RAIN

I feel like we're in the Northern Territory of Australia during rainy season. It's hot and humid and not even summer yet, and this weekend proved that it can RAIN. I got caught out on my bike after only 8 miles of riding today in a torrential downpour. Since I'm not a pussy, I kept going, but it sucked. Roads were out, power lines down, it was crazy. Speaking of people riding bikes, big UPS to Alex, who rode a 40k time trial yesterday and came back today to take 15th in the 4/5 race at a criterium in PA. That's a great weekend of bike racing.

I went home to NJ for the weekend, my first trip back in a while. Saturday morning was the George Sheehan Classic 5 Miler. Used to be the preeminent race in the area, but over the last couple of years it has sadly gone downhill. I remember one year in college Kootman ran 26:40 and just cracked the top 25 of the race; this year that would have been third. Apparently they took all the money away and so no foreign talent showed up. Winning time was 25:34 to 24:43, and then the next three were between 27-27:30. The first woman was 27:30 and 2nd was just a few ticks behind. I wasn't sure how my legs were going to respond, since the previous day Arjun, Phil Turner and I ran in Patapsco (my first run since Sunday) and I felt dead. I was surprised when I went out comfortably and hit 5:38, but that was short-lived as I started slowing down (5:49, 5:55) and then hit the 4th mile which winds through this neighborhood. It's always slow, but this year killed me. 6:18. Then you hit a hill that is brutal before winding down it and having a quarter mile drag race to the finish on Broad St. I got outkicked by a few people, and finished at 29:45. Only about 1:25 then I've run through 5 miles of any given 10 miler that I've done this year. Oh well. It netted me 22nd overall, which is gay.

Couple other results from Father's Day 5k, not as many as I expected, and of course the highly contested T. Rowe Price 5k, where Justin took the W over defending champ Terence. Remember, now that we have a ton of people in the group, sometimes you need to send me your results so I don't have to look for 80 people each week!

Our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week goes to Denise Knickman for being a pillar of consistency. Notched a 4th place finish and another sub 19 5k at Father's Day 5k.

DON'T FORGET: this week is a very special week. For everyone, but mostly for dudes. Thursday night is Joel Brusewitz's show/Barf's birthday; Friday is the TOGA party; Saturday is the 10 miler/possible river tubing trip to Harper's Ferry/Dude's Night Out; Sunday is the women's 5k. I'm also thinking about doing a long run next Sunday, but doing it in the afternoon/evening.