<p>With a big mountain bike race coming this weekend, my plan for this race was to give just enough effort to place well for the summertime racing series. I had a gameplan, but as soon as the gun went off, it went out the window… As my completely soaked shorts and shoes can attest, it was a hot and humid one, which is typical of these post-work summer races on the canal.</p>
<p>I went out in about 6:25 and finished [according the the clock] in <a href=”http://www.dcroadrunners.org/races/race-results/2011-results/1189-2011-hugh-jascourt-4-miler.html”>27:16</a>, which, if you do the math, means I slowed considerably in the later miles, but so did everyone else; I only gained positions in the 2nd half of this out-and-back race. My PR at this race is ~25:30 so while I’m nowhere near my peak running, I’m scarily close on not training at all. My GPS says we ran a fair amount further than 4 miles; it clocked me at 26:51 for the four and was consistent there and back. Historically, this race has been a bit slow and/or long so I’d err on the side of my watch for this one.</p>
<p>It should also be noted that this race commemorated the 50th anniversary of the <a href=”http://www.dcroadrunners.org/”>DC Road Runners</a>, making it one of the oldest running clubs in the US. Slightly sad that we only managed ~100 runners for it, but that’s what you get for an odd distance at a difficult-to-get-to location, and on a weeknight.</p>
<p>Now, the morning after, I’m sitting here at my desk with perfectly normal hamstrings and massive hip pain again. I think the pain is a little less than following last week’s 5k, so on the injury front I’m still not right, but pretty excited for progress!</p>
<p>My next event is this weekend at Quantico… I’ll be entering the <a href=”http://www.ex2adventures.com/12-hours-of-cranky.php”>12 Hours of Cranky Monkey</a> mountain bike race with some friends <a href=”http://www.iammike.org/index.php?misc=search&subaction=showfull&id=1214706237&archive=&cnshow=news&ucat=2&start_from=”>for the 2nd time</a>. We have a three man team so I’ll only be riding 3-4 hours or so… Last time I did the race I had superb all-around fitness due to marathon training. This time, I’m in much better cycling shape, but probably worse cardio fitness, while my mountain biking skills have likely stayed the same… Should be interesting to see how I fare, but we’re not expecting anywhere near a middle to top finish… Just gonna have some fun. Following this race, my next will be a 4-miler on July 4th morning.</p>
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