Woke up early this morning, drove up to Greenbelt, which turns out to be a really nice area (more on that later), found my way to the Youth Center, checked in, warmed up, and ran a 20:26 in the <a href=”http://www.pgrc.org/races/wright_stuff.html” target=”_blank”>Greenbelt Wright Stuff 5k</a>.<br/><br/>The course wasn’t too tough, but it was a very cold day and I had a lot of trouble breathing. Additionally, while it was a small race and was very well organized for its size, they didn’t have any mile markers set. Until I saw the finish line, I had no idea what kind of pace I was running. When I did see it, my watch said 19:50 and there was no way I was getting there in 9 seconds. With my competition nowhere around, I cruised on in. If you’re a race organizer who is reading this, please, please, please mark every mile… Having a map that says “kilometer four is two feet beyond the covered bench” when there are fifteen covered benches over the course of a tenth of a mile doesn’t help (yes, they did that)!<br/><br/>Anyway, since it was a small race I still managed to pull 7th overall, 1st in my age group, and I won a pointsettia in the raffle. They also gave out long sleeve shirts! Yay for not having to donate a race shirt for a change! Dear race organizers, short sleeves suck. Heck, I’d pay the extra to get a good long sleeve (wicking or something) and I’m sure other people who run a lot of races would too!<br/><br/>I met a nice guy named Mike Revell, who was behind me the whole race. He said I kept a steady pace and looked effortless when I was running; said I barely left the ground. I don’t know if that was because I was dead and shuffling my feet or if my form is actually very good. For those of you non-runners, it is ideal to have as little vertical motion as possible. We chatted for a bit, shared stories, and that was that… Meeting people is fun. Will likely see him at another race; he races every weekend, which is something I’m considering as it is a forced fast workout, usually helps a charity, and racing is just plain fun.<br/><br/>Since I still didn’t attain my 19:59 goal, I will be racing again next weekend (unless the weather doesn’t warm like it says it will) in the <a href=”http://www.lifetimefitness.com/events/reindeer-run/location-info.cfm?intLocationId=18″ target=”_blank”>Lifetime Fitness 5k Reindeer Run</a> at Westfield High School in Chantilly, VA.<br/><br/>Back to <a href=”http://www.greenbeltmd.gov/about_greenbelt/index.htm” target=”_blank”>Greenbelt</a>, it was a very efficient and tidy community. All of the housing units [that I saw] were shared, in very good shape despite their age, everything was centered around the communty center, aquatic center, library, and shopping center… It had major community feel, which is apparently what they were going for when they planned it. A place I had never been to and knew nothing about, but a place I wouldn’t mind living or seeing more communities modeled after.<br/>