Baltimore 10 Miler

I signed up for this race on February 1, 2010---I believe this was the start of the snow era earlier this year. In fact, as I look at my iCal I see that I had the opening registration date set on my calendar...I probably signed up for it early in the a.m. Little did I know that when June 19th came I would be exhausted beyond belief.

It was a busy week for me...On Monday was graduation practice, Tuesday graduation, Wednesday the Awards Breakfast and Ceremony, Thursday the 8th grade Dinner Dance (and my last AU class for the semester) and Friday was the picnic---and packet pick up--in Baltimore.


Sunday was Mark's first full triathlon. It was a busy, busy week.

We left right after school to drive to Baltimore for packet pick up. It was at the zoo. It took us two hours to get there with the Friday rush hour traffic.

Packet pick up was beautiful and serene. We were excited because it was yet, another new part of town. Druid Hill Park that we went past looked wonderful...as did the zoo where the packet pick up was.

I walked up and got my bib number and D-tag for timing and was told that the shirts would be given out at the finish line.


It is here that I should mention that Mark and I had had a serious discussion on the way up about the next morning's timeline. The race started at 7:30 am....I had to be there by 7 am, which meant leaving the house around 5:30 am or 5:45. The more we talked about it, the more we both were exhausted. So we decided to take the play-it-by-ear approach.


Flash forward to the woman telling me that the awesome shirt would not be available until race morning. I ended up explaining my situation to her and sharing my entire 8th grade schedule....she very nicely told me to talk to Julie in the corner. Julie was kind enough to break open one of the boxes with the shirts in it and give me mine early just in case I didn't make it to the start line. THANK YOU!


Since we were in Baltimore we decided to pay a dinner visit to the City Cafe--a favorite of ours!

We were not disappointed! We ordered these nachos that were to die for! A white welsh rarebit sauce of sorts, green chili sauce, and pico de gallo on a bed of corn chips....delish! I'm still raving about them!

Dinner was polenta with fried fresh mozzarella with white beans in a pesto sauce. It was good but I wish I had ordered another round of the nachos!

Mark ordered steak and frites.


We got back to DC around 10 pm.

That pretty much sealed my race thoughts right there. I decided to sleep in until 7:30 or so under the strict condition that I would get up and run my 10 miles first thing in the a.m. So I charted a 10.15 mile course and set out at 8:15 on Saturday a.m. It was hot and I was happy with my decision....It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes---that includes stopping for traffic lights, walking breaks due to the heat, etc....

I know it's not quite the same as a race, but I'm counting it...I ran the same mileage at the same time (essentially) as the other race and plugged along.....

#12 done.

Survivor Harbor 7 Miler

So, on a bit of whim, I signed up for this race in May. I liked the idea that it was a point to point race in Baltimore, starting new Fort McHenry and ending in Canton.

Little did I know that it would be WICKED hot that morning. The race was really well run and definitely a fun course. However, when I finished around 9:30 am the temperature was already 86 degrees with 40%+ humidity. I should also mention that a lot of the course was in the sun....ARG!

I finished a lot slower than I would have liked, however my splits for the first two miles were near 8:17 minute miles. Maybe that was part of the problem too--I probably took it out too fast for the heat.

Packet pick up was in a new part of town in Baltimore. Mark and I had a good time exploring a new part of Baltimore. We even found a Whole Foods next to a Starbucks and a dog store! Exciting! A lot of the time, exploring and finding the packet pick up, start, etc. is just as fun as the running itself! :) Mark, Soba and I ate at Donna's in this new part of Baltimore for dinner.

The next morning we were up and out the door early--the race start was 8 am. So we were in the car by 6:30 so that we could get there without rushing. For some reason, chip pick up was the morning of the event so I was a little leery of not getting there in enough time, so we left a bit earlier than need be. Everything was very smooth thought when we did get there.

The course was very neat and I would love to run it again---this time without the heat.

The water on the course was sparse--especially for the heat that day. There were also only three water stops on the course, the last, at mile 5+ was a little paper dixie cup size....which was hardly enough when we were all roasting. As you can tell from the picture when Mark found me at Mile 5 I was fried.

After looking for my results I found a lot of comments about the race...it seems that my concerns were similar to others. I hope they do make improvements because there is great potential here!

The finish line was fun and very festive! A great way to finish, especially as the last leg of the race was downhill! :)







As always, thanks to my outstanding cheerleaders! :) I couldn't do it without you!



Eleven down, nine to go!

703  67/96   Amy Trenkle         F 34 Washington DC      77:01 76:45 10:58

Save the Trail 5K

Wooohooo! Race Number 10!! Here we are!



This race, the Save the Trail 5K, wasn't on our radar originally, but I got an email from a listserve and figured, why not? We were around for Memorial Day weekend and it seemed like a great way to celebrate the weekend.

I'm not much of a 5K person, but we decided to give it a try.


The race took place in Bethesda, as an awareness race for the building of the Purple line along one of the popular biking/trails in the area, the Capital Crescent Trail.

The race was an out and back course, on the packed crushed stone trail, with a short stint through the adjacent neighborhood.

One of the things Mark and I both really liked about it was that it wasn't a super crowded, jazzed up, top ten in the nation race.


In fact, I didn't even have to wait in line for the porta potty! That's how low key it was!



But for as low key as it was, it was well done. The race was organized well, ran smoothly, and was very official without being overwhelming.

It was starting to inch toward the warmer side. And I have clearly have issues with eating before a 5K. I chose not eat before we left the house, but we were at the race about 45 minutes before it started and I found myself getting hungrier and hungrier. Simultaneously, they were setting up the post race food area. Mark kindly asked the woman for a half of a bagel for the two of us to split and we did. The bagel, however, did not agree with me as I ran and I was regretting my consumption of the bagel within the first mile.

(Can you find each of us crossing the start line in the two photographs above?)

Overall, it was a most excellent choice for my 10th run.


It was fun and I am extremely impressed with the race photography. Any of the pics of us running or of the pre-race scene that doesn't have Mark or I in it were taken by the photographers there and uploaded to the site, FREE for us to download. :)

98  15/29     164 Mark Hannum           M 34 Washington DC      24:01   24:07   7:46
99   6/36     163 Amy Trenkle           F 34 Washington DC      24:01   24:08   7:46