Four The Park

Mouth is alive with juices like wine and I'm hungry like the wolf....

It still feels odd to see that 80s pop music has become the "safe choice" for DJs and cover bands to play at family-friendly events. So I let out a little snort when I stepped off the shuttle bus this morning and was greeted with Duran Duran's greatest hits gently blowing through the trees in front of the Memorial Park Tennis Center. I was here to test my feet against a four-mile loop course in the creatively named "Four The Park Fun Run" benefiting the Memorial Park Conservancy.

I suppose I may have to give the DJ an itsy-bit of credit for switching to something more recent-sounding immediately before the kids 1K run/walk. Still, I don't think any of the wee ones that were getting their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny were even yet born when the Backstreet Boys were in their heyday. After watching the children scramble out of the starting corral, I started in the opposite direction for a couple of warmup miles on the Lieberman Exer-trail. After getting passed by Lisa Foronda, the former KHOU news anchor, I had a brief notion to try to keep up with her, but decided against it when I noted that she was jogging at what would likely be my race pace.

My race itself had no real surprises. With a twinge of discomfort in my achilles area during mile 3, I stepped off of the unforgiving macadam of Memorial Drive to stretch, then opted to finish the mile on the softer trail surface next to the road. The final mile found me just about out of gas, so I had to save the energetic-looking strides for the areas in front of the Brightroom photographers. When I crossed the finish line, I was back in the 80s once again as the live band was covering Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home."

The not-really-positive positive splits, for the sake of full disclosure:

Mile 1 - 10:37
Mile 2 - 10:29
Mile 3 - 12:00
Mile 4 - 13:52
Elapsed time per Garmin Forerunner 205 - 46:57

My award for best in-race advertising goes to the bridal shop that had several young women running in white veils and T-shirts with the store logo.

With the race site sandwiched between the Uptown district and the emergent "strip of hip" on Washington Avenue, I should have been expecting post-race fare a cut above the usual bananas and bottled water. Michelob Ultra was representing with a sponsorship tent, and with the temperature approaching 80F, some of those cans of brew were getting tucked into sports bras as cooling devices. Freebirds had attracted a line for their chow, but I wasn't really in the mood for a burrito. Instead, I wolfed down a slice from the California Pizza Kitchen, then sated my craving for a Firkin fruit-filled crepe from the guys at Firkin & Phoenix.

While I didn't spot any bananas, on the shuttle bus ride back to my car I did notice that runners were going home with other tropical fruits in hand -- pineapples, coconuts, and bags of key limes. Not mere slices of pineapple, these were whole fruits that would make some good pies after ripening a little more. If I return here next year, I'm going to have to pay more attention to the edible giveaways.

Other notes:

• I was a little disappointed by the crowd behavior prior to the race during the national anthem, as most of the race participants just ignored it and continued chit-chatting with one another.
• For those that haven't visited Memorial Park in a while, a new pedestrian bridge now connects the north-to-south over Memorial Drive. Look for it on the west side of the park; it parallels the railroad tracks that run over the Woodway/Memorial split.
• Another race sponsor I was introduced to, providing some of the shuttle service today, was The Washington Wave. A dedicated transport catering to crosstown pubcrawlers -- where was this when I was in school!? (Is it only a matter of time before Houston is ready to be covered by jeepneys? Mabuhay!)