There's a new runner in da House

For the last two years, West Virginia Rep. Shelley Moore Capito has been leading the pack in the annual ACLI Capitol Challenge 5K, which benefits the D.C. Special Olympics. The Republican congresswoman placed first among female U.S. House members in both 2005 and in 2006 with times of 27:12 and 25:55.

Well, there's a new runner in the House and that runner is Rep. Jean Schmidt.

Fresh off running the Boston Marathon, Schmidt completed this morning's 5K race in a lean and mean 22:41 to snag Capito's title as the fastest U.S. congresswoman. Well, the fastest among the three congresswomen who raced this year! Capito came in at 26:18 to place second. California Rep. Jane Harman, who was the 2003 winner, ran today's race in 29:07 to place third.

Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., placed first among U.S. congressmen with a time of 18:24.

Behind Gordon came Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., with a time of 19:10 to be named the fastest male U.S. senator. And behind Schmidt came Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison with a time of 36:14 to be named the fastest female U.S. senator.

Overall, there were 670 race entrants, of which 23 were House members and 12 were senators. Schmidt placed #229 overall, #11 among both House and Senate members, and #8 among just House members. In fact, she beat area Rep. Baron Hill from Indiana by a mere 16 seconds!

(Also racing as part of the four-member "Team Schmidt" was Matt Perin, former campaign manager for Schmdit who now works in Schmidt's Washington office. Like on the campaign trail, Perin did a good job of following his boss. He clocked a 25:03 race time.)