My running base has been built back up. My weekly mileage has been consistently in the twenties for the past several weeks.
This week I've even gone so far as to register for two half marathons this spring. The first will be next Angie's Half Crazy Half Marathon next weekend, and the other will be the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The picture on the right was taken during my five-miler this morning. I guess the owner of this car must have a very special set of "friends."
The results of the Shamrock Strut were finally posted online. My chip time was about eight seconds faster than my Garmin time. I guess I wasn't very good about hitting my timer at the right spot that day!
Despite being excited about the PR and breaking the one-hour mark, I couldn't help but notice that I was near the very bottom of my age group in this race, as opposed to being squarely in the middle of the pack at Rodeo Run. The smaller the race, the more hardcore the runners are I suppose. But very, very few of the male 10K runners took more than 60 minutes.
On the RunnersWorld forums I frequently muse that you cannot help who does or doesn't show up to a race, and this one was definitely a reminder of that.
It's not as if I haven't been trying -- of the 146 discrete items I identified on the menu, I've had 75 of them. But the overwhelming majority of what is left are the different dessert and drink options. I'd be looking at making several dozen trips in the last week to clear out the cold and refreshing columns. I won't even start on the nutritional imbalances this would impose.
I'll definitely finish it off in the next month or too. Meanwhile, I can offer these observations so far:
The Java Chillers and hot lattes are calorie-laden, but awesome. I have no idea why I'd need to enter a Starbucks ever again, unless I'm trying to meet someone.
Ched 'R' Peppers are an oily mess. I can guarantee that I won't order them again.
CreamSlush treats are a watered down mess. I don't see the point in diluting ice cream.
The variety of slushes, on the other hand, have been a pleasant surprise and I'll be ordering them more often. Lemon-berry fruit slushes rock!
After penning his thoughts on the Eucharistic sacrament, Thomas took his written answer to church, laid it down in front of the altar and prayed to the Lord, asking him if his answer was correct. And he heard a Divine Answer right then and there.
Now, granted, not all of us have the mighty responsibility of shaping Church doctrine on our shoulders, but even in our everyday lives, we're faced with the question of whether what we are doing and saying conforms to what God has meant for us. Who wouldn't appreciate receiving a loud-and-clear A-OK from God on what (s)he is doing?
I suppose that explains the whole "What Would Jesus Do" phenomenon. Anyway, Happy Easter, and may we all relish in the joy of mystery!
(March 25 update -- gun and chip times were posted and I've added them down at the bottom of the report.)
It's not often that I go race with a specific target time. Usually I just try to go out and run a smart race and accept what I'm capable of on any given day. After setting a 10K PR time of 1:00:24 on the hilly and crowded Rodeo Run course two weeks ago, however, I just knew I had a sub-60-minute time due.
I arrived at the Houston Eye Associates building about half an hour before gun time and met my sister, who was there to cheer me on and attempt to use my digital camera. This morning's field was on the small side, with probably no more than 500 runners in the 5K and 10K events combined. After a brief warmup, I dropped myself into the middle of the crowd behind the starting line and the horn went off.
The race itself went quite smoothly. The course was roughly a 3-mile loop, so I'd be running it twice. (For those familiar with Houston, it ran down Brompton to N. Braeswood with a turnaround at Stella Link.) I think I did a pretty good job of keeping the first mile relaxed and under control.
After completing the first loop, I began to think about how I'd maintain my effort through the crucial miles 4 and 5. And then I was passed by a woman with a Perfect Ponytail(tm) and lime green shorts. Perfect. I used those shorts as a pacing beacon for the next two miles. I couldn't hold on forever, though, and she slipped out of my sight by the turn back onto Brompton. But she had unknowingly helped me accomplish my goal:
I don't know my chip time yet, since they never posted any results slower than 50 minutes during the postrace party. The webpage for this race claims that it has the "best postrace party in Houston," but I couldn't discern anything that stood out for the adults. For kids, however, it was like a mini-carnival with a bounce house, ferris wheel, face painting, etc. The closest to adult refreshments I got was the table from Two Rows restaurant, who was there with a tray of their delicious beer muffins. Overall, I thought the race, which benefits a Foundation that covers the hospital and surgical facility fees, medications, and other ancillary expenses for indigent Houstonians with critical eye problems, was well operated.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone! So, how did my sister do behind the lens, you ask?
This is me completing loop number one. She almost missed me going by until I shouted at her. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to spot a guy wearing a green shirt and a shamrock on his hat!
Approaching the finish line.
Oh, sure, let's get one more picture before leaving the race site.
Premium Roast Coffee -- with Sonic Boom espresso shot Breakfast Toaster Sandwich with ham Sonic burger -- with mustard onion rings apple limeade banana malt
breakfast burrito with sausage lemon-berry slush Santa Fe grilled chicken salad --with Italian dressing Diet Dr. Pepper --flavorized with lime pineapple sundae lime slush
Completing this task by the end of March may be tough. As with any worthy project, I need to fully spell out the requirements and see if it's possible to get this done in a mere three weeks.
This afternoon I made my first volunteer appearance at a race. The inaugural Texas Independence Relay was being held this weekend, with teams of runners starting in Goliad on Saturday and finishing at the San Jacinto Monument today, a total distance of about 200 miles. I arrived at a street corner in southeast Houston and made my way to the red tent with a replica of the "COME AND TAKE IT" banner from the Battle of Gonzales dangling.
The tent marked one of the last exchange points for the teams, who were all fairly worn out at this point and were ready to get the race overwith! Unlike other races, us volunteers didn't have to worry about serving water or distributing post-race snacks; the teams were carrying provisions in their vans. Mostly, we were in charge of "babysitting" the tent and cone markers when runners or race staff wasn't around, as well as making sure the outgoing runners knew which direction to start running. Being at the exchange point was sort of like being at an airport terminal. Vans would pull in and team members would come over to anxiously wait for their arriving loved one, er, teammate and then encourage the next one on his/her departure. While the teams waited I got to chat with many of them. One of the runners actually recognized me from my posts on Runner's World forum and admitted to being mostly a lurker. (HI!)
In a volunteer assignment, you might find yourself doing some pretty unexpected things. Today was an extremely windy day, with a strong 20 mph breeze from the southeast and occasional gusts of 30 mph! And wouldn't you know it, the arriving runners were having to go directly against that wind for their leg of the race! Kudos to them for dealing with that at this late stage. As for me, I spent much of the time with my hand firmly gripping one of the tent posts to make sure the wind didn't "come and take it." A couple of the teams had remarked that this had actually happened to tents at previous exchange points, with one tent getting dumped into a fountain.
There was some rain, too, and while at this intersection, I observed that many drivers don't know well enough to just slow down. Many spun their tires gunning their accelerator on green lights. The rear-wheel-drive vehicles were REALLY making me nervous. A pickup truck lost control on a turn, spun around, hopped the median into the opposing lanes, and somehow remained upright and didn't hit anyone. The driver of a blue car making a left turn lost control, started fishtailing, and for a split second, I feared that she would rollover in our direction! This volunteer assignment had a sense of the unexpectedly dangerous to it!
The last team -- the all-female "Victorious Secret" -- gathered under the tent at around 3, and we chatted as they waited. Finally, the runner they were waiting for appeared and made the handoff: I was told that she was the youngest participant in the event at eleven years of age. Wow! And with that handoff, the sag wagon showed up and I assisted with taking down the tent.
I look forward to additional opportunities to volunteer at races. It's a different perspective and races just wouldn't be the same without them, would they?
Here are a few more pictures for this post....
Teams huddle under the exchange point tent to seek relief from intermittent rain:
A member of "Baytown Runners" finishes her leg by arriving at the exchange point ...
...and her teammate heads off on the next leg!
I think this is Team "I'm On A Beer Run To Shiner" waiting. Or is it "120 Toes"? Or "One Po'Tatur"? There were so many teams coming and going that I couldn't keep them all straight!
Team van of "Chillin' & Grillin' Our Road Killin':
I'm a frequent visitor of Sonic Drive-In. Lately, though, I've been thinking that I've got myself in a rut, ordering many of the same items. So I'm issuing a challenge to myself:
I'm going to attempt to sample the entire Sonic menu by the end of the month.
It started today. For lunch, while driving to my volunteer post at the Texas Independence Relay, I had a large Popcorn Chicken with honey mustard sauce, tater tots, and a raspberry ice tea.
Here are the ground rules:
1) If it is listed on the menu, I will order it at least once during March. 2) Different custom permutations of the same item won't be required. For example, I've satisfied the raspberry drink flavor and the ice tea requirements of this challenge already. So I don't need to order a raspberry Coke, unless I want to count that as the Coke. (Sonic boasts 168,000 drink combinations, so this ground rule is absolutely necessary.) 3) Likewise, I will not be ordering every size that an item can come in.
Last year's Rodeo Run was not a good race for me. I showed up late, missed picking up my timing chip, had no time to properly warm up, and just plain ran out of energy on the back half of the course. This year I arrived in downtown Houston extra early on Saturday morning eager to make some better history this time.
I'm glad I didn't arrive much later, because downtown Houston was not only playing host to this race and the Houston Rodeo parade, but also a college baseball tournament and a cheerleading competition. I parked in a lot thirteen blocks from both the start and finish line and took in a Snickers Marathon Energy Bar. I drove in wearing the same shoes I had worn during the Houston Marathon, but something just didn't feel right. I normally bring an extra pair of shoes to a race, and for the first time, I opted to switch to the spare pair -- one that was further "broken in."
In previous years, I had issues with the organization of the starting corral because the sequence of pace signs went from "10:00" to "walkers." Well, this year it was even worse. There were 8500 in this year's event, and the last running pace sign read "7:30." I'm pretty sure most of you would agree that there's a very large gap between people who run 7:30 miles and people who will be walking! I went ahead and seeded myself not far behind that "7:30" sign. I had brought my digital camera with me, and while I was waiting for the horn to start, I thought it would be fun to pan the crowd: I was feeling pretty good, and I made up my mind that my 10K PR (1:02:35) was beatable, despite what I knew was ahead.
Mile 1 - 8:53 The horn sounded, and we shuffled forth. It took about six minutes for me to cross the starting line. I am the type of racer that feeds off of crowd support, and the first couple of miles of the course were lined with spectators. (In this section of the course, the racers would actually be leading the parade that kicks off rodeo season in Houston.) This is pretty much as aggressively as I would dare to start a race of this distance.
Mile 2 - 9:14 I was still going out hard at this point. I've been passing lots of people, but I couldn't seem to catch this gal wearing a brown cow suit.
Mile 3 - 9:37 The race course leaves the downtown district. At the base of the Elysian viaduct I see a sign posted reading "Mt. Rodeo Run - Elevation 100 ft." I went charging up the bridge. As I begin to come down the other side, I bellowed out a warning: "Watch out -- Gravity is acting upon a fat man!" I pass a LOT of people on that downslope.
Mile 4 - 10:33 I had skipped the first water stop, but at this one I went ahead and grabbed a cup and walked through. Steamrolling through the first 5K in less than 29 minutes had me breathing very hard.
Mile 5 - 10:11 As soon as I was recovered, it was time to turn around and head back downtown on the other side of the viaduct. A woman standing in front of a house was chanting, "Go get that Ken-yan! Go get that Ken-yan!" I don't believe there were any Kenyan elites in this race.
Mile 6 - 9:55 Having returned downtown, I saw another sign which read, "Leaving Mt. Rodeo Run - Elevation 0 ft." If I was a racecar, I would be "on fumes" at this point. The new PR was virtually a sure thing, but the tantalizing idea of breaking one hour was driving me now. I bypassed the last water stop and made the final turn with the words "There is no quit" in my head....
Chip Time: 1:00:24 Gun Time: 1:06:43
Reflecting on the race, however, I am pleased to say that I did not hold back, I "left it all on the course", and I think I got the result I was honestly capable of producing out there today.
Once I was out of the shadows of the skyscrapers and on the viaduct, the heat started becoming a factor. As I drove home I saw the marquee in front of Toyota Center announce a temperature of 84F.
I beat my 2007 result by more than seven minutes. I'll take the PR and feel confident that a sub-60-minute time awaits me somewhere on a flat and less congested course.
My running base has been built back up. My weekly mileage has been consistently in the twenties for the past several weeks.
Thomas Aquinas had it too easy.
(March 25 update -- gun and chip times were posted and I've added them down at the bottom of the report.)
Mile 1 - 9:10
This afternoon I made my first volunteer appearance at a race. The inaugural Texas Independence Relay was being held this weekend, with teams of runners starting in Goliad on Saturday and finishing at the San Jacinto Monument today, a total distance of about 200 miles. I arrived at a street corner in southeast Houston and made my way to the red tent with a replica of the "COME AND TAKE IT" banner from the Battle of Gonzales dangling.
Last year's Rodeo Run was not a good race for me. I showed up late, missed picking up my timing chip, had no time to properly warm up, and just plain ran out of energy on the back half of the course. This year I arrived in downtown Houston extra early on Saturday morning eager to make some better history this time.
Reflecting on the race, however, I am pleased to say that I did not hold back, I "left it all on the course", and I think I got the result I was honestly capable of producing out there today.
