One 5K endures post-Ike. A second 5K is born of Ike. A third 5K suddenly fades to black.

Event updates for the Houston-area running community:

• Hurricane Ike destroyed Maribelles Bar in Seabrook last September. August is an especially thin month on the running calendar in these parts, so it was nice to see that the 5K previously staged out of Maribelles will go on. Renamed to reflect a new host bar, the Outriggers 5K will run on August 1. Hopefully participants will be treated to another bounty of pizza and beer similar to the one I saw last year. Link to registration and more information on this race can be found at the On The Run site.
• Organizers of the Galveston Rebirth Race will use the one year anniversary of Ike's landfall as an occasion to run on the island.
  
• I was surprised to discover that there will be no Fired Up 5K this year. The Sugar Land Fire Deaprtment and First Colony Community Association had been jointly hosting this Labor Day race benefitting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. According to the fire department, the FCCA discontinued its sponsorship. It certainly could not have been due to a lack of interest, as the event appeared to progressively draw bigger crowds each year I ran it. One of the memories I have of that last Fired Up 5K in 2008 was simply being able to run it after being worried about Hurricane Gustav in the preceding days; Gustav was striking Louisiana instead.
  

Just one more shameless plug: These updates have been transferred to my Houston Running Calendar blog.

Run Wild 5K

It's been a summer of droughts. After flooding from the massive rain event in May, Houston's been dry as a tinderbox. And ever since my trainwreck-like race at the Heights Fun Run, I've been struggling to log any mileage at all, even taking a couple of zero weeks. But after a couple of decent run/walk sessions this week, I decided to go for the "comeback" on Independence Day at the Run Wild 5K. And it was a pretty good one:

Mile 1: 11:10
Mile 2: 11:06
Mile 3: 13:10
5K elapsed time: 36:31 per Garmin Forerunner 205

For those wondering, Run Wild is the timing services company that put on this race. There was nothing "wild" about it, unless you count the shopping at the boutiques in Uptown Park!

One of the most pleasant things about the morning actually came before gun time. When I arrived, the Uptown Park parking lots were full, so I decided to drive a couple blocks over to an apartment complex on the other side of Post Oak Boulevard. I parallel-parked on the street, stepped out, and discovered a twenty-dollar bill next to my car.

Coincidentally, when I registered yesterday, I padded on a few extra bucks for the race charity Special Olympics of Texas -- for a total of $20. I think I was meant to be at this 5K.

Happy Fourth of July!

Plotting the Winter Campaign

One month from now, registration opens for 2010 Marathon Sunday events in Houston. It may just be heat-induced delirium talking, but I'm giving significant thought to taking on the full marathon course for the second time. It's definitely not something for which I can "cram," so the time to get goal-oriented about this is now.

As a motivational prop, I recently ordered a custom Subway Cash Card with one of my 2008 photos on the front. I'm hoping it will simultaneously serve as a reminder of where I want to return and reinforce the eat-sensibly habit that helped get me there in the first place.

Either way, job number one should be to relieve my nagging achilles tendinitis issue permanently. When it first made it's rude appearance, we were in the midst of the busy spring running calendar. While I'd respond by backing off the mileage, I never gave myself permission to take any sort of real extended break from running. And it never really went away. Well, since that awful Heights Fun Run a couple of weeks ago, I have logged exactly zero miles. I also want to revisit my shoe selection.

Job number two would be choosing a training plan. In 2008 I worked up to race day on a Runner's World "SmartCoach" plan, but I want to explore other options.

One might think that having experience would be on my side would be a confidence booster. Ironically, knowing exactly what I'm getting myself into is making me nervous. We'll see if I'm really nutty enough to click "Submit" on that Active.com page again!

Heights Fun Run

Good News: As I had hoped, I'm enjoying post-race breakfast tacos after this year's Heights Fun Run.

Bad News: That's because I cooked some myself after getting home.

Good News: I was done running the race in only 11 minutes!

Bad News: When I finished running, I was still nearly two miles from the finish line.

Perhaps it was a mistake to leave my Forerunner at home this morning. I thought I'd "lighten the load" by just wearing my Timex Ironman watch. So I may have went out too fast, especially since I didn't see any mile markers on Heights Boulevard this year. The nausea in my midsection started a few blocks before the turnaround, so I started a walk break. Unfortunately, I never returned from the Puke Point in this race.

It was if I was seasick. Every time I even thought about picking up a jog again, my stomach would revolt. So I spent the next half hour being passed by everyone I passed at the start. I did have ample opportunity to thank each and every volunteer and police officer out there, so that was a plus. According to my Timex, I crossed the finish line in a time 41:10, the likes of which I haven't seen in four years.

Not surprisingly, the breakfast tacos were long gone by the time I got to the table. There's always next year....

National Running Day

So, did you remember to get out and stride a little as part of National Running Day?

This evening I ventured out and back until my Forerunner read exactly 6.39 miles in honor of the date of 06/03/09. Next up, I'll be watching that runner's flick classic, Chariots of Fire.

Well, if for some reason running isn't your "thing," maybe you can still join me in also celebrating Free Root Beer Float Night at Sonic Drive-In. It's all good.

Impact A Hero 5K

Today I ran in the Impact A Hero 5K, which raises funds to assist our severely wounded veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After the first mile, I had to take a walk break because once again, I had gone out too fast and hit my Puke Point. After resuming my run, I noticed that Gary Kubiak had caught up to me. The NFL Houston Texans head coach has been the honorary chairperson for the Impact A Hero 5K for a few years now. He and some of the players were out there this morning to lend some "star power" to the morning's activities.

For a couple of miles, I was keeping pace with Coach Kubiak, who once again was wearing bib #1. To my credit I refrained from lamely asking if we were going to the playoffs this year. He's been a self-professed treadmill junkie in the past, but today he confessed that he only goes running only every other day now. As the Mile 3 marker drew near, Kubiak obviously had more left in the tank than I did, and he pulled away and left me in his wake.

The first time I ran this event in 2007, he pretty much did the same thing to me. The old QB can still scramble, I suppose. I think one of my future goals should be to beat Kubiak to the finish line in this race. But with summer weather here, I'll accept the sub-:30 time and move on!

Mile 1: 8:43
Mile 2: 9:42
Mile 3: 9:21
5K elapsed time: 29:06, per Garmin Forerunner 205

Chip timing was an option for this event, but I declined. Instead I had opted to register as a "non-competitive" run/walk participant. This meant that the part of the fee that would normally go to the timing company -- just under two dollars, if I recall correctly -- would stay in the hands of the charity.



Event T-shirts aren't normally worth a comment, but I think they did an especially good job with this year's edition:



On a side note, I broke a streak this weekend. In 2005 the Astros Race for the Pennant 5K was my first running event ever. I had made a point of going back every year since until it was scheduled up against the IAH race.(Darn you race directors for making me choose!)

Even Eden had a serpent....

Whose idea was it to live next to a gazillion acres of parkland again? Oh, yeah -- that was mine!

I was crouched down, tending to the bean plants on my patio when I heard a faint hissing. Looking down, I saw a tan-colored snake just inches away from my leg. I reacted by springing up and back, and then quickly ducking back inside the patio door.

Once I reassured myself that I was out of danger, I grabbed my camera and took the photos above. As I prodded my unexpected guest off the patio with a broomstick, a funky odor filled the air. I thought a sewer line had backed up somewhere, but after a little online research, I found that this was the "calling card" of the water diamond back snake. It releases a stink when it feels threatened. While this critter wasn't poisonous -- this area's venomous snakes are the copperhead, the cottonmouth and the coral -- it did do a good job of startling me!

Just earlier in the month, I came home to find a migrating colony of bees swarming around the same patio. Yup, living closer to nature has been interesting!

Otherwise, the patio garden itself is chugging along with production. The swiss chard is producing its first broad leaves, which I used as the foundation for a salad. Atop the chard and baby spinach, I piled on apple slices, strawberries, and raisins:

And green bean production is in full swing. Here's the season's first harvest, sauteed in olive oil and garlic before being paired with a cajun blackened salmon filet:

The only crop that hasn't made it to my plate yet is the roma tomatoes. They have some small, green fruits on the vine, though. So far they seem to be requiring a lot of effort to tend and water, so I'm interested to productive they turn out to be.

Beach to Bay Relay Marathon

I've been wanting to try a relay race for more than a year. So before dawn, I found myself standing on the sand with a baton in my hand.

Today I covered the first leg of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, an annual event that celebrates Armed Forces Day. Leg number one of the relay is an out-and-back completely on the beach of Padre Island.

It was a memorable run. Remember the opening scene of Chariots of Fire? (cue dreamlike movie soundtrack here) Well, imagine that, except it wasn't a dozen Briton dudes, it was an overwhelmingly Texan crowd of a couple thousand men, women, children all surging in a long pack southward on the beach after the horn sounded. After a couple of miles, we reached a turnaround point marked by a couple of ribbon-wrapped barrels next to a pickup truck and then doubled back to the north.

Since impact cushioning wasn't a real concern, I decided to recall an old pair of Saucony Trigon 5 Guide from retirement and use those and not my current Brooks Adrenalines. Honestly, it as if my feet had returned home to shoes they should have never left. Perhaps I ought to check out Saucony again to see if they've returned that feel to anything in their current lineup. Anyway, while it was nice for my feet to not feel pounded, they definitely had less traction versus the road. I had shortened my stride and was depending on swing-forward motion to propel me rather than push-off. The extra effort demanded by the surface quickly sapped my energy, and it's reflected in my splits:

Mile 1: 9:49
Mile 2: 10:20
Mile 3: 10:53
Mile 4: 11:25
4.19-mile elapsed time per Garmin Forerunner 205, including handoff: 45:12

Along the way I passed and was passed by so many. There were the gazelle-like guys who looked like they probably ran for their collegiate or high school track teams. There was the Danish lady running barefoot. There was the entirely-too-enthusiastic brunette who recognized my "Houston 26.2" finisher shirt and tried to encourage me to sign up for another full marathon. There was the old guy who lumbered forth in an unsophisticated shuffle -- and yet he was moving faster than me.

As I approached the end of my leg, I passed a volunteer who was rapidly muttering our bib numbers into a two-way radio. I entered the handoff chute and frantically looked around for RW forumite "ta_tx," who was going to be running leg number two. It was pandemonium in that chute, with finishing runners looking left and right at the throngs on either side, holding batons aloft and yelling names and numbers, hoping to make a connection. Meanwhile the public address announcers took turns with the rapid-fire delivery of our numbers in a near-hopeless effort to keep up with our arrivals. It was like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, except more spandex was visible. After a nervous minute or two passed, ta_tx got my attention from outside the chute. I relinquished the baton to her and watched as she took off to advance it another four miles or so towards the mainland.

I did have a great time chatting pre-race at dinner and post-race at lunch with the all-Runner's-World-forumite team, dubbed "Paulette's Penguins." Paulette -- aka "kayano" on the forums -- is currently on a journey towards wellness. Having teammates that depended on me gave extra impetus to do my best and be prepared. That preparation included setting three -- yes, three -- separate alarms to make sure I was not late for the shuttle buses as I was in San Antonio last fall.

I had a lot of fun with this event and I'd recommend the relay experience to anyone who runs. Paulette, it was an honor to run under your name. During our race you became four hours and forty-five minutes closer to kicking that MFer cancer to the curb.

Berry fresh

With the transition from spring into summer, the apartment garden is definitely looking productive. My previous worries about what might grow on my half-day-sun patio have melted away as the mercury is hitting the upper 80s on a consistent basis. It seems so obvious now, but all the plants were simply waiting for warm weather to truly thrive.

I picked my first two fruits from the Quinalt strawberry plants. They were luscious, tender and had a really nice fragrance. The roma tomatoes are developing small green fruits of their own. Down on the pavement, the Contender bush beans have sprouted their first pods and the Swiss chard is finally starting to resemble some real eating greens. I look forward to sampling these in the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, to celebrate the first "harvest," I had a little ice cream. I took some scoops of Breyers vanilla and topped them with sliced almonds, banana, and the just-picked berries. After drizzling a little maple syrup over the top, it was perfect!

Pear Run 10K

After sitting out running events the entire month of April, I figured Pear Run be a good one at which to step back in. So when my alarm clock went off at 5 a.m., I got dressed, ate a large Kit Kat bar and drove over to Pearland for a 10K this morning:

Km 1: (Ignored. Waiting for mile marker to hit lap button.)
Km 2: 12:29 for both kilometers (Where are the mile markers? Is the race now managed by Canadians?)
Km 3: 6:09
Km 4: 6:00
Km 5: 6:01
Km 6: 6:45
Km 7: 6:38
Km 8: 7:15
Km 9: 5:50
Km 10: 6:16

My Garmin recorded my 10K elapsed time as 1:03:26, several minutes off my PR pace from March, and even slower than last year's Pear Run. But I'll take it.

Right on schedule, near the 8-km mark (5 miles in American-speak) I could feel the twinges starting in the left achilles tendon that had been bugging me all spring, so I stopped to walk and give my calf muscles a good stretching before going on. It was here that a tall, young-looking guy struck up a conversation with me, telling me that this was only his second marathon, and it was much farther than the one he did in March. Yup, I agreed that this would be a farther "marathon" for him than that Stride4Stroke 5K around Rice University. I just smiled and nodded before picking up my stride again.

I identified one "bandit" on the course, because I recognized her race bib as being of last year's design. Can we blame that behavior on recession-induced desperation?

This is the fourth year in a row I have been at this well-run event, and it's the fourth year in a row that no pears were to be found at the after-race. Perhaps they should at least consider giving them out as awards? Speaking of which, no official results are available yet because the timing people's laptop got fried by a power surge. We'll see if they can recover the data, because they won't know how to distribute the age-group awards otherwise.