In Search of Christmas Spirit

After a bit of a break, the Trinity Trotters were back in action again this Saturday. After a nearly two month hiatus, one would think they would head out for an easy warm-up, but despite their trotter and pokey persona, the Trinity Trotters are a serious group! (Or, at least Fran is a die-hard!). On Saturday morning Fran, Pastor Wendy, Kjersten, and two people new to the Trotters, Jill and David, headed out in search of some Christmas spirit to bring some warmth to the cold morning, hopefully in the form of a lovely decorated tree. We headed from the church, along the mall and down towards the Lincoln Memorial. As we passed the White House, there was a tree sighting, but we couldn't see anything too clearly. So on the way back, we swung by the Ellipse for a closer look. Much to our surprise, we discovered that our National Christmas Tree is tacky! It is held in shape by a large net of lights, and outside of the light net is pinned large red cardboard bows that look roughly like teeth from a distance. We did learn some fascinating facts about the National Christmas Tree. For example, did you know that the National Christmas Tree is a live, 40 foot tall Colorado Blue Spruce from Pennsylvania? Neither did we. So, in the end, we found some Christmas spirit, and found it delightfully tacky. Stay tuned to see where our adventures take us next week.

Race Day Arrives

Well, the big day finally arrived for the First Trinity runners. After 4 months of training, race day arrived clear and cool in Baltimore. Your trusty runners gathered in the IKEA parking lot at 6:30 am and car pooled to raven stadium. And what a great day we had -- here we are celebrating our great finishes (Don't worry, Sarah Knoll is not in the medical tent, she had already headed back to Baltimore) Let's take a look at the leg by leg results! Sarah gets the Hokey Pokeys off to a great start! (Apparently Kjersten was a little camera shy, as marathonfoto didn't get any shots of her) Fran feels it for the Pokeys Dan is looking good at the halfway point! Kent leading the way for the Pokeys in leg #3 Here are Greg and Kent trying to catch up with Sara and Wendy at the finish! Wendy and Sara sprint towards the finish! And here are the official results. We finished 170 out of 582 relay teams, or in the top 30%! RELAY PLACE # 170 Trinity Hokey Pokeys 3:47:55 3:49:44 |0:53:36|1:26:50|1:52:41|2:41:02 MIXED Kent Forde 34 M 09985 Wendy Moen 37 F 19985 Sarah Knoll 24 F 20985 Frances Knoll 53 F 21985 RELAY PLACE # 171 Trinity Trotters 3:47:55 3:49:44 |0:54:55|1:29:06|1:54:55|2:41:02 MIXED Kjersten Priddy 24 F 09986 Sara Speckhard 30 F 19986 Gregory Nelson 42 M 20986 Daniel Keister 30 M 21986

Back to the Mall

After taking labor day weekend off (which seems appropriate), your first trinity runners were back at it this weekend. We broke into two groups -- Sara and Wendy formed the "recovering runners" group, while Greg, Kent, and Kjersten formed the "long run" group. We all started out together from the church and headed towards the national mall. After about a mile, the recovering runners headed back. (We don't want to push anyone's luck). The good news is that I can report all of our recovering runners had no lingering effects today, so we should soon be back to full strength.

As shown, the long run group had a beautiful run around all 3 major monuments. We started out going past the National Black Family Reunion festivities (boy that breakfast smelled good), then around the Washington Monument, past the World War II memorial (where a group of Minnes0ta veterans were taking their photo), and onto the Lincoln memorial. At this point we were feeling good, so we took a left and followed the Potomac River towards the Jefferson Memorial. After witnessing first-hand the sinking effects around the Tidal Basin, we headed back to the Mall. Although I'm sure we could have easily completed another lap, Kjersten had to get to work, so Kent and I graciously agreed to escort her back to the church. Of course, Kent still had a dozen more runs/walks/rides/swims to complete this weekend, so he had many more fitness opportunities. Its getting down to crunch time now, with less then 5 weeks to go until the marathon relay!

Hot Summer in the City

The trotter team should sign up as local weather forecasters! Why, you ask? Well, due to a variety of reasons, we canceled this week's run as we could not get a quorum. As it turns out, if we had run Saturday, our 6 week streak of perfect running weather would have been broken, as it was 80 and muggy Saturday in DC. However, since we did not run -- The Streak Lives On! However, team members did not just sit around all day. Kent and Kjersten hopped on their bikes and rode through all 50 states, and still found time to take a nap in the middle. (And no, they did not mess with the space - time continuum) Let's just say the district of columbia has a stately way of naming states. And we are pleased to welcome our newest team member -- Sarah Knoll and the family dog. (still checking if dogs are legal in the Baltimore Marathon). Assuming no injuries, we should have our full complement of 8 runners for the relays. (only 7 weeks to go!)

Who is the rabbit?

As regular readers of the First Trinity running blog know, we have been having an ongoing debate over who among our group is consciously (or unconsciously!) leading the group to record setting times. At various times everybody has been a suspect. Well, this week, for the first time, Kent was missing. (some lame excuse about training for a triathlon at 7am) And the average time for Wendy, Sarah, Kjersten and Greg was a 10:25 per mile pace. (the slowest pace so far). As they say in Dragnet -- "Just the facts, ma'am" This week we were down along the potomac in yet again perfect weather. If running wasn't enough, Sarah and Kjersten very generously offered the group the chance to participate in some cross-training after the run. I wasn't able to participate, but it seemed to involve lifting boxes and going up and down stairs. We'll have to get the complete report later.

mid-week...

It's true - injury/inflammation persists, however, thanks to Sara and her organized Runner's World articles, I've got some stretches and strengthening for this annoying IT Band problem. I'm hoping to be back out there running with you all soon. In the meantime, I'm working on recruiting a couple of other runners to join us on Saturday mornings. They seem to be put off by a 9-minute mile, however! Yet, this would seem to disprove the speculation that I was "the rabbit" a few weeks ago:-).

Having a Ball on the Mall

The trinity trotters had to place Pastor Wendy on the 1 week disabled list earlier this week due to soreness in the IT band. She is listed as day to day. According to an unnamed source, she suffered the injury "when I was on the treadmill earlier this week, and it had nothing to do with the trinity trotter training. It will not effect my pastoral duties." As if to prove the point, Pastor Wendy posted her first blog entry Saturday morning. Other members of the team carried on without Wendy, as we did a run around the mall, from the capital, past the Washington Monument, to the Lincoln memorial, and back to First Trinity. Our streak of perfect running weather remains unbroken, as it was sunny and 75 Saturday morning. Due to the perfect weather, we picked up the pace and registered a 9:00 minute mile for the first time

Putting the "Rock" in Rock Creek

Without Greg's sweet mapping watch, I can't post a map or accurate times, or anything all that cool, but the First Trinity runners were at it again this weekend. We were a smaller group, with many members off on vacation (hopefully still training) but Pastor Wendy, Kent, and myself (KJ) tore up the paths of Rock Creek park on Saturday morning. Saturday was a scorcher, but the morning actually started out as a pretty pleasant day for a run. We started at picnic area #6 and headed south to Pierce Mill road, we think it was about four miles round trip. There is some discrepancy in the time it took, so we have yet to determine if Pastor Wendy is the cause of the really fast days. My watch said we completed the run in 20:08, whereas Kent's said 41:22. I think the truth is closer to Kent's time, though I may continue to claim having set a five minute mile pace. Kent suffered a brief wardrobe malfunction at the turn around point, but luckily disaster was averted when we noticed the malfunction and Kent was able to re-tie the shoelace in time to prevent the shoe from going in the creek. We also returned to the topic of tow chains, reminding me once again that these Midwesterners have a different style of life than this Southern California girl is used to. All in all training seems to be going well, and we should be tearing up the street of Baltimore in October. Next week I think we're headed back to the mall for another one of those classic "only in DC" runs.

Down by the River

Another week, another great run. This week we were down in Georgetown at the start of the Capital Crescent trail. After a few logistical problems (Kjersten had put on her cloak of invisibility while feeding the parking meter), we got started. Even though Sara couldn't make it, she ensured once again that we had beautiful weather. And this week we welcomed Fran to her first official run. With Pastor Wendy & Sara missing this week, and Fran a new addition, a debate has ensued over the pace of our training runs. Rather than get in the middle of this discussion, I'll just let the numbers speak for themselves. (Just keep in mind we were running on a different course) The pace for last week (July 21) is listed first, followed by yesterday's pace (July 28)

• Mile 1 9:16 10:24 min/mile
• Mile 2 9:27 9:58 min/mile
• Mile 3 9:33 9:50 min/mile
• Mile 4 9:20 9:53 min/mile

This coming week we'll have yet a different mix of runners, so we'll see how things turn out.

Link off www.firsttrinitydc.org

Hi you healthy running people:) you are linked off the home page... I made it a separate area where we can link other blogs like Pastor Wendy's upcoming blog, or anyone else who wants to link a blog to the webpage and show what a diverse and interesting church we are. Perhaps Dibley will start a blog. Kimberly

The Journey Begins

Welcome to the running blog of First Trinity Lutheran Church in Washington DC. We are in training for the Baltimore Festival of Running on October 10. As part of our training, we will be raising money for a mission trip (details to be announced soon!). Our first training run took place on July 14. Here was the course As you can see, we had a 3 mile tour around the national mall, running from roughly the capital to the Washington Monument, while starting and ending at the church. (not too many other churches can claim such a scenic route less than a mile from their building!) The first week included Greg, Kent, Sara, Kjersten, & Pastor Wendy. We made it through the first week without injury! Last week we started at Gravely point next to National Airport. It was another beautiful day for running (thanks Sara), and we extended our run by another mile. Hot topics during our run included the dangers of tow chains. Ask Sara or Kent for more details.