun (2007-11-12), DonQuixote55kRun2007 (2007-11-22), HuntingSeason (2007-11-30), FallenAngel (2007-12-08), LightningCrashes (2007-12-23), RedEye50k2008 (2008-01-05), Massanutten Mountain South Training Run (2008-01-22), ...) - ^z 2008-01-25