On September 28, I ran a PR in the Great Race, finishing in 50:49. That’s more than 3 minutes faster than last year’s 53:56. The only way I could have been happier is if I’d broken 50 minutes.

The Chamber Classic half marathon was a different matter entirely. I’d hoped to run the Ikea HM, but the blessed event of my son’s birth prevented that. I figured the Chamber Classic would be an adequate replacement race. My next HM opportunity won’t be until late March. Training has been going well, as have races. I’d hoped to break 2 hours and felt ready and able to do so.

I was wrong. I did terribly. The race started out fine and through 8 miles I was on pace for a 2:00:39 finish. Something happened during the 9th mile, though. I hit a wall…hard. I completely ran out of energy and my legs felt like lead weights. I jogged occasional and forced myself to run through the finish, but I had to do a lot of walking. I finished in a dismal 2:14:30. Hopefully I’ll be able to set a PR and break 25 minutes at the Race for Pace 5K tomorrow.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!.