5 miles in Riverbend Country Park

What a beautiful morning it was! 50F, sun shining, low humidity - just a classic fall day in DC all around. The Reston Runners met at Riverbend Contry Park for a 5 mile run (or a 3 mile walk for those so inclined):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=39.01759,-77.255774&daddr=Potomac+Hills+St&hl=en&geocode=FXZcUwIdoitl-w%3BFWpfUwId0lFl-w&mra=ls&sll=39.015249,-77.245946&sspn=0.012804,0.032573&ie=UTF8&ll=39.01825,-77.247856&spn=0.006402,0.016286&z=16

I would estimate maybe 20 people opted to do the run. The course had been marked with flour ahead of time. There were some good hills, there was some running along the Potomac river, there were some flat segments, there was grassland running - a little bit of everything. I finished about 5 miles in about 42 minutes, so that's an 8 minute pace.


Viewing Baltimore in light of today's run, the obvious question is "Peter, why do you think you can hit 7:30 over 6.8 miles in Baltimore when today, with this ideal weather, you were at 8 minutes over 5 miles?" Well the answer is that Baltimore doesn't have any hills, silly, and if I am just running flat and flat-out for 6.8 miles I should be able to move right along pretty quickly. Besides, today was a fun run, not nearly the same adrenaline rush as a race.

So tune in next time for another installment of "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can": The Adventures of the Little Blue Engine in Running Land", or, "The Train that Went off its Tracks and Never Came Back".

Baltimore cometh....

Three weeks until the Baltimore marathon on October 11 at 8am:
http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/Race_Info/relay22d8.htm


I'm running in a relay event with three other guys from work. We are the Accenture Express. I've got the second leg, 6.8 miles, going along the harbor out to Ft. McHenry (of Star Spangled Banner fame) and back. I get three water stops and a press-gang tour of the Fort.

What I didn't realize is that Leg 2 is the flattest of the four. From mile 6 to mile 12.8, after the initial 100 foot decline, the course stays within the 50-foot elevation band. How sweet is that?!









I'm hoping for good weather. With low humidity and a cool day, I could go for a 7-minute mile pace on this. Wouldn't that be nice. More than likely it will be around a 7:30 pace.