Army Ten-Miler and Fleet Week Half

So this is my first ever blog.

Had hoped to make it to at least one Saturday John Rolfe training run, but trying to keep up with the Marathon Training Team schedule has been a challenge. Running the first 20-miler on September 27 with running buddy Bob Kees by my side for most of it was tough. Chris Schmidt, Drew Fratrick and Hank Cosby passed us looking pretty fresh and making relatively quick work of it. As for me, I finished the last few miles on empty, went home and puked.

Sunday, October 5th went much better. Ran the Army Ten-Miler on a comfortably cool morning alongside about 20,000 other pavement pounders. For those of you that may not know, the route starts and ends at the Pentagon and takes you past the Lincoln/Jefferson/Washington Memorials, Watergate Hotel, Federal Reserve, Smithsonian, The Capitol and numerous other famous places. Unfortunately I haven't mastered the art of maintaining my focus while running and enjoying my surroundings. Another significant and necessary attention-sapper was constantly planning my maneuvers through the mass of people - and I mean constantly - from beginning to end. But the result was a good one. Put in my first official 10 miler in under 90 minutes (1:29:44). Okay, so I only did it by 16 seconds, but I did it!

Now on to the next challenge, the Fleet Week Half Marathon in Norfolk this Sunday. I understand there will be several HMTers there. So far I know of Tiffani, Andrea, Mary Beth and Mike. Hopefully there will be others as well. Weather forecast is looking good, with lows in the 50's and highs in the mid 70's, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for another good race. Breaking 2 hours for the first time since the beginning of my 3rd running life (Jan, 2006) would be nice. But that's probably too much to hope for.

Shilingi-Moja, thanks for creating this blog spot. Hope to see many of you soon.

Good running to all!