Another Wednesday, another race.

Last Wednesday was the monthly running of the noontime Tidal Basin 3K. It's a 2.6 mile warmup run down there from my building for the 1.86 mile race, then a 2.6 mile cooldown run back to work. It's a full midday workout alright.

I ran into our agency's rock star G on the way down there. He is nice enough to run slower when he falls in with us mere mortals, so we hoofed it down there at a slow 7:40 pace. Some warmup! My tongue was already hanging out when we lined up at the start.

The race was much like the other 77 I have done. I chased my doppelganger Peter the entire way and never caught him. I was overtaken in the last quarter mile by a charging man and then a woman. I let them go by because I was used up. I finished in 13:38 (7:19), a six second improvement over last month but still a far cry from my gold standard of sub-13 minutes. This race had technical difficulties that were kind of funny though.

For starters, a tour bus was trying to drive through as we were lining up in the roadway at the start. Usually we clear the roadway to let them by but this time someone yelled the G word and half the crowd broke. Then the rest of the pack followed. Meanwhile the starter hadn't started the clock yet, so it was 10 seconds off the real time. It was windy too. By the Jefferson Memorial the wind hit the runners full blast and actually slowed us down. The wind blew the finishers' cards, which designated the runners' places, out of the hand of the official handing them out and they got all scrambled up. With the finisher cards so out of order, and the time off by so much, the race result was chaotic. I just know how fast I went and who I finished immediately behind. You know, same old same old. (Above: The wind hit us hard on the homestretch. There's Peter, my doppelganger in the white shirt wearing gloves.)

G finished in his usual 11:00 (5:54). He relented on the way back to our agency and dawdled along with me at an 8:40 pace.