Dean Siedlecki – Port To Fort 6k – Saturday, April 23, 2016

This was the 20th anniversary of the Port to Fort 6k and it starts and ended in Locust Point near McHenry Row. This race venue is very easy to get to from I 95 North and is the last exit before the Ft. McHenry Tunnel.

I first did this race in 1988 (3rd year of the race) when we started and ended near Rash Field and went to Ft. McHenry and back, so it really was a “Port to Fort”, but was also a 8k then. Now, we only see a faraway view of the Inner Harbor during one of the turns, but we don’t get close to the Inner Harbor. I have only done this race 3 times before today.

Before the race, it started to rain a little, and was a little cool, so I did not take my long-sleeve shirt until after the signing of the National Anthem. Once we started running the light rain / cool weather did not seem to be to bad.

There were lots of give aways prior to and after the race, including a free coupon for Chick-fil-A nuggets, plenty of Dap clear and white tube silicone calk, PayPal sunglasses and digital watch, and lots of post-race food, including cookies, ham / turkey wraps, chips/pretzels, bagels / cream cheese, bananas, bottled water, and iced gelato.

Since I did the Cherry Blossom 10miler, where my pace has decreased from 12:01, to Sole of the City 10k last weekend at 10:35 to this week at 9:47, I can see pace improvement, though the distances are getting shorter. Also, I am still not running during the week like I will need to start doing to improve even more.

For road races, I am place in the 50-59 age group, until I actually turn 60 in Auguat….but if I were racing in the 60-99 AG (like for I am now for triathlons), I would have placed 5th of 23 in this race.

Prior results and pace:

1998(8k)—-33:36:00—–6:45:32
2006———27:37:00—–7:24:23
2015———29:49:00—–7:59:48
2016———36:30:00—–9:47:20