What's Inside of You?

Last week I gave blood for the 70th time. What this says about me is that I lead a dull life.

I have no tattoos or recent body piercings. I haven’t had extended stays in the UK or lived in the Channel Islands. I wasn’t born in Africa. I haven’t had sex with a prostitute or a man or recently with a woman who does wild and crazy things that I know about. (Sigh.) Boring.

The exclusionary rules for blood donation get longer and longer. As I read them each time I wonder who, exactly, is left that they can take blood from? Besides me I mean?

They asked if I had ever taken propecia. I didn’t know what that was. I was told it’s for BPH. Oh. Well, not yet anyways. It’s also used for baldness. Ohhh. Would blood banks be forced to close if I was a little more vain about my bald pate?

They asked if there was any Creutzfeldt-Jakob in my family. I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t heard of any Creutzfeldt-Jakob in my family but then again, I don’t know every single one of my relatives.

A friend has A positive blood. She can’t give blood because, like just about every woman I know, she’s anemic. Or maybe she just tells me that when I ask if she wants to go to the donation center with me because she has a lot more fun than I do.

I guess her blood floats when they drop it into the little vial of clear liquid to check it for iron. Her blood apparently doesn’t have enough iron in it. She must not know about Fred Flintstone Vitamin pills with Iron.

My blood apparently has iron because it always sinks in the vial. The technician and I sit there and watch the drop of blood lazily glide to the bottom. It’s suspenseful, like watching the Titanic slowly slip beneath the surface.

Anyway, my friend tells me that except for the iron thing, she would love to go to the blood donation center with me. She says this is because she likes taking blood tests. She gets an A+ every time. She loves that story. She tells it better than I do.

I’m O positive, which means my blood can be given to every person with RH positive blood. The only blood better than mine is O negative, which can be given to anyone. So they like for me to donate. I get calls about every two months from organizations seeking my blood. There are two competing blood-collecting systems here in Northern Virginia, Inova and the American Red Cross, and this situation doubles my calls.

I want to donate blood 100 times. I’m seventy percent of the way there. Runners are obsessed with numbers, right? Triple digits is my number for blood donations. I just made it up, years ago before I was a runner. So you see, the obsession that eventually led to running has always been there.

I have eight pins designating gallon donations in my cufflink box atop my dresser. Four more gallon donation pins sit in my desk drawer, awaiting transfer to my cufflink box upon completion of my task. Will I stop when I get to one hundred? I don’t know, but probably not.

What's in a Cover?

What happened to the good old RBF times, which were before my time? Tagging and that sort of thing. I don't know about looking at bedhead photos, but I loved looking at photos of runners' stuff. Like their medal walls. Or their bibs lined up. Or their refrigerator photos. Even their toes (how many blackened nails?). Where have those times gone?


Here is my fridge. It's covered with magnets. I have been ordered by some--No more fridge magnets! Uh, okay. (Left: A lotta magnets of places holding photos of places on that baby. Across the top row are little pix in location photoholders of all my DC 10-Milers (six), ending in my 2004 Twin Cities Marathon finisher's photo (wearing my John Kerry t-shirt). Down the right side, top, are little pix in location photoholders of all my sub-four marathons (three).)


Can you judge a book by its cover? Here's what's inside my fridge. A lot of liquids. Does it look like a runner's fridge? A bachelor's fridge? A running bachelor's fridge? (Right: On top, pomegranate juice and wrapping materials. Up above, frozen fish, coffee and a few store-bought oven-ready packages. Down below, a lotta water, a little soda, some juice, a pint of milk, a little bit of cut-up fruit and a coupla Millers. The Red Stripe is for when company comes over, which is practically never. The crispers contain two dozen eight-ounce fruit cups for eating in the car when I'm driving to races or morning workouts.)

I tag Not Born to Run, Bex and Just 1 2 Finish to divulge their fridge particulars. Y'all haven't posted yet this month anyway, except for Jeanne.

The George Washington Parkway 10-Mile Classic

Last Sunday was a perfect day for running the GW Parkway Classic 10-Miler. This is a point-to-point race from Mount Vernon to Old Town down the George Washington Parkway which is a scenic four-lane highway in Virginia that runs along the Potomac River. There is a corresponding narrow blacktop running trail along the Parkway that is the situs of several races and is well used by runners and bicyclists, but on this morning each year, runners have use of the broad Parkway all to themselves. (Above: Jeanne, back from photographing runners at the Boston Marathon, was shooting photographs at the finish line of the GW Parkway Classic in Alexandria.)

The runners’ trail is hilly in spots with a few switchbacks up some slopes but the Parkway seems to smooth these hills out. This is deceiving though, as the Parkway is undulating in spots.

Parking is plentiful and free on the streets of Alexandria early on a Sunday morning. By 7 am on race day I was on a bus traversing the actual course in reverse from Alexandria to Mount Vernon. The trip seemed long and the road seemed hilly. Riders joked that the driver must be following the marathon route.

There was an hour to kill when we arrived at Mount Vernon. I went to the water closet three times out of nervousness. I stood in the sun and stretched. I encountered my friend from California Bex and we ran around the traffic circle a few times to warm up and get a little bit of a second wind.

Bex had written a winning essay in the New Balance PR Challenge and won the complete New Balance running outfit she was wearing. If she bettered her 10-Mile PR of 1:31:04 set at the 2005 Army 11.3-Miler, she would win free New Balance shoes for a year. Bex always looks great, always very stylish in her running accouterments. Today was no exception even though she wasn’t in her customary sleek racing skirt.

We swapped strategies. I wanted to get to running 7:30 miles right away and stick to it because I wanted to finish in 1:15. Bex wanted to run 8:00s and then speed up and kill her PR. The race horn sounded and we were off. I lost Bex as I passed the first mile in 6:54. Too fast, I thought. It must have been downhill.

Still, a steady stream of persons was passing me and I was passing almost no one. I must have started too far forward. Oops. I threw away my cotton t-shirt and continued on in my polyester racing singlet. The second mile went by in 7:27. Better. This was straightaway running down a broad boulevard in a forest. The Potomac glittered off to our right. There was plenty of shade. (Right: In the heart of the race. I'm in the white shirt.)

I ran the third mile in 7:35. I wanted to speed it up a bit to settle on 7:30s but the undulations in the roadway were throwing my pacing off. I have a 3-mile race next week where I want to break 22 minutes for the first time. I was pleased to hit MP 3 at 21:57.

Mile 4 must have had an uphill because it went by in 7:56. I really needed to speed it up. Miles five and six were better, 7:38 and 7:35, but I still wanted to be a little faster. Maybe I just didn’t have a 1:15 in me today.

J, a local racing character who directs the monthly Tidal Basin 3K race, passed me. You can hear him coming from a long ways off because he makes a lot of noise as he runs, sighing and groaning. He’s in my age group now that I’ve turned 55 and he’s faster than me, although I beat him occasionally. He often wins his division. It’s always the same, he comes up on me mid-race and goes by me. He passed me twice in this race because after he passed me the first time, he peeled off into the trees for a short break. He finished 68 seconds ahead of me, fifth in our division. (Above: Bex and Potomac River Run Marathon director J on the streets of Old Town after the race, with J, who ran a 1:21 and L, director of the LPRM, who picked up a post-race award for placing in her age group.)

My friend A had done a 1:15:46 (7:35) at Cherry Blossom and I wanted to match her time. I started formulating an end-of-the-race strategy to do so. I needed to hang on here in the doldrums of this ten miler, miles seven and eight, and then attack the last two miles. I thought it was all downhill at the end, which was a mistake.

Miles 7 and 8 weren’t great but kept me close to my goal, 7:47 and 7:37. I sucked down my only Gu for energy. That stuff takes about half a mile to swallow when you’re running. The new Interstate highway bridge was visible in the distance, with Old Town behind it. We passed where the event’s 5K race had started. How fast could I run a 5K with a seven mile warmup? Not fast enough it turned out. I ran the last three miles in 23:14 (7:45).

Mile 9 killed me. It was uphill going over the new highway bridge. Then entering Alexandria and turning towards the water, there was a steeper hill in the distance. It seemed like runners were crawling up it. I started up the hill and MP 9 was nowhere in sight. My Timex Ironman watch was ticking towards eight minutes for the mile. A cop blocking an intersection let two cars, one in each direction, proceed through the intersection in the little gap bereft of runners directly ahead of me. One car driven by a very elderly lady slowly came out into the crossing, hesitated and stopped, blocking our path. Not good. Some runners ran behind her and some ran in front of her. I was brought to a complete halt by this fiasco then I ran around the front side of her car. I passed mile marker 9 on the top of the hill in 8:05 at 1:08:37 for the race. I needed a 7:06 last mile to break A’s time. She had sucked it up and run a 7:11 last mile at Cherry Blossom, but a 7:11 last mile wasn’t going to happen for me today.

The last mile had a short but significant downhill to the water, then the course turned left for the final long straightaway to the finish line, passing the Torpedo Factory along the way. Knowing I wasn’t going to meet my goal of 1:15, I just brought it home in 7:32 for a 1:16:10 gun time and a 1:16:05 (7:36.5) net. Looking down at the ground as I always do when I run tiredly, I ran by Jeanne. She called out to me and snapped my picture. It was great to see her cheering the runners on. (Above: The last 200 meters. Photo credit Jeanne.)

I waited in the finish chute for Bex and snapped her picture when she came in. She PRed by a monster eight minutes. Then we went to stand with Jeanne to watch other running buddies come by. I was bleeding from a nipple abrasion which told me that even for a relatively short 10 miles, I should have applied vaseline to my chest beforehand. But otherwise I felt good. (Left: Bex pushes it home past the mats.)

I finished in 314th place out of 2539 runners. I was 6th in my age group, a top ten percent finish. It was my second best 10-mile time by almost two minutes, although over a minute and a half off my PR. It’s the only 10-miler I plan to do this year, so if I’m ever going to beat A at this distance, I’ll have to wait til next year.

The National Marathon: Recap.

National Marathon Recap: Marathon Training Lite.

Now that I have signed up for the Chicago Marathon, I should analyze what I did to train for the National Marathon last month so hopefully I can improve.

I ran the NYCM on Sunday, November 5, 2006 in 3:52:34 (8:52). I was in pretty good shape for a marathon then, although I bonked at MP 21 and walked at least a half dozen times from there. In the twenty weeks between New York and National, I didn’t correct my most glaring weakness, which is my lack of a mileage base. Here’s a recap of my training between marathons.

4 Weeks of Recovery from New York:
November, 2006
Week 20: 2 runs, 3.8 miles. Yoga twice, biking once.
Week 19: 2 runs, 3 miles. Ran the monthly noontime 3K race around the Tidal Basin in 13:16 (7:07).
Week 18: 3 runs, 9 miles. Ran a tempo 3K (7:16). Yoga once.
Week 17: 4 runs, 11.3 miles. Yoga once.

16 Weeks of Training for National:
December, 2006
Week 16: 1 run, 4.4 miles (7:53), running on the Mall with G, who last week ran a 3:14 Boston.
Week 15: 3 runs, 19.1 miles. LSD of 11 miles (8:46).
Week 14: 5 runs, 24.1 miles. LSD of 12 miles (8:43). Back to my standard of running five times a week. Ran my last race of the year, the noontime Tidal Basin 3K, 13:09 (7:03).
Week 13: 5 runs, 22 miles. LSD of 11.6 miles (8:48). Tempo 3.75 miles finished by running up Capitol Hill (8:09).
January, 2007
Week 12: 5 runs, 22.3 miles. LSD of 7 miles (8:27). I start leading a Saturday LSD group that is gearing up for the National Half-Marathon in twelve weeks, but none of them want to run more than 6 or 7 miles yet. Tempo 5.6 miles (8:11),
Week 11: 5 runs, 22.4 miles. LSD of 13.5 miles (8:40), achieved by running 5.5 miles (8:00) to my Saturday group run and then running 8 miles (9:07) with them. I am very fatigued during the last mile.
Week 10: 5 runs, 17.8 miles. LSD of 9 miles (9:57). Noontime 3K race 13:28 (7:13). One Kickboxing class. The weather has turned bitterly cold for the duration.
Week 9: 5 runs, 21.6 miles. LSD of 10 miles (8:40). Two tempo runs on Wednesday of 5.6 miles (8:06) and 2.5 miles (8:00).
Week 8: 5 runs, 5 miles. Very busy at work. I run a mile five times when I can. 8:00, 7:34, 7:44, 6:48, 6:44.
February 2007
Week 7: 5 runs, 23.3 miles. LSD of 18 miles (8:58), achieved by running 7 miles (9:00) and then seventeen minutes later running 11 miles (8:57) with my group. I was really fatigued the last two miles and although I rallied and passed Bex near the end, she ran me down and finished half a minute ahead of me.
Week 6: 1 run, 11 miles. LSD of 11 miles (8:55). A and Jake finished several minutes ahead of me. I hurt myself shoveling snow.
Week 5: 5 runs, 18.6 miles. LSD of 9.2 miles (8:26). I ran this distance at a Marathon Relay. (Our Washington's Birthday Marathon Relay team. Myself 9.2 miles (8:26), L 7.3 miles (8:27) and D 9.7 miles (8:06). We finished fourth in 3:36:56 (8:17), 3:40 slower than in 2006 when we finished sixth. D ran the third leg 3:24 faster last year than I did it this year.) Last year I ran 9.7 miles at the same relay at a 7:59 pace. This year the wind was brutal but I didn’t have any oomph and I wilted on the last big hill where two other relay runners passed me without any response from me. At least I didn’t walk up the hill. Noontime short 3K race 12:31 (7:07), where I couldn't hold off a late charge by a competitor. My club’s current 10K Group Training Program starts on Saturdays which compounds my mileage problem since I’ll be going 10K distances with them on weekends, not marathon distances. I’m starting to sweat the marathon coming up.
Week 4: 5 runs, 15.7 miles. I do my only track workout 4X800s (4:00, 3:25, 3:20, 3:00). Yoga once.
March, 2007
Week 3: 5 runs, 34.9 miles. LSD of 23.3 miles (10:05), achieved by running 11.8 miles (9:52) then ninety minutes later running 11.5 miles (10:18). The last five miles about killed me. 2.5 mile Tempo run (7:58).
Week 2: 3 runs, 21.6 miles. LSD of 14.6 miles (7:59). I ran this distance at a Marathon Relay with Bex, and we take first in the co-ed division. I conclude from this showing that I am capable of running the National Marathon and I finally sign up for it.
Week 1: 1 run, 1.8 miles. This is the noontime 3K race in 12:52 (6:54) on Wednesday, during which I hold off a competitor late. On Saturday I run a 3:50:22 (8:48) at National. The last 10 miles are miserable. I need more base.

Totals for the 16 week training period leading up to National:
Sixteen Weeks 64 runs (4 per week).
285.5 miles (17.85 per week). One week of over 26.2 miles (week 3). Avg. of 4.46 miles per run (including LSDs).
Long runs: Eight runs of 10 miles or more. Breakdown, longest runs first:
23.3 (Week 3, 11.8 miles, 90-minute break, then 11.5 miles)
18 (Week 7, seven miles, 17-minute break, then eleven miles).
14.6 (Week 2) (Race)
13.5 (Week 11)
12 (Week 14)
11 (Week 6)
11 (Week 15)
10 (Week 9)
9.2 (Week 5) (Race)
9 (Week 10)
7 (Week 12)
One track workout. No hill workouts. Seven races.

I think I need more miles.

I'm Going to Chicago!

The Chicago Marathon is one of five World Marathon Majors. It’s going to be run on Sunday, October 7, 2007. It’s already full.

How does this happen? The race increased its number of entries from 40,000 last year to 45,000 this year. And it filled up last week, almost six months in advance of the race.

After doing the National Marathon four weeks ago, I took a little time off to reflect on whether I wanted to do another marathon in the fall. I recovered quickly from National, however, to the point where only two days ago I ran a 1:16:05 at the GW Parkway 10-Miler, which is just ninety-one seconds off the PR I set at Army last fall when I was in peak form.

My friends have been talking up Chicago to me. It’s flat and fast, they say. I liked the sound of both those things, because the hills really bothered me the last ten miles at National, and I’m only five minutes off a BQ. (At dinner at a steak house a little while after National, celebrating Jeanne's recovery from surgery, Bex's long Half, my marathon and A's Cherry Blossom. I can't remember if we were talking about Chicago, we were probably talking about food!)

By last week, I had decided to sign up for Chicago. I ran New York last November, another Major, and I loved it! (It helped that I am from New York City.) But New York is not a BQ-friendly course.

I fell hard for Chicago. Doing another Major would be cool, I thought. I would be in the same advanced "C" starting corral with some of my friends, most of whom I can keep up with, at least for awhile. We would be ahead of the mass pack of runners. That’s one of the things that sapped my energy at New York, the congested condition of the course for the entire 26 miles. All that sideways running wore me out.

I tidied up some outstanding matters. Two weekends ago I found all my tax documents and filed for an extension. I got my birthday celebration out of the way. (Thanks for the calls, notes and presents, kids. Not!) Last Wednesday I ran my monthly noontime 3K race at the Tidal Basin. My "pressing" tasks completed, I was ready to make my commitment to Chicago.

A half hour after I returned from the Tidal Basin run, A came into my office to tell me Chicago was closed. It had filled up that very day.

I was stunned. I felt like I did the day during my divorce when I came home and found court papers tacked to my door announcing that my minor children were supposedly suing me, supposedly over a "fiduciary" matter. (The case was ultimately thrown out and their Mother was sanctioned, and then assessed all of my appellate costs, almost $50,000 in all. Sadly, years later my now-majority age children still don't see me or speak to me.)

Jilted, I cast about for a substitute. I got excited about Steamtown for awhile and it’s net downhill of almost a thousand feet. I ogled at its elevation (or declination) chart. But, Scranton? Someone told me it's where the NBC series "The Office" is based. I didn't see the draw.

But like an ongoing stormy romance, I received another chance. A came into my office this afternoon and explained to me about charity running. She too was kicking herself for not registering for Chicago in time, but who among us knows what they are going to be doing six months from now? No one knew the race was about to fill up.

A registered for Chicago last year, got injured and had to scratch. She ate her entry fee. The purchase of a $100 t-shirt, was how she termed it. And the shirt sucked, she added.

A had been talking before Chicago had closed about maybe running for a charity. She had found a qualifying charity that benefitted two causes she felt deeply about, education and helping persons from impoverished circumstances.

This charity still had seven entries available for Chicago. The charity required a commitment of $500 worth of fund raising. Whatever you don’t raise, you owe. Paying that amount would be a body slam but it wouldn’t be a death blow (some charities require a commitment of several thousand dollars).

I was seduced. Every marathoner should run for a charity at least once, I figured. I used my American Express card for the $110 race entry fee. I used my Capital One card for the $500 charity commitment. A took my forms and her forms off to the fax machine.

Now there are five slots left for A Running Start Foundation instead of seven. It’s a wonderful charity, folks. It’s going to be a wonderful race.

A Little Ten Mile Run Along the Potomac.

A Challenge Accepted-and the Winner is...A.

Yesterday was the George Washington Parkway Classic 10-Mile Race in Alexandria. My friend A challenged me to beat her Cherry Blossom time of 1:15:46 (7:35). I knew it would be hard to beat. (A and her fast friend B after A ran a 1:15 at this year's Cherry Blossom. B ran a 1:03. Why don't either of them look tired?)

Here were my splits. Mile One-6:54 (6:54) Mile Two-7:27 (14:22) Mile Three-7:35 (21:57) Mile Four-7:56 (29:53) Mile Five-7:38 (37:32) Mile Six-7:35 (45:07) Mile Seven-7:47 (52:55) Mile Eight-7:37 (1:00:32) Mile Nine-8:05 (1:08:37) Mile Ten-7:32 (1:16:12).

Long story short–I was undone by my disastrous eight-minute-plus ninth mile, which had two hills and during which I had an encounter with a car that brought me to a momentary halt. I finished in 1:16:05 (7:37). Congratulations, A, the excellent standard you set was just too tough for me yesterday and I fell short by less than twenty seconds. I tried all race, but I lacked two beats per mile.

Perhaps I’ll post a race report later. Post race notes:

(Nice try but... when I finished I needed for the overhead clock to read 1:15, not 1:16 if I was gonna beat A's time.)

MP 3. 21:57 (7:19). I beat my PR of 22:09 (7:23) at the 3 mile distance, set at last May’s Capital Challenge 3-Mile Race. This augers well for the same race next week when I again run on my agency’s team in competition with other teams in the Executive Branch (the brochure explains that this race is so old, 26 years, that it pre-dates the contemporary 5K "standard"). My goal next week, besides finishing ahead of A who is also on the team, is to break 22 minutes. (Three fifths of my agency's team at last year's Capital Challenge 3-Mile Race. Left to right, A (22:04), M ( 21:22), G (19:14). Yeah, that's right, they were all faster than me.)

MP 7. 52:55 (7:34). I beat my PR at the 7 mile distance of 54:17 (7:45), set last June at the Survivor Seven Inner Harbor 7-Miler in Baltimore, an absolutely gorgeous race.

MP 8. 1:00:32 (7:34). I have always wanted to run an eight mile race. There are a few around. Now I see that I could break one hour for the distance, maybe. Up until a couple of years ago, before I got into group running, I couldn’t even do a 12K (7.456 miles) in under one hour.

MP 10. 1:16:05 (7:37) is my second best 10-mile time, out of eight races. My PR is 1:14:34 (7:27) set at last year’s Army 10-Miler. My least fastest time is the 1:29:57 (9:00) I posted at my first 10-Miler, the 2002 Cherry Blossom. I still remember how hard I ran that last 200 meters trying to break 1:30.

A few posts ago I told you about M, who is really cool and did a handstand at the finish line at last year’s Army. She took second in her age group at the event's 5K race. (M in red with black tights doing a 1:21 at Cherry Blossom.)

Bex met her New Balance PR Challenge and PR’d by around eight minutes. I think she gets new shoes for life or something on account of it. I know she got a nice jacket out of it already.

Jeanne, just back from Boston, was taking pictures for the local running paper. She is looking forward to a return to running soon after a layoff.

(Bex in her nice new jacket and Jeanne after the race.)

The 399th Tidal Basin 3K

I ran the free monthly noontime 3K race around the Tidal Basin yesterday. After we had a moment of reflection for the 32 victims of that cowardly loser at Virgina Tech, we ran the race and I finished in 12:59 (6:58), in 27th place out of 57 runners.

The race is put on by my local running club and is held on the the third Wednesday of every month. It was the 399th consecutive running. That makes it over 33 years old, maybe. I say maybe because some "lost" races were discovered awhile ago, which added to the total, and occasionally a special running is held, like the race on September 11th, 2002, run in memory of the 184 victims who perished when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon the year before. (Wearing a shirt honoring the fallen heroes of FDNY, I finish the 2002 9/11 Memorial Tidal Basin 3K run in front of the Jefferson Memorial in 14:14 (7:38).)

I myself have run 66 of the last 75 races since I ran my first one on 5/16/01 in 13:05 (7:01). I hate to miss them. Of the nine I have missed in the last six years, I missed two because I was on vacation, five because I was on work travel, one because I was at my own Equitable Division Trial (equitable-yeah, sure), and two because I was in the middle of important conferences at work. If the work conference isn't important, I just leave.

I view the race as a monthly speed workout. I jog the 2.5 miles there, sprint 1.8 miles around the Tidal Basin, and then run back to work. Fortunately, my building has shower facilities and my agency believes in fitness.

I keep trying to talk my friend Bex into running one of these races. You know, go mano a mano in an all-out sprint to see who's faster. She always gives me the old yeah yeah, sure sure, but she has never shown.

I try to make it a rule not to tell people I don't think I can beat about the race, but I'm not very successful at this. I told G, a co-worker, about the race and he liked it so much that he is now a regular. He just ran 3:14 at Boston. Do you think I made a good choice by telling him about it?

I also told my running buddy A about it and she has shown up three or four times. She also beats me every time. She even won it once. But she always pulls me along to a better time whenever she comes. She's tall, over six feet, and I remember one race where she was going hammer and tongs with some guy who was running beside her on the narrow footpath the whole way. I was trailing along behind them thirty yards back and I was keeping up but I couldn't catch up. The old route had a lot of low-hanging cherry blossom tree limbs across the path and you had to bob your head to go under a branch about thirty times every race. Whenever they ran by a tree, this guy crowded A to the outside where the trees were and the overhanging branches were the lowest. She would have to fall back to avoid braining herself, then catch back up to him. This went on the entire race until the last 500 meters where the course crossed the broad plaza in front of the Jefferson Memorial. I guess they duelled to the finish line in a sprint across the plaza and she took him because she logged a 12:40 and he placed one second behind her. I finished in 12:52 (6:54), in time to see her stroll by the guy in the recovery area and stick her tongue out. At him. That's A for you, unabashed. (Caught on tape: A and her wagging tongue ran a 12:40. And that's my friend G behind her, he of the 3:14 Boston on Monday, who ran an 11:53 in this race last summer.)

This isn't a race for the thin-skinned because you're probably not going to do well. The same good, motivated runners show up every month to bury you. I regularly run a 6:54 to 7:40 pace and I just as regularly finish in the lowest quartile. Fortunately there are some octogenarian men and sexagenarian women who regularly run whom I can usually beat, and sometimes a tourist comes to run it that I can beat as well.

It was at this race that I learned that with kids, if they start out fast and purposeful, they're not likely to come back to you. You won't reel them in, they'll just beat you badly. For awhile a mother was bringing some home-schooled kids to every race. It was their PE, I guess. These nine to twelve year old kids just added to the swell of runners who beat me every month.

But this short fast race makes me better and I love it. Did I mention it's free?

After the Fifth Anniversary 9/11 Special Run last year, with forty-seven runners participating and the press in attendance, the cops moved in. I guess they were tired of the small heap of water bottles and sweatshirts being left unattended for ten minutes beside the Jefferson Memorial once a month. With the publicity generated by the presence of the press, the race was becoming impossible for the authorities to ignore.

The National Park Service Police summoned the race director in and told him that any gathering of over twenty persons on National Park Service land, which encompasses the Tidal Basin and it's footpath, required a permit. Oh, and did he know that a permit had never been issued for the Tidal Basin? They didn't care, post 9/11, about the hallowed tradition of the race or the venerable nature of the course. Security, you know. The two factions worked it out amicably though. Maybe Republicans and Democrats can get along post November elections after all.

The race used to run around the Tidal Basin on the footpath alongside the water. Now it runs around the outside perimeter of the Tidal Basin on the sidewalks next to the streets. (The narrow footpath around the Tidal Basin is adorned with beautiful cherry blossom trees which present low-hanging obstacles to unwary runners.)

I liked the old course better, running right next to the water and watching tourists scatter as they saw a body of sprinting men bear down upon them on the narrow footpath. The new course actually has a hill on it, over by the Tulip Library. But it's the same distance and the same good noontime running once a month. (The new course now has a hill.)