Oops. I've neglected to report on my participation in the Race for the Cure 5K on Mothers Day. Well, my 26:59 finish (8:42 pace) wasn't my worst, but it certainly wasn't my best. I certainly haven't been training as much as I should. In my defense, though, it should be noted that there were a lot of walkers blocking my way. I expected that for the first half-mile or so, but I was passing walkers for what seemed like the whole race. Why they don't participate in the designated walk or at least position themselves at the back of the race starting line is beyond me. At least I didn't have to dodge any strollers or dogs this year.

Like the Mothers Day 5K, my Us Too Fathers Day 10K was neither my worst nor my best 10K. Officially, I finished in 56:10 (9:03 pace), but the start wasn't chip-timed, so I trust my stopwatch more. According to that, I finished in 55:55 (9:01 pace). It may seem like a small difference to non-runners, but I think fellow runners can appreciate the difference 15 seconds makes. Anyhow, considering I hadn't run farther than about 5 miles (and that only a couple times) prior to this race, I can't be too disappointed. I think I paced myself well for the first 2 miles, but near the beginning of the third mile my buddy, who'd kept pace with me, started to pull away as I battled the heat and sluggishness. He maintained the pace we'd been running all the way to the end, finishing in 49:45 (8:01 pace). If he'd stayed back with me, I'm sure I would have finished faster, but it would have been at the expense of his time.

I won't be able to run the Brentwood Firecracker 5K this year because I'll be at a baby shower my in-laws are throwing for us. I'd like to run the Run Around the Square 5K on August 23, but that's just two days before my first child is due. Likewise, my participation in the Ikea Half Marathon on September 6 depends on whether my wife goes past her due date or not. At the very least, I'm planning on running the Great Race 10K on September 28. Of course, I'll also be hashing on Mondays when I can.

On Saturday, I ran my fourth half marathon at the 8th annual Just a Short Run. It was definitely my worst. I'm not too disappointed, though, considering I didn't really train for it. BTW, that was a bad idea; don't emulate me. Anyhow, I finished without walking (not counting water stops) in 2:19:50. I'm still hopeful that I can finish the Ikea half marathon in less than two hours. I'll definitely train for that, though.

On a warmer-than-average Thanksgiving morning I ran the Gutbuster 8mi. I stumbled in at 1:34:23, exhausted and sore. Man that's a brutal course, especially when you haven't had time to train more than once a week. My split was a little more than 43:00, about a minute slower than last year's 4mi finish. That's not too bad, but it means my second half time was over 51:00. Ouch! I guess there's room for improvement next time I run this race.

This wraps up my 2007 racing. Any running outside of training will be hashing until the 2008 Just a Short Run.

On November 11 I ran my hash, the Pittsburgh Hash House Harriers' hash #1279 (Hash Veterans Veterans' Day Hash). It was a fun romp through wooded areas of the West End that was more physically demanding than I'd expected. Photos here.

On November 10, I ran in WPTC's XC Challenge and finished in a sluggish 34:06. Last year I finished in 32:03, and I'd hoped to break 30:00 this year. Oh well, I can't expect much considering how badly screwed up my training has been due to being so busy with research. In addition to running, I (with help from my wonderful wife), fulfilled my social event responsibilities as WPTC's membership chair by cooking hotdogs, which were well received by the cold and hungry runners.

The race almost didn't happen this year, which would have been disastrous for the club since we failed to put on our only other race, the Pittsylvania Mile. The chair of the WPTC competitions committee decided he didn't want to be meet director this year but didn't tell us until July. Actually, he wouldn't have even told us then if the chair of the development committee hadn't pried it out of him. The development chair asked what the odds of putting on the XCC were, expecting that a lot of work had already been done. Much to the board's surprise and consternation, the competition chair's response was "10 to 90 against". Thankfully, the club secretary, Janice Boyko, volunteered to take over as meet director. In just a couple months she managed to get several sponsors and sign up a good number of runners. The club netted about 65% the profit and with 86 runners had a little more than 50% the number of runners of 2006's XCC. Given the shortened prep time and resistance from the former race director, I'd say this year's race couldn't have gone better. Janice did a fantastic job and the club is indebted to her. Thankfully she is returning for another as club secretary and can continue contributing constructively to WPTC board decisions.

On September 30, I ran in the 30th anniversary Great Race. I finished in a somewhat disappointing 53:56. That's actually 5 seconds faster than last year's 54:01, which you might think would make me happy. Well, considering I wanted to beat that time by 4:02, 5 seconds is a pretty disappointing margin of improvement. The good news is that I've progressed to the point that 53:56 felt like a bad run this year, whereas 54:01 felt like a good run last year.

West Penn Track Club recently held its annual election for its board of directors. Of the 130+ members in the club, ~35 returned their paper ballots (I'll have a better count after the next board meeting). There were eight nominees for seven positions. I lost. I'll soon no longer be the chair of the membership committee. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Wait. No it wasn't. It was a royal pain in my tuchus. Board meetings that an efficient board could have finished in less than an hour took three, mostly due to a certain board member's tantrums. I mean, it's not like we solved the world's problems at those monthly exercises in masochism. I was the latest in a long line of new board members to be continually butting heads with the godfather of the club, a cantankerous and bitter old coot who shuns computers and mocks others' ideas before presenting them as his own. I had no serious problems with anyone else on the board and got along quite well with most of them. I feel bad for those forced to endure another year of immature pettiness and pissing contests.

Assume the next chair of the development committee wants me to, I'll continue as webmaster for the club. I'll also likely help the membership club as needed. I might even end up replacing the editor of the newsletter who's stepping down after this year. Who knows? In the meantime, I can look forward to one less headache in my life.

Appearances of sour grapes aside, though I think I could have made good contributions in 2008, it's probably for the best that I wasn't elected. Grad school has recently gotten really busy (in good ways) and my free time has shrunk. Also, club activities and politics have been stressful for my helpful and understanding wife. I'll now have more time for working on my PhD, running (which I haven't done much of lately), and relaxing with my wife. An additional bonus is that I'll have more Sundays open for hashing.

Yesterday morning I ran the IKEA Half Marathon. It was very humid, which was less than ideal, but between the light drizzle and the temperature being about 20° cooler than last year, the conditions were pretty good. Things got off to a bad start for me, though, because the organizers banned iPods this year. That really pissed me off. Consequently, I may boycott this and any other race that bans iPods.

Anyhow, I'd hoped to finish under 2 hours, but I'm not disappointed with my 2:03:07 (9:24 pace). I wonder how the use of an iPod would have affected my time. Also, I had to pee at about 4.5 miles, which cost me at least a minute. Damn you, enlarged prostate!.

On September 1, I ran the Gatorade Steelers 5K. I finished in a reasonable 25:27 (8:12 pace). I want to break 25:00, so I guess I'll have to do it at Run Shadyside.

The race started at least 15 minutes late because we had to listen to umpteen introductions of honored guests (yawn) and wait for late-comers to register. The course was incredibly boring. If I thought looping around a parking lot was exciting I'd watch NASCAR. The biggest disappointment, though was that the mayor beat me with a time of 24:34. He's running the Great Race, and I will not let him beat me again.

It's on, Mayor Opie, and you're going down.

On August 25, I ran the Run Around the Square 5K. Since I'd run about 9 miles the day before (in preparation for the IKEA Half Marathon), I treated the race as a tempo run. I finished in 27:59 (9:01 pace), which isn't great (and is actually kinda slow for a tempo run), but at least I beat the mayor, who finished in 29:18.