I try, whenever I can, to participate with a local running group on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Pacers holds “fun runs” on those evenings and it’s a nice chance to see some fellow runners and friends and tackle things like the horrors of the Custis Trail (and its 900 hills), or wonder how long until a car tries to run us over as we hoof it through Old Town Alexandria.

The Clarendon location of Pacers, as part of their gearing up for the inaugural Battle of the Boulevard 10K, has gotten sponsorship from Brooks for their Thursday night runs. I’ve missed those runs up until this week, but was happy to finally get to participate last night. The theme of the evening was a scavenger hunt, where everyone was given a little laminated sheet of paper with 11 questions on it about the evening’s running route. And just like that, we were off.

Chris S. and I realized a fatal flaw in the evening’s plan almost instantly. Namely, ballpoint pens and laminated paper don’t often mix well. Doubly so while you’re running just under five and a half miles of nasty hills. Oops. Still, that didn’t stop us as we tried to look for the answers to each question while continuing to keep a steady pace. (Just under 9min/miles, which for this hard-as-nails course is a major victory in my book. Oh, how I hate the hills in my neighborhood. Especially those along the Custis Trail.) Once the ludicrousness of the situation had sunk in, we ended up laughing our heads off at the idea of even trying to puzzle through the 11 questions and enjoyed the run.

Well, enjoyed the run while still keeping an eye cocked for the answers. After all, the first place prize was a $125 gift certificate for Brooks shoes and gear, and I’m not going to say no to that, right?

When we finished, sheets of paper were handed out that you could actually write your answers on, and then everyone adjourned around the corner to Mr. Days where appetizers plus one round of beers were provided courtesy Brooks as well. Chris had to leave early but I stuck around (and ran into Elvis from last year’s AIDS Marathon program, which was a nice surprise) and had a lite beer (which bizarrely actually tasted good) and one or two small munches of food. Finally, the results were in, with the organizers first reading off the answers before then saying who won what. When I realized I had gotten nine of the eleven answers correct and the fifth-place winner had gotten much less, I knew things were looking very promising indeed.

And, sure enough, I claimed myself a second-place finish, which was a whopping $100 gift certificate. As someone who wears Brooks shoes to begin with, I’m quite happy with my firm decision to memorize as many answers as I could. And to think, earlier in the day I was even telling myself how lucky I felt and I actually bought a lottery ticket. Who knows? Right now I just feel like the sky’s the limit. Here’s to a great time.

Today was the fourth year in a row I’ve run the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. This was the first year that we didn’t lose an hour of sleep the night beforehand, which was nice. This was also the first one I didn’t have anyone to really run it with, which was a little sad. (Long story.)

The race itself went well, though. I was feeling the after-effects of the half marathon from eight days ago, so it’s always a little frustrating to know you’re not even close to your best, but I was still really happy with the end result: a 1:26:09, which is an 8:37min/mile average, and slices 6 1/2 minutes off of last year’s time.

My mile splits do a lovely bell curve for the race: 8:23, 8:24, 8:31, 8:31, 8:32, 8:51, 9:02, 8:44, 8:38, 8:28. Clearly miles 6-7 were the tough ones, although I was more than a bit pleased to pass the 10K mark at 53 even and note that if the race had been over there I’d have gotten a new PR for it as well. (It sounds silly but I always play the “What if this race had been X distance instead?” game in my head. The whole could’ve, would’ve, should’ve mentality.) Once again, no walk breaks aside from a 10 second stop during mile 7 to gulp down a cup of Gatorade.

The best thing was seeing a lot people before and after the race. Before the race started I’d run into Ali, Carla, Chris, and Del; Carla and I started together but separated after the first minute. (Sorry Carla!) On the course itself I caught glimpses of Carla, Dave, Julie, Mark, and Randy (gotta love out-and-back stretches of the course!), and I managed to even see Carla, JP, and Randy finish the course. Finally I was too cold to stay any longer and I fled for the metro and the promise of brunch with a couple of the guys at Freddie’s. Mmmmm, mimosas.

Anyway, it was a good time, but I’m glad that I don’t have yet another race next weekend. Oof! (Carla’s trying to talk me into a race on the 21st. We’ll see.)

I admit it, I was nervous about running the National Half Marathon this year. After having such high expectations for Florence last year and then missing them, I was afraid that my gut-instinct finishing time was far off and that not only would I miss it (1:58 was the number I’d come up with) but that I’d no doubt end up doing worse than last year.

The morning was off to a slightly rough start; it was raining when I got to the stadium, and I was supposed to run the race with my friend Del but was never able to find him. Thankfully the rain stopped and was merely gray and misty for the rest of the day, which was fine by me. I ended up deciding to pace off of the (badly-marked) 4:00 marathon pace group. The half-marathon and full marathon share the same course for the first 10 miles so I figured they could at least give me someone to focus on for the majority of the course. After a slightly slow first mile (and someone else following the pacers talking about people with bad body odor and wanting to throw up—gee, thanks, that’s just what I want to hear right now) we began to pick up the pace… and then some.

Finally someone else asked, “Aren’t we going a little fast?” A 4:00 marathon is a 9:10min/mile, and we were well above that. The two women explained that we were indeed; what they were trying to do is “make up” the several minutes we were off the clock; that way anyone who followed them into the finish line, regardless of when they began, would get a sub-4:00 marathon. This actually worked well for me because I knew hills would be in the later part of the course and if I could “bank” some extra seconds that I could use later, that was fine by me.

Ironically, while I never saw Del, I seemed to run into lots of other people. I ran about four miles of the race with Rick Weber, and passed and said hello early on to Rick Carter, Julie Ann, Chris, Carla, and Randy. It was around mile 8.5 that we hit a water station and I ended up ahead of the pacers. A couple of times they were close behind me, but never actually passed me. I must admit I was a little surprised (especially since mile 9 was 5 seconds too slow), but if it meant I didn’t have to run with Ms. Body Odor then that was all right with me. Besides, the split was up ahead and I knew I’d be on my own at that point anyway. (Ironically I lost them at one and only time I ever walked; a 15-second moment to gulp down a cup of Gatorade that someone handed me without spilling it all over my shirt.) When I hit mile 11 amidst all of the hills I was delighted to see I was still on pace, and it was at that point I began to believe that I would actually get my goal time of a sub-2:00 half marathon.

I was definitely losing a bit of steam in the last 2.1 miles, but even then I only picked up an extra minute and thirty five seconds. I can more than deal with that. And then it was over, and I’d finally done it. 1:58:18. Wow. What a wonderful, glorious day. Races like this remind me why I run; it was hard in places, but the entire experience was nothing short of fantastic. I ran one of the best races of my “career” this morning, and I am so completely happy with it. (And this is the longest “no walk breaks” race I’ve ever run.) Yes, yes, yes.

Oh, and in addition to bagels and bananas? Beer. Apparently it was “foods that begin with ‘B’ day” and yes, I drank one. Despite being crappy Budweiser beer I must admit it tasted awfully good at that exact moment. So there.