Post-2007 Maryland-Wide Running Quest

Some summer adventures/misadventures with racing!

2009-08-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone, I realized that I have been slacking again in the updates. My apologies for that. Have been having a fun summer working with the Howard County Recreation and Parks Department's summer camps, spending time with Kay and other friends and family, and running/racing. One race I did almost two months ago was the St. Roch's Trail Run (I did the shorter of the three options, the 7-kilometer, which is about 4.3 miles). This was a somewhat challenging and a bit treacherous trail run in the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in the Elkton area of Cecil County in northeastern Maryland. I actually started off pretty nicely after about 10 minutes or so-worth of more rocky and treacherous terrain (which actually involved going over a dried up stream bed over a log (although I think I just went into the stream bed and tried to scurry up the other side, 'cause my balance is not always the best :)- I was moving along at a fairly nice pace, and then I went to make this right turn down a slight hill on a narrow dirt path towards the creek, and tripped over a root or a log, and I fell forward... and so did my glasses. I quickly recovered and got back, similar to how I did when I fell at the Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day Fun Run 5K in Caroline County earlier this year on Saturday, April 18, when I was able to find and pick up my glasses a mere second or two after I got up from the fall. However, this time I could not find my glasses! AAAHHH!
I quickly dropped to the forest floor on my hands and knees, and crawled around looking for it, knowing I would have a difficult time getting through the rest of this race course and driving home safely without them. I was pretty sure I had taken the lead of this shorter distance race at the time (there were a couple of longer race distance options, and one of the guys was ahead of me and he ended up doing a longer distance) that I split from the runners doing the longer distance. So now I was pretty sure it would be a matter of time before some of the other runners in the 7K caught up and passed me, and therefore I would have blown the lead over this. In my mind I was upset and possibly a bit panicky with all this, and seeing know sign of my glasses. I mean, that had to be close, right???? They could not have fallen that far. C'mon! Where were they?? I prayed repeatedly that God would help me find them and keep me safe, because I know He has helped me through worse with running and non-running-related occurrences.
After a few minutes of this, my arms and legs were getting scratched up by the nearby thorns and branches, and I was probably bitten by some bugs and of course getting real dirty, but that did not concern me nearly as much as the thought of driving home without my glasses.
Fortunately, as an answer to my prayers, after about 10-15 minutes after I fell and misplaced my glasses, some runners in the race came to where I was and I said I was looking for my glasses, and out of kindness they took a minute or two out of their time to help me look for it. And that's about as long as it took for them to find my glasses, or at least a few pieces of them. Both lenses had popped out of the frame, but fortunately whole, and the frame was pretty bent. Knowing I did not have the tools or know-how to fix my glasses, I swiftly took the components of the glasses in hand, thanked the gentlemen for helping me, and charged down the rest of the hill, into the stream (which was up a good ways above my waist), and sloshed/waded through the relatively calm stream to catch up to the women who passed by me while looking for my glasses around the time that the guys stopped to help me look for them. By the time I had crossed the stream, I had caught up to the women (who were kind and friendly, and I think they had sympathy for me with my fall and glasses), and I retook the lead and ran on along the rather narrow trails along the creek. As I ran, I was probably not moving as swiftly as I had earlier in the run because I could not see that clearly without wearing me glasses. This did not bother me too much until I got to another stream crossing and had no idea of where to go. Was I supposed to go across the stream, and if so, which direction after that? Or was I supposed to keep going downstream? I saw no course markers anywhere, and I had a feeling at this point the runners behind me were a good distance back, and I did not want to lose any more time or ground. Not that I'm all about winning races or beating people, but I did want to run well and it can be a bit frustrating losing the lead to others because of a klutzy move on my part. Ah well, I guess it can be God's way of having the race going the way He wants it to go and result.
So anyway, the trail had pretty much seemed to dead-end at the water, so I knew whichever way I was supposed to go, I would have to get wet. So I went in the stream (which was not as deep as the other), and just ran downstream instead of across, kind of yelling for help in finding my way as I went (hey, I'll admit, it was probably not the best decision I made, but being on a relative lack-of-sleep from the night before as well as having my adrenaline rushing after my fall and fairly heavy concern about my glasses and my ability to drive home safe without the good vision they help me to have, I guess I could not think that... rationally). Soon after running through the stream, I saw no additional course markers and stopped briefly at a clump of rather large rocks near the bank. I kept yelling, and thought maybe I heard someone yell back faintly, but it was hard to hear over the sound of the water gently pouring of the rocks. As I ran further downstream, I slipped down a really small waterfall of probably no more than a foot high if even, and fortunately God protected me from getting hurt, and I was able to get back up right after.
Soon after that little slide down the very mini waterfall, I looked back the direction I came and I thought I heard noise. It occurred to me to try and hold one of my glasses lenses up to my eye to see if I could see anyone (or any course markers) better, and sure enough I saw some people crossing the stream to opposite bank, where I had run through the water downstream. I quickly darted towards them, running against the relatively gentle current, and soon got back to the other side of the bank where I should have gone before (and later on I had heard there was a course marker around there, but it was not the most visible. Shortly after I crossed the stream, there was this rather dangerous portion where we had to climb over rocks coming out of the ground and stream, and it was around here where I caught up to the women in the lead. I definitely slowed down here, knowing well that I still had a bit of a ways to go to the finish, and that this was not the place to get ahead. In fact, after I reached more solid ground, I stopped to help some of the people over the rocks for no more than a minute or two before rushing off ahead, feeling pretty confident in my memories from doing this course last year that the stream crossings/precarious terrain traversing, was pretty much over with on this course.
At this point I had regained the lead, and I felt like I was moving along at a steady pace. The course seemed to have some steady uphills, but nothing really grueling or demanding (in my opinion the tougher hills were towards the beginning of this course). I was certainly fine with the uphills, especially since it was a trail run, because I felt like I was more in control of my movements and momentum, whereas I would sort of be fighting gravity not to allow me to roll my ankle or fall on a downhill that would likely have rocks and roots. Yea, I can be a real 'fraidy cat when it comes to running downhill on trails.
I felt encouraged as the trail widened and I saw more of the morning sunshine through the trees. With the wider trails, I certainly find it easier to maneuver around any uneven or unsafe ground. As I got closer to the end of the trail, I ran into Phil, the event director walking/jogging about to make sure some parts of the course were properly marked, and I was very fortunate that I ran into him around where I did, because there was one juncture in the woods where I was not sure where to go, and he directed me (and I believe he said that I was almost done). So not long after that, I came to an open area in the woods that looked like the finish area from last year. However, there was not anyone or anything around (such as granola bars or beverages), so I stopped and sorta ran in place a bit to wait for Phil to catch up to see if I was actually finished or not. After about a minute or two, Phil appeared and I asked him something to the effect of if I was done or not, and he said that the finish line was about a quarter-of-a-mile or so away. With that, I thanked him, and ran out into the clearing, saw a clear trail leading up a grassy hill back into the woods. I ran up that hill, through the woods and came up to another sort of wide area in the woods similar to the one I had just left, and only this time I saw packs of granola bars and sports beverages there, and when I reached there my watch read about 56 minutes and 48 seconds.
After falling a couple of times (one of which was down a small waterfall), messing up my glasses, going the wrong way, and running over more adverse terrain than what I normally do for races and runs, I had finally finished whoohoo!!! I was so grateful I got through with broken glasses in hand without any injury and my lenses were not cracked, just very dirty. At that point, I considered it a bonus that God still helped me to win. Last year I had run that course (well I think it changed a bit this year, or so I had heard) in about 51:06, but I had run past the finish line area thinking it was an aid station for the longer distance routes, and I finished right about at the starting line, so my actual time from last year I think had been just under 50 minutes. I did not run faster than this year obviously, however, I may have run faster considering the 10-15 minutes I spent side-tracked looking for my glasses in addition to spending about a few minutes having gone the wrong way. Without all of that, I think the Good Lord would have helped me trounce what I did at this venue in 2008.
At that point, I was just grateful to be done, though a little preoccupied about what to do next about my glasses. I got back to the car not long after other runners finished, and I called Kay (my girlfriend) to let her and her family know what had happened (we had plans that weekend I believe and not having glasses to drive safely may have had to result in a change of plans). They were worried about me, which was to be expected, and her dad even prayed for me over the phone (which was awesome). Not long after, I was talking to another runner at the race who happened to have a toolbox in his car and he was able to at least put my lenses back in the frames, but was not able to correct my frames. At that point, I was simply grateful to have my lenses in my glasses so I could see with better clarity driving back then I would have otherwise.
Now, the vision was still distorted a bit as the frame was bent, but I could still see all right. To play it safe, I stayed off of Interstate 95 (which is how I usually would travel to and from Cecil County), and took the more slower and smaller Route 1 instead. This took me into Baltimore City, where I got lost for a bit, but after the help of asking for directions from a couple of folks, I was able to get back on track and get back to my townhouse in Baltimore County, where I was able to take a shower, which I think I really needed after that run.

Thankfully, I made it back safely! Though, the eventfulness of the day had not quite ended. Not long after that, I managed to clog up the toilet (and fortunately later on I was able to get a plunger and unclog it), and then I think one or two other mishaps happened that resulted in me running in and out of my house to get/buy different things.

That day, I was also supposed to meet up with some of my friends in Carroll County, MD, which is more north and west of where I live. I was already running late and knew I would be driving slowly with my rather "new eyeglass prescription", haha :) Now this was definitely a God-based move, because one of my friends that I was hanging out with was my friend Tom, who used to work at a glasses shop called Pearle Vision, and he had great experience working with glasses. In less than ten minutes, he was able to easily fix up my glasses frames and lenses, and after cleaning it, it looked like nothing had really happened to it at all. That was so awesome for Tom to do that, and I think God used him to help me not have to go to For Eyes (I know, clever name for the place where I've been getting glasses since I started wearing them in Kindergarten), where I probably would have had to pay a fair amount of money for repairs/new pair, and most likely would have had to have waited longer too. It felt great to have my glasses back on CORRECTLY!
And after the day I had, I was certainly thankful to God that I had gotten through it (not that it was really all bad in any way, it was just very... eventful and definitely funny looking back on it).

Now, the next Saturday (July 25, 2009) was another venture en route to Garrett County, Maryland's western-most county for the Kitzmiller Town River Run 5K in this small town near the Maryland/West Virginia state border right along the Potomac River called Kitzmiller (which I had never been too before, and therefore I had never done this race either). I had been thinking of doing this race last year, but did not really find any mention of it over the internet, and that was okay, because they had this new Adventure Sports Center International Adventure Games 10K Trail Run instead at Deep Creek Lake, a famous resort area in Garrett County (and in my opinion, that has been the hilliest trail run I have run so far). Looking back, I'm glad I did that one last year instead of the Kitzmiller Town River Run 5K (which I later found out had been on the same morning), because I do not think they had that trail run at Deep Creek Lake this year. Anyway, I'm sure driving that probably three-hour drive before daybreak on less than six hours of sleep was an adventure in itself, but what happened on the way there really woke me up!
I was house-sitting for my parents in Howard County, so from there I had to go west mainly along Interstate 70 through Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties, and then Interstate 68 through Washington, Allegany Counties before reaching Garrett County. Right around the time I was very well west into Washington County, my car (a gold Saturn for those who are new to this blog) started acting a bit funny, and I was fortunate enough to find a place to pull over not long after crossing into Allegany County after I felt the car beginning to shut down. I was not too far from Cumberland and Frostburg, larger cities in Allegany County. After trying to start the car again, it did not start, and fortunately I still had Triple A's number in my phone from late April of 2007 when I had car troubles (and that had been around the time I was getting into the thick of trying to run in a running event in every Maryland county within a year before 2007 was over). I am so glad I save phone numbers, even though it may not seem I may have the most apparent use for them. In relatively short time, I was able to have the car taken to the nearest Saturn dealership, where it could be examined. The main problem was that the alternator belt had been having issues, and after getting that fixed, they had found some other mechanical issues that would cost pretty heavy to have prepared. I told them I would certainly consider it. I was very fortunate to have gotten out of it safe, and I was able to drive the car home. I was a little bummed that I obviously did not make the race in Kitzmiller, but I feel like if it is God's will that I do that race, that He will make it happen. I was even more disappointed that the plans Kay and I had made for the weekend, and not to mention for our upcoming 100-day anniversary that Tuesday (July 28, 2009), would probably have to be suspended until the car was deemed safe to drive longer distances. I am very fortunate that Kay is the understanding, sweet, and compassionate woman of God that she is, because she was not angry with me (though she shared in the disappointment of probably not getting to see each other anytime soon), and was glad that I was safe and even offered suggestions on what to do next. After talking things over with my parents, we came to an agreement that it would probably be wise to go ahead and buy a newer car (since with the unfortunate current economic recession, prices tend to be lower to stimulate the reluctant buyer's desire to buy), versus spend a lot of money making repairs on a car that was getting on in years.
Soon after, my parents and I started researching heavily and test driving fairly regularly. I liked the different cars I had tried, and after much prayer, and talking with my parents, Kay, and a couple of other friends about it, I was fortunate to come across a new 2010 Toyota Corolla (which I hear is quite fuel efficient, oh boy! :) at a local dealership. My dad and I traded in the Saturn (which did not qualify for Cash-for-Clunkers, a government program which I had not heard of until this car searching thing began). With my dad's urging and my want for clarity on what I should buy, I was blessed to have been able to have found a new car a mere six days after the Saturn's alternator belt had problems. On Friday, July 31, 2009, I came away jointly owning a new Toyota Corolla (I am currently jointly owning it with the bank that I took a loan from) as well as a new auto insurance policy. With car loans to pay off, my budget has gotten tighter, meaning maybe not spending much on races as I used too and other such pleasures (at least for now), but you know what, that's okay, because I feel like God really wants me to hold steadfastly to my New Year's Resolution of not running nearly as many races as I had run last year (which was 112, not counting my participation in the Kent Island Relay for Life in Queen Anne's County, Maryland). Besides, I feel like God is telling me that there are other things I need to be making more of a priority, such as figuring out my next steps towards teacher certification, considering graduate school as a solid possibility in the near future, and being there for Kay as well as my other friends and family! I still feel it is important to run and race, but certainly not prioritize it the way I have been these past several years.
I really like the new Toyota Corolla, and so do my friends and family. However, there is certainly something to be said for the Saturn (or as my friend David, who thoroughly supported me in my support of running races in every county of Maryland, called it, the "Maryland Mobile"). That car will always be special to me, and I hope that God uses it to serve well whomever has the good fortunate of driving it. It was the first car that I drove on my own in 2001 when I had gotten my driver's license, it was the car that I drove after high school through my full-time college student years. It was the first car I drove after I was saved through Jesus Christ on Sunday, April 20, 2003. It was the first car I drove when I was able to bring a car onto the college campus of Salisbury University in the spring of 2005. I had taken that car to and from many different races, places, friends and family get-togethers. After all, it had been through every county of Maryland and Delaware more than once over the years, not to mention through Washington D.C. and parts of Virginia. I remember earlier this year, I had taken it up to Centralia (Columbia County), Pennsylvania, an almost-ghost town that had horrible mine fires back in the 1960's. I think one of the longest trips I had taken with it had been in mid-February of 2007, when I went all the way to Lynchburg, Virginia for a conference during my brief stint as a prosuming independent business owner, a trip that was at least a good four-to-five hours. That car had taken me to and from my only jury duty experiences to date. That car was the one I was driving when I started my current job as a teachers' aide at the Homewood Center. That Saturn was the car I picked Kay up in on our first date to Applebee's on Sunday, April 19, 2009! There are so many important memories, and so much great company sat in those seats over the years. In short, that car will always be special to me, and I am sorry if I am getting kind of emotional and sentimental here, but I just felt like I wanted to acknowledge how much God has done for me with that car, and how much of a gift the Saturn is. And I certainly do think that the Toyota Corolla is a terrific gift as well!!

Thank you for bearing with me on this long post. I know it has been over two months since I posted. I am trying to do better. If you are a fairly frequent follower, or a personal friend/contact of mine, you probably knew about a little if not a fair majority of this. So here are all of the details that I recall. I will have another update to bring all of you up to speed in the near future hopefully (like, probably in another week or so).
I thank you all for stopping by, and I hope that none of you were discouraged from trying out running races. These things just happen, and I am grateful to God to be living, in fair health, and that no one was hurt!!
I hope you all have a blessed evening and weekend, and I truly appreciate all of you! Take it easy!

Running Events I have done as of Saturday, July 18, 2009

January

- Sunday, January 18, 2009 - "Inaugural" All-comers Indoor Track & Field Meet - Thomas Jefferson Community Center, Arlington (Arlington County), Virginia:

1). 1-mile race - 14th overall since some mile times run in other heats were faster than mine, (7th overall in the "Elite heat") - 5:26.7 (not bad considering my shoe came untied around half-way into the race :)

2). 800-meter race - 2nd overall - 2:17.78 (my best time in this event at this track venue and very well-paced too :)

3). 3,000 meter race - 15th overall (13th overall in the second heat) - 11:27.8 (I accidentally ran a lap extra and ran about 3,200 meters worth, and my 3,000 meter split was about 10:46, which would have put me at about 8th overall and 8th in this particular heat. This is also my best time-to-date for 3,000 meters at this track venue :)

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race  )

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race )

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue )

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue )

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue )

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

March

14). Sunday, March 8, 2009 – Howard County Striders “Operation Iceberg” (Winter Series) Race #8 : Thunder Hill Elementary School 2-miler – Columbia (Howard County), MD – 6th overall – 14:19

15). Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Run4Luck Four-Mile Run – Lancaster (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania – 40th overall – 26:51.55 (I ran negative splits here )

16). Sunday, March 22, 2009 – Inaugural Break-in the Bypass 5K – Greenmount/Hampstead (Carroll County), MD -10th overall (9th overall if you don’t count the two-person relay team ahead of me) – 19:46 (clock), 19:42ish (watch)

17). Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 4th Annual Keep Your Colon Rollin’ 5K – Jefferson Patterson Park (new course and venue), Saint Leonard (Calvert County), MD – Winner (20-29 age group division winner as well) – 19:35

18). Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 4th Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede 5K Run – Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville (Howard County), MD – 11th overall (20-29 age group division winner) – 18:24.56 (great pacing and my first time running under a six-minute mile in a long while )

April

19). Saturday, April 4, 2009 – 26th Annual Stillond-to-Betterton Tree Run – Started in Stillpond and ended at Betterton Beach (Kent County), MD – Winner – 22:42 (as of this race, I can say that I have won a race in all nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore within my lifetime; praise God! )

20). Saturday, April 18, 2009 – 4th Annual Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day/”Into the Woods” Fun Run 5K – Ridgely (Caroline County), MD – Winner – 17:51 (my best time on the 5K loop there and very nice for me considering I fell during the second half of the race :).

21). Saturday, April 25, 2009 (my 26th birthday ) – 1st Annual Bollman Bridge Elementary School Tech Trot 5K – Jessup/Savage (Howard County), MD – Winner – 19:20 (course went by Bollman Bridge Elementary and Patuxent Valley Middle Schools, where I went to preschool for one year and 6th and 7th grade )

May

22). Saturday, May 2, 2009 – 12th Annual Journey To Better Pathways/Pathways School 5K Run – Silver Spring (Montgomery County), MD – 2nd overall – 19:38 (clock), 19:31 (watch). I accidentally ran the wrong way and ran extra -

23). Saturday, May 9, 2009 – 4th Annual McCready Health Services Foundation Founder’s Day 8K – Crisfield (Somerset County), MD – 4th overall (20-29 male age group winner) – 31:13 (best time on course to date )

24). Saturday, May 16, 2009 – Inaugural Run for the Future 5K – Frederick (Frederick County), MD – Winner (20-29 male age group division winner too  - 18:08 (great time with 5:29 one-mile split, 11:28 two-mile split, almost running into a pace bike in the first mile, and going a little bit further at the turn-around 

25). Sunday, May 17, 2009 – 2nd Annual Paws for Life/Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue May Day 5K Run – Chesapeake City (Cecil County), MD – Winner (20-29 male age group division winner too) – 18:32 (best time on course to date, and I was kinda sleep-deprived too 

26). Sunday, May 17, 2009 – Howard County Striders “Vernal Velocity” Weekly Series #5: Longfellow Elementary School 10K – Columbia (Howard County), MD – 8th overall – 44:48 (clock), 44:29 (watch)

27). Saturday, May 23, 2009 – 33rd Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 10-Miler – Chestertown (Kent County), MD – 31st overall (25-29 male age group winner  - 1:16:16 (clock – my time on my watch was probably several seconds faster since I started further in the back a bit later )

28). Saturday, May 30, 2009 – 1st Annual Tri-County Youth Services Bureau (T.C.Y.S.B.) Youth Power 5K Run – Hughesville (Charles County), MD – 2nd overall (20-29 male age group winner) – 18:27.45 (first race that Kay, my girlfriend, came too to watch )

29). Sunday, May 31, 2009 – Howard County Striders’ All-Fruit Relay – Columbia (Howard County), MD – I was on the Cute Cuc’s (short for ‘cucumber’) and we placed 5th with a time of 56:34 – I ran the last leg in about 12:31, running negative splits with about 6:18 the first lap. Fun time ).

June

30). Tuesday, June 2, 2009 – Tom Ausherman Memorial Cross Country Series #1: Hagerstown Community College – Hagerstown (Washington County), MD – 3rd overall – 12:09

31). Saturday, June 6, 2009 - 1st Annual South County Faith Network Jug Bay 5K ( a little longer, about 5.5K as one person measured it on their GPS) – Lothian (Anne Arundel County), MD – approximately 30:45 on the clock, 21:16 (I actually ran this time, ‘cause I got there late, and this time was actually the fastest one run there at the race, though I’m not sure where my finish place was in the pack, as I’ve yet to see the results )

32). Sunday, June 7, 2009 -3rd Annual Archbishop Neale School 10K and 5K Run (I ran the 5K which was a little longer than a 5K) – LaPlata (Charles County), MD – Winner – 19:15 (clock), 19:14 (watch) – God is good; He has helped me to win a race in all three of Maryland’s southernmost counties within my lifetime 

- Tuesday, June 9, 2009 – Cumberland Valley Athletic Club’s (C.V.A.C.’s) Pete Wright Memorial All-Comer’s Outdoor Track & Field Series #2 – North Hagerstown High School Track, Hagerstown (Washington County), MD:

33). 2-mile race – Winner – 11:10 (ran about 5:42 the first mile, then came back in about 5:28 the second mile to run my best two-mile outdoor track time to date 

34). 800-meter race – 2nd overall – 2:59

35). 200-meter race – last place in last heat – 34.8ish

36). 1-mile race – Winner – 5:15 (ran the first half in about 2:38, and then the second in about 2:37 )

37). Howard County Striders “Vernal Velocity” Spring Series#7 - Burleigh Manor 5K – 5th overall – 18:23 (fastest time on course to-date )

38). Sunday, June 21, 2009 – Dawson’s Father’s Day 10K Run – Severna Park (Anne Arundel County), MD – 43rd overall - 42:26.48 (clock), 42:07ish (watch – I started a bit late - This was my first race I ran on the Baltimore-and-Annapolis (B&A) Trail 

July

39). Friday, July 3rd – Howard County Striders’ Friday Night Cross Country Series #2: Wilde Lake High School 5K – Columbia (Howard County), MD – 11th overall – 19:15 (faster pace than I ran at this venue over the different, shorter course I had run at this high school when I was in 12th grade in the fall of 2001 )

40). Tuesday, July 7, 2009 – Centennial Fun Run 1-Mile – Ellicott City (Howard County), MD – 13th overall – 5:51 (clock), 5:50 (watch)

41). Thursday, July 9, 2009 – Westminster Road Runners Club’s Twilight Series #4: Francis Scott Key 6K Run – Francis Scott Key High School, Union Bridge (Carroll County), MD – 21st overall – 24:40 (clock), 24:35 (watch)

42). Saturday, July 18, 2009 – St. Roch’s Trail Run (7K – Ran extra) – Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, Fair Hill/Elkton (Cecil County), MD – Winner – 56:48 (fell, broke glasses, went wrong way a couple of times, one of which involved running downstream and slipping on a really small waterfall )

Please check out the events I did in 2008:

http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2008/12/
not-much-longer-until-2009.html

Please check out the events I did in 2007:

http://runineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2007/09/
i-ran-in-running-event-in-all-of.html

“Maryland Munch” – Unique restaurants I have eaten at within my lifetime throughout Maryland

Allegany County

Anne Arundel County

- Yellowfin – Saturday, April 25, 2009 – Edgewater – Classy seafood restaurant by the water of the South River in Anne Arundel County. It’s right off of Route 2 South before heading over the bridge that crosses the South River. I went here with my brother, girlfriend, and friends on my 26th birthday to celebrate it. I recall having a delicious brie dish with fruit. I enjoyed it, as well as the company and atmosphere. Interestingly enough, there was a wedding/wedding reception in this big room/hall downstairs. Seems like it was a nice place to have one!

Baltimore City

Baltimore County

- Taneytown Deli – Thursday, February 26, 2009 – Catonsville – Nice, quaint little deli and shop tucked away off of Highway 144/Old Frederick Road. One of my co-workers recommended this to me and I went there for my first time with “Maryland Munch” in mind. I had “The Catonsville” sandwich. I think there were slices of turkey breast and ham on it; it tasted pretty nice overall. I probably should have seen what I could have done about getting some cheese on it, but it was fine enough. I also had a black and white muffin and that made for a nice dessert.

Calvert County

Caroline County

Carroll County

- Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Reisterstown/Westminster area – My friends Erica and Josh got married at Life Point Church (which used to be called Carroll Community Church), and then we went to a local country club for a receptoin. The food and appetitzeres were delicious from what I could remember (I apologize, I don’t clearly remember much more). I remember more of the dancing and fun I had catching up with people and friends I had not seen in a while!

Cecil County

- Saturday, May 10, 2008 – North East – After Dr. Daniel Williams and I ran at the Inaugural Run for Reading 4K in Bayview/North East, MD, we went over to a small coffee shop around downtown North East to talk more. Dr. Williams was in town to see family and run that Run for Reading, because after he had run that race in Cecil County, he had completed his goal of running a race in every county along the Mason-Dixon Line. As I recall the coffee and small food (I think I had a cookie, pastry, or something like that) were pretty good. We enjoyed ourselves!

Charles County

Dorchester County

- Saturday, April 14, 2007 – Cambridge - After my friend John and I ran at the Healthy Kids Fun Run at the Dorchester YMCA and Sandy Spring Elementary School in Cambridge, we went out to eat at a small seafood restaurant around downtown Cambridge. This was at the very beginning phases of my first endeavor to run in a running event in every Maryland County in 2007, and that was certainly my first Dorchester County race. I recall they had some nice food here (And I can’t quite remember what it is I had; I wanna say it was some seafood, if not pizza). I don’t think I had much of an appetite after that run, but John and I enjoyed it nonetheless.

- Friday, May 2, 2008 – Vienna – I stopped by this small waterside deli/restaurant in Vienna (I forget what it is called), and I think I had a sub or some kind of a sandwich, and I think I had a soda too. I was headed to Salisbury (Wicomico County) to see some friends and do a race in Crisfield (Somerset County) that weekend, which was why I was over there in the first place. It seemed like a small, more intimate dining place and I remember enjoying the food!

Frederick County

- Sunday, January 15, 2006 – West New Market – My friends, Danny and Brianna, got married this day at this beautiful bed and breakfast place, where we also had the reception. I liked the food there (even though I can’t remember much of what I ate). I remember a very joyful wedding with great dancing, music, and people 
Garrett County

- Jubilee Diner – Saturday, July 26, 2008 – Friendsville – After my first time at Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, MD for this inaugural Adventure Games 10K Trail Run at the Wisp Ski Resort in Deep Creek, I decided to head over to Friendsville, MD around where my friend Phil lives. I knew Phil was working that day, so I decicded to settle in for eating some place by myself. I came by this small, rather dimly lit diner called the Jubilee Diner. I remember the service was great and fairly personable. I know I had a milkshake, and I think I had a burger and fries. I enjoyed the meal quite well as I recall 

Harford County

Howard County

- Timbuktu – Winter of 1997 – Columbia area – I was in seventh grade when I went here for a friend’s Bar Mitzvah reception. I remember eating here and enjoying the company and hte food quite well. I rpobably would have liked the experience a bit more, but my brother and this other guy named Brett were spinning this circular thing around and the next thing I kenw, all these sauces were every on the talbe, and a lot of the people at the table thought it was me. Fortunately none of us got in serious trouble. Looking back, I think it’s funny that that is my most salient memory of eating there.

- Best Hunan – King’s Contrivance Shopping Center, Columbia – Back in my junior year of high school (2000-2001), my friends Brian and Nate would invite me to go with them, and this became our typical hang-out spot. It’s pretty well-lit, comfortable, and intimate. I like the crab rangoons, fried ice-cream on a banana (which I’m not sure if they have), sweet-and-sour soup, beef lo-mein, and some of their platters just to name a few. I still eat here with my friends and it pretty much got me into Chinese food more. I think the last time I ate here was back in 2008, and I probably had beef lo-mein or something like that.

- Forest Diner – 2007/2008 (winter time) – Ellicott City – I ate here with my friend from Salisbury University, Mike one evening. It was pretty small and I think it is closing (or has closed down). The food was pretty nice, and if I know myself, I probably got some burgers, frieds, and a soda (and possibly something for desert). Like typical diners, I enjoyed the food and the atmosphere was relatively quiet with images and set-up to resemble times as far back as at least the 1950’s. I may have eaten here with a couple of buddies from high school back around the August of 2003, or it might have been the Double T Diner nearby in Ellicott City.

- Bagel Bin (Wilde Lake Village Center location) – Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Bagel Bins are one of Columbia, MD’s “best kept secrets” and I would therefore consider it a more “unique” restaurant as it only seems to be in Columbia. I’ve eaten at various Bagel Bin locations (mainly the one at the King’s Contrivance Shopping Center near where I grew up), and I’m a fan of their bagel melts (with melted cheese) and their smoothies (which may only be out in the summer or warmer weather, I’m not quite sure). My most recent time I ate there was after a Saturday morning Bagel Run with the Howard County Striders where we start and end our running routes by the Wilde Lake Village Center’s Bagel Bin, and it was on Saturday, January 10, 2009. I can’t quite remember what I had there that morning, and I was there catching up with someone I hadn’t seen since middle school who was also doing the run. I’m pretty sure I bought a sports drink (like Gatorade) while I was there. I really like Bagel Bin and I definitely came to appreciate it when I would come home on breaks from college at Salisbury University.

Kent County

- Harbor Shack – Sunday, April 22, 2007 – Rock Hall – This was my first visit to Rock Hall, MD and the afternoon I came to visit, I went for a little run around the town and then decided to eat at the Harbor Shack right by the water. It was fairly noisy indoors, but it was not bad and it was to be expected since there was a bar there. It was a fairly nice day out and I think I actually ate outside (I think I bought some nice french fries).

- Durding’s – I think I stop in here every time I’ve been to Rock Hall (and I think I’ve been about five times now). This is a very quaint shop right around the downtown area and it’s a gift sohp with little antiques, gifts, and they sell food (they have nice ice cream as I recall from experience )

- Java Rock Café – Friday, July 4, 2008 – Rock Hall – I came to Rock Hall on the Fourth of July to run in the 27th Annual Rock Hall Flat Five, and that was a fun race. It ended right by Java Rock Café, and afterwards I went there and got some coffee and possibly a little food too. It’s a pretty small and quaint coffee shop, and I do believe they sell some souvenirs (such as Rock Hall, MD hats and shirts). I had been there before, and that is my most recent memory of being there.

Montgomery County

- Vegetable Garden – May/June, 1999 – I was a freshman in high school when I went with my mom to meet up with my grandma, a relative, and my relative’s friend to celebrate my relative’s graduation (I think it was from high school, if not college). I don’t remember where in Montgomery County this is located, but I’m pretty sure it is in Montgomery County and that the menu is pretty much all vegetable stuff. I was not much into that kinda food at the time, and I rememmber being fairly sleepy from not getting much sleep in preparing for 9th grade finals, but I thought the food was pretty decent considering I don’t normally eat a lot of what was on their menu. Looking back, I’m glad I had the experience and that I got to eat and celebrate with family 

- 2007/2008 – I went with my friends, Aaron and Brian, to this Chinese restaurant in this shopping center in Olney (I think there’s a Cheeburger Cheeburger and a Shopper’s Food Warehouse there now). The Chinese food was pretty good here, and I think we ate here during the winter time. I think I had some beef low-mein. I’ll venture to say that I think when I was in seventh grade, I went to this same place around the winter/early spring of 1997 to get some carry-out from this restaurant. It looks a bit small on the outside, but on the inside it seems a bit more spacious and I’d say it is a more upper class restaurant (then again, I have not had all that much experience with ritzy restaurants).

Prince George’s County

- Don Pablo’s – Summer of 1997 – Laurel area – I remember going here when some relatives from out-of-town were visiting, and I think it was a week day evening. I can’t quite remember what I got, but if I know me and if I knew me back then, it was probably a quesadilla, a taco, or something similar (and I probably had a root beer or some kinda soda to go with it). Great food as I recall, and then again, I usually like just about all Mexican food.

- Silver Diner – Sunday, August 31, 2008 – Laurel – I went with my friends Amy, Kseniya, and Walton to eat here after a fun afternoon and evening at the Six Flags around the Largo area of Prince George’s County. I did not have much of an appetite after all of those rides, and I wanted to take it easy on my stomach, ‘cause I knew I wanted to do the 5th Annual Labor Day 5K Rogue Race the next day in Eldersburg (Carroll County), MD. I think I just got some nice soup and a soda, and possibly more (maybe a desert too).

Queen Anne’s County

Saint Mary’s County

Somerset County

Talbot County

Washington County

- Gracie’s Place – Saturday, March 14, 2009 – I went to the Hagerstown, Maryland location on my way back from running the Run4Luck Four-Mile run in Lancaster County, PA and from visiting Centralia, PA. I ordered a chef sald and thought that I got a lot for about four bucks. It was a great deal, as well as a small, yet very friendly and personalble atmosphere with the help of the kind employees that were there. I may have gotten one or two things on the side, I can’t quite remember. I may go back again if I’m in town )

Wicomico County

- Hunan Palace – March/April of 2005 – Fruitland – My friend Suzanne and I ate at Hunan Palace; this really nice Chinese restaurant just outside of Salisbury (Wicomico County). Going to school locally at Salisbury University and recently getting a car on campus, I felt like I could “stretch my legs” a bit and check out some of the places around town more. I’m glad we chose this. Even though my stomach was not feeling the best while I was there (which I don’t think had anything to do with the food), I thought it was a great restuarant. If I know me, I probably got some beef lo-mein or something similar.

- Lighthouse Diner II – Salisbury – I’ve been here many of times, and their prices are great for the breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods that they have. I like their hot chocolate, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken soups, and quite a few of their other menu items to name a few. Usually when I go back to visit with friends in Salisbury, a visit here is in order. I wanna say that probably my most recent time here was around Saturday, December 13, 2008 (at least that was the last time I was in town). My friends and I noticed that it was called Lighthouse Diner II, and we sorta have a joke among us to keep our eyes out for the first Lighthouse Diner.

Worcester County

Summer of 2009 for me so far...

2009-07-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your patience in waiting for me to update. Don't worry, just because I have not gotten around to blogging on here in the past couple of months does not mean that I've brushed these blogs to the wayside or have not been running. I've just been pretty busy since my two spring teaching certificate classes last semester ended, and whenever I'm on the computer I usually opt to do other things (i.e. look for races/race results, go on Facebook, or do e-mailing). If not on the computer, I have spent time working at summer camps with the Howard County Recreation and Parks Department since the school year ended. Last summer I worked for these summer camps with a camp called Teens on Tour, and I did that for a week, before I voluntarily opted to go to camps with younger kids and shorter workdays when I found out Teens on Tour was kinda overstaffed. While I may get paid for less hours, at least I am having more experience with elementary-school age children, which is an age group that I am interested in teaching. So yea, the summer camp thing has been going well; with Teens on Tour earlier in the summer break and now the more outdoorsy camps with the younger kids. I'm glad that more recently I have gotten more time to get back to these blogs.

My running has been going all right. Been trying to get more distance in, 'cause I signed up for the Annapolis Ten-Miler in Annapolis (Anne Arundel County), Maryland on Sunday, August 30 this year. This will be my first time running what is probably one of Maryland's largest foot races, which also has a reputation for being hot, humid, and hilly. Whooo! I wanna be in good shape for it, so at least I can make it through without hurting myself. Not too long ago, my foot would hurt in longer runs (like anything over three miles). My toes would begin to curl under my right foot, obviously altering the way my foot would land, and causing pain. It's probably no coincidence that this was the foot giving me plantar fascia problems last year. I went to see the physical therapist about it and got it taken care of, and so far it has not been bothering me recently. God willing, maybe now I can get in some longer runs more consistently. The problem seemed to be that my calves would tighten up around my right foot, causing tension in the right foot, leading to my toes curling/my foot landing in different ways, which aggravated my plantar fascia. I felt it bothering me a lot in longer races I have done in the past couple of months like the 33rd Annual Chestertown Tea Party Distance Classic 10-Mile Run in Kent County, MD on Saturday, May 23, in which I was hurting most of the way not even really pushing the pace (I hope that does not happen again at the Annapolis Ten-Miler, 'cause that could very well be more hot than Chestertown, and certainly much more hilly). Also, with the Dawson's Father's Day 10K that I tried for the first time in Anne Arundel County, MD on Father's Day (Sunday, June 21) this year, my right foot was pretty much cramping up and bothering me for most of the race right when I got half-way into it. I struggled to run about 42:07 in that 10-kilometer (approximately 6.2 miles), and then I was huffing and puffing to end up at about 1:16:16 for the 10-miler. I was happy to have finished, and to have earned an age group award in the 10-miler, but there was a time not so long ago when I was able to beat those times in mere training runs without it costing me/paining too much. Well, it could have been worth and I know the Good Lord has plans for it; after all, He had helped me to run so well in the past too in both, races and training, and He can certainly do it again if He so chooses, so I'm not going to worry too much about it. Everything happens for a reason, and I think at the Chestertown Tea Party 10-Miler, I would have probably gotten heat exhaustion pretty bad if the hurting foot had not held me back from going it harder, so maybe that was God's way of protecting me. After that 10-miler in Chestertown, I had made plans with my girlfriend, Kay, and I to visit my parents so that they could meet her for the first time, so I definitely wanted to be "sober" enough for that :)

And that reminds me, along with running, everything else seems to be going pretty well for the most part. I feel like I have a bit up-in-the-air with the next steps in working towards a teaching certificate, but this being the summer, it seems like an opportune time to address those things, and I'm glad I'm taking the time to do it. I have already signed up for two classes at Howard Community College in Howard County, MD, one of them will be my first online class (granted I don't find out I don't need it and drop it like I've done with other online ones in the past). I may quite possibly sign up for a third. I'm hoping to schedule a date to take the Praxis II as well; a test required to become a certified teacher. Other than that, I've been making time for family and friends. Kay and I have been doing pretty well; enjoying the relationship and each other the more we get to know each other! She is definitely a good influence on me; encouraging me in my faith, my professional goals, and supportive of my running. She has already been to three of my races and she wants to go to more in the future. We have a bit of a longer distance relationship, though God has really helped us with our schedules to be able to see each other usually at least once or twice-a-week, and still make time for other important aspects of our lives too! Still been averaging at least one-race-a-week, though not all of them have been really hard efforts on my part. Back in June, there were actually a couple of weekends later in that month that I did not actually do a race. That's so rare for me considering these past couple of years I can count the number of weeks on one hand that I have not done a race in. It's not all 'cause I have a girlfriend now either, some of it is 'cause my New Year's Resolution was to cut back on the number of races I do so that it would not consumer, and I want to save some more money as well. So yea, I've been busy, but mainly in a fun way, and I'm grateful to still have time to run consistently and get out to races. I'm actually hoping to get back into a more steady weight-lifting routine as well!

The next race I hope to do is a low-key trail run this Saturday (July 18, 2009) at the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management area in the Fair Hill/Elkton area of Cecil County, MD (which is in the northeast part of Maryland). It's the St. Roch 25K, and they also have a 14K and a 7K option (since I have plans with friends later that day, I'm gonna go for the 7K option like I did last summer, and hopefully this time not get lost like I did last summer, a time or two). My time last year was 51:36, which included minutes extra of going the wrong way at least a couple of times and running right by the intended finish line which was a bit off from the starting line (and it was at the starting line that I finished since no one happened to be at the finish area when I ran through it and there was no else around me at that point of the race). There seem to be a bunch of trails there, and for all I know, they may have changed the course around a bit. I'm sure they'll probably have that deeper, but brief stream crossing I'll have to wade through again. God-willing, I hope I can get through the course a bit faster than I did last year, and hopefully not get hurt. It's a bit over an hour from where I live, and I have done a couple of low-key trail races at this somewhat hilly venue over the past couple of years with these guys who put it on (the Delaware Trail Dawgs). In fact, the Fool's Frolic Trail Run I did there back on Sunday, April 1, 2007 was one of the first races I did upon being hit with the idea of doing a running event in every county of Maryland before 2007 ended (and I had done the shorter 5-6 mile route they had there as opposed to the longer 22K that they had advertised at the time).

So hopefully I get through this one safe (even though I'm sure I'll be filthy, but it's all part of the package :)- Thank you all for stopping by and catching up with me. I hope you are all having a blessed and fun summer :)

Quick Update!

2009-05-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Hey there, I apologize that it's been a few weeks since I've posted. I've been busy with my two teaching certificate courses I've been taking this spring semester, and fortunately by God's grace I've finished my take-home finals in both of those classes. I just gotta turn in my take-home final exam for the Reading Processes and Acquisition course that I take on Wednesday evenings, and then I'm done for this spring semester! The work has been time consuming and the homework certainly seems to have picked up since I got back from the Mission: Mississippi trip over spring break!
Running has been going pretty solid for the most part. I've run a couple of 5K's and an 8K recently, and I had a nice speed workout yesterday at Centennial High School's outdoor track in Ellicott City (Howard County), Maryland, where I ran two 600's (in 1:56 and 1:52 respectively), followed by two 1/4-mile repeats (1:18 and then 1:13), with 2.5 minutes rest approximately between the 600's, and approximately 2 minutes between the 400's. That's been my best speed workout in a long time; at least since I got back to running from my break a coupla months back. I'm hoping to do a 5K or two this weekend.
Kay (my girlfriend) and I seem to be doing well in starting out on our relationship. We are coming up on our one-month anniversary, and we've been having a lot of fun! Looking forward to what God has in store with that as well as other things :)
Thanks for checking up. I hope to post again with more details on recent races I've done. Enjoy :)

I had a great 26th birthday!

2009-04-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I just wanna thank everyone for a terrific birthday last Saturday (April 25, 2009). It was a great time and I think my best birthday yet (if not one of the best :). After gettin' up in the mornin', I headed over to Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup (Howard County), Maryland for the inaugural Bollman Bridge Elementary School Tech Trot 5K. The course was fairly challenging, getting a bit hilly towards the middle, but I've definitely run on harder courses. The course was pretty much an out-and-back course starting and ending out in front of Bollman Bridge Elementary School (where I spent my last year of preschool at before kindergarten) and Patuxent Valley Middle School (where I attended the sixth and seventh grade, which were some rougher years for me).
The race started around the flat campus of the two schools and even though there was a bit of confusion about where to turn at the very beginning, we were able to follow the arrows left around a bit of Patuxent Valley MS and quickly pick up the bike path that runs behind it. This bike path is well shaded (which I appreciated on this rather muggy morning) and it had a few rolling hills that made it a challenging part of the race (not to mention knowing that we would have to run over it towards the end of the race coming back to the school). After this path with lightly rolling hills, we emerged in the Savage Park in Savage, Maryland, and for a very brief period, we ran on the grass behind this backstop on a baseball diamond while a baseball game with younger kids was going on (and I dunno if people watching the game were cheering us runners on or the ballgame, hahaha :)- Shortly after running through this small section of Savage Park, we were back in this neighborhood and I ran through the first mile in about 6:32. I had a feeling that that first mile was kinda long 'cause I felt like I was running a lot harder than a 6:32-mile, and usually I run a lot faster the first mile of a 5K race. Then again, I'll admit that I did have to pee from the start of the race, so that may have slowed me up, but by the time I got ot the one-mile mark, it did not seem to affect me that much. If anything, it promted me to want to finish the race as soon as possible so I could find a bathroom after.

Well, after going through the first mile in the shaded neighborhood, we came to this steady uphill, the one that I knew was back on this course and I knew it was probably going to be the biggest hill on the course. I was right, but fortunately it did not seem as hard as I thought it would be. I was surprised that it was over with sooner than I had thought. However, I was feeling a bit burdened by the heat and I wanted the race to be over very soon. After getting to the top of the hill, I ran in a rectangular loop (if that makes any geometrical sense) around this nice neighborhood in Jessup or Savage (it was probably Savage, because towards the end of this loop, I ran right by the Savage Volunteer Fire Company). After the loop, I made a left to go back down what I saw as the biggest hill on the course. Though, I did not go all the way down the hill this time, but made a right on this other streeet before I reached the bottom, as that was where the course marshal was pointing. Shortly after making that right turn I went through the two-mile mark in about 12:25. Now that was more like it; I felt like at the pace I was going, that I was going hard enough to run a time like that for two miles. I figured that that first mile was measured a bit long, 'cause if it was correct, that would have meant that I dropped about 5:53 that second mile, and I felt like maybe I sped up just a little bit at best, but certainly not that much.

All that math aside, I was grateful that I had only a little over a mile to go at this point at the most. I enjoyed the course and scenery, but I found the heat and the hills grueling enough to want me to have the whole thing over with. I was praying that God would help me maintain around the time I ran back through that small grassy portion of the Savage Park as the baseball game was going. As I got back on the paths that would no doubt prove challenging because of the rolling hills, I remembered what Kay (my girlfriend) told me not to worry about how well I did, whether I won or not, that she liked me anyway. She liked me for me and not how well I could run. To me that meant a lot, 'cause I knew no matter how well I fared at this race, she would still like me. That put a smile on my face as I made a right turn on the paths that would take me back to the schools near the finish line and I felt my pace pick up. At this point, I had taken the lead in the race earlier on within the first mile, and I felt that I was ahead by a fairly significant amount. Though, I knew no matter what the outcome of this race would be, I knew God loves me unconditionally and that my girlfriend (who was not there at the race herself) would still be happy for me and be there for me! That helped keep my spirits high as I ran up and down the rolling hills (which at least were in the shae) along the bikepath. Off to my right I saw more sunlight, which meant I was nearing the fields behind Patuxent Valley Middle School and Bollman Bridge Elementary School. I knew I was almost there.

I ran out fo the woods along the path, getting closer to Patuxent Valley Middle School where I went to middle school. As I tried to pick it up, I ran past this one young gentleman jogging/running along listening to his I-Pod or something like that. At this point, I figured I had about less than half-a-mile to go. The path climbed uphill a bit steadily before connecting with the parking lot, and I was relieved that this was the last hill on the course. Coming off the path I glanced back, and not that far behind me on the path, I caught a glimpse of someone in a dark colored singlet, and I thought for a moment it was one of those fast-looking high school runners I had seen at the start of the race (and I know from experience those younger runners can really put on a strong kick at the end). With that in mind, I bolted across the parking lot along the side of Patuxent Valley Middle School, through the three-mile mark in 18:51, and then angled to the right in front of the school. Up ahead, I saw the front of Bollman Bridge Elementary School and a lot of people standing there, cheering me on at the finish line. I continued to run hard across the parking lot in front of Patuxent Valley Middle School to the finish line in front of Bollman Bridge Elementary school, which I crossed in 19:20. I was so happy that I got through that race, won it, and not only that won it on my birthday. Not to brag, I guess I have the course/race record for the time being since it was the first time they had it. God is good and I certainly thanked Jesus out loud for getting me through. It was certainly not the hilliest course I've run, but I got some getting used to with this warmer weather in these spring and summer months, and that made it a little harder for me I think. After catching my breath, I turned around to cheer other runners on. I was expecting to see one of the high school runners coming around the corner of Patuxent Valley Middle School to finish, however, I did not see them, and I soon realized that person I saw on the bike paths who I thought was in the race was most likely the runner/jogger I had passed towards the end of the race who was listening to his I-Pod. Hahaha, I guess I psyched myself out extra!

The person who finished second, to my pleasant surprise, was my friend David, with the first female (a younger girl who I think was in high school), not very far behind. David finished pretty well and has been running well considering that he is doing more races than normal and was training for a half marathon. David and I used to hang out quite a bit in elementary school recess, but then enver saw each other after we graduated from Atholton Elementary School in 1995, but back in the summer of 2004, we met at a Centennial One-Mile Fun Run (that actually did not end up occurring that evening) in Ellicott City (Howard County), MD, which is a series of rather hilly one-mile fun runs that the Howard County Striders are involved in. I recognized David and soon after we started catching up on a run we did, and after seeing each other at races more and talking over the internet via instant messenger, we became friends, and now I see him very often whenever I got to a Howard County Striders race (especially at their low-key weekly series races). What was really neat was that our elementary school physical education (P.E.) teacher from Atholton Elementary School moved over to teach P.E. at Bollman Bridge Elementary School over the years and she got to help out at this race. We even got a photo with her after the race; sort of an Atholton Elementary School reunion!

What a neat birthday present that was! And for the record, as long as the distance between three miles and 3.1 miles was measured accurately at the end of this race course, I had run that distance in under 30 seconds (and I don't think I have ever run from 3.0-to-3.1 miles in under 30 minutes before in a 5K race, and if I had, it has certainly been a long time)! So I was pretty happy about that too! I would not be surprised if this course was a bit long, at least with the first mile, but I still liked the course and if they have it again in the future, I would not mind making it back! I think I had wanted to get under 19:30 anyway, or actually maybe 19:00 I think, but I did not think it would be that hard to break 19:30. I guess it was a combination of the hills, heat, and possibly the course being a little longer than 5-kilometers (approximately 3.1 miles).

So that race got my birthday off to a nice start. Afterwards, I went to visit my parents and I think I mowed the lawn and helped some neighbors move a new jacuzzi in their backyard as well! Later that evening, my friend Walton and I went over to Edgewater (Anne Arundel County), MD to meet up with my brother, Kay, and some of my other friends for my birthday dinner at this really nice and classy seafood restaurant by the water called Yellowfin. I enjoyed the food, company, and the fact that if I had not already, I was eating in a unique restaurant in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, getting one more county in on my "Maryland Munch" quest to eat at a unique restaurant in every county in Maryland in my lifetime. We had a great time; it was great to see my friends; a lot of who already knew Kay. It was the first time we had celebrated my birthday as a couple, so that was indeed special :)

Afterwards, Walton and I drove home and by the time I got back to my place in Baltimore County, MD, I was pretty tuckered out from a fairly busy, yet terrific birthday. God really blessed it with so many wonderful experiences, memories, and people! Thank you all for reading and being very patient with me these past few months to update. I wish you all well and God's blessings, and I hope to see you all/talk to you all again :)

Running Events I have done as of Saturday, April 25, 2009

January

- Sunday, January 18, 2009 - "Inaugural" All-comers Indoor Track & Field Meet - Thomas Jefferson Community Center, Arlington (Arlington County), Virginia:

1). 1-mile race - 14th overall since some mile times run in other heats were faster than mine, (7th overall in the "Elite heat") - 5:26.7 (not bad considering my shoe came untied around half-way into the race :)

2). 800-meter race - 2nd overall - 2:17.78 (my best time in this event at this track venue and very well-paced too :)

3). 3,000 meter race - 15th overall (13th overall in the second heat) - 11:27.8 (I accidentally ran a lap extra and ran about 3,200 meters worth, and my 3,000 meter split was about 10:46, which would have put me at about 8th overall and 8th in this particular heat. This is also my best time-to-date for 3,000 meters at this track venue :)

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race J )

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race J)

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue :)

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue :)

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue J)

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

March

14). Sunday, March 8, 2009 – Howard County Striders “Operation Iceberg” (Winter Series) Race #8 : Thunder Hill Elementary School 2-miler – Columbia (Howard County), MD – 6th overall – 14:19

15). Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Run4Luck Four-Mile Run – Lancaster (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania – 40th overall – 26:51.55 (I ran negative splits here J)

16). Sunday, March 22, 2009 – Inaugural Break-in the Bypass 5K – Greenmount/Hampstead (Carroll County), MD -10th overall (9th overall if you don’t count the two-person relay team ahead of me) – 19:46 (clock), 19:42ish (watch)

17). Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 4th Annual Keep Your Colon Rollin’ 5K – Jefferson Patterson Park (new course and venue), Saint Leonard (Calvert County), MD – Winner (20-29 age group division winner as well) – 19:35

18). Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 4th Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede 5K Run – Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville (Howard County), MD – 11th overall (20-29 age group division winner) – 18:24.56 (great pacing and my first time running under a six-minute mile in a long while J)

19). Saturday, April 4, 2009 – 26th Annual Stillond-to-Betterton Tree Run – Started in Stillpond and ended at Betterton Beach (Kent County), MD – Winner – 22:42 (as of this race, I can say that I have won a race in all nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore within my lifetime; praise God! J)

20). Saturday, April 18, 2009 – 4th Annual Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day/”Into the Woods” Fun Run 5K – Ridgely (Caroline County), MD – Winner – 17:51 (my best time on the 5K loop there and very nice for me considering I fell during the second half of the race :).

21). Saturday, April 25, 2009 (my 26th birthday :) – 1st Annual Bollman Bridge Elementary School Tech Trot 5K – Jessup/Savage (Howard County), MD – Winner – 19:20 (course went by Bollman Bridge Elementary and Patuxent Valley Middle Schools, where I went to preschool for one year and 6th and 7th grade :)

Please check out the events I did in 2008:

http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2008/12/
not-much-longer-until-2009.html

Please check out the events I did in 2007:

http://runineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2007/09/
i-ran-in-running-event-in-all-of.html

“Maryland Munch” – Unique restaurants I have eaten at within my lifetime throughout Maryland

Allegany County

Anne Arundel County

- Yellowfin – Saturday, April 25, 2009 – Edgewater – Classy seafood restaurant by the water of the South River in Anne Arundel County. It’s right off of Route 2 South before heading over the bridge that crosses the South River. I went here with my brother, girlfriend, and friends on my 26th birthday to celebrate it. I recall having a delicious brie dish with fruit. I enjoyed it, as well as the company and atmosphere. Interestingly enough, there was a wedding/wedding reception in this big room/hall downstairs. Seems like it was a nice place to have one!

Baltimore City

Baltimore County

- Taneytown Deli – Thursday, February 26, 2009 – Catonsville – Nice, quaint little deli and shop tucked away off of Highway 144/Old Frederick Road. One of my co-workers recommended this to me and I went there for my first time with “Maryland Munch” in mind. I had “The Catonsville” sandwich. I think there were slices of turkey breast and ham on it; it tasted pretty nice overall. I probably should have seen what I could have done about getting some cheese on it, but it was fine enough. I also had a black and white muffin and that made for a nice dessert.

Calvert County

Caroline County

Carroll County

- Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Reisterstown/Westminster area – My friends Erica and Josh got married at Life Point Church (which used to be called Carroll Community Church), and then we went to a local country club for a receptoin. The food and appetitzeres were delicious from what I could remember (I apologize, I don’t clearly remember much more). I remember more of the dancing and fun I had catching up with people and friends I had not seen in a while!

Cecil County

- Saturday, May 10, 2008 – North East – After Dr. Daniel Williams and I ran at the Inaugural Run for Reading 4K in Bayview/North East, MD, we went over to a small coffee shop around downtown North East to talk more. Dr. Williams was in town to see family and run that Run for Reading, because after he had run that race in Cecil County, he had completed his goal of running a race in every county along the Mason-Dixon Line. As I recall the coffee and small food (I think I had a cookie, pastry, or something like that) were pretty good. We enjoyed ourselves!

Charles County

Dorchester County

- Saturday, April 14, 2007 – Cambridge - After my friend John and I ran at the Healthy Kids Fun Run at the Dorchester YMCA and Sandy Spring Elementary School in Cambridge, we went out to eat at a small seafood restaurant around downtown Cambridge. This was at the very beginning phases of my first endeavor to run in a running event in every Maryland County in 2007, and that was certainly my first Dorchester County race. I recall they had some nice food here (And I can’t quite remember what it is I had; I wanna say it was some seafood, if not pizza). I don’t think I had much of an appetite after that run, but John and I enjoyed it nonetheless.

- Friday, May 2, 2008 – Vienna – I stopped by this small waterside deli/restaurant in Vienna (I forget what it is called), and I think I had a sub or some kind of a sandwich, and I think I had a soda too. I was headed to Salisbury (Wicomico County) to see some friends and do a race in Crisfield (Somerset County) that weekend, which was why I was over there in the first place. It seemed like a small, more intimate dining place and I remember enjoying the food!

Frederick County

- Sunday, January 15, 2006 – West New Market – My friends, Danny and Brianna, got married this day at this beautiful bed and breakfast place, where we also had the reception. I liked the food there (even though I can’t remember much of what I ate). I remember a very joyful wedding with great dancing, music, and people J

Garrett County

- Jubilee Diner – Saturday, July 26, 2008 – Friendsville – After my first time at Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, MD for this inaugural Adventure Games 10K Trail Run at the Wisp Ski Resort in Deep Creek, I decided to head over to Friendsville, MD around where my friend Phil lives. I knew Phil was working that day, so I decicded to settle in for eating some place by myself. I came by this small, rather dimly lit diner called the Jubilee Diner. I remember the service was great and fairly personable. I know I had a milkshake, and I think I had a burger and fries. I enjoyed the meal quite well as I recall J

Harford County

Howard County

- Timbuktu – Winter of 1997 – Columbia area – I was in seventh grade when I went here for a friend’s Bar Mitzvah reception. I remember eating here and enjoying the company and hte food quite well. I rpobably would have liked the experience a bit more, but my brother and this other guy named Brett were spinning this circular thing around and the next thing I kenw, all these sauces were every on the talbe, and a lot of the people at the table thought it was me. Fortunately none of us got in serious trouble. Looking back, I think it’s funny that that is my most salient memory of eating there.

- Best Hunan – King’s Contrivance Shopping Center, Columbia – Back in my junior year of high school (2000-2001), my friends Brian and Nate would invite me to go with them, and this became our typical hang-out spot. It’s pretty well-lit, comfortable, and intimate. I like the crab rangoons, fried ice-cream on a banana (which I’m not sure if they have), sweet-and-sour soup, beef lo-mein, and some of their platters just to name a few. I still eat here with my friends and it pretty much got me into Chinese food more. I think the last time I ate here was back in 2008, and I probably had beef lo-mein or something like that.

- Forest Diner – 2007/2008 (winter time) – Ellicott City – I ate here with my friend from Salisbury University, Mike one evening. It was pretty small and I think it is closing (or has closed down). The food was pretty nice, and if I know myself, I probably got some burgers, frieds, and a soda (and possibly something for desert). Like typical diners, I enjoyed the food and the atmosphere was relatively quiet with images and set-up to resemble times as far back as at least the 1950’s. I may have eaten here with a couple of buddies from high school back around the August of 2003, or it might have been the Double T Diner nearby in Ellicott City.

- Bagel Bin (Wilde Lake Village Center location) – Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Bagel Bins are one of Columbia, MD’s “best kept secrets” and I would therefore consider it a more “unique” restaurant as it only seems to be in Columbia. I’ve eaten at various Bagel Bin locations (mainly the one at the King’s Contrivance Shopping Center near where I grew up), and I’m a fan of their bagel melts (with melted cheese) and their smoothies (which may only be out in the summer or warmer weather, I’m not quite sure). My most recent time I ate there was after a Saturday morning Bagel Run with the Howard County Striders where we start and end our running routes by the Wilde Lake Village Center’s Bagel Bin, and it was on Saturday, January 10, 2009. I can’t quite remember what I had there that morning, and I was there catching up with someone I hadn’t seen since middle school who was also doing the run. I’m pretty sure I bought a sports drink (like Gatorade) while I was there. I really like Bagel Bin and I definitely came to appreciate it when I would come home on breaks from college at Salisbury University.

Kent County

- Harbor Shack – Sunday, April 22, 2007 – Rock Hall – This was my first visit to Rock Hall, MD and the afternoon I came to visit, I went for a little run around the town and then decided to eat at the Harbor Shack right by the water. It was fairly noisy indoors, but it was not bad and it was to be expected since there was a bar there. It was a fairly nice day out and I think I actually ate outside (I think I bought some nice french fries).

- Durding’s – I think I stop in here every time I’ve been to Rock Hall (and I think I’ve been about five times now). This is a very quaint shop right around the downtown area and it’s a gift sohp with little antiques, gifts, and they sell food (they have nice ice cream as I recall from experience J)

- Java Rock Café – Friday, July 4, 2008 – Rock Hall – I came to Rock Hall on the Fourth of July to run in the 27th Annual Rock Hall Flat Five, and that was a fun race. It ended right by Java Rock Café, and afterwards I went there and got some coffee and possibly a little food too. It’s a pretty small and quaint coffee shop, and I do believe they sell some souvenirs (such as Rock Hall, MD hats and shirts). I had been there before, and that is my most recent memory of being there.

Montgomery County

- Vegetable Garden – May/June, 1999 – I was a freshman in high school when I went with my mom to meet up with my grandma, a relative, and my relative’s friend to celebrate my relative’s graduation (I think it was from high school, if not college). I don’t remember where in Montgomery County this is located, but I’m pretty sure it is in Montgomery County and that the menu is pretty much all vegetable stuff. I was not much into that kinda food at the time, and I rememmber being fairly sleepy from not getting much sleep in preparing for 9th grade finals, but I thought the food was pretty decent considering I don’t normally eat a lot of what was on their menu. Looking back, I’m glad I had the experience and that I got to eat and celebrate with family J

- 2007/2008 – I went with my friends, Aaron and Brian, to this Chinese restaurant in this shopping center in Olney (I think there’s a Cheeburger Cheeburger and a Shopper’s Food Warehouse there now). The Chinese food was pretty good here, and I think we ate here during the winter time. I think I had some beef low-mein. I’ll venture to say that I think when I was in seventh grade, I went to this same place around the winter/early spring of 1997 to get some carry-out from this restaurant. It looks a bit small on the outside, but on the inside it seems a bit more spacious and I’d say it is a more upper class restaurant (then again, I have not had all that much experience with ritzy restaurants).

Prince George’s County

- Don Pablo’s – Summer of 1997 – Laurel area – I remember going here when some relatives from out-of-town were visiting, and I think it was a week day evening. I can’t quite remember what I got, but if I know me and if I knew me back then, it was probably a quesadilla, a taco, or something similar (and I probably had a root beer or some kinda soda to go with it). Great food as I recall, and then again, I usually like just about all Mexican food.

- Silver Diner – Sunday, August 31, 2008 – Laurel – I went with my friends Amy, Kseniya, and Walton to eat here after a fun afternoon and evening at the Six Flags around the Largo area of Prince George’s County. I did not have much of an appetite after all of those rides, and I wanted to take it easy on my stomach, ‘cause I knew I wanted to do the 5th Annual Labor Day 5K Rogue Race the next day in Eldersburg (Carroll County), MD. I think I just got some nice soup and a soda, and possibly more (maybe a desert too).

Queen Anne’s County

Saint Mary’s County

Somerset County

Talbot County

Washington County

- Gracie’s Place – Saturday, March 14, 2009 – I went to the Hagerstown, Maryland location on my way back from running the Run4Luck Four-Mile run in Lancaster County, PA and from visiting Centralia, PA. I ordered a chef sald and thought that I got a lot for about four bucks. It was a great deal, as well as a small, yet very friendly and personalble atmosphere with the help of the kind employees that were there. I may have gotten one or two things on the side, I can’t quite remember. I may go back again if I’m in town J)

Wicomico County

- Hunan Palace – March/April of 2005 – Fruitland – My friend Suzanne and I ate at Hunan Palace; this really nice Chinese restaurant just outside of Salisbury (Wicomico County). Going to school locally at Salisbury University and recently getting a car on campus, I felt like I could “stretch my legs” a bit and check out some of the places around town more. I’m glad we chose this. Even though my stomach was not feeling the best while I was there (which I don’t think had anything to do with the food), I thought it was a great restuarant. If I know me, I probably got some beef lo-mein or something similar.

- Lighthouse Diner II – Salisbury – I’ve been here many of times, and their prices are great for the breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods that they have. I like their hot chocolate, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken soups, and quite a few of their other menu items to name a few. Usually when I go back to visit with friends in Salisbury, a visit here is in order. I wanna say that probably my most recent time here was around Saturday, December 13, 2008 (at least that was the last time I was in town). My friends and I noticed that it was called Lighthouse Diner II, and we sorta have a joke among us to keep our eyes out for the first Lighthouse Diner.

Worcester County

Next race for me should be on my birthday, Saturday, April 25, 2009.....

2009-04-24T04:30:00.000-07:00

Photo of Bollman Bridge Elementary School taken from http://bbes.hcpss.org on Thursday, April 23, 2009.

As some of you know, tomorrow (Saturday, April 25, 2009) is my 26th birthday!!!! Aside from spending time with my family and friends, I hope to do a race tomorrow morning (I'm glad I get to do one on my birthday). There's a new 5K Run called the Tech Trot at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup (Howard County), MD, and this is neat because it's the school where I attended my last year of preschool at, and it's right next door to Patuxent Valley Middle School (where I attended sixth and seventh grade, the latter grade of the two was when I started running consistently with the Howard County Junior Striders in the spring of 1997). This course looks to be a bit hilly according to the course map and based on my experience in running around that area, especially when it goes into Savage (this race goes into the Savage Park a time or two, which is really close to Jessup).
I hear the highs are supposed to get into the 80's this weekend, and I'm likin' the warmer weather for the most part, though I hope it's not too hot or humid for tomorrow morning's race!

All right, thank you for stopping by and I hope that you all have a great weekend :)

April 20th :) :) :) :)

2009-04-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

While some look at this date and find detestable implications behind it (i.e. the Columbine High School shooting around Littleton, Colorado occurred this day ten years ago, and also this is like some kind of pot smoking day), this date is one of the best in my life as well as a spiritual milestone. On Sunday, April 20, 2003 (this was an Easter Sunday), my friend Lydia helped me to come to know Jesus Christ, God's Son, and receive His Salvation :) That was a wonderful night; one that changed my life so much... And still is! This day is very special to me, no matter the negative connotations in 4/20!

Also, in other great news, I'm sure a few of you have heard, I have a girlfriend named Kay now. We went on our first date yesterday evening (Sunday, April 19, 2009) out to Applebee's (and just driving around her neck of the woods), and had a terrific time (and of course excellent company :) We met at a mutual friend's New Year's party on December 31, 2007 (the same year that I first ran in a running event in all of Maryland's counties in a year :). We became pretty good friends, and very recently it seems, we became interested in a romantic relationship. I mean I didn't even plan it yesterday that we would try and take that next step to see if she wanted something more than friendship; it just came up so sudden and it was one of the most excellent surprises I've had in a long time! She's a wonderful woman and we seem to have a lot in common with our faith, values, and things that we like to do. We are looking forward to getting to know each other better in our new relationship. I can't believe that God would bless me with a great woman like this; and us both with a relationship among other things. I don't feel like I deserve it... Then again, that's another example of grace for you: God's favor without having done anything to deserve it... Just like the gift of Salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ :)

Thank you all for reading and sharing in this Good and happy news with me :)

Great cross country/trail 5K run this morning!!!

2009-04-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone, I made it over to Adkins Arboretum in Ridgely (Caroline County), Maryland this morning on Saturday, April 18, 2009 for the 4th Annual Arbor Day Fun Run 5K. It was sunny and warm; great day for a well-shaded cross country and trail run. Like I said, I had run here back in the April of 2007 when they had a 10K option (and I ran the 5K), and I liked the venue and wanted to get back to it. My goal was sort of a long shot; to break 18:26, which had been my 5K split in the 10K on this course. I knew it would be difficult because I was starting to feel thirsty even before the race, I was still coughing, and I had not been running that much these past couple of weeks because of the missions trip and from feeling sick.

We started out going straight, and then making a right and making this lap around this field (the grassy terrain around which was a bit uneven to say the least). After finishing up this lap, I was already huffing-and-puffing (so much for easing into it). I prayed quickly that God would help me maintain as I entered the narrow, but very well-paved and relatively safe trails that I would be on for just about the rest of the race. I started to feel a little bit better on these trails (and I typically don't run trails that well). I still felt like I was pushing the pace and I knew from before that we would be making a couple of loops in these woods before exiting the woods onto the dirt roads that would take us back to the arboretum.

Running over the bridges and up and down the small rolling hills on the dirt trail brought back memories of when I had run there before, and I definitely recongnized this one tree I had run around a couple of years ago (as well as these wooden teepee-like structures in the woods towards the beginning of the race).

When I was coming up towards the end of the second loop in the woods, one of the course marshalls was pointing left, but I saw arrows going straight and I was confused, trying to figure out what was going on, and I was not being that cautious, that I tripped over something and rolled on the ground, having my glasses fall and my car keys fall out of my hands. God helped me to be resilient, and I quickly rebounded almost painless, bent over to grab my keys and looked around for my glasses for a few seconds before finding them in the dirt, and then I put them back on and ran straight (the direction I was supposed to go the second time around). I probably lost about 5 or 6 seconds because of this fall; no big deal I did not think. There was no one around me at this point, so I did not have any other runners to follow, which was one of the reasons I had gotten confused.

Not long after that trip-up, the trail curved to the left and I followed it out of the woods and onto a dirt road that ran around this huge field. I could see the arboretum building far off to the left, but I had a feeling that this dirt road would probably take me a long time around the fields of the arboretum. I ran straight on these fields, feeling thirsty, but not really dehydrated, and I was huffing. I knew from previous experience that I was almost done; I just had to find that dirt road that angled to the left and that would take me straight to the finish line. At one point, I thought I saw the left-hand turn, but fortunately there was a course marshall right there who said it was a little further up. So I went straight a little while longer, and then I made the left turn (and I saw the arrows pointing that direction too). I knew from there, I was almost to the finish; probably about a 1/4-mile away or so. However, I did not feel like I had that much energy to kick it in with. While on this final dirt road, I saw a corner of the arboretum building, in front of which was the finish line. I looked at my watch and it read about 16:47. I knew I was getting pretty close and I had a feeling that I would beat 18:26. I think at that point I prayed that God would help me to finish strong, or break 18. Well, both happened.
When the arboretum building came into full view, I bolted in as best I could and crossed the finish line in about 17:51; my fastest 5K time in a little over three years! However, I suspect that this course may have been a little short, because I did fall at one point and I felt myself backing off the pace at some points during the race. In addition, I don't think I'm in shape enough just yet to be breaking 18 minutes for a 3.1-mile distance. The race staff said that it was a correct distance. Who knows, maybe it was correct, and God really helped me to run a great race (He's certainly done that before, especially when I least expect it). If it was a little shorter than an actual 5K, then I doubt it was by that much. Either way, I enjoyed the event and seeing some friends and people from the Maryland Eastern Shore that I had not seen in a while. This was a smaller race, but I think compared to 2007, this turnout may have been larger than quite possibly the 5K and 10K combined (and that year, the 5K had more finishers than the 10K).

I hope to have some results of this event (or at least the award winners) up on my Caroline County, Maryland Blogspot.Com site (which just has an introduction on it currently) at: http://www.runincarolinecountymd.blogspot.com

Thank you all for stopping by and hope that you enjoy this terrific spring day and weekend! God bless you all :)

Hopin' to get to the Arbor Day Fun Run 5K this Saturday!

2009-04-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Image of Adkins Arboretum building taken on Saturday, April 28, 2007

This Saturday, April 18, 2009, I hope to do my first race in two weeks at the Fourth Annual Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day Fun Run 5K in Ridgely (Caroline County), Maryland right around the Tuckahoe State Park and Forest area. This is pretty much a cross-country/trail race. I ran this race back on Saturday, April 21, 2007 when they had a 10K option as well as the 5K option, and I am grateful I opted for the 10K because I ran 37:59, which is still my best time for that 6.2-mile distance to this day. I remember I hit about 18:26 for the first 5K loop half-way through the race, and I know it seems like a longshot with the shape I feel like I'm in right now, but I would like to break 18:26, God-willing. I was still feeling under the weather today (even though I went to work and then did a rather brief running workout, from which I definitely felt worn out). Still, I think trying to run under 18:26, I'm sure I'll put enough effort in to run a time I can go home happy with. I hope I'm healthy enough to make it to and through the race. I heard they changed the course a bit last year too, so it'll be neat to see that. I think I'll end up being happy just to make it to and through the race, at that. God always has a way of working through my weaknesses, regardless of how I feel or what I think (as evidenced by my recent disaster relief efforts missions trip in southern Mississippi). As a matter of fact, it was not very long ago that I ran the 4th Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede in 18:24 after running a 5K the previous day and feeling tired from that, and after not having run under a 6-minute mile for a while (and 18:24 for the approximate 3.1-mile distance of 5 kilometers means that I averaged about 5:55/5:56-per-mile :) God is awesome, and he helped me to run that way for my level of fitness at the time.
All right, thank you all for stopping by and reading. I hope you all have a great weekend :)

Mission: Mississippi details

2009-04-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

Bottom left, a photo of us on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by a deck platform we were working on, on the right is a photo of us dancing (or "closing down") at the Shed on Thursday evening, April 9, and then on the top left is how the house looked towards the end of our last work day on friday, April 10. You can read more about our progress and see more photos at:
http://mtzionhighland.com/blog/index.php

This blog website during this past week and the photos therein have been largely supplied by John Lindberg, a fellow crew member.

We arrived back in Maryland last Saturday, April 11, 2009 from the Mission: Mississippi mission trip to help rebuild a house that was hit by Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 (and possibly by similar natural disasters). I had gone with a group from Mt. Zion United Methodist Church. We left fairly early in the morning on Sunday, April 5 changed planes at the Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia (not the country, it's towards the southern part of the United States), and then we flew to New Orleans International. Once we landed in New Orleans in southern Louisiana near the Gulf of Mexico, we hit took a little time to walk around the city and go sightseeing before the van drivers (who were in our group and who drove down separately from Maryland) would take us to our camp in Mississippi. I really liked New Orleans; it kind of reminded me a little bit of Los Angeles, California. There were plenty of shops and streets. It was not too incredibly croweded, and the weather was comfortable for walking around (around 80 degrees, humid, and sunny -- yea maybe that's a bit too much heat, but I'd rather that kind of weather than shivering in the cold). This was my first time in Louisiana, and since I like to travel and keep track of places I've been, I found it a fun experience.
We mainly walked around the French Quarter of New Orleans (which apparently is pretty well known). I liked it as well as some of the building structures. While walking along, I noticed a lot of people walking around in athletic gear and with finishing medals around, and I soon gathered that the New Orleans IronMan (or maybe it was Half-Ironman) Triathlon had occurred that morning. It was certainly humid enough for weather to be a challenge, though I'm sure the cooler water would have been refreshing.
We ate lunch at this restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. If you all remember the movie Forrest Gump, the characters Forest Gump and Bubba meet in the army and eventually Forrest Gump helds carry on Bubba's dream of opening a shrimp company. And now they actually have those restaurants for real, and apparently they have at least a few throughout the United States (like I think I heard there's one in Minnesota, California, and possibly North Carolina). The food there was grate (I remember I really liked the Cajun Shrimp). It was fairly greasy in my opinion, but I did not have any issues with that, as I was grateful to have some food and not have a stomach ache afterwards (in light of recent stomach problems, I kinda knew i was taking a risk with that food). After lunch we wandered around some more and I took a couple of nice photos from the outdoor balcony of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

After the sightseeing we rode in the vans (there were four vans between the 32 of us) and drove towards Vancleave (Jackson County), Mississippi, where we would stay in the dormitories of a United Methodist Church's camp. On the way to Vancleave, we stopped at this place called the Shed in Ocean Springs (Jackson County), Mississippi (these places in Mississippi were to the more southwestern part of the state, not too far from the Louisiana state line to the west of Mississippi). Now the Shed was a neat place and those among us who went on Mission: mississippi last year were definitely eager to go to this place called the Shed, and when I got there, I knew why it was called the Shed: From the outside, it looked like a small dive of a restaurant (but on the inside there was more room and tables than there appeared to be). On the outside were a bunch of picnic tables right by an outdoor bar area and a small stage for live performances. The music was pretty festive, and the people there seemed to be a fun-lovin' crowd. From appearances, some people would probably call this place tacky, maybe "redneckish", and that the restaurant actually looks like a shed... As for me, it sounds like my kinda place :) The food there was good. Some of the money we pitched in went towards the buffet we got of roast beef, salad, and other nice foods (I can't remember everything I had there, but I liked the food and the atmosphere).

After the Shed, we drove a little bit further until we got to Vancleave and then we unpacked and got settled into our dormitories. At that point, I think I was starting to feel really tired and I wanted to get to bed. The day before (Saturday, April 4), 2009 I had been busy on the Maryland Eastern Shore, and I had started out there running in the Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run in Kent County, Maryland (which was about 3.6 miles long), and then throughout the day I had a few other things to take care of and some things to straighten out on and off the computer before I left (I did not intend to use a computer or the internet while I was gone), and as a result of getting to bed later than expected and then have to get up fairly early, I think I had gotten a little less than four hours of sleep. Fortuantely, God gave me the strength to stay awake, alert, and able to enjoy the experience of traveling (even though I may have dozed off for a brief few minutes on the flight from Georgia to Louisiana after reading). I dont' remember much about what we did once we got to the camp that first night aside from unpacking and sorting through my stuff and work gear. Needless to say, i did not have much trouble falling asleep that night.

Monday, April 6, 2009 - This was our first day on the worksite, which was about 40-50 minutes away from where we were staying in Vancleave. This house was in a rather remote and shaded area of Lucedale (George County), Mississippi. A previous group had done a great job setting up the foundation/first floor of the house and we were going to continue building off of it. There were not too many of us (myself included) who were that experienced with construction, using powertools, or any of that, but that was okay 'cause there were at least four people among us who participated in building houses and our main project supervisor among us actually has been working in construction for the past several years. So we had some solid management and instruction throughout. We were divided into about four teams (I was on the "Blue Team"). That first day we set up our gear and the project heads examined the blueprints. Each team did not seem to work on too much of a speccidfic task, we all just sort of worked on putting the insides of the walls together, which we hoped to raise in the near future. As I recall, we raised one of the longer ones on the first day, and I think we started to raise one of the shorter ones too. We worked pretty much from about 9 to 5ish before cleaning up and heading back to the camp for dinner (and they did great making homemade breakfast and dinner for us, as well as providing food to make our own lunches with). I'd say I ate more there for breakfast than I would on my own these days (which is beneficial, 'cause I should not be losing too much weight as a result of exercising, an issue I was having a couple of months ago and was one of the chief reasons for my recent break from running). They really treated us very hospitably and kindly; they valued their workers and volunteers for sure, and they seemed very passionate about what God was doing in and around their ministry on the Gulf Coast (and their ministry involved helping to regulate disaster relief efforts in that area of the United States).
Our group ranged in age from high-school age teens to folks who were retired. The evenings after dinner, I would usually play games witht eh youth and younger adults on the trip. Monday, we played a game (I think it was "Catch Phrase"). It was a fun game and I had trouble pulling myself away from it 'cause I knew I had to get to bed early if I wanted to get a good night's sleep (I was still a little tired from the previous weekend's events).

Tuesday April 7, 2009 - I got up at around 5:19 in the morning to use the bathroom and could not get back to sleep. I knew we had to be at breakfast by 7 A.M., and since I wanted to try to fit in a brief run in that day, I decided to throw on my reflective vest and run in the dark for a little bit to get a run in in case the rest of the day got too hectic to fit it in. I ran around the camp, and then down the road to the Vancleave Upper Elementary School (I guess in this area, an "upper elementary school" includes grades 3,4, and 5 while a "lower elementary school" includes grades 1 and 2 and possibly kindergarten", I think someone told me that anyway). I ran around the school's campus a little bit, and then back down the road to finish at the camp in I think just under 19 minutes. By that time, the sun was starting to come out and it looked pretty on the crisp, cool morning. I grabbed a quick shower and made it to breakfast.
When we got to the work site, we on the Blue Team were assigned the task of building a deck with a handicap-access ramp coming from the side of the house down to the front of it (the homeowner was in a wheelchair). We started working on the main deck and finished that up before the work day was over. There were a couple of people in teh group who really seemd to understand what they were doing and we sort of let them take the lead. I found a lot of it confusion, 'cause right now, I have trouble visualziing things (which is probably why I was probably not the best with arts and crafts for one thing). I took orders and spendt a lot of the time hammering (and I discovered the hammer I brought from home was pretty small compared to others, making my job harder, not too mention my hand-eye coordination is not the best all the time and neigther were my hammering skills as a result :)-, drilling in nails, and I looked for opportunities to carry heavy things, something I felt like I could do decently, because I was not too experienced with the other activities with the deck. All-in-all, our first day with the deck went nicely, and I thought we worked pretty well as a team. I think we were patient with one-another as many of us did not have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and we all made mistake or were learning how to use certain tool for the first time.
While we were working on the deck, the rest of the four walls of the house were raised and more people began to work inside.
This was the day I met Betty, the homeowner, and I think she had soem of her family with her. Apparently since her house was wrecked in Katrina, she had been staying with her son. She seemed like a nice lady, and grateful for the work we doing on rebuildling her house. Later on I found out from our trip leader that she was so happy about what we were doing for her that she was in tears. One thing that I found moving about this was when I heard Betty talking to some others in our group and how she was trusting that her property and what had happend was all in God's hands, and that she seemd to take a lot of security in Him. That was a huge blessing to hear, and definitely encouraging as well.
That night we had a big dinner, and maybe I ate too much, 'cause my stomach was bothering me when we were playing this really fun game called "Outburst". I got through the game fortuantely without my stomach causing an "outburst" :)-, and then headed off to bed early. As I was getting ready for bed, I felt a little bit better and by the next morning I was rarin' to go for breakfast and then work. I was grateful for that because I did not want to have another bout of queasiness bugging me while I was trying to help build a house and while I was away from home too!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 (Passover :) - After breakfast, we made a point to leave a little earlier (we had been leaving closer to 8:30 the past couple of days and this time we wanted to leave at 8, 'cause this day was expected to be our busiest day). Mostly everyone was successful with leaving early. Though, the Blue Team was assigned breakfast clean-up duty that morning, so we did not get to the worksite until a little later. No worries about that though, 'cause we knew what we had to do and it was easy to transition into work. We worked on another platform that would connect the two ramps as one ramp came from the deck we built the previous day on the side of the house, and then the other would go to the ground a the front of the house. This deck and ramps would sort of looking like a backwards "L" if everything went right. We did a lot of digging and lifting with this. The photo above in the lower left is one of myself and some of the crew that worked on the deck (we are standing on the lower platform where we planned to have the two ramps intersect).
Also, we were promised a porta-potty at the beginning of the week, but it did not arrive until today. We were happy about that, because before we would have to either find a tree or go into an abandoned and wrecked shop on the other side of this dried-out creek bed, and use the dirty toilet there (I don't think any of us sat down on it). The first day, some of us actually made a special trip to Hardees for a bathroom stop. In addition, there were two of these porta-potties too.
In addition to working on the deck, the tresses for the rooftop arrived, so some people started building up the skeletal foundations for the roof while a bunch of others worked on hanging drywall inside.
We stayed a lot later at this worksite. Before we had worked from about 9-5ish, and this time a lot of people started earlier and we stayed until about 5:30ish (and we usually took our lunch break at around 12:30ish-1ish in the afternoon.
We got back and were late for dinner, but dinner sure tasted good after a long day's work. After that, we had a team pow-wow between the 30+ of us ot process and discuss our progress, our reactions to what we were doin and how challenging some of the work was. We also talked about how grateful Betty and her family were for our efforts and progress too. It was pretty encouraging to go to this and hear from my teammates that they were having similar challenges and experiences that I was. After the meeting, I played hide-and-seek with the high school students, and that involved a lot of running around. Even though Iddi not run nearly as long as I did on Tuesday morning, I still decided to count it as exercise, adn that was pretty much the last time I went running on this trip.

Thursday, April 9, 2009 - As a result of last night's meeting, the leaders decided to make some changes in the groups and switch people up with different jobs, so that the delegation of people to tasks may make the building process more efficient and effective. While I was still a Blue Team member a couple of people were moved onto the decking project, and I was swtiched over to help carry and cut the "hardy boards", these rather cumbersome boards that were also fragile if bumped too roughly on the ground, that were used for the exterior siding. These boards could be difficult to work with, especially since they could easily break under pressure or even dropping them. I did not mind carrying them too much, because I felt like I understood what I was doing with that and with working with them, so I felt a little more confident about that. I helped hold these boards down while some of my teammates measured certain dimensions on it and cut it accordingly to fit around different parst of the house's exterior. I even learned how to measure some of them and cut some of them too. One of the best things I took from this trip was learning how to use new tools and ways to problem solve/correct construction-based errors and mistakes (and believe me, I made quite a few of them, but fortunately nothing too serious).
The deck platforms were pretty much finished and they got a lot of work done on the ramp section that went from the ground to the lower platform that was built on Wednesday. That looked good. Also, people were starting to work on the roof (including some of the youth). It was dfeinitely looking a lot more like a house.
We ended up working really long this day; in fact this may have been our longest day. We got there a little earlier again (well before 9 in the morning, and then did not leave until probably a little after 6 in the evening (and there was still plenty of sunlight out by then). By that time, I was glad it was time to clean-up for the day, 'cause I was getting tired from carrying those boards, as were my teammates. Instead of having dinner at the camp like normal, we had planned to go back to the Shed. By the time we got there, the sun had almost set completely and it was getting dark. Since it was almost the weekend, it was more crowded and we were fortunate enough to be able to find some picnic tables to sit at. I remember I got this really nice beef sald, a soda, and some other tasty side-dish. While we were sitting and eating, it was Country Music Night or something like that (apparently they have it on Thursdays), and I thought that was great since I like to listen to a lot of country (and I've been into it since I was in the eighth grade over ten years ago). They had a few acts (one of the vocalists was a female high school student, and I thought she sang pretty nicely). I recognized a lot of the songs there. Towards teh endof the last rather upbeat live song, people started dancing a little bit on stage, and after that the music was played through the stereo system, and the first song I remembered they played was the rather upbeat, "Fast as You" by Dwight Yoakam, whose a famous country singer. Soon a lot more people got up on the dance fllor in front of the stage, and pretty soon quite a few of us on the missions team got on the dance floor and started boogeying. I tell you, I don't usually see this kind of activity or this kind of restaurant from where I grew up in Columbia, so it was great to experience this kind of laid-back and fun culture.
YEEEHAWWW!!!!
- This was our last scheduled work day, and I was pleassntly surprised that I was not as sore as I thought I 'd be from moving those "hardy boards" around or from dancing last night. We got to the work site, and a lot of us were able to finish our projects, if not, come close. We finished cutting the "hardy boards" and we almost covered all the areas of the house's exterior with them. By the time we did that, our supply of "hardy boards" was pretty much depleted. One hting about using those boards is that since they are delicate, if they are left outside and it rains, the water can ruin it and so we had to take these boards that we did not hang during the day (even if they were scrap that we were probably not going to use), and put them back inside of the house at the end of the work day. Then, at the beginning of th ework day, we would have to carry them out of the house (which was becoming harder to move around in by the day as more interior structures and walls weres being built up, but this was a great problem because we were making progress). Fortunately, I was always able to find someone to help me move them too. We were worried about how rain would affect our project, because rain was forecasted for Thursday and Friday, but fortunately we did not get anything more than a fewsprinkles while driving ot the work site on Friday morning. So the rains, which probably could have made the work more difficult, held off.
By mid-afternoon we were done working with the "hardy boards" and the deck, platform, and ramps were pretty much completed. It looked very well-done and it was great to see something that I participated in helping to start as a finished product with the house. More roofing was going on, and towards the end of the day, they needed more help up there and I decided to take a risk and try working on the roof. This was the first time I could ever remember doing anything on the roof of a house. For the first several moments up there, it was pretty scary, 'cause it looked like I could easily go off the edge (which was certainly a reality), though I was surpirsed how much easier it was to get around up there once I got a bit used to it (even though I moved pretty slowly). APparently a lot of people up there had sneakers, which provided more traction on the roof, and I had my work boots on which, provided less traction. Once someone told me that I should wear sneakers for better traction and once I realized I did ont bring them with me because Idid not intend originally to go up on the roof or use them for the projects, I left them back at the camp. After that, I was a little paranoid about losing my balance, and it kind of made it hard to concentrate as I was hammering in these pretty easy nails into black tar paper on he roof top. Towards the end, I think I got the hang of it, even though I was doing it kinda slowly and like I said before, hammering isn't exactly my strong point. I had to borrow someone's larger hammer too since my smalelr one was making the job harder than it should have been. Still, I was glad I could help and that I survived the rooftop experience. I'm glad getting back down the ladder was easier than I thought (I heard and suspected that it could be kinda tricky). Fortuantely, we had one of the younger workers holding the ladder for us as we got down and some of the more experienced workers were helping us get up and down the ladder.
After getting down, I looked around at the house, which was looking more like a finished product from the foundation/ground level that had been there twoards the beginning of the week. I felt a sense of accomplishment with it, as did many others. While I was up on the roof, Betty had visited and we got to say our goodbyes to her. I remember yelling goodbye to her from the rooftop. That was great that she came out almost everyday we were working to check in on us, and it was just so encouraging to see her happy about it.
Not long after that, I helped clean up, and we left again probably close to or around 6 in the evening, and we got back to dinner late and had some leftovers that the kitchen staff graciously left out for us. After that, we got our gear together, and a lot of us went out to this small local ice cream joint called "Dairy Dream" or something like that. I had a nice oreo cookie "twister", which kind of reminded me of the oreo cookie mcflurries that I'm quite fond of from McDonald's. After that, we headed back to camp and got ready for bed, 'cause we knew we had to get up early to get on the road towards the airport in New Orleans by 6 in the morning.

Saturday, April 11, 2009 - Our team leader had provided us with bagels (and I think some doughnuts) and coffee in the morning, and we ate that before getting our stuff together and getting on the road. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we caught our flight, changed planes at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia again, and then landed in Maryland. We all stuck around in the bagagge claim area, and said our goodbyes to each other as we started trickling out to meet up with rides home or catching shuttles to where we parked. I am going to miss the great people that I met and got to know on this trip, but I'll probably be seeing some of them in the near future this coming Sunday as we meet up with some of the group members who drove separately and took some of our gear back with them on the road so that we did not have to worry about checking them in at the airport/carrying them on the plane. Also, there is a Mission: Mississippi reunion in May that I hope to go. Plus, Mt. Zion United Methodist is not too far from where I live in Baltimore County, MD.

Closing Thoughts - I was really pleased iwth the trip. I felt a lot more confident about doing hte kind of work required for it than I did at the begining of the week. I think it was great how our group, having a wide age range and different kinds of experiences with construction and architecture, as well as different abilities, could come together and produce the awesome progress that we made. I think I mentioned before in my previous blog post that we had gotten more done than was expected. A lot of the roof was done, most of the sides were covered by "hardy boards", the deck and ramps were sturdy and looked well done, and we got a terrific start on the interior rooms and structures of the house (in the last day or so of our work week, we had gotten a bath tub pretty well inside the house as well as just about if not all of the doors and windows installed. Towards the beginning of the week, we built a sturdy wooden scaffolding around most of the house from which we could work from and that connected the deck in the rear of the house to the one on the side that our group built this past week. The house is on the hill, with a steeper elevation towards the back and easy ground-level access to the front door and ramp in the front of the house. It looked nice and I know I took at least one good picture from the front and side of the house before we left the work site on Friday (and hopefully I will upload more photos sometime soon).
Another way that I felt that God was working here was with me and my inner frustrations. And maybe others experienced it too, I dunno. I know I was definitely confused a lot of times in undestanding and analyzing things like measurements, precisely positioning certain pieces of construction, how to properly hold/use some of the tools, trying to listen and understand directions in the midst of a noisy and busy construction sight, and of course, visualizing what we wanted our finished project to look like. I felt like the devil was feeding off of that and bringing up all of these memories and struggles from the past, of the times I got picked on, or struggled in school because I was not coordinated enough (socially, physically), and how sometimes that led to fits of rage and the occasional fight. When doing the measurements, as well as the mathematical/geometrical thinking and visualization, I felt like I had trouble with that and it did not take long to think about all of those math tests I failed throughout grade school, and how I'd constantly come home and struggle with homework as my folks tried to help me with it, and more often than not, it led to feelings of inferiority, stupidity, and anger. Some of those feelings started to come to the surface in me, or at least in my mind, but not really towards anyone, just myself. However, God helped keep me calm and collected, and focused on the goal of rebuilding this house from a tragedy that could not have been prevented. The homeowner could have done nothing to protect Hurricane Katrina from taking out her house, and here I was in a position to work with a team to help her recover her house. I was not going to let these thoughts get the best of me, not when I knew that even in my meager efforts and contributions, that it would be going to a larger whole of working on this house for God's glory. At that point, I wanted to glorify God more than feed into these negativities about my life and past, which would no doubt have kept me from effectively contributing to the team and helping to advance God's Kingdom in this situation. I figured that if Jesus Christ could save me and everyone from our sins by making us right with our creator, God, if Jesus could raise someone from the dead (Lazarus, a gentleman from the New Testament of the Bible), if He could feed thousands of people with precious little fishes and loaves, and if He Himself could come back from the dead and conquer death, then He could certainly help me overcome doubts and weaknesses to help me and everyone else with this project. And I believe He did. I know He has worked through my weaknesses in the past (i.e., He helped me get good grades in my high school and college classes that were challenging, espeically math, He helped me run races in every county of Maryland and Delaware despite a series of injuries, illnesses, and logistical obstacles, and He has helped me impact people's lives beneficially and make new friends even though I'm not always the best at building relationships and in the past I've had troubles fitting in), and I absolutely believe that in my weaknesses God is strong, and whatever strengths I have comes from God and His favor towards me that was won by Jesus Christ sacrificing Himself in my place and rising from the dead to have victory over death and justify faith in Him. I looked at that house that we had made an incredible amount of progress on, and I felt rewarded in knowing that despite all my weaknesses, struggles, and mistakes, I was still able to work with a great group of people to get this done, and God did not allow anyone's weaknesses or shortcomings to interfere! I have a feeling that I am not the only one who has experienced this feeling of victory on this trip either, and I am grateful that this is part of my testimony of how great and powerful our living God is, and how HE can use us at our worst or best to accomplish great things :)

So that's my trip report. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask (preferably sooner than later as some of the details are still fresh in my mind :) If you would like more thorough coverage and great photos of this trip, please to check out Mt. Zion United Methodist Church's blog on this at: http:///www.mtzionhighland.com/blog/index.php

They also have a little bit of coverage at the church's actual website at: http://www.mtzionhighland.com/

The reason I'm able to get all of this out this morning is because I decided to take the day off of work. Towards the middle of last week while I was working, I started sneezing a lot (most likely because of the sawdust and dirt), and for the last couple of days my throat has been bothering me. Yesterday, my right eye was bothering me and now I suspsect I may have pinkeye (which can be caused by allergies). In case I'm contagious, I thought it best to take a sick day, and if anything, I hope the extra rest helps. I can only remember one time when I had pinkeye, and that was back around the winter of 1997 when I was in the seventh grade, and some of what I'm experiencing now are similar to the symptoms I was having then. I'm was blessed to have been able to get an appointment with my doctor for this afternoon on such short notice!

Thank you all for stopping by and reading. I appreciate all of your prayers and support towards this missions trip; I don't think it would have been what it was without God's blessing! I hope that you all had a great Passover and Easter, and hopefully I'll see some of you soon :)

Mission: Mississippi was a success!!

2009-04-11T14:48:00.001-07:00

We just got back to Maryland from our missions trip to help build up a house in Lucedale (George County), Mississippi in the southern part of the United States of America, that had been torn up by Hurricane Katrina and possibly some other natural disasters. I'm almost outta time here at the library, but I just wanted to post and let you all know that we made it back safely, had a great time, and I am looking forward to posting up here in the near future with more details on it as well aso some photos from it and recent races. I'll just say that we made more progress than I think the project heads anticipated, which is great! I hope you all have a blessed Easter and thank you for stopping by :)

I ran from Stillpond, Maryland to Betterton Beach, Maryland :)

2009-04-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone! This morning, I had the privilege to participate in a unique point-to-point race in northwestern Kent County, Maryland (where I have never done a race before): The 26th Annual Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run (which is about 3.6 miles). The weather was sunny, and somewhat warm, but very windy. The first mile on open country roads (which is what just about all of the course consisted of) had a lot of wind resistance, and then as the course shifted a slightly different direction, it seemed to die down a little bit (or else I just got used to it).

Stillpond looked like a really small and quaint town, like many of the ones on the Maryland Eastern Shore. I had never been there, nor to Betterton (where the race ended at Betterton Beach), at least not in my memory. I thought that running under 23 minutes would be a good goal, and going about around 6:10/6:15 the first mile would probably be a nice set up for it. I knew, though, with the wind it would be somewhat troublesome.

The race got off to a good start, and my buddy Steve and I started out in the front and I'm glad that Steve was there because he helped take my mind off the heavy wind and I was able to get through the first mile in about 6:13, about where I wanted even though I was starting to huff-and-puff around then. From that point on, there were no more mile markers, just a straight and slightly curving country road that we ran on from start to finish. At least there were a few steady and rolling hills to break up the monotony of it. Typically I don't run well on those open country roads for long periods of time, because I think it can get monotonous after a while, but like with many things recently, God helped me to maintain and not allow the wind, the reality that I have not been training as much or as intensely as I was before I took my break from exercising, nor much else slow me down.

I passed the sign for Betterton, Maryland in exactly 17 minutes and I knew that I must be in Betterton and that I only had to make it to the beach. Up ahead, there was a steady hill and I heard from a spectator that I was almost there. I remember hearing before the race, that there was a steady downhill right at the end at Betterton Beach, and I hoped that it would be coming up after this hill. As I got to the top of this hill, I was really starting to huff and pant with effort, and even though I knew I was probably not running under a 6-minute-per-mile pace, it felt like it because I was running against the wind. As I got up this last hill, I started praying out loud to God and Jesus to help me through, and to help me maintain this lead that I had. I knew that I was on the verge of having a great race, and possibly winning it, and I did not want anything to go wrong. I kept on praying out loud simple prayers like, "God help me" as I was breathing heavily.
The road flattened out after cresting the top of the hill, and soon after it went downhill. I tried to pick up the pace a bit, pretty much hyperventilating (or so it felt like) and still praying and thanking God for getting me through this. I glanced at my watch and it read 22-something (I think just under 22:20 or 22:30ish, and I had a feeling that I would be able to break 23 minutes) As I dashed down the hill, I noticed the small houses and buildings by the beach and the dark blue water ahead. And just at the bottom of the hill in front of the sand were a bunch of people with finish line ribbons and cones angling left, and so I thought I had to follow the road left, but instead the director said for me to go right and then I saw the finish line ribbon, and I ran through it thanking Jesus for helping with that run as I heard Sue, the race director, yell out "22:42" for my finishing time!
Whoohooo!! I broke 23 minutes, the goal time I was shooting for on this somewhat challenging and windy 3.6-mile course. I know I've run 3.6-mile splits before en route to longer distances that were faster than this, but I was certainly pleased with it! What was really terrific, though, was that this was the first time I have ever won a race in Kent County, Maryland and now I can say that I have won a race in all nine of Maryland's Eastern Shore Counties (Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester) in my lifetime so far, with God's help :) I was very happy about this, and it was great that my friends Susan, Steve, and some others that I knew were there to share in the victorious experience :) The top three males and females, as well as the oldest and youngest runners each won trees. I won a pretty hefty tree that I'm keeping over at my parents' place for the time being until I return from the Mission: Mississippi trip!

All right, I apologize if this appears to be rushed. I hope to have some statistics as well as photos up here sometime soon after the upcoming missions trip. Right now, I am getting sleepy, I gotta get up early, and more over, I am so pumped about the outcome of today's race and seeing some of you there :) Thank you all being there and praying for me. Please continue to pray for us on Mission: Mississippi! Thank you! I hope that you all have a great weekend, upcoming week, and a blessed Easter :)

Running Events I have Won on the Maryland Eastern Shore - God is Good!!!! :)

Caroline County

- Schaffner Printing’s 20th Annual Turkey Trot Two-Mile Fun Run – Saturday, November 19, 2005 – Denton Elementary School, Denton – Winner – 11:54

- 21st Annual Turkey Trot Two-Mile Fun Run – Saturday, November 18, 2006 – Denton Elementary School, Denton – Winner – 11:06 (best time on the course :)

- 2nd Annual Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day Fun Run (10K) – Saturday, April 21st, 2007 – Ridgley – Winner – 37:59 PR (Personal Record/best time in that distance!!!!! :)

- 23rd Annual Turkey Trot Two-Mile Fun Run – Saturday, November 22, 2008 – Denton Elementary School, Denton – Winner (also awarded for winning 20-29 male age group division)– 11:29

Cecil County

- Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area (N.M.R.A.) Fools Frolic 22K (I ran the much shorter 5-6 mile route) – Sunday, April 1, 2007 – Fair Hill/Elkton – First person in, but it was not much of a race, just pretty much me and another gentleman chillin’ and chattin’ our way through – 1 hour, 21 minutes, 55 seconds

- Inaugural Run for Reading 4K – Saturday, May 10, 2008 – Bayview Elementary School, North East – Winner – 13:13 (accidentally cut the course a bit short) As of this race, Daniel Williams ran a race in every Maryland County along the Mason-Dixon Line :)

- St. Roch’s Trail Run 7K – Saturday, July 19, 2008 – Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area (N.R.M.A.), Fair Hill/Elkton – Winner – 51:36 (this was after running a little past the actual finish area :)

Dorchester County

- Dorchester Family YMCA Healthy Kid’s Day Fun Run (1.9 miles, mainly flat cross country) – Saturday, April 14, 2007 - Cambridge – 1st overall – 10:54 (ran negative splits too J)

- North Dorchester High School Eagle Athletics Boosters 5th Annual Eagle 5K Run – Saturday, October 4, 2008 – Hurlock – Winner – 18:49 (as of this race, I ran in a running event in every county of Maryland within 2008; God is Awesome :)

Kent County

– 26th Annual Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run - Saturday, April 4, 2009 – Started in Stillpond and ended at Betterton Beach (Kent County), MD – Winner – 22:42 (as of this race, I can say that I have won a race in all nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore within my lifetime; praise God! :)

Queen Anne’s County

- First annual Run for the Sun/Son 2-Mile Run – Saturday, September 23, 2006 – Old Love Point Park, Cross Island Trail, Stevensville – Winner – 13:49 (first mile in 8:58ish, last mile in about 4:51, my best mile time off of a track :)

- Shore Christian Fellowship Church’s inaugural Race to Impact (10K) – Saturday, March 24th, 2007 – Chester/Kent Narrows/Kent Island (it was all on the shaded Cross Island Trail) – Winner – 38:51

- 5th Annual Jingle Bell 5K Run – Saturday, December 8, 2007 – Kent Narrows – Winner – 16:29ish (definitely shorter than 5K)

- A Day at the Races – Saturday, March 29, 2008 – Queen Anne’s County High School, Centreville:

- 5K (on the high school cross country course) – Winner – 18:59 (probably a little shorter than a 5K, somewhere between 3 and 3.1 miles)

- Kennard Alumini Association 5K Walk/Run & Family Day (new course this year) - Saturday, June 14, 2008 – Kennard Elementary School, Centreville – Winner – 19:20

Somerset County

- 1st annual McCready Health Services Foundation’s Founder’s Day 8K Run & 2-mile walk – Saturday, May 6, 2006 – Crisfield – Winner(8K) – 27:31 (it was measured out to be approximately 4.2 miles :).

- 59th Annual National Hard Crab Derby, 27th Annual Mike Sterling 10K (improvised 5K course out-and-back on Route 413 because some parts of the 10K were flooded) – Saturday, September 2, 2006 – Crisfield – 1st finisher – 29:06

- 2nd annual McCready Health Services Foundation’s Founder’s Day 8K Run & 2-mile walk – Saturday, May 5, 2007 (El Cinco de Mayo) – Crisfield – Winner(8K) – 31:58 (ran faster there this year than last year :)

Talbot County

- Oxford Day 10K – Saturday, April 28, 2007 – Oxford – 1st overall – 38:35 (big improvement over last year’s 42:04 here, and a well-paced race on a relatively short amount of sleep :)

- Talbot Kids Fun Run (advertised as three miles, but most likely much less) – Saturday, March 8, 2008 – North Easton Sportsplex (on the Rails-to-Trails), Easton – Winner – I probably ran low-to-mid 14’s based on the times of other runners (the event was not timed and I did not have my watch running during this event)

- 7th Annual Fall into St. Michaels 5K Run/Walk – Saturday, October 25, 2008 – St. Michaels Elementary School, St. Michaels – Winner – 18:54 (I accidentally made a wrong turn towards the end of the race, but this is the race where I finished out my half-year endeavor; praise God! :)

Wicomico County

- Salisbury University Spring Olympics Ten 5K Run event (or it may have been 3 miles) – Saturday, mid-April, 2004 – Salisbury University campus (“Turkey Trot” course), Salisbury – Winner – 17:51 (best time on the course :)

- 3rd Annual Jerry Daniel Landsman (J.D.L.) 5K Run – Saturday, last weekend in April, 2005 – Salisbury University campus (almost similar to the “Turkey Trot” course, except you do not go around the Devilbiss Hall, but I did that anyway without knowing the course was in fact shorter, and a lot shorter than a 5K, I’m sure), Salisbury – 2nd overall (because I went longer), but I was awarded as the winner anyway ‘cause I led by a lot the whole time – 18:14ish

- Funny Bunny 5K Run – Saturday, April 1, 2006 – Salisbury – winner – 18:45 (not bad considering I ran an “in’s-and-out’s” workout at the track for track practice the previous afternoon :)

- Salisbury University Spring Olympics Twelve 3-mile/5K Run – Saturday, April 28, 2006 – Salisbury University campus (“Turkey Trot” course) – Winner – 18:22 :)

- Hunter’s Mill neighborhood Family Fun Run (5K) – Saturday, May 20, 2006 – Hunter’s Mill neighborhood, Salisbury – Winner – 18:52 (my watch), 18:51 (clock) This was my last race before graduating from Salisbury University :)

Worcester County

- Francis Scott Key Family Resort “Dash and Splash” Run/Walk Series 5K Race#3 at Stephen Decatur High School (on the track) – Saturday, June 30, 2007 – Berlin – Winner/only finisher – 18:52 (clock), 18:50 (watch) – Finished out the Maryland Eastern Shore portion of my 2007 endeavor with this event :)

- 8th Annual Pink Ribbon Classic 5K – Saturday, October 18, 2008 – Ocean City – Winner – 18:36

- Lower Shore Delmarva Family YMCA Inaugural “Jingle all the Way” 5K Run/Walk (it was actually measured out to be around 3.2 miles; a little bit more than a 5-kilometer distance) – Saturday, December 13, 2008 – Pocomoke City – Winner – 20:29

Endoscopy has gone pretty nicely...

2009-04-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

I had my endoscopy earlier this afternoon, and fortunately they have found nothing out-of-the-ordinary. The gastroentenerologist is still looking at a couple of things and I hope to meet with him in the next few weeks if possible (we'll probably meet sooner if something serious arises). The last thing I remember before I was put asleep anaesthetically, was them positioning me on my left side, putting a mouthpiece in my mouth and the anesthesiologist jokingly saying, "okay, no more talking.... Goodnight."
Next thing I knew was that I was laying on my back on the same moveable hospital bed and feeling quite groggy. My dad picked me up and I'm staying over at my parents' house tonight (since I'm not allowed to drive for the rest of the day).
Thank you all for your prayers on this. After laying down for a bit, I am feeling quite a bit better now; just hungry from not eating since yesterday and not drinking fluids since earlier this morning (which was a pre-test requirement). I am hoping to make it to work tomorrow; the last day of school for the Howard County, Maryland Public School System before spring break. The following day I hope to do that Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run in Kent County, MD (which is said to be a race distance of approximately 3.6 miles). Then, I plan on spending a majority of my spring break in Mississippi to help build a house as part of hurricane relief efforts constantly occurring in the southern part of the United States of America. I am going with the church that helped put on that Mission Mississippi Harvest Run 5K on Saturday, November 15, 2008 in Howard County, Maryland. I ran that race, took the lead, accidentally went the wrong way, and then by God's grace, narrowly reclaimed the lead and won it. They put that race on to help raise funds for Mission Mississippi; a missions trip to Mississippi that I opted to join them on.
I think mentioned on here at some point that back in January of 2006, I went to Biloxi, Mississippi on a missions trip to help with deconstruction after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding areas. Upon leaving there, I still saw a lot of destruction and I knew that theere was still plenty of work to be done, and I wanted to go back and help more. When I found out about Mission Mississippi through this race, I kept in contact with the folks involved and through a series of meetings, I was on their waiting list and fortuantely they were able to find a spot for me to go.
Our flight leaves on Sunday, April 5 and then we return on Saturday, April 11. I think it's really nice that I was able to find another opportunity to help out with these hurricane relief efforts, especially one occurring over my spring break :) If you all can, please keep Mission Mississippi and myself in prayer as we travel to, througout, and return from this missions trip. I hope that we can help these people in need and effectively demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ in an unconditional and realistic way. I doubt I'll really have any internet access there, so I probably won't get to blog about it while I'm there until I return.
All right, I'm gonna go take care of a few things. Thank you all for reading, and thank you in advance for your prayers, support, and encouragement. Have a good night :)

Update of the last few races

2009-03-29T07:51:00.001-07:00

My buddy Chris took this photo of me after finishing the 4th Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede 5K in Marriottsville (Howard County), Maryland on Sunday, March 29, 2009

Hey there everyone; it's been over a week since I've posted and since then I've done three 5-kilometer (approximately 3.1 miles) races. The first one of these I did was a mere few days after I had that stomach bug, and it was the first annual Break-in the Bypass 5K Run in the Greenmount/Hampstead area of Carroll County, Maryland on Sunday, March 22. I was going for low 21's, maybe mid-20's, and I was blessed to have done quite better. It had some fairly challenging, gradual hills on the open out-and-back course. I went through the first mile in 6:06, which surprisingly did not feel as hard as I thought it would. I slowed to about 9:56 at the half-way turn-around point. However, there was a nice downhill just after this turn-around and it helped me keep up a great momentum, and I ended up running a little faster the second half to finish in about 19:42 (the clock got me at 19:46, and I expected that since I started about four seconds late since I started a little later than I meant too, 'cause I started in the middle of the pack and I was not really paying as much attention as I should have to the race start :)- The post-race was fun; I saw a few friends and got to catch up with them. It was a nice come-back race from a stomach bug as well as my first 5K run in almost two months.

The next Saturday (March 28, 2009 I ran another race in southern Maryland: The 4th Annual "Keep Your Colon Rollin' 5K" at a new location at the Jefferson Patterson Park in Saint Leonard (Calvert County), Maryland. The evening before, I went out with my roommates to a new local Mexican restaurant in Baltimore County, MD and the food went down fairly well (it had been one of my first times in a while I've had Mexican food; I tried an inexpensive torta and it was delicious). However, the next morning I had like four bowel movements before the start of the race. I won't go into anymore detail about it, but it was not diarrhea and I was not feeling sick. In fact, I think it was definitely better for me to get that out of my system. Needless to say, my "colon was already rollin' pretty good" by the time I got to the "Keep Your Colon Rollin' 5K" :)-
This race was on a cross country country course with various terrains (in fact, according to one person, the terrain changed six times just within the first mile. Well after the running through that first mile in about 6:09 and fighting to keep my balance through some of it, I believed them.
I remember starting off on a field, going onto a paved footpath briefly, and then coming into a pretty muddy section of the field, and then there were some dirt trails too I think just before the first mile mark. Then, I think shortly after the one-mile, we ran through the sand briefly on this beach and crossed over this small wooden bridge. That was one of my favorite parts of the race, just because of the scenery.
Not long after the beach, there were some fairly short, but somewhat challenging hills. This one hill in particular was a lot of fun going down it towards the water, but just after the turn-around at the bottom, coming back up it was pretty tiring. After that, we ran straight along this field, which was kind of weird because it was sloping to my left and I felt like I was kinda running sideways. I didn't realize it (or maybe I did and I just don't remember it), but apparently I ran by a cannon around this point, because I checked the website for the Calvert County Health Department (http://www.calverthealth.org) and it showed a photo of me running by it while I was checking my watch. And on that note, as this stretch of field gradually descended downwards, I went through two miles in about 12:39, which was a little slower than I wanted to be because I was trying to break 19:30, and for a 5-kilometer (approximately 3.1-mile distance), it takes about a 6:17-per-mile pace to do that and I was going at about a 6:19 pace. It was a bit of a slow-up from the 6:09 pace I went out at, but at that point I was just getting ready to finish. Though, I knew that if I stayed under a 6;20 pace, I would finish out a little faster than teh 19:42 I had run the previous Sunday at the Break-in the Bypass 5K in Carroll County, MD. However, I felt that my energy was beginning to wane. Fortunately, my buddy Perry was catching up to me and this helped motivate me to keep pushing. Not long after the second mile, like fourteen minutes-and-some-odd seconds into the race, we ran close to the finish area and I thought that maybe the course was way short, but the course kept going around that field we ran through near the beginning... The one with the slippery mud where I almost fell like at least three times!
Well, as I ran around this field, I knew I was getting closer to the finish. I felt a bit frustrated and anxious as I tried to pick it up, but I could not seem to speed up as the slippery mud seemed to mess up my momentum. Fortunately, I got through this section of the field without taking a face plant, and once I made a right turn back onto that paved path we ran on at the beginning of the race, I was able to pick up the pace a little bit again (even though I was pretty tired trying to hold my balance while running through some of the more challenging parts of the course). Towards the end of the path, I went through two miles in about 19:02, and I knew if I really worked at kicking it in, I could beat last week's 19:42, and as I made a left onto the field with the finish line on the other side of it, I dashed across it, hoping and probably praying that I would not fall and I crossed the finish line in 19;35. I was pretty happy with that time and that I had run about seven seconds faster than last week on a fairly challenging cross country course (well mainly challenging because of the wet conditions). And wouldn't you know it, I don't think I was having quite as many bowel movements for the rest of the day than what I had that morning (if any). I guess that "Keep Your Colon Rollin'" kept my colon from rollin' a bit too much :)-
I really liked that course despite how slippery it was in some areas. I'm glad I was able to run like I did, and Perry ran well too after two or three weekends in a row of running one-to-two races with a couple of marathons thrown in. There was a barn building we all hung out in before and after the race, and I thought it was a nice place, and the park seemed pretty with a great view of the water right near by (and it was overcast also).

The next morning (Sunday, March 29, 2009) I woke up and had a few bowel movements (maybe it has been because of my recent stomach issues, recent running activity, diet/the recent Mexican food, who knows) before going to Marriottsville (Howard County), MD for the Fourth Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede 5K Run that started and ended around Marriotts Ridge High School. This was my first time running this race, and while I would typically expect the rural area of western Howard County to be rather hilly, it was not nearly as hilly as I thought it was. In fact, this looped course was rather conducive to running great times, even though it was damp, overcast, cool, and sprinkly. All-in-all, I thought the running conditions were all right and no one was seriously injured that I noticed. Plus, the course was on roads versus multiple terrain like the previous day's Keep Your Colon Rollin' 5K.
I came to the race feeling tired from not sleeping as much as I wanted too, the previous day's race, as well as probably a little bit from the three bowel movements I had earlier that morning (again I was not feeling sick, I just had to go to the bathroom a lot). I had somewhat faint hopes of running under 19:30, but if that didn't work out, I was not going to sweat it 'cause I was plenty pleased with my race at the Keep Your Colon Rollin' 5K (and not to mention that pace from the second mile was even, and if not, I picked it up a little bit).
The race started on Marriotts Ridge High School's outdoor track, then out into the parking lot, and soon out onto Highway 99/Old Frederick Road that runs right past the school. Pretty much a majority of the race was on a loop of these country roads. This first mile had a couple of steady uphills at least, and a good amount of downhills and flat areas. I was surprised that I hit about 5:54 for the first mile, as this was my first sub-six-minute mile I've run since I started back running earlier on in March. Though, I was even more pleasantly surprised when the second mile (which hardly had any uphills if any) had a lot of steady downhills and I ran my second mile faster than my first to go through two miles in about 11:36. I was encouraged by this, knowing that there were going to be some steady uphills coming back towards Marriotts Ridge High School in the third mile. Indeed there were a few, but it was not as bad. As I made a right towards the parking lot of the high school, I was praying that God would help me maintain, and He did as I went through three miles probably in the low-to-mid 17:40's and finished in 18:24, my first sub-19-minute and sub-6-minute-per-mile-paced 5K of 2009! I was definitely not expecting that so soon after getting back into running earlier in the month, and it is neat 'cause it takes about a 5:56 pace to hit 18:24 for about 3.1 miles, and since I went through the first mile in about 5:54, my average pace-per-mile was barely slower than what I went out at. I thought that it would be a slimmer chance to break 19:30, and instead I ran under 18:30, over a minute faster than yesterday :) God is amazing in how He works through us and does not allow our weaknesses to get in the way of Him strengthening us :)
In addition, the Mustang Stampede 5K was significant, because as of this race I can now say that I've run a race at or in the vicinity of every public comprehensive high school in Howard County, Maryland (there are 12 in this county, with Marriotts Ridge High School being the newest, and the other 11 being: Atholton, Centennial, Hammond, Howard, Glenelg, Long Reach, Mt. Hebron, Oakland Mills, Reservoir, River Hill, and Wilde Lake). I was not trying to go after that goal, but after years of running in different high school cross country and track meets as a student and runner for Hammond High School, I guess sooner or later I would end up doing races in the vicinity of these schools if I just kept it up. I'm grateful that I ran so well for my level of fitness, in running a race at the only Howard County public comprehensive school I had not run at or near before :)

Next race I hope to do is this Saturday, April 4, 2009 on the Maryland Eastern Shore in Kent County. I'm hoping to make it to the 28th Annual Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run. This race is a unique distance of about 3.6 miles, and apparently you start in Stillpond and end at Betterton Beach. I've never done it before, and am looking forward to givin' it a shot :)

Hopefully I can make it to that race. I have that endoscopy that I think I've mentioned before; it's a scan/test in relation to my recent stomach... issues. My health has been holdin' out pretty nicely since I had that stomach bug the other week. This test should be interesting, as they are going to put me to sleep. I don't believe I have ever been given any kind of anaesthesia that has put me to sleep, though I suppose there is a first time for everything, like the first time I ran races in some of the counties I ran in when I first got interested in trying to run one in every Maryland county ;)

Thank you for reading and for praying for me. I hope that this procedure goes well and that I can make it to and through the Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run, and do some other things I have coming up in the near future (which I hope to mention in the near future). I gotta get rollin' to the doctor's office now for the endoscopy. Thank you all again for stopping by and God bless :)

Controversial newspaper article; your ideas are certainly welcome!

2009-03-19T10:17:00.001-07:00

Hey there everyone, I am feeling a little bit better today compared to yesterday. I am actually able to sleep decently after a nice nap, and I'm able to stomach more of my "jail bird" diet of water, crackers, bread, and now I've thrown in dry cereal as well as ginger ale of course. Thank you all for praying for me for those of you who have been!
On the note of prayer and spirituality, almost a month ago I came across a letter-to-the-editor in the Columbia Flier; a local newspaper from where I grew up in Howard County, Maryland. This particular letter-to-the-editor article is from teh Thursday, February 26, 2009 edition and it is in reference to the Road Runners Club of America Ten-Mile Club Challenge road race that I've done in the past and that I helped out at a little bit this year on Sunday, February 22. The person writing the letter appeared to be frustrated with the fact that the race route got in the way of church traffic. I think you can see why this interests me as a Christian and an avid runner/racer. Below is my re-typed version of this article, verbatim:

"Police, runners disrespectful of sabbath and church-goers"

"I can't express strongly enough the rage I felt on Sunday morning toward the runners and the planners of the running event that took place along Owen Brown Road Sunday, with their profound disrespect for Christianity. Worse yet, the Howard County Police were blocking traffic, keeping drivers from getting to church and giving runners' safety higher priority.
This outrage has happened many times before in Howard County, with public roads wrongly blocked for runners. It is wrong when there are perfectly good tracks for runnign or sidewalks and paths to use. Roadsare meant for vehicles and it is wrong to keep drivers from reaching their church witht he wrongful help of the Howard County Police. IT is a misuse of police resources.
Howard County puts out signs that say "Choose Civility," but I guess those are just empty words when runners fail to keep the Christian Sabbath holy! I don't like going to church feeling angry and wanting to smite all of those involved. Sure, I am supposed to love my enemy, but that isn't easy to do when you feel that you've been wronged intentionally. At the very least, planners should not route runners past churches on Sunday."

Strong words from an empassioned Christian. I definitely commend the gentleman who wrote this for expressing his views, however, after reading this and coming to my own conclusions I found that based on my experience with this particular event as well as other Sunday morning races, I disagreed on some points with this gentleman, I agreed on a couple of other things and came up with a couple of ideas that could help remedy the situation a bit (even though I have nothing to do with directing this race), and I felt a little bit convicted too. Here's what I have to say.

First, I would agree that it is unfortunate that traffic going to churches (or anywhere in general) had to be slowed/re-routed due to the race; that's just what happens with these kinds of events. I also think it was worthwhile to point out that there are sidewalks and bike paths for runners to use locally, though of course with this particular event of ten miles, roads had to be used as well (especially during the first couple of miles with the Owen Brown Road that he mentioned).

Now the most significant point in this letter that I disagree with right off was his opening statement and anything similar throughout the article that said that the runners and planners of this 10-mile race wree disrespecting Christianity profoundly. Apparently we were not being civil, perhaps we are trying to become "enemies" and actively working against Christianity (well that 's what the writer was suggesting). I can say from experience of running Sunday morning races for years before and after I came to Jesus Christ and was saved, that I have never been to a running event on Sunday morning that was scheduled just to thwart Christianity and aggravate its followers; I guess it just happens to fall on a Sunday for whatever reason. I tell you, if I ever did come across a "Run against Christianity 10K" or a "Let's mess up church traffic 5K"; I would use their race flyers as toilet paper. However, like I said, that is not the intention of those Sunday races I've been too; the Road Runners Club of America Ten-Mile Club Challenge being no exception. That race in particular has been going on for years; being one of Maryland's more popular races and drawing people from all over Maryland and beyond! That being a larger race, it's harder to have it confined to sidewalks and bike paths, which is unfortunate for the whole runner-traffic dynamic.

I know that some of the people who participated in this event are Christians as well. One of my buddies took a shower in the Howard Community College where the race starts and ends, and was dressed in his Sunday best. Another woman I met earlier that morning while help out at one of the water stops actually told me she was going to church after the race. As for me personally, I tend to go to a young adult service (it's called Fusion) on Sunday evenings, so it's great I can do that in addition to doing Sunday races. Also, my church has a service later on Sunday mornings, so I have options. However, I know it is not like that for everyone, and for me personally, more often than not, if I attended church with only an early morning service option and it conflicted with a lot of the races, I would probably attend the church more often. Of course, I'm not gonna lie and pretend that I would not pass up church for the occasional Sunday morning race that appears really interesting to me. Though, I'm not gonna judge other Christians who would pass up church every now and then for a Sunday morning race or other significant events; it's their decision. Sometimes things come up and I feel that God blesses people with certain interests, abilities, and passions to glorify Him (such as with running), it's just important not to let that come between you and Him (a rather simple lesson that I've been learning a lot recently). Also, God loved us that He sent Jesus Christ to take our punishment for our sinful nature and actions; a sacrifice in our place we did not deserve. This was an act of saving grace to bring us back to God in the perfection of His Son, Jesus, who took our place. There was nothing we could have done to earn this; no ritual or sacrifices we could have brought to escape God's judgement on us for our sins. He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, so that His perfection could take the place of our iniquity and imperfections, and we could be seen by God as purified and holy, while Jesus took on our sins and bore our punishment for us on the Cross. Fortunately, a few days later , He rose again from the grave and is alive. Therefore, we are saved by grace of a living and active Savior, and not by our actions or activities (such as how often we go to church or how many different Bible studies we go too). Also, it does not matter how how fast you run, or how successful you are at your job, or how much you excel in your vocation, at least as far as salvation is concerned: What matters most is that God loves us, and our need for redemption being met for us in sending Jesus Christ out of His love for us and His desire to see us made right with Him.
I am definitely not discouraging people from going to church or Bible studies, possibly even from going more than once a day or once a week, but I think that if on occasion you miss those kinds of things for other things, it does not change the fact that god is in control, He is in love with us, and what He has done for us out of that love. I think church and fellowship are mighty important, and I think that every believer should at least be involved in some form of fellowship to hear the Gospel being preached, understand the Word, and grow in general through teaching and fellowship with other believers. That's my personal conviction, but that's why I do not hold it against others who may not go to church everyday for one reason or another.

One final thing that stuck out to me as a little strange was the last sentence in the first paragraph that reads, "Worse yet, the Howard County Police were blocking traffic, keeping drivers from getting to church and giving runners' safety higher priority." I may be mistaken, but I think it's the police's main duty in an event like a running race to prioritize the safety of the participants. However, if an emergence vehicle had to get through on this race course, the participants should give them the right-of-way. I think maybe what he was getting at was that since there are tracks, sidewalks, and bike paths to run on, runners in a race should not run on the roads, and therefore there should be no use of the police on the roads, so that the police could be better used elsewhere to avoid a "misuse of police resources" as the writer put it.

Now, the one thing I felt convicted about was the part towards the end of the article in keeping the Christian Sabbath holy. You know what, God wants us to be keep it holy adn I'll be the first to admit that I don't for so many reasons and in so many ways. I do homework on Sundays, I do yardwork on Sundays, and of course I do races on Sundays, just to name a few. However, the way I justify doing that is that sometimes Sundays are the only times I can get those things done (especially when it involves helping others), and sometimes if I don't, I'll have problems on my hands and it will make the rest of the week a lot more hectic and difficult because I put off doing things or errands that I could have gotten done on sunday. As for running, while it is hard work physically on the body, I usually find it fun and I would choose to go run or do a race over a lot of other things I could be doing in my freetime, so I don't look at it as "labor" so much as I do "diversion", and of course I hope to glorify God with all that He has given me in my health, abilities, and passions!. On sundays I have spent quiet time with God and been to church often, so it's not like I completely block Him out either; I'll just admit that I probably do not honor the Sabbath like I could and I see this as an opportunity for me to check out what the Bible says on it and learn some new things. As for running, while it is hard work physically on the body, I usually find it fun and I would choose to go run or do a race over a lot of other things I could be doing in my free time, so I don't look at it as "labor" so much as I do "diversion", and of course I hope to glorify God with all that He has given me in my health, abilities, and passions.

Finally, here are a couple of solutions/things that I've questioned that I've thought of. These could very well have been thought of, questioned, or brought up before, but I'm gonna write it anyway.

- First, and probably a more obvious thing that this has led me to question is why can't this race just be on Saturday? I know for years that this race seems to fall on Sundays; I don't know if there is a special reason for it. If this race was moved to a Saturday, I would certainly encourage and support that, because that way it can draw more participants who would pass up on the race to go to church on Sudnay, and it would not get in the way of Sunday morning church traffic either. Also, I may not be an expert on this, but growing up in Columbia and being with the Howard County Striders for the almost twelve years that I have been running, I can't think of any other local running event that occurs around the same time as this 10-miler that would conflict with it/divert interest away from it, if it got moved to a Saturday. To be honest, I don't think it would hurt my feelings at all if Sunday races were all moved to Saturday (even though it would have made things extremely difficult with my recent endeavors to run in running events in every county of Maryland and to do over a hundred of said events in a year, 'cause I definitely have been known to run a race on both days of the weekend). Anyway, I think that is a simple and obvious solution to the problem.
Of course, there is probably a reason why moving it to Saturday would not work (or did not work if it had been done in the past). There are probably other groups who would be offended if it were to be on Saturday instead of sunday, because it may conflict with other kinds of traffic. I dunno, maybe I'm being over-analytical. I just think if it is the Sunday morning church commuters who have an issue with it, I think it would be an easier fix to move it on Saturday (not to mention if it was moved to Saturday, runners and staff at the event could have Sunday to relax/recover before entering a busy school or work week). One terrific thing I like about the Howard County Striders is that they have Sunday "weekly series" races during the fall, winter, and spring, and I grew up doing them. However, these occur on Sunday afternoon, so as not to conflict with much church or other religious services. Who knows, maybe making this 10-miler a Sunday afternoon event may not be that bad of an idea either.

- Another solution that I think could work (if it has not been done already), is to notify churches and other places along the route about the race very FAR in advance, adn to let them know to let the commuters coming to their buildings know that they should expect some delays in getting to those places because of the event. That way, the commuters can plan to leave and get to their destination earlier, possibly even before the race starts (or take an alternate route). This puts the onus on the race staff to make sure they are properly coordinating with the local community, and on the leaders of organizations (like churches) to warn their members ahead of time to plan ahead to try and leave earlier or take another route. I am sure this is done to some degree already.

All right, thank you for stopping by and reading this post. I would actually like to know what you all think when you get a chance. You can leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at: noahwood@juno.com
I am very interested in hearing what you have to say if you'd like to volunteer any comments as well as just different perspectives in general. You don't have to agree or disagree with anything I've said; I just want to hear some different takes on it, 'cause I think I may even be able to benefit and learn something from it. I typically am not into all this controversial stuff, but when I see these two things that I feel really passionate about coming into contention, it definitely gets me thinking. I'm not gonna lie, I felt a bit outraged when first reading this article and the writer seemed to accuse the runners of actively disrespecting Christianity, while I knew that was not their motives (well I'm sure at least for most of them). However, I do respect him for bringing it up nonetheless, because it did lead me to question some things to see how this situation can be made better through doing things like maybe making the race on Saturday instead of Sunday. Ever since I saw that article in the paper, I knew it would be worthy material for this blog. Running is important to me, and so is church/fellowship, and I know people from each camp (some are involved in both like myself), and I feel this gives me a little more confidence in speaking my mind about it. Over all this, God is the best and in charge, and ultimately Him, His Kingdom, and His love are much greater than this and will prevail :)

Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day :)

Pennsylvania trip was fun!

2009-03-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

Crack around Highway 61 in Centralia, Pennsylvania, 'cause by horrific underground mine fires in the early 1960's. Photo taken from http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/the-story.htm

Hey there everyone; I hope everyone is well and staying healthy. I actually seem to have a bit of a stomach bug today and since I seem to be feeling a little bit better than I was before, I figured I'd sue some time to update (afterall, I requested to take a sick day tomorrow at work, 'cause it's been my experience with these stomach viruses that they can take a while to thoroughly recover from). It's funny to think that a little over two years ago (Wednesday, March 14 into the morning of Thursday, March 15, 2007), I was sick where I was throwing up a couple of times (probably from food poisoning). I remember feeling prety sick and demoralzed from thinking I could ever run strong again; however, God had other and better plans and a couple of days later I was running pretty well and then about a week-and-a-half later, I ran the Inaugural Race to Impact 10K along the Cross-Island Trail in Queen Anne's County, Maryland on Saturday, March 24, 2007, and event that helped set off a series of events that got me to set up this blog on on attempts to run in running events in every county of Maryland. And to think just a short while before I thought I would not recover from that illness. That helped keep me motivated as I am sick in a fairly similar way this time around, and I feel God's comfort and Him helping me to recovery. In other words, I feel much more encouraged this time around. I just hope this is actually a stomach flu thing and not my stomach issues that I've been getting tested for getting worse. We'll see how that goes.

I did make it up to and from Centralia (Columbia County), Pennsylvania this weekend for my first time. I was interested in seeing the town because it has the reputation for being a "ghost town" as a result of mass evacuations from horrible underground mine fires that started accidentally in the early 1960's (this area of the state is apparently big with anthracite mining, or at least it was at one time). There are now about 13 residents in the town according to one of the friendly locals I met there. Still some tourists pass through it as well, even though some of the steam coming up from holes in the ground from the constantly burning fire can be gaseous. I was blessed to have made it to, through, and back just fine (well so far anyway).

I first heard about Centralia several months back through the fictitious horror movie, "Silent Hill", which takes place in a town called Silent Hill, West Virginia. I actually liked the movie to some extent and I thought it would be cool to see where Silent Hill actually was in West Virginia, so that may be I could do a race around there sometime, and of course I found out that Silent Hill was merely a fictitious town. However, it was based off of Centralia, Pennsylvania with the tragic mine fires (in the "Silent Hill" movie, the mine fires helped make Silent Hill the ghost town that it was :)- Needless to say, I was grateful to have a bit of time to myself this time around and go visit.

Before I headed towards this more central area of Pennsylvania, I stopped off in Lancaster (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania to run in this race called the Run4Luck Four-Mile Run (I figured hey, I might as well try to stay true to one of my favorite hobbies en route Centralia, which I'll admit I was nervous about visiting because of the gases from the fires). Anyway, I was hoping to do under 29 minutes for this fairly hilly course that went through mostly rural neighborhoods. However, I was blessed with a pretty nice race for me coming back into shape. I went through two miles in about 13:35, 3 miles in 20:20, and then finished the four miles in 26:51, faster than the 27:31 and the 27:07 I ran in those two four miles in Calvert County, MD and Carroll County, MD, respectively, before I took a bit of a break from running in February. I was pretty happy with that to say the least, especially since it looks like I ran the second half a bit faster than the first (since keeping up hte 13:35 for two miles would have put me at about 27:10 for four miles). I was cramping up a bit, and without that and if I had been in better shape, I could have certainly run a much stronger time, but I'm certainly happy with that. I had no idea that I would do four miles that well at this point, because when I had my first run back on Centennial High School's track almost two weeks ago in Ellicott City (Howard County), Maryland, I ran the first mile of that approximately 2.5-mile distance in about 6:49, and before this four-mile race, that could have very well been my fastest mile (and for four miles, running that distance in 26:51 means averaging about 6:42/6:43-per-mile. Talk about an improvement over my first run back :) The Lancaster area of Pennsylvania is also apparently noted for its Amish culture, which I have taken a recent interest in, and that's why I thought it was great to run a race in that particular area as I've never done one in Lancaster County before (don't worry, I'm not trying to do a race in every Pennsylvania county... At least not now).

Not long after the race I hung around, mingled, met a few new people, and then headed off to Centralia. when I got there, I parked outside one of the three cemetarys around there, and I saw the occasional tourist checking it out. I met people there from New York, Washington D.C., and other places who came to check it out (probably among other things). I went running through what appeared to be the main drag of the town (Route 61). It was pretty hilly and silent (heh, "Silent Hill" perhaps :)- I ran up this quiet hill towards this Roman Catholic church (or maybe it was just Catholic, and I think it was called St. Marry's, and it was beautiful 'cause you could see the top of that building from the other hill). Like I said, running through here was quiet and hilly, and it definitely reminded me of the Westminster Road Runners' Club's Predicted Time Four-Miler and Dancer Dash 10K in the Westminster area of Carroll County, Maryland. I got to the church, went oup the outter stairs, and took some photos of the great view (one of the many scenic mountainous views). I chatted with a few of the rather amicable locals and visitors, ran by the cemetaries, ran down this old road with a crack in it with steam rising out of said crack), ran by this area of a lot of wreckage with quite a bit of steam rising from it, and then eventually got back into my car and headed back. On the way back, I took a longer way home through Hagerstown (Washington County), Maryland and ate at my first rather unique restaurant there for dinner called Gracie's Place. I had a nice chef salad there and I remember trying to hold a phone conversation with my friend Kay, but for some reaosn I had trouble hearing her... Perhpas the reception was the best over there.

Afterwards, I went over to my friend, Bing's, St. Patrick's Day party at his place, adn that was fun. They had karaoke and I had not seen Bing since like mid-to-late August. It was a fun time and I'm still recovering from not sleeping that much last weekend (and now with this stomach virus in the mix, I wonder if I'll get any sleep tonight). Ah well, God is good and I am very confident that He will get me through and get me back to proper health to continue running among other things. I am grateful He helped bless me with the opportunities to do what I did last weekend before I got sick today, and that I was available last Saturday (March 14, 2009) to make that trip into Pennsylvania (which is a state north of Maryland in the United States of America for all of you who are not too familar with United States' geography or do not live in the U.S.)

Thank you all for stopping by! I hope to get some photos from Pennsylvania developed in the near future and eventually have 'em posted on here. I recently ordered a new digital camera online through Woot.Com (which one of my roommates helped find), but I have not gotten to play around with it yet, so we'll see how it works. If it works out nicely, I'm sure I can upload photos much quicker on these blogs. All right, have a good night, fair health, and many of God's blessings :)

Running Events I have done as of Wednesday, March 19, 2009

January

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race J )

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race J)

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue J)

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue J)

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue J)

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

March

15). Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Run4Luck Four-Mile Run – Lancaster (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania – 40th overall – 26:51.55 (I ran negative splits here :)

“Maryland Munch” – Unique restaurants I have eaten at within my lifetime throughout Maryland

Allegany County

Anne Arundel County

Baltimore City

Baltimore County

Calvert County

Caroline County

Carroll County

Cecil County

Charles County

Dorchester County

Frederick County

Garrett County

Harford County

Howard County

Kent County

Montgomery County

Prince George’s County

Queen Anne’s County

Saint Mary’s County

Somerset County

Talbot County

Washington County

Wicomico County

Worcester County

HIDA Scan went well!

2009-03-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone, just wanted to get a quick update out. The HIDA scan went pretty well; I hardly felt queasy/nauseated at all like I worried I might during the scan. I have not heard the results yet, though hopefully I'll be able to talk it over with the gastroentenerologist (stomach specialist) soon! Running's been all right; I went running for probably a little over 5.5 miles yesterday for my "long run" that took about 40 minutes and 2 seconds to do. Yesterday, I ran a bit of a harder work out where I ran three sets of 4 minutes hard in a moderately hilly are of Columbia (Howard County), MD.
I'm hopin' to go up to Pennsylvania tomorrow to the Centralia (Columbia County) area; an almost abandoned town. Horrible coal fires accidentally started there a little over forty years ago and it is still occurring underground. As a result a lot of the town was destroyed and most of the residents relocated (though I hear a small handful still remain). I'm hopin' to check it out since I'll be somewhat close by there tomorrow, and God-willing I can be safe and go for a run around there. The horror movie "Silent Hill" was inspired by this town (in that the fictitious town of Silent Hill, West Virginia was inspired by Centralia, Pennsylvania). Afterwards, I'm hoping to go to my friend's St. Patrick's Day party tomorrow evening, and hopefully I can make that 'cause I have not seen him in a while.

Thanks for stopping by, and for praying for my recent HIDA scan as well as health. I hope that you all have a nice weekend :)

Gettin' back to lifting and running

2009-03-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone! Last Thursday (March 5, 2009) I went over to the gym at Howard Community College and lifted some weights for the first time in at least a couple of weeks. I have been feeling all right recently and I feel a little more confident that I can better balance how much I eat with how much I work out. I've gained a bit of weight too, I'm probably in the low 150's, and if not I'm close to that. The next day (Friday, March 6) I went running for the first time since mid February, and I did about 2.5 miles (10 laps and then some) on Centennial High School's outdoor track in Ellicott City (Howard County), Maryland. I felt all right; I think it may have gone better had my right leg not been feeling a bit sore behind the knee (and if I had not been feelin' fairly outta shape; I felt pretty winded/tired afterwards). I ran it in about 17:31 (right around a seven-minute pace on average, with a 6:49 the first mile and 13:53 for two miles). I ran a little more than ten laps, 'cause on the last lap I had to run on the grass (the track team over there was practicing and they were about to have a time trial, so I ran on the grass to get out of the way). I realize that I was cutting off a bit of the distance, so I decided to add on by about 25 meters after running by the place on the track where I initially intended to finish my ten laps, which probably resulted in me running just a little bit over 2.5 miles, but that's all right. Anyway, I went running again yesterday (Sunday, March 8, 2009) at the Howard County Striders' weekly winter series ("Operation Iceberg") number 8 at the Thunder Hill Elementary School in Columbia. I ran the two-mile nice and easy, even though it was pretty hilly and I probably did end up running a bit faster the second half than I did the first. I ran it in about 14:19, and I haven't run times like that since the eighth grade (at one time, my two-mile PR was about 14:20 in eighth grade and I had run it at that venue, and since then my two mile times there have been anywhere between 11 and 14 minutes, with my best time on that course being about 11:52 back in 2007). Anyway, it was not as fast as I ran on Friday, but this had hills, and I felt much better than I did on Friday. I actually think I may have gone through the first mile in about 7:59, thus coming back in 6:20, but I may have gone through the first mile a little faster than that, thus coming back in the second mile a little slower than 6:20. Though, either way, I thought I had a nice second mile.
I made sure I ate some trail mix and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich not long after. I'm just takin' this slow; tryin' to get a smart balance between eating and exercising. I have a HIDA scan on my stomach/abdomen this Wednesday, so hopefully as a result, the test can lend a bit more clarity to what's been up with my stomach/gallbladder/digestive system. God-willing, things will work out and I feel fortunate to be back at running, and even though I'm not running as strong as I was about a month or so ago, at least I'm able to run and if it's God's will, I'll be able to get back into stronger shape and continue to improve.
Thanks for stopping by and reading. I'm gonna try and go for my "long" run of the week (I hope to hit about five-and-a-half miles), which may be tough, as it's pretty windy over here. I hope you all have a terrific day; God bless :)

Lookin' Ahead at Some Interesting Endeavors!!

2009-02-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

Food pyramid image from: http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/library/showarticle.cfm?id=986&t=health&b1=WTLRSWEBO

Hey there everyone! When I was blogging about the visit with the gastroenterologist, I forgot to mention some fairly good news in regards to running. One of the last questions I had asked him was if it would still be all right to keep up running with the gallbladder/stomach acid stuff goin' on. He said it should be all right and that typically exercise helps balance out those things. However, he also added something that pretty much agreed with a somewhat tough-to-digest (sorry for the silly pun guys :)- conclusion that I had come too: That I should be all right running, so long as I take in enough calories to match the activity (and the amount of it I do). Right now, I guess I'm not really so much trying to gain weight as I am just getting my body used to eating more on a daily basis. God-willing, perhaps I may start back with running and possibly some races sooner than I think.

However, this all the more shows that part of the "root" of the problem still has yet to be dealt with: The cause of the stomach aches that discourages me from eating enough to compensate for running and other exercise! It looks like things could get frustrating a bit with this feeling sick/running/eating thing until this is dealt with, God-willing. With these tests that the gastroenterologist wants me to have done seem a bit unpleasant (one of which involves having a tube down my esophagus so that the gastroenterologist can have a thorough look at what is going on, such as a stomach ulcer). Then, of course, there's the possibility I may have to have surgery or some kind of operation. I dunno, still kinda too soon to say. Perhaps yesterday's blood test results may help clear things up. I'm not gonna "belly ache" much more beyond this, as it is quite clear and easy to see that unfortunately some people suffer much worse than I am on a daily basis (and I can't confidently call what I'm going through "suffering"). I am grateful that God has blessed me with and given me justifiable reasons for faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, whom I am confident will carry me through as He has so many other times. I may personally prefer to not have this happen, though I am confident it is a part of God's plan, and for what it is worth I am learning quite a bit about human anatomy and nutrition as a result (and my body may be getting a break from working out that I was not really aware that it needed).

On that note, thank you all so much for your prayers as well as advice. I am really grateful to a lot of people (you readers included) within and outside of the running and racing scene who have actually been considerate and respectful towards my recent choice to stop running for a bit until I can regain some weight and get healthy again. I really appreciate the advice I have been getting from dieting, cross-training, certain tests I should have done, doctors I should check with, some possibilities as to what is actually making me feel sick-to-my stomach when I have these rather sickening bouts, or just the plain encouragement :) Even if some of you who I'm referring too never see this, you are all excellent and I thank you very much!!

I'll keep you all posted about starting up with running again. I weighed around 149 at yesterday's gastroenterologist appointment, so that's progress in my mind! Today I had my first milkshake in months (I got one from a local Chick-Fil-A during lunch and I felt all right, but I did not finish it because I did not want to push my luck). Strangely enough, I've overheard recently that milkshakes do help to add weight.

On that note, to help stimulate eating and to stay true to my more "quixotic" form I've decided to try a pretty fun/low-key goal: I'm gonna try and eat at a unique restaurant in every Maryland county within my lifetime. God-willing, I'm sure that will certainly be possible. I hope to stick to more healthy foods there. Now, I mean "unique" restaurants in that it is not just a typical chain restaurant, especially places I like to go such as Chick-Fil-A, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell, etc. That would seem to make it too easy and it probably would not be as creative. This can include coffee shops, delis, diners, etc. I don't plan on making special trips to counties that are far away from me just to eat out if I've already eaten at one in that particular county (for example, I've already eaten at this coffee shop in Northeast, MD in Cecil County last May, and I've already eaten at the Jubilee Dinner in late July of last summer in Friendsville (which is in Garrett County, MD)). Of course, growing up in Howard County and going to college at Salisbury University in Wicomico County, I've already eaten in those counties as well. I'll call this the "Maryland Munch" :)- Yesterday afternoon, I made some progress on it by eating at a place in Baltimore County called the Taneytown Deli, a small and quaint deli and shop in Catonsville that my co-worker really likes and I had been meaning to try it anyway. I don't think I've ever eaten at a unique restaurant in Baltimore County until yesterday, Wednesday, February 26, 2009 (and if I have, the memory of it has escaped me). So yea, "Maryland Munch" seems to be well underway, and I'm hoping to have my progress on that in these blogs in the future in much the same way I've displayed details on running events I've done over the last couple of years.

I'm gonna get going now and hopefully get a flu shot later on this afternoon. I hear that flu is running quite rampant, at least here in the United States. You all stay healthy and have a blessed weekend out there! Thank you for stopping by :)

Running Events I have done as of Friday, February 27, 2009

January

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race J )

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race J)

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue J)

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue J)

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue J)

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

“Maryland Munch” – Unique restaurants I have eaten at within my lifetime throughout Maryland

Allegany County

Anne Arundel County

Baltimore City

Baltimore County

Calvert County

Caroline County

Carroll County

Cecil County

Charles County

Dorchester County

Frederick County

Garrett County

Harford County

Howard County

Kent County

Montgomery County

Prince George’s County

Queen Anne’s County

Saint Mary’s County

Somerset County

Talbot County

Washington County

Wicomico County

Worcester County

Some Pretty Exciting News About My Roommate!!

2009-02-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone! If you've been following my blogs recently, you know that my bouts of queasiness these past several months have convinced me to see my doctor recently. Through a brief series of events (including a recent x-ray and ultrasound), I was able to meet with a gastroenterologist (pretty much a stomach specialist), and we talked about what has been going on with my bouts of queasiness that I've been experiencing at least several times since around Labor Day weekend of 2008. The ultrasound showed that there was a bit of something up in regards to my gallbladder and the gastroenterologist wanted to have a few more tests done (such as a bloodwork, which I got done today), until he could develop a more conclusive diagnosis and plan of action. He prescribed me medicine to help with stomach acid, which I just picked up earlier this evening, 'cause he thinks it may be an issue with stomach acid, the gall bladder, or some other things. We'll see what happens. I am confident that God will reveal what is up with more clarity and that He will get me through this as He always has!! Thank you all in advance for any prayers you pray in regards to me in this (and of course to those of you who have been praying :)

Enough about me, I have even more good news to share in regards to Dan, my roommate: Yesterday, he got engaged to his girlfriend, Michelle! YAY! Congratulations Dan and Michelle; it's a blessing to have heard the news of two young people in love and on the way to marriage. Even though I'm not married, I definitely agree with the Word when the Bible says "he who finds a wife finds a good thing" (that probably wasn't word-for-word accurate, but that seems to be the gist anyway). It was most excellent to receive that good news (in case you couldn't tell), and it was neat that he apparently proposed to her on their two-year anniversary. Terrific to hear indeed!

Thank you all for stopping by and have an awesome night :)

Running Events I have done as of Thursday, February 26, 2009

January

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race :)

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race J)

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue :)

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue :)

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue :)

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

Upcoming Gastroenterology Doctor Appointment

2009-02-25T04:13:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone, it's been a little over a week since I updated and since I ran. I definitely miss running, though it is nice having a little extra spare time here-and-there, especially with the two teaching certificate courses picking up in the amount of homework I'm getting. I'm confident I'm doing the right thing in trying to gain back some weight, and get this eating thing right, before I get into running. I weighed myself the other day and I was around 146/147 pounds, so I'm steadily gaining some lb's.

In other news, my recent x-ray returned normal, though the recent ultrasound showed something a little bit interesting. Fortunately, my doctor had referred me to a stomach/gastroenterologist, and I have an appointment with him tomorrow (Thursday, February 25, 2009). I don't want to go into any more details about what's been up just yet, I wanna at least wait until after tomorrow's doctor's appointment before I tell more on this blog. Lord-willing, we can have some clarity on what is up, analyze it, and then go from there. My stomach has been feelin' all right for the most part this past week. Have a terrific day everyone and thank you for stopping by :)

President's Day!

2009-02-16T05:55:00.001-08:00

Happy President's Day everyone!!!! I hope you are all well on this holiday. I'm hoping to relax for a good a portion of the day, do a coupla errands at some point, and then eventually make my way to Laurel (Prince George's County), Maryland for my educational psychology class this evening. I may also see if I can go to Howard Community College's gym at some point today and lift. If so, it'll be the first time I've worked out in about a week (well then again, I did sit-ups last night).
Stomach's been doing better this week and my appetite has gotten much stronger; great setting in my opinion in my efforts to gain back some weight. I was over at my parents' yesterday and I weighed myself and I was still at about 146.2 (which was how much I weighed a couple of days beforehand). At least I haven't lost any weight, but I still think I should be weighing a bit more.
Enough on that, I know God will take care of it and I'm grateful He is helping me feel better this week than last. I'm looking forward to enjoying the day and i hope you all have opportunities to do the same :)
Thank you for stopping by!!!!

"You Make Everything Glorious, And I Am Yours...

2009-02-13T20:32:00.001-08:00

Running downhill towards the finish of the inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club's Trail Running Series #2: A 4-miler at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby (Calvert County), Maryland (courtesy of Karsten Brown)

....what does that make me?" Those words from the David Crowder Band's, "Everything Glorious" Christian/Inspirational song were in my head for a majority of the Bear Run Four Miler in Carroll County, MD on Sunday, February 8, 2009, my most recent race, and I felt like I needed that extra motivation because I was feeling pretty drained.
Well perhaps this post will make a bit more sense if I start from the beginning and cathc you up from about two weeks or so before now.

On Sunday, February 1, 2009 (this past Super Bowl Sunday), I made it to the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex in Landover (Prince George's County), MD for the all comers' indoor track & field meet that they were having there. It went nicely for the most part, although I felt a little sick-to-my stomach in the morning on the way there. I felt like I could not eat much either. Needless to say, I did not feel the most energized when I ran my first race of the meet: The one-mile.

I was hoping to break five minutes and even beat my best 1,600 meter time on this indoor track, which was 4:58.8 and my first time running under five minutes for that distance (a goal I had sought after for about two years :) I remember the evening I ran that; Wednesday, January 15, 2001... I was a senior in high school and I had just run an 800-meter split in the 4X800-meter relay/3,200-meter relay race earlier, and I had run 2:15, another personal best time for me at the time. I was also feeling sick that evening and a couple of days later I had been diagnosed with bronchitis and tonsilitis (and I think there was strept throat in there too). God is awesome in how He gets us through in excellent ways; His strength never fails in our weakness. I knew that this full mile was about 8 or 9 meters longer than 1,600 meters, hardly a second or two's different between 1,600 meters and a mile. I prefer to do the full mile, the ever-so-slightly longer of the two if I can.

Anyway, here are the splits of the one-mile that I remember. I'll just say that I could tell as I ran pretty much the same splits as the previous week (Sunday, January 25,2009) when I had run the mile here, that I did not have as much energy, but at least I had a nice finish:

lap 1 (of 8 laps) - :37
lap 2 - 1:14ish
lap 4 - 2:28ish
lap 6 - 3:49
lap 8 (finish) - 5:03.4 (I think this is mere milliseconds faster than the 5:03 I had run the previous week).

Even though I was at least several seconds slower than what I was going for, I was still happy with it considering I did not feel that strong until maybe the last quarter-mile or so, because I was able to finish that last 400-meter in about 1:14. However, not long after, I began to feel queasy again, and it felt more intense than before (and having run a mile race pretty hard probably did not help matters). Though, I did feel a little better afterwards and I was able to munch on some of my food and I decided to stick around for the 800-meter and the 3,200 meter.
The 800 meter came next; a four-lap race that is pretty much a half-a-mile. My best time on this track was 2:15 and I was pretty confident that so long as the heat I was in was not too crowded, I could probably get it (and of course if my stomach did not start bothering me again).
Here's how I ran below:

Lap 1 - :32
Lap 2/400 meters - 1:05 (not bad considering I ran 1:04 in the 400-meter race at this venue the previous week :)
Lap 3 - 1:38 (I can't remember the last time I broke 1:40 for 600 meters :)
Lap 4 (finish) - 2:12 (my best time on this track :)

I would have to say that that was my best race of the three that I ran that day. I had only been in the heat with about three or four other runners, so I had plenty of space, versus last week when I struggled to hit about 2:16/2:17 because the heat was so packed I felt like I spent most of the race just jockeying for position.
The final race I did was the 3,200 meter race, which is barely less than two miles in distance. I was hoping to break 11 minutes, because my best indoor track time was 11:10 from Saturday, December 27, 2008 at the Mountain Express Indoor Track and Field Invitational at Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown (Washington County), MD, and also my best time at this particular bvenue was 11:24 from late January of 2008. Here are the splits that I remember hitting in this race (and I apologize that I can't remember them all):

Lap 4 - 2:40/2:41ish
Lap 8 - 5:28
Lap 12 - 8:26
Lap 15 (3,000 meters) - 10:37 (my best 3,000 meter time at this venue :)
Lap 16 (finish) - 11:16 (my best time at this venue :)

I didn't break 11 minutes here, but at least I ran my personal best times-to-date for the 3,000 and 3,200 meter distances at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex (and I take note of the 3,000 because sometimes they have the 3,000 meter race at this venue as well as at quite a few other indoor track & field meets). I came away from there feeling pretty happy (and quite a bit hungry too :)

Later on, I went over to my friend Tommy's with one of my other friends for the evening to watch the Super Bowl. It was certainly an intense game and I enjoyed it as well as the commercials. I would have liked for a different outcome, but even though, the Arizona Cardinals played really strong in my opinion and they seemed to surprise a lot of other viewers as well. And I gotta applaud the Pittsburgh Steelers, as they set some kind of a record (I think it was a conference-based one) with their sixth Super Bowl win!
One thing that sort of distracted me from the game was that I was feeling pretty sick-to-my stomach again, and it kept on bothering me throughout the week. It did not encourage me to eat much and as a result I probably lost quite a few pounds. After the meet, I lifted and rode on the stationary bike at Howard Community College's gym (where I started taking teaching certificate courses at again). On Wednesday, I ran having run three sets of brisk-to-harder-paced runs for about five-and-a-half minutes with about three minutes of rest in between. I figured if I was gonna get in a run, I would try and make it work me out. The rest of the days I had taken off because my stomach was not feeling well and I knew I was not eating as much as I should have.
There were two four-mile races I had wanted to do that weekend: The inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club's Trail Run #2 at the Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby (Calvert County), MD on the morning of Saturday, February 7 and then the Bear Run Four-Miler in the Pleasant Valley/Westminster area of Carroll County, MD at noon on Sunday, February 8. The Calvert Cliffs State Park race sounded interesting and then I've also been wanting to do the Bear Run for a couple of years now, because bears are one of my favorite animals (and some of my friends and family members know I can "be a bear" sometimes :)- Even though I was feeling sick-to-my stomach for a good amount of the week, I still saw fit to run the races, just not with many ambitious goals. I had run races feeling sick like I was in the past (and some of you know what I am talking about if you've read some of my earlier blog posts over the last year or two).
Saturday's race at Calvert Cliffs State Park was pretty rough, no matter how easy I wanted to take it out. It was an out-and-back course on trails, and I was thankful they were pretty clear, but they had some pretty sizeable rolling hills (not to mention a pretty lengthy downhill near the middle that we had to run back up once we turned around at this pretty little beach area by Calvert Cliffs). Even though we had to go up some steady uphills from the very start of the race, it was great to run down it at the end. I came to the race with Brian, one of my best friends, 'cause we were going to visit with some friends of ours in southern Maryland afterwards. Brian and I drove down and I had fun getting to introduce him to some of my running buddies and people I've seen at various races over the years. It was cool, almost like bringing a friend or a family member to where you work, only I tend to think of running and racing as more fun than work (well, in most cases anyway).
I felt like i started out this race pretty conservatively, even though I know I did not have much energy. Once I was a good ways into the woods on this fire trail (which we stayed on for a majority of the race) I felt like I had been running fora longer while, but my watch only read 5:50 and I knew that I had a longer way to go because my energy was beginning to wane quite a bit, and it was only a matter of time before I would start to feel more sick and tired. From there, I pretty much felt like I was huffing-and-puffing throughout most of the hilly race, with my stomach only bothering me here-and-there at the most (and it certainly could have been a lot worse). I went around the half-way point at about 13:12, and even though I could usually easily hold onto that pace ina race, I felt like Iw as pushing it, and I knew it was not just because of the more hilly course, but probably more from my lack of energy from not eating too much and of course from recent stomach problems. Still, God was faithful to get me through and to help me maintain my third-place position for a majority of the race all the way to when I dashed down the final hill out of the woods (and that's where I am at in the race in the photo above :) I finished in 27:31, a time I typically run or run faster than in my training runs, but I was grateful to finish and to have maintained position while I felt a fair amount of adversity within.
After that race, I felt pretty sick-to-my stomach, and it was no surprise, because it felt like quite an exertion, but God helped me tough it out as we went out to lunch at the Mexico Restaurant (where I hardly touched my soup) and then when we went to my friend's house to play games and hang out (and it's terrible to say that I had to "tough it out" during those times to wait to go home and sleep), but I wanted to see my friends and I knew Brian did too. Later that evening, some of us were going to go swing-dancing near Washington, D.C., but I was thinking of passing on that, though I as starting to feel a little better once I got back on the way, so I decided to go out swing dancing. I'm glad I went, because I had fun even though I felt a little tired.

The next day (Sunday, February 8, 2009), I felt a little better (stomach-wise). I did not feel like I had much energy, but I still wanted to do the Bear Run, even if I ended up having to jog it. This would be my first time doing that event (and from what I heard it actually sounded like one of the less hilly race courses in Carroll County, a county in Maryland where hills are plentiful as haystacks on a farm. I got to the race sporting my Hammond High School Class of 2002 long-sleeved t-shirt with a big bear picture on it (because our high school mascot was the Golden Bear),a nd I thoguht it fitting for the Bear Run. The weather was quite warm; well into the 50's I'd say, and I would have gladly worn a short-sleeved t-shirt, but I wanted to wear something with a bear on it to humor the race's name (which may have occurred near a "Bear Creek" or something like that). Anyway, Iwarmed up briefly and I felt like I was already tiring out, and I felt like going for another four miles would tucker me out, but I was confident that God would get me through, even if I did not run the best time for myself.
Once the race started it was no surprise that I was starting to huff-and-puff, but I knew that if I could get through the hilly four miles yesterday with my stomach bothering more than it was today, than my chances were good on getting through this out-and-back course that went through mostly open country roads (and the quaint small town area of Pleasant Valley at the beginning and end of the race too). I went through the first mile in about 6:28, which I thought was pretty fast for what I was doing. At the two-mile turn-around and water-stop, I was about about 13:17, several seconds slower than the previous day's two-mile split, however, the hills were not as long or tough on this course as the ones at Calvert Cliffs. Throughout a majority of this race, I had this song by the David Crowder Band ("Everything Glorious", some of the lyrics of the chorus of which I have posted in this blog entry's title and at the begining of the entry). I had heard that song the other morning on my way into work on a local Christian music station and since then it sorta stuck in my head in a rather uplifting sort of way. I knew that through Jesus Christ, I am glorious in God's eyes no matter how drained, sick, sluggish, or even frustrated I feel.
I think this helped me through the next two miles that seemed to take a lot longer. I slowed to about a 7:13 mile that third mile because I went through the 3-mile mark in about 20:30, which I think is about a 6:50-pace; a pace that if I kept up would put me at about 27:20, about 11 seconds faster than the 27:31 I had run the previous day. That, and the fact that the runners behind me were probably gaining on me and once they did, I probably would not have much energy to keep up with them, helped motivate me to pick it up towards the end. I could feel myself straining for the last three-quarters-of-a-mile or so, but I did not want to let up easily. I came around a bend int the road that curved to the left and I ran past this house where people were cheering us runners on. Then, I began to get up this steady uphill in front of me and I saw the buidlings and small shops of the town and I knew I was within a few minutes of finishing. Ahead in the distance I could see the Pleasant Valley Fire Hall, where the race started and ended, andthat helped me to maintain the pace. After topping a slight uphill (which felt challenging and taxing to me at that point), I knew I was done with the uphills, and then the course went downhill into the finish line, and I bolted down the hill and crusied through the finish line in 27:07, about 24 seconds faster than the previous day's four-miler. Praise God :) I could not believe that I finished faster on the second four-miler of the weekend than the first one (heck, I'm amazed I was able to find and do two four-milers in one weekend, since four-mile-distance running races seem to be no where near as common as 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer distance races). After that, I felt a little bit more hungry and a little less queasy. Monday, February 9 (the next day) I did an easy run for about 29:32 after I got off work at Centennial Park in Ellicott City (Howard County), MD, which has plenty of rolling hills, and I hoped I covered at least 3.5 miles thereabouts, because I intended for that to be my last run for a little while until I gain some weight back.

Let me back up a bit. The Friday before I did the race at Calvert Cliffs State Park (this is Friday, February 6), I had finally decied to see a doctor about these bouts of several-day-long queasiness that I have been experiencing several times over pretty much since around early September of 2008, and she thought I may have some stomach issue (probably aside from me having a sensitive stomach). I offered that perhaps this has been happening because I am beginning to realize that I am not eating enough compared to how much I have been working out and racing, and as a result I have been losing more weight than I am gaining (and I'm not trying to cast blame, but I would probably be eating more if I did not keep getting these stomach aches that discourage me from eating more). She thought that was probably affecting me, but there could possibly be more and it is worth looking into. God-willing, things will be okay and after this time off of running, I can regain fairer health and a healthier amount of weight before I start running.

Since Monday, I have not really worked out. Next week, I'd like to start lifting once or twice-a-week again. I don't think I'll burn as many calories doing this, yet boost my metabolism to hopefully stimulate more eating and plus one of my roommates mentioned that lifting also helps stengthen the immune system. I like to lift anyway to compliment my running, so this could hopefully serve as effective cross-training as well. I think I may stay back from other cario activities like biking, swimming, or anything that involves a lot of running. I'm not planning on ruling out on playing after-school pick-up games of volleyball with my co-workers after the work-day on Thursdays, but if I feel God telling me to do that, I will.

All right, thank you all for reading this. That's where I'm at now with my running (or lack thereof). However, at this point, I'm almost grateful for the break. It's not that I felt like I was really burning out or even injured, but my stomach probelms were draining me, as was an appparent lack of food and weight loss, and running/racing just is not that much fun for me with al that going on. Running (at least recreationally) has typically been energizing, but this past week or so it has seemed more draining. I'm not complaining at all about my recent runs or races, and I'm very grateful for how the Good Lord has helped me run what I've run, but I know that I was beginning to really wear down on my health and it just would have drained me more to the point where my running and racing would not have been thriving all that much, if at all. I'm confident I'm doing the right thing if I wanna run well, often, and healthy in the future. I'll keep you all posted, and I would most certainly appreciate any prayers on my behalf. Already, I'm feeling much better than last week with hardly any stomach problems and a much better appetite. I weighed myself yesterday and I was back over 140 pounds, so I think things are starting to look up more with that!

Thank you all and I wish you all a happy Valentine's Day. Have a blessed and enjoyable weekend :)

Running Events I have done as of Sunday, February 15, 2009

January

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race J )

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race J)

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue J)

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue J)

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue J)

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

First February Post This Year!

2009-02-13T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone! My apologies for not posting sooner, but I recently have not been feeling well and during that time, I have been quite busy. The races I've run since my last post have gone pretty well for the most part these past couple of weeks or so. Since then, I've cut back dramatically on my running, but God-willing I hope to get back to it soon. I look forward to relating more details on them to you in the near future. In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful weekend and a happy Valentine's Day :)

Here comes Super Bowl 2009!!!!

2009-01-28T07:54:00.001-08:00

Looking forward to watching this year's Super Bowl. It sounds like the Pittsburgh Steelers may be a tougher team to beat, but I'm stilll pullin' for apparent underdogs; the Cardinals. I'm planning on going to another all-comers indoor track & field meet at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex that same Sunday (February 1, 2009). I would like to do several races (mainly the 1,600/mile, 800 meter, and 3,200 meter races), but if they end up running late, I may cut out earlier in the afternoon because my friend is having a Super Bowl party and I do wanna root for the Cardinals as they compete. The Super Bowl is pretty much the only sport I have watched on t.v. consistently through the years, and a lot of it is more of the social aspect of watching it with others, so I think I'll be fine passing up some track races to check it out (and of course that can help with this year's New Year's Resolution to cut back on races :).

Whatever team you root for, I hope you enjoy the Super Bowl this year!!!!

Running Events I have done as of Wednesday, January 28, 2009

January

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race :)

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 10th overall (7th in the heat I was in and last place in heat) - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race :)

I ran five races last weekend...

2009-01-28T07:50:00.001-08:00

I'm running up a hill behind eventual race winner, Danny Bennett, at the inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club's Trail Run#1 5-Kilometer at King's Landing Park in Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland. This was on Chesapeake Bay Running Club's website: http://www.cbrcmd.org

... And don't worry, I didn't go as crazy with races last weekend as this entry title might suggest. This year in order to cut back on the number of races I've been running over the past couple of years, I think it might be worthwhile to cut back on weekends where I do races on both days of the weekend. This has been my first weekend in 2009 where I ran races on both days, and I'm fortunately doing all right.

I started off heading towards southern Maryland for this new trail race series that the Chesapeake Bay Running Club (http://www.cbrcmd.org) is putting on this year, the first of which happened this past Saturday (January 24, 2008) at King's Landing Park in Huntingtown (Calvert County), MD. Like last year, my first MARYLAND race of the year happened to be in Calvert County (the final Maryland county I had left in 2007 when I first attempted to run in a running event in every Maryland county within a year).

I had never been to King's Landing Park before, and as a matter of fact, I think I've only been in in Huntingtown just sort of passing through. It was a nice park, considering it was overcast, but the weather was nice for running (not too cold and certainly not hot). There were some lighter rolling hills, but nothing too difficult. I'm typically not much of a trail runner, though I figured I give this a whirl since it was relatively inexpensive and low-key. Plus, I heard it was more open fields, the kind of cross-country I like, and in fact it was a good mix of open fields, hills, and clear trails.
As I ran I felt like I held on all right. I spent most of the race chasing the race leader (who in my opinion is one of the faster runners in southern Maryland). I knew if I could hang with him, I would no doubt have a good race for myself. There were some narrow trails here and there, but no real hazardous rocks, roots, or stream crossings. We went over some wooden bridges which slowed us down a bit. A little after the middle of the race, while running up this steady hill with the beautiful river off to my right, I realized that I really liked this course. There was this one short, but steeper hill we went up a couple of times and I really felt the effort of the race on that.
We finished coming up that hill a second time, running through this trail, and then finishing briefly after the trail by this pavilion. I crossed the finish line in about 19:21, which I thougth was pretty good for me considering it was a trail race and it could have very well been a little longer than 3.1 miles (5-kilometers/5K). Typically I wouldn't consider that a strong time for me, but given the terrain, I'll take it gratefully. I still enjoyed the race and if they have it again in the future, I wouldn't mind coming back to it. In fact, they have five more coming up throughout the year into the spring/summer, and their next one is a four-miler at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby (Calvert County), MD on Saturday, February 7, so I'm hopin' to get back to southern MD for that one as well.
Also, it was probably beneficial that I did not run much harder than I did or get hurt, because the next day (Sunday, January 25, 2009), I planned to compete at another all-comers' indoor track meet at the Prince George's Complex in Landover (Prince George's County), Maryland.
Now these all-comers' indoor track meets have been known to go on for most of the day because hundreds upon hundreds of participants crowd into one of the nation's best indoor track facilities, and as a result they do so many heats of various events. As a result, it often can get very noisy, chaotic, and disorganized, and I think there's only so much the staff can do to efficiently run the meet. In other words, these meets at the P.G. Complex can get quite complex, and it's probably not the fault of the staff. I ran at a couple of these meets last year and they took up a significant portion of my day, yet this one was the longest of the three I did, and while I spent about ten hours at this meet, I witnessed and experienced some prettty humorous things which I will relate to you below along with my race performances (and please don't take any of what I'm about to say as harsh criticism towards the meet staff or the meets themselves):

- First off, it was constantly noisy, so sometimes it was hard to hear announcements

for when certain events were coming up. If you weren'ts very attentive, you could end up
missing your event. Fortunately, that didn't happen to me.

- The first event I ran was the one-mile race. We heard the event being called and
I was with some other people who were at least college-age, but not quite masters (I'll
call our age group "sub-masters"), so we knew we weren't gonna be in any heats
with the high-school-or-younger crowd, nor did we intend on running with the masters. We
still were not clear on which heat we were gonna be in. They started the high school
boys heat (and I didn't see exactly what happened next, but I heard about it), they
suddenly stopped the high school race within the first lap and grouped us together with
the masters. I was fine with that, but it was very strange how they just stopped the
high school race after it had begun (fortunately they got to go after our race). Just
before our heat started, one of the masters runners got really upset and started
protesting one of the race starters 'cause I don't think he thought it was fair that they
did not make an announcement that the masters were being combined with a younger crowd
and that they were about to go off, because there was actually a masters runner in the
bathroom who was planning on doing the mile, and he had no idea about this sudden change
of plans at the meet. I think maybe he wanted the masters to run separately. Even though some might see that he was making a scene on the track, I could
see where he was coming from and I didn't think it was fair that they were doing this in
the mile race with stopping high schoolers just as their race had started and suddenly
putting us on the track without much of an announcement. He went so far as to stand in the middle of
the track in front of the starting line in hopes to maybe stall the race, and the
starters just began ignoring him and got ready to start up the race. Eventually the
masters runner turned around and started back towards the starting line just as the race
started, so some people had to dodge around him. At first I thought he was kind of being
an overzealous butthole giving the starters a lot of lip, but when I thought about how
they were going to start the race and the guy protesting knew there was another runner
who wanted to do the race in the bathroom who probably would have been at the starting
line had he known the race was going to start so suddenly for the masters, I thought it
he was kind of brave trying to keep the meet fair for all of the participants.
Well fortunately that mile race was one of the better one-mile races I've run in a while; I
hit about 5:03, keeping the pace fairly even (1:13, 2:29, and 3:47 were my 1/4-mile, 1/2-mile, and 3/4-mile splits as well as a 3:08 for the 1,000 meter split). The gentleman who was in the bathroom actually was able to jump in the race later, get his finishing time, and put it in the
results (this gentleman also is a race director and he his involved with getting some of
the race results from these meets up on the internet, so I think he was able to advocate
for himself pretty nicely).

- After the mile, my one of my buddies who was running convinced me to hop in the
400-meter with him, and I told him I wanted to focus on the 800 and 3,200 and he said
that I would probably still have enough rest time with how long the meet was taking. I
figured he had a good point, and I did the 400. I definitely had enough rest with more
than three hours between the one-mile and our 400-meter race, a race I haven't done since
middle school when I was a sprinter for the Howard County Junior Striders. I barely
finished second-to-last here and I think I got about a minute-and-four seconds which I
think is about a second or two slower than my indoor PR, so it was neat to do that
two-lap race.

- After that there was more waiting for the 800 meter race (which is about half-a-mile),
and I was hoping to go under 2:15, because I do believe that's my best time at this
venue. While I was waiting, I noticed some kids playing with a toy car right by one of the
curves of the track while a race was going on, and I saw the car go under the fencing a
couple of times. Fortuantely it went into the outter lanes and the race was going on in
the inner lanes, but from on top of the bleachers, it might have looked like an
interesting sight with a toy car on the track while runners were racing on it.

- In the 800 meter race, I was in the last heat and they sort of lumped us together in a larger
heat, which was tougher to run in in an indoor track since there is more turns and it
pretty much feels like a sprint. I didn't quite runt he 2:15 that I wanted, but I think
it was 2:16/2:17... I was barely able to catch a glimpse of the clock as I crossed the
line and someone who finished just in front of me said he hit 2:15. I didn't get an
official time since they didn't put that heat in the results. I didn't think that was
too bad considering it was a more crowded race and I had to go around a lot more people
than I'm used too going at that pace. We were all in the same boat, trying to get around
each other; seemed like a heated battle, jockeying for position. Maybe instead of
"The 300", they should somehow make a parody of it with a movie on that rather
tight race and call it "The 800" :)-

- At this point I think it was a bit past four in the afternoon, and the meet had
started around eight in the morning, so I was there for pretty much eight hours. Yet, the
next race I wanted to do was the 3,200 meter, which happens to usually be the last race
of the meet. I was looking forward to it, but then I heard they made an announcement to
cancel it right around the time I did the 800, because we had to be out of the indoor
track facility by 6, and they still had a lot of heats of the 200 meter race (which
followed the 800 meter race). They said they were going to end the meet right after the
200's, which they hoped to have done by 5:15. Now this left 45 minutes roughly before we
actually had to be out of there, so this very avid runner decided to
hold an "unofficial" running of the 3,000 meter (which would be fifteen laps)
on the track after the "official" track events ended with the 200. Timing was
going to be self-timed, meaning we use our own watches if we have them. I was definitely on board with that self-timed race idea of his... Oh but did we know what was to come.

- Meanwhile the 200 meter race heats were still going on; many many heats of it. Towards the end of it, I noticed some of the people who were originally going to do the 3,000/3,200 (in the past when I've done this meet you can choose to do the 15-lap 3,000 option or the 16 lap 3,200
option, and I always like to do the 3,200 'cause it's closer to two miles, and they run
them both simultaneously on the track), were actually in line to do the 200. I decided,
"oh what the heck, I might as well hop in this race and see what happens since they
cancelled the official 3-kilometer/3,200 races." Towards the last minute, I hopped in and
they did not really have time to assign me a lane and really see who was in the heat (I
was in the last heat, and normally in these sprinting events, since there are six lanes,
there is a maximum of six runners in each heat since every competitor has their own lane.
This race is only one lap since the track is 200 meters in length. I ended up in the
outermost lane with another runner; we both shared it. Now this might have looked strange to those observing, having everyone starting in their own lanes, except for the two of us in the
outside lane, but I think at this point the meet staff did not care. I hadn't run this
race since middle school either and I hit about 41 seconds and got last place, and that
was fine, 'cause even though it was over ten seconds slower than my PR from years ago, I
thought it served as a fast warm-up lap for the upcoming self-timed 3,200 race.

- Right after the 200 (which went until closer to 5:40ish), the gentleman who wanted to have teh self-timed race loudly announced something like, "okay, self-timed 3,000! At first, it was me, the gentleman, and this older lady lined up, and just as we were about to start some other people who were interested gathered on the track, but the woman did not wait up, and started off on her 3,000. Just as we were about to start, one of the officials yelled to us "off the track,
no more racing!" I couldn't blame them, I didn't want them to get in trouble.
Meanwhile, the woman who had started this self-timed race on her own was probably a couple of laps into it at this point, and she kept on going.
Some of us stood our ground on the track, and I decided to stick
aroundn since I waited for almost ten hours to do this race, and the official kept yelling
at us. The gentleman who wanted to do the self-timed race yelled back something like, "can we at least cool down on the
track?" And after the official gave us a "no", we decided to scrap the
self-timed race to not cause any trouble.
However, while all this was going on, the woman kept doing her laps on the track, and I thought it was funny that while everyone was clearing out and the officials were telling people to get off of the track, there was this woman in her seventies going around the track in her one-person self-timed race. Watching her go around, I thought it was a rather fitting ending to a meet with some more chaotic instances throughout it. It was not only humorous, but inspiring to watch as well. There were less than ten minutes to go until 6 at this point, so we could still stay there.
Suddenly a thought came over me to do a lap with her. I snatched up my drawstring
backpack with some of my gear in it. I wanted to run with my drawstring pack on so I
had all my stuff together in case things got real rough and I had to get outta Dodge. I
hopped on the track and did a lap with her, not knowing exactly what lap she was on. I
ran with her, feeling a bit weird at first that some eyes of some remaining people
getting ready to go were on us. Yet, I didn't care, I had already put myself in a
position to embarrass myself in running in the shorter sprinting distances that I raced in
earlier at the meet; distances I typically am not that good at. I've told many of my
passions of running races in all of Maryland's counties over the past couple of years, so
in the scheme of things, this probably was not even as wild. Towards the end of the lap,
the woman said she only had one more lap to go, so I decided to do her last lap with her as
well and we finished together! It was awesome, running with someone in a one-person,
self-timed race at the end of a track meet.
The woman ended up running a mile in 8:59, and she would have liked to have gone for seven
more laps to finish her 3,000 meter planned distance, but she decided it best to do a mile instead since she was
running out of time before 6. I told the gentleman who wanted to do the self-timed race, her time ('cause he actually helps post the
resutls of these meets on the internet as well), so I think her one-woman self-timed race
may get some coverage along with some of the other races!! In conclusion we were one of
the last ones to leave... We distance runners sure do know how to "close down"
a place :)-

So yes, that were some of my interesting experiences at one fo the most funniest, quirkiest, and craziest track meets I have ever been too. When I told my family about it later that night, I laughed so hard I almost cried (and I haven't laughed that hard or loud in a long time).
They are having another meet there on Super Bowl Sunday (February 1) coming up this weekend. I'm hoping to go back and to perhaps do the 3,200 as long as the meet does not go on too late. All of the events could not even occur there before time ran out, so that's how I know that has been my longest meet I've done there. Hopefully next week does not come near topping that; though who knows, it may top it in how funny things may turn out there :)