~6 miles @ ~9.8 min/mi

After a few minutes of cooldown from the 2012-11-04 - Wormhole to KenGar dash I join Alyssa Smith, Emaad Burki, Ken Swab, and Rebecca Rosenberg at Rock Creek Trail milepost #7. After exchanging obligatory rubber glove jokes we see Barry Smith approaching from the north, and set off southward with him. Ken and Alyssa run ahead, Rebecca and Barry hang back, and Emaad and I run a bit with Rick, a new face who came to check out the 8am MCRRC group but missed them by a couple of minutes. Emaad tells me about his plans to try for a fast marathon early next year, about the Hansen-Brooks training approach (see [1], [2], etc.), and about the upcoming major election. We agree on most issues, including gay marriage, the complexity of state-sponsored gambling, and the attractiveness of the B&A Marathon (see 2012-03-04 - B and A Marathon) which we encourage each other to register for. After three miles we pause for Ken and Alyssa to catch up, then continue another mile with them to RCT milepost #3. The gang then turns back towards where they began and I proceed onward to home. As they vanish in the distance I shout, "Negra Modelo! Negra Modelo!" — there are a pair of bottles in the 'fridge — but to no effect. At the branch from RCT to Ireland Dr a quartet of big does, probably looking for love, move off the trail to let me pass; it's deer mating season now. The Runkeeper iPhone app gives the distance as 6.08 miles and splits of 10:35 + 9:26+ 9:15+ 10:09 + 9:19+ 9:51 — I inadvertently turn off the Garmin wrist GPS unit for half a mile in the middle of the journey so its data are incomplete but generally concur.

^z - 2012-11-28