~10.5 miles @ ~10 min/mi

"Did you run Bull Run?" I ask the buff Asian dude as I pass him near the Rock Creek Trestle. "A few years ago," he admits. Aha! He turns out to be the same fellow I saw clad in the BRR olive-green shirt that matched my garb in Silver Spring during the 2012-04-28 - MBT iPhone GPS Test a fortnight ago! His name sounds like "Eugene", but looking in the VHTRC database afterwards I identify him as Yuji Funakoshi, a NOAA research scientist who finished BRR in 2009 in the amazing time of 8:03 and who appears in many MCRRC races far far ahead of me. (I am not worthy to pass him!) But perhaps he's sandbagging, or doing a long run?

In any case, I manage to stay slightly ahead of Yuji for the next mile, when I see Ken Swab approaching from the west. We turn back and trot together to the gate at the golf course, then reverse again and stop our watches at the CCT water fountain where Gayatri Datta meets us. Gayatri is clad in pink-trim shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, and chapeau (apologies for forcing that final alliteration). Santa Steve Scheurs stands beside me, and I joke that if observers cross their eyes we'll fuse together into a super-3D image. Barry Smith and Rebecca Rosenberg soon arrive, and so does svelte Sara Crum. Her plantar fasciitis is better now, thankfully. Together we run back through the Air Rights Building tunnel under Wisconsin Av, whereupon Ken leads us on a drunkards walk south to hilly Leland St. We diverge from it and at Beach Dr head north to East-West Hwy and then east again to Meadowbrook Stables for potty breaks.

At that point I apologize abandon the group, taking the long way home to get a distance safely above 10 miles. For the final quarter mile I accelerate to pull the average pace safely under 10 min/mi overall. The Garmin GPS trackfile vs. iPhone MapMyRun comparison gives distances 10.63 vs. 10.73 miles, a ~1% difference. Mile splits likewise fluctuate by 10-20 seconds or so. The Garmin says 9:56 ⇒ 9:14 ⇒ 9:29 ⇒ 10:05 ⇒ 9:27 ⇒ 11:05 ⇒ 10:57 ⇒ 10:23 ⇒ 9:28 ⇒ 10:14 and then 9:14 min/mi on the last fractional mile.

^z - 2012-05-24