7 + 3 + 7 miles @ ~12 min/mi

I leave home at 6am, frozen "Z-lectrolyte" mix in a bottle that chills my hand. A medium-sized deer trots in front of me between the Rock Creek Trestle and Jones Bridge Road. After four miles I get to Bethesda and still have an hour until race time, so I go an extra three on the Capital Crescent Trail, with an overall pace thus far of ~11:30. C-C and Ken arrive, and I help pass Finisher's Ribbons out at the Kids' Run, then line up for the official 5k event.

Ken, back from blasting out the Buffalo Marathon last Sunday (cf. Ken Swab - Buffalo Marathon 2006), is soon out of sight on the way to improving his personal record for the distance by an amazing ~10%. Caren and I chat as we jog along, with splits of 9:27 + 10:27 + 10:24 and an overall time under 32 minutes as she sprints the final stretch. C-C accuses me of running "effortlessly" and of being a "gentleman" — neither, alas, are true. After the finish Way-No and C-C and Ken and I eat, drink, and chat; C-C tries to persuade me to do the Catoctin 50k in August, which sounds rather insane given how much I suffer in the heat.

With 25 minutes of lollygagging recovery I'm ready to head home. The remaining seven miles are on my usual loop course, Old Georgetown Road to Cedar Lane to Rock Creek. The weather is incredibly pleasant for this season, cool and dry with an intermittent breeze. I shift from a 4:1 ratio of jog:walk to 2:1 and feel good enough to do 10:44 and 11:01 miles along RCT, climb the hill into Walter Reed Annex, orbit the Mermaid Fountain, and reach home in time to eat a bowl of spaghetti and lose a game of Scrabble to my younger son.