5 miles @ ~11:20 min/mi)

In spite of strong breezes (15-25 mi/hr gusts) and brisk temperatures (~30°F) there's a good turnout this morning at the MCRRC "Shooting Starr" race in Hillandale. I find Ken Swab at the registration table. He snags bib #500 and suggests that he might insert a decimal point to make it read 50.0, to indicate his obsession with finishing the JFK 50 miler this year. Caren Jew is letting her calf injury heal so she's a volunteer course marshall today. Christina Caravoulias and I line up together at the start with Ken and John Sissala, whom I thank again for measuring and painting the quarter-mile marks along Rock Creek Trail many years ago. Chris and I are among the few who aren't wearing tights and jackets against the cold.

We do the first mile in 10:24 by my watch (having crossed the starting line about 10 seconds after the "gun"), rather faster than our plan, but no matter. Subsequent miles are 10:56 (during which Ken's daughter Hilary and friend Langston pass us; they arrived late for the start), 11:36 (including a water station stop), 12:06 (when we walked with Jeanne to keep her company for a while), and finally 11:19. My left quad is a bit stiff during the first half-mile but otherwise seems OK; it tightens up again after I cool down. Early in the race we pass a huge fallen tree that has taken out some electrical and telephone lines. As we approach the finish a volunteer tells us that we're almost done. "We're just warming up!" I reply. "Doesn't this race start at 9am?" He tells us that he thought so too, which is why he arrived late and got to hold the flag at the final corner.