~3.1 miles @ ~7.4 min/mi and ~7.6 miles @ ~9.5 min/mi

Brrrrrrrr! Barry Smith kindly drives out to Seneca Creek State Park on a frosty New Year's Day morning for the MCRRC 5k race. Many friends greet us as we hike from parking field to nature center. At bib-and-chip pick-up somebody (I suspect puckish Christina Caravoulias) stacks the deck — I get #666. Yes, the Beast is Back!

The blitz begins crowded; it takes almost half a mile of weaving to get by slower folks who were lined up nearer the front. But soon enough there's room to cruise, and pushing hard gives mile splits of roughly 7:21 + 7:19 + 7:28 plus 6:41 min/mi pace for final ~0.1 mile, based on Garmin GPS estimates. The iPhone with Runtastic roughly agrees.

Official results say 22:51 gun time; I start 5-10 seconds behind the line. Overall ranking is 3rd of 23 in the 60-64 year old male cohort, 50th of 213 males, and 57th among 421 finishers. Seven-year-old Jason Parks beats me by about 30 seconds, but after finishing I meet eight-year-old Ian Parsons, whom I mistake for Jason and who comes in behind me by about a minute.

These two photos are by Dan Reichmann. Where did my hat go between the start and mile 1? Well, as usual legs are warm enough in shorts but there's a bit of wind-chill in, uh, an unmentionable zone ... (^_^) ... (cf. HatBulge)

This photo is by Ken Trombatore, who jokes with me that unlike other recent races, when his camera's battery dies or memory card fills up at my approach, this time he is ready for me! And as usual, he captures a superb image.

Several hours later I jog from home to friend Joyce S's in Bethesda for her New Year's Day soirée. I eat far too much inari and too many brownies, and drink too much lemonade-with-ginger. The run home in the deepening evening's gloom is slowed by temporary ocular migraine blind spots that interfere with vision. But all's well, I make it without falling down or colliding with cyclists or dog-walkers.

On the way I notice that the street in Joyce's 'hood named "GLADWYNE" is a perfect anagram for my home road, "GWYNDALE". The Garmin GPS estimates mile splits 9:09 + 8:45 + 8:51 before the feast, and 9:19 + 9:25 + 9:15 + 10:21 with 10:00 min/mi pace on the final fraction. Runtastic roughly concurs.

^z - 2014-01-26