It's over, for now.

Mission Accomplished. Major running is over. For now.

Nine runners, myself included, ran the Capitol Hill Classic 10K on May 18th in a winnowing down process that started with thirty-one running wannabees showing up early one raw Saturday morning in February atop the parking garage at the West Falls Church Metro Station three months earlier for the start of the DCRRC 10K Group Training Program. Although we all took the elevator down to the ground level to begin our two mile run that day, some of us ran up the structure's six ramps upon our return.

We originally had seven volunteer coaches, but one acquired a stress fracture beforehand, another tore her ACL in a skiing accident and one developed IT Band problems. So we imported a volunteer coach from the Reebok SunTrust National Half-Marathon Training Program I was associated with after that Program ended in March, along with three runners who wanted to keep up their training.

Our running venues included the W&OD, Mount Vernon, Custis and Capital Crescent Trails, the C&O Canal Towpath, the National Mall and the race course itself. The last few weeks it seemed like the coaches would be fighting over who would accompany the few runners who showed up but order always prevailed. Quiet, unassuming Mary Alice, who is about my age, always showed up and she threw down a sub-hour performance on the hilly race course and kicked the rest of the students' a**es, finishing second in her age group.

Our times ranged from 47 to 75 minutes. Three were under an hour and six met the qualifying standards for the SunTrust National Marathon and Half-Marathon next year. This third-year marathon is an interesting race, it has the second best average finishing time (behind Boston) of any major American marathon, undoubtedly because of its qualifying standards.

Additionally, two more Program participants who didn't run the CHC broke two hours at the SunTrust National Half-Marathon. Congratulations to the performers, and thanks to the volunteer coaches Kristin, John, Renee, Linda, Bob, Sasha, Alexandra and David.

Pretty good. As for me, the Memorial Day weekend was the first Saturday I had off since early December when the overlapping Half-Marathon Program started. It was a long six months but the results of the two programs showed that it was well worth the effort. Next up: The fun of running the Lake Tahoe Relay in less than two weeks on a team put together by my former running buddy Bex, an MIA blogger, and then the start of the club's 10-Mile Group Training Program on July 12th. (Above: Relaxing after the Falls Church Memorial Day 3K Fun Run during my first free weekend in half a year.)

Ten on the Tenth

Non-Runner Nancy is at it again, getting us couch potatoes out from in front of the TV and into the great outdoors. She fired the starter's gun for the third virtual race she has set up, Ten K on the Tenth.

Because the race has a caveman theme, I ran the 10K with my club yesterday, that is, with the 10K Group (TKG) Training Program my club puts on. It was the twelfth and last session before the target race, the Capitol Hill Classic 10K next Sunday. A group of 31 well intentioned souls had winnowed down to about eight runners who were apportioned out among up to five coaches each week. Since it was raining yesterday, the coach/runner ratio was an exceptionally high 1/1. Not even the promotion of handing out program t-shirts could induce a greater turnout in the drizzle (much less my promised Pre-Race Strategy lecture, which in the wet circumstances consisted of the exhortation to stay hydrated, remember your chip and be on time). (Left: I tested out the Program shirt last week at the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. It worked fine, and even drew comments from three passing runners over the saying on the back, Get Used to the View.)

We ran the race 10K course, having met in Stanton Park in the District, its starting and ending point. The course is basically a rectangle, 3 miles long and a quarter mile wide. Its purpose is to tire you out for five miles and then run you up the third of a mile long Capitol Hill in the sixth mile as your rite of racing passage.

I ran the race last year and although I knew the hill was coming and I had run it often in training, I floundered on it and felt like I was swimming uphill for three minutes. It was awful. (Right: The 10K course.)

I set out yesterday with MA and we ran east past Lincoln Park to RFK. We eschewed running around the back side of RFK like the race does because there are no sidewalks or shoulders back there but we made up the distance later. Heading west, we returned to Lincoln Park on East Capitol Street and then ran south to Pennsylvania to run by Eastern Market. Running north to regain E. Capitol Street (where, despite 18 years spent in DC, I got lost momentarily and we ran astray for a few blocks), we turned west again and ran behind the Capitol. After a short jog over to Independence, we ran down the race's signature hill. Running a few extra blocks at this point to make up the distance we skipped at RFK, we then ran in front of the Capitol and hit the final mile at the base of the hill. We went up it smoothly but I still arrived at the top gasping, totally out of breath.

In my fog of fatigue, I got to thinking about the pint of blood I donated the prior Monday at the airport in Cincinnati. I have a theory that blood donations knock the stuffings out of your endurance capabilities for a couple of weeks and I had purposefully waited til after my marathon last Sunday to donate. Here was another brick in the wall of my theory, however.

Top of the hill attained, we ran it in the last half mile to the park for a 55:04 10K training run. A nice tune-up for the actual race. I think MA is going to be my star pupil.

A Quick Trip to Lousiville

I made a quick trip to Lousiville, Colorado, that is. That's a bedroom community for Boulder. I have a court case that is winding down in Denver, and I was there on Thursday and Friday for it. I stayed in Louisville, where I used to live when I was a State Patrolman. (Left: Harper's Lake in Louisville is especially pretty early in the morning.)

The last time I was in Colorado I got quoted by the Boulder paper. My viewpoint is that it's never a good thing to see your name in the paper. I was on damage control when I got quoted. (Right: There's a nice view of the Boulder Flatirons from atop Davidson Mesa. Photo credit P.)

My trip to Colorado gave me a chance to run with my friend P again on Davidson Mesa outside of Boulder. We had a nice hour-long run on Friday morning of six miles in the mile-high air. It's beautiful scenery out there.

(Left: There were still a few Cherry Blossoms left on Saturday at the FDR Memorial.) And then it was back to the real world. I flew into Dulles on a Friday evening flight and got home at 2 am on Saturday morning, in plenty of time to make my 9 am Saturday run of six miles with the 10K Training Group. (Right: Roosevelt Island in the Potomac is especially pretty in the morning.)

A New Start

Nineteen eager runners and walkers showed up Saturday for my club's twelve-week 10K Group Training Program, which I am directing. After checking in with the Half-Marathon Training Program in South Arlington at 8 a.m., I hot-footed it out to Falls Church (in my car) to greet the newbie runners of the 10K Program at 9 a.m.

There were some hesitant newcomers out there already when I arrived, sure they'd come to the wrong place, the top of a deserted parking structure. I set up the first meeting and sign-up site on the top level of the sole parking garage at the West Falls Church Metro Station. It is six levels, the tallest structure in Falls Church. I figured if a DC runner couldn't find his or her way there, well, the training group would probably do better without such a directionally-challenged person.

Last year we met for the first time at the Lincoln Memorial. Easy to find for DC residents, right? Think again. Most people were with the main group on the east side of the mausoleum, overlooking the Reflecting Pool (think, I Have A Dream speech). However, a mini-group was on the west side overlooking the Potomac, wondering where everyone was. (Above: Last year the Park Police kept a close eye on us. That's returning coach Bob on the right.)

That site was no good. It was so cold last year that the ink in the pens froze. When I looked at the sign-up sheets later all they contained were heavy scratch marks. I felt like I was examining hanging chads in Florida as I held each one up to the light to try and make it out. You can't collect money on National Park Service land so the Park Police were there watching us closely. Our cars were parked a quarter mile away. Did I mention it was freezing?

So I tried a new approach this year. If we met on top of the WFC parking structure, there would be plenty of room to park and stretch on the deserted parking deck. I could spot any renegade groups. There was a beautiful view overlooking, ahem, the picturesque George Mason High School athletic fields, which included the second tallest structure in Falls Church, the baseball diamond backstop. We could wait in our warm cars until we got underway. It was only half a mile from my house.

My friend D accused me of setting the meeting place there so I could make the runners run up the six levels of the parking structure at the end. I denied this but thought, What a great idea! (Below: The view from the top. To the right are the poles of the high school's quarter-million dollar backstop, designed to prevent foul balls from smashing into fast moving cars on the Interstate a mere sixty feet away.)

Six volunteer coaches came, the life blood of American recreational running. We took the elevators down to ground level and then ran to the W&OD Trail a mile away. There, some runners in a state of near-collapse returned with some of the coaches for a two-mile outing. The rest went down the trail half a mile and returned for a 5K run. And yes, a few runners ran up the ramps to their cars at the end, adding 0.6 miles of hill work to their morning.

It was a great start.

The Journey

My journey started with the 2005 Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Race in DC. I ran terribly, 1:27:24 (8:44 pace), a backwards slide of 5:51 from the previous year.

As a result, that summer I joined my local running club’s 10-Mile Training Program, pointing towards the Army 10-Miler in October. I put down as my goal a 1:20 (8:00 pace).

I learned how to run in a group. Before that I had always run alone. I discovered there was a synergy in running with a group, that slower runners got better by trying to hang with faster runners, who in turn got stronger by running conscientiously for the benefit of the group.

My reward was a 2:19:44 Metric Marathon (16.4 miles) (8:35 pace) upon "graduation." Even though it was hilly, it went down easy.

The next spring I sent in my application for the 10K Training Program. The program director sent it back and asked me to be a coach instead. I was flattered and readily agreed. I enjoyed planning out a training program, having runners seek my advice (as though I knew stuff) and watching them all get better.

I coached the fast group during the 10-Mile Training Program last summer. My runners did very well at Army, with one at 1:19:15 and several more in the low 1:20s. I PRed by over three minutes in 1:14:34 (7:27 pace). I was in the best shape of my life.

Almost a year later, things are a little more complicated now. New responsibilities, as well as an injury, have intervened. I took on directorship of the two training programs this year and learned what a headache ultimate responsibility is. Everyone has a pet idea, and you gotta make ‘em all work.

The 10K Training Program in the spring went well. We had 39 participants, of whom 19 ran the target race. Four finished under an hour and one finished under 50 minutes. Uhh, that was me. The program received great help from Bex, who finished fourth in the target race’s accompanying 3K race, and Not Born To Run.

On Saturday the first meeting of the 10-Mile Training Program was held. The two wonderful run/walk coaches had unexpectedly bowed out of the program at the last moment. I was expecting disaster.

But Jeanne pitched in to help again. (Bex is moving away.) Last year’s program director showed up with her coaching certificate to help out. Three other wonderful new coaches came as well, with one or two more coming next week. Forty runners showed up hoping to get a quality workout.

The three large groups that went out ran from three to six miles on the National Mall at a good pace. The weather cooperated as the morning wasn’t too hot or humid. The National Parks policeman who joined our group as it gathered to keep an eye on us didn’t shoo us away from our meeting point at the Lincoln Memorial. Everybody was talking excitedly upon our return from our runs, forming new friendships and rekindling old ones. Can the journey get any better than that?

Club 10K Group Training Program

Last month saw the finish of my club's 10K Training Group Program (TKG) after twelve weeks of meeting on Saturdays for increasingly longer runs. I can't recommend participation in such group training programs highly enough, particularly if you are a newer runner.

Undoubtedly your local club has such group training programs. Check it out. Even if you're a more veteran runner, it might re-vitalize your running such as it did mine two years ago.

I want to thank the coaches of the TKG--Arnetta, Ashley, Bex, Bob, Gary, Kristin, and Not Born to Run.

Thirty-nine "paying customers" signed up on a frigid day in February on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was so cold the ink in the pens froze and sign-up applications were merely a bunch of scratch marks on paper. As a result, for the rest of the program I had no idea who was who. It was my impression that fewer and fewer people were running and the program was a failure. (TKG circling RFK Stadium getting ready for the goal race.)

I was shocked to discover that nineteen participants ran the goal 10K race. Another participant ran a 10K race the prior week (in under an hour). Still another participant was on travel who otherwise would have run the goal race. Two more participants ran the 3K version of the goal race instead (Ashley, who finished fifth (second woman), and Bex, who finished seventeenth (fourth woman)).

Four participants ran the 10K race in under an hour, and three more finished in the sixtieth minute. That's impressive and I'm proud of 'em all. Now it's on to the 10-Mile Group Training Program (TMG) in a few weeks. (TKG in week eleven, Stanton Square in DC near Union Station.)

Running update: Last Wednesday, a travel day that started at 5 am, I ran a neighborhood mile at 4 am in 8:25, inauspiciously slow. Friday I ran an exploratory 3 miles at altitude with Bex at an 11:00 pace at Lake Tahoe.

Saturday I ran the first leg (of seven legs) of the 72.3 mile relay around the lake, 9.6 miles at an 8:18 pace. Our team came in 76th out of 97 teams that finished, 26th out of 39 teams in our division. We were in the Mixed Open, and our mix was three men and four women, whereas most MO teams had four men and three women. That's not too bad for a bunch of flatlanders, a Band of Outsiders. More on the relay later. (Grabbing water on the run from H on the support team outside Harrah's Casino at Stateline at the Lake Tahoe Relay on Saturday. H was up third and picked up nine places for us. Photo credit A.)

Back to Work

Some winter. It snowed last night. In December and January it was unseasonably warm, then a deep freeze descended upon the area for six or eight weeks. Now, snow in April. (Here's what I woke up to this morning.)

It's been two weeks since I ran the National Marathon and I feel fully recovered, which is encouraging. I don't think my conditioning was the best for a marathon because I started having real trouble after the sixteenth mile. But that's a marathon for you.

Time for work. Now it's time to get back to work. Normally I run five times a week. I don't worry about distance so much as the discipline of getting in five runs a week of some distance each week.

Week following the marathon: 2 runs, 10.5 miles.

Frolic and detour. I resumed running following the Saturday marathon by running 5.5 miles in 58 minutes (10:33) on Thursday with my weekly noontime running group at work. Since I lead it I get to set the route, which is usually 4 or 5 miles on the Mall. This time we went on an outing to South Capitol Street SE to take a look at the new ballpark being constructed for the Nationals. It impressed me when I ran by it for the first time during the marathon. (Nats new stadium arising on the north bank of the Anacostia. The Frederick Douglass Bridge is in the background.)

Easy on the legs. On Saturday with the other coaches, including coach G who also ran National, I ran 5 miles with my club's 10K Training Group (TKG) in 47:30 (9:15). (The TKG on the last Saturday in May. Compare this picture with the one below from the first Saturday in April. Coach K, last year's Director of the TKG and club Volunteer of the Year, is on the left.) The run left from Fletcher's Boathouse in Georgetown where the C&O Canal Towpath and the Capital Crescent Trail converge. We chose the softer dirt surface of the C&O Canal this time and ran west along the Potomac River. The TKG is getting ready for a 10K race on May 20th.

Last week: 5 runs, 8.7 miles.

Lent? Last Sunday I ran a mile in nine minutes from where I parked my car in Arlington to the Memorial Bridge so I could see my NYCM running buddy A, getting back to running after an injury, run under 1:16 at the Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Race. (A bringing it home at MP 9 at the Cherry Blossom.) Afterwards we went with her friend B, who ran under 64 minutes, and others to The Diner in Adams Morgan to celebrate their good times. A lively debate broke out at the table over whether someone who had given up alcohol for Lent was breaking their fast if they had a Bloody Mary on a Sunday. (My vote was no, you got a free pass every Sunday during Lent. Or at least, that's what I remember from my Episcopal church from my childhood. No one else at the table had heard of this.)

My version of speed work. Since I'm really busy currently at work plus I was still in recovery mode, on Monday I started my home-grown version of speed workouts around my house by running an easy mile (8:15) on Railroad Avenue nearby. I could feel all my aches and pains breaking up as I loped along. Tuesday I got home from work really late and ran a hard mile (6:49) on Railroad Avenue in the dark.

Playing tourist. Wednesday I led the noon run at work on a Cherry Blossom viewing trip around the Tidal Basin, 4.7 miles in 39:40 (8:26). (Right: The Cherry Blossoms peaking on Sunday, April 1st. No foolin'.) It had rained hard early that morning and the Cherry Blossoms, which were so beautiful on Sunday, had mostly been knocked down. (Left: No, that's not me. That's co-worker M during the Tidal Basin sightseeing run. Not only is M faster than me, but he also has more hair than me. Notice the large number of Cherry Blossom petals floating in the water, rimming the basin.)

My best mile in a while. Friday I ran a hard mile (6:34) on Railroad Avenue. Since my best mile is 6:25 which I did in 2001, I was pleased with this effort. It showed me I have some residual conditioning left.

Today: 9 miles in 1:14 (8:13).

Snow in April? This morning I awoke to a dusting of snow on the ground. I met A early at Fletcher's before my Saturday morning group run, and we ran 3 miles on the C&O in 24 minutes (8:00). Her dog Jake was a riot. When A dropped his leash Jake picked it up in his mouth and ran alongside us holding it. And when we approached another runner with three dogs on leashes, A took the leash back from Jake but the other dogs all broke away from their handler and came bounding over. A little snarling scuffle broke out but control was imposed when the the other runner arrived and took back her dogs' leashes and we were off again. Who says training runs aren't exciting? (Stay I say!)

When the group showed up with coaches K on hand and Bex arriving shortly thereafter, K led the group on a 5 mile run on the Capital Crescent Trail, the better to stay out of the wind blowing along the river. (The TKG this morning. Jeanne is in there. Cold, anyone?) I ran ahead with A. We ran 6 miles in 50 minutes (8:20) and returned to the pleasant surprise of bagels brought by Jeanne. It was a really good nine-mile training run, albeit with a 10 minute rest between the two segments. A good start for getting underway training for the 10-miler later this month which I signed up for.

Afterwards A and I went to Eastern Market for brunch where we each had a Brick (an egg sandwhich with potatoes and bacon or sausage thrown in) and Bluebucks (blueberry buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup). A paid me the compliment of saying she likes that I eat junky food like she sometimes does. That's why I run, I quipped, so I can continue eating like I always did.

Playing tourist, part 2. After I left Eastern Market, I parked on South Capitol Street and walked over the Frederick Douglass Bridge in the biting wind so I could take some pictures with my throwaway camera of the Nats' new stadium under construction. I already said, a couple of posts ago in my account of miles 13-20 of National, that seeing the stadium under construction for the first time from the bridge was a tonic for me during the marathon. And does that bridge ever shake when heavy trucks rumble by! (It's slated to be replaced as part of DC's $611 million public giveaway for the Nats Stadium project.)

I was walking around on the far side of the Anacostia River in deserted Anacostia Park, retracing a short bit of the marathon route, when I was accosted twice in 5 minutes by the National Parks Police. First a uniformed officer in a marked unit drove by me, stopped and rolled down his passenger side window as a signal he wanted to talk to me. Dutifully I went over and he wanted to know what I was doing walking around there with a camera. What was I taking pictures of? He was asking, he explained, because of 9/11 and all. His eyes bored into mine.

I knew better than to say, I'm taking pictures of the bridge! So I said, The new ballpark. I didn't want my camera confiscated for photographing something verboten and I figured the uncompleted stadium was a better answer than the bridge which carried traffic over it. I surpressed an urge to say, Are you kidding? A guy walking around in a park in DC with a disposable camera is suspicious? I love our paranoid new post 9/11 world, where picture snapping provokes suspicion. (Does this picture look subversive? The view from the other side of the river. You can see both the Washington Monument and the Capitol in this picture.)

The officer was blocking traffic so he drove off and as I walked back towards the bridge to mount it again, there was the other one, waiting for me in a sneaker unit. He got out when I approached. He was in civilian clothes and he carried a radio in his hand. He introduced himself as Agent such-and-such of the National Parks Police and asked the same questions about what I was doing there with a camera, saying he was following up for the other officer. He was carefully watching where my hands were in my jacket pockets.

I gave him the same answers I'd given his compatriot, but then I felt an overpowering urge to add some unnecessary chatty information as he stared at me. So I told him about seeing the ballpark during my marathon run two weeks ago and how much I had wanted to come back and photograph it and how much I liked ballparks, etc. I really loaded up on the unnecessary quotient. When I prepare witnesses to give sworn testimony, I always tell them to never volunteer information. This was a classic case of, Do as I say, Not as I do.

However, fortunately I didn't talk myself into a spot in the back seat of this officer's car and he let me proceed on my way, saying that I looked familiar to him. (Maybe he watched the marathoners go by two weeks ago?). So I walked past the "Sidewalk Closed, Construction Zone" sign on the bridge's sidewalk as he watched (uh-oh, I thought) because I had to get over the river to get to my car, and that was the end of it.

Both officers were extremely courteous and never asked for any identification. I don't think I was under arrest so I wouldn't have had to give it to them anyway, right? But I used to be a cop so I know how it's done. Back then, whenever anyone asked me, Am I under arrest?, I would always ask them, Do you want to be? That never failed to get them to talking until I found out what I wanted to know.