Race #4

The Race Queen gets readyCamille and Ern before the fun starts

We're rounding the final turn!!

Running a race in Washington DC was a last minute decision. I had plans to go play tourist with my cousin Colleen G. for a long weekend and thought why not try to find a race while I'm there. But I had a dilemma. DC is not one of the 50 states so would I somehow be able to count this as part of my 50 by 50 in 50? Technically I don't think I can but I decided I'd keep it as a "spare" race and if I don't get to Virginia or Maryland before the time is up, I'll use this race.

The race, the National Police Week 5k, is run in memory of fallen police officers throughout the United States. I ran in memory of Paul Avery Starzyk. I looked up his story when I got back home. He was my age at the time of his death and died while responding to shots fired at a hair salon. Here is a link to his story: http://www.odmp.org/officer/19546-sergeant-paul-avery-starzyk?printview=1.

I recruited a friend, Erin R., who lives in the DC area to run with me. Once again I picked a running partner who this time, is thirty years younger than I am and is all legs! But she was a great sport even gave me some running tips along the way that have proved helpful. Erin is a good athlete, is in the process of training for a triathlon. Need I say more. To make it worse, this race was full of law enforcement people, from police to FBI agents. Most were young and in impeccable shape.

The race started as rain clouds threatened. The course took us around the nations capital and other government buildings. It was pretty impressive to be able to go past all those buildings without the push of a tourist crowd. I was able to run the entire route but ended up with a time of 36 minutes, not my best run.

Having someone to run with is clearly a bonus, I'm going to have to try and make that happen more often.