18+ miles @ ~11 min/mi
"Don't eat that!" Cara Marie Manlandro admonishes me. "It fell in the mud."
"No, it landed on gravel," I say as I stop to snag the orange sports bean and pop it into my mouth. "Besides, I have to keep up my reputation as a trail runner!" We're 15 miles into a new longest-ever run for CM. Seven miles earlier I pick up another fallen sports bean near the Arizona Avenue trestle. My packet of Hammer Gel is solidified to taffy and I'm hungry, OK?
Our journey begins a bit after 7am when CM's new GPS achieves lock. We tag her car, start our watches, and set off via neighborhood streets to join the Capital Crescent Trail via the Georgetown Branch. The satellite nav system confirms my estimate when it indicates 1.02 miles to the 0.5 milepost on the CCT. Like all good training runs today's is uneventful. In downtown Bethesda after we've done 4 miles we pick up Emaad Burki and Ken Swab as planned. There's also a bonus fellow, Jim Rich, with them. Much banter ensues as the distance flows by. Jim's wife Patti is a bit ahead of us; we chat with her as we pass. After 3.5 miles Jim reaches his turnaround, just inside DC. The rest of us proceed by Fletcher's Boathouse and reverse course at CCT mile marker 8.5, a bit over 9 miles from my home.
CM and I begin to build up a lead during the next few miles, and CM notes that she has a new half-marathon PR of a bit over 2:20 when her odometer passes 13.1 miles. My left hip flexors ache a little. CM gets a cramp in one foot, but a Succeed! electrolyte capsule seems to drive the evil spirits out within a mile or two. Just before we're back to Bethesda K&E sprint, catch up, and bid us farewell. CM and I zig-zag between cars, avoid getting run down, and accelerate to make the 16th and 17th miles our fastest yet—near 10 min/mi pace. At the end of the GBT (milepost 0.31, GPS mileage ~17.5) CM finally takes a walk break, once she's well past the 15 Nautical Mile point. We recover a bit and walk/jog the final leg home. Her magic tights have done the job again.
Cumulative time and individual mile split data:
Time Split Comment 0:11:04 11:04 1.02 GPS miles to CCT 0.5 0:22:00 10:56 0:32:31 10:31 0:43:51 11:20 meet Emaad, Ken, and Jim in Bethesda 0:55:11 11:20 1:06:09 10:58 1:17:13 11:04 1:28:07 10:54 1:39:06 10:59 turnaround at CCT 8.5, past Fletcher's Boathouse 1:49:46 10:40 2:00:17 10:31 2:10:58 10:41 2:21:24 10:26 2:31:44 10:20 back to Bethesda 2:42:06 10:22 2:52:10 10:04 3:02:07 09:57 17.23 GPS miles back to CCT 0.5 3:16:22 14:14 home after 18.25 GPS miles, including cooldown walk (note that some mile splits are off by up to 5 seconds when I was tardy in hitting my stopwatch button)
^z - 2008-12-31