Heights Fun Run

I was reaching around to pat myself on the back. Before I even crossed the start line at this morning's Houston Heights Fun Run, I was pretty darn proud of simply getting up early enough to have breakfast, leisurely drive myself towards Marmion Park in plenty of time for packet pickup, and even get a relaxing warmup before gun time. Yes, the Green 6.2 fiasco still stings.

Beginning at 18th Street, the 5K course is a very straight and flat shot down Heights Boulevard to 5th Street before turning around and returning back to 18th Street -- 26 blocks in total. As the starting horn sounded, I thought I'd be clever and entertain my mind by meditating on a letter of the alphabet on each cross-street.

"A . . . B . . . C . . . D . . . E . . ."

At a half-mile in, I felt the need to go ahead and reach for a PED. In my case, the "PE" stands for Puke Evading, not Performance Enhancing; I had simethicone with me to soothe my guts.

"F . . . G . . . H . . . I . . . J"

We cheered the race leaders coming back northbound as we arrived at the first water station. Mile 1 came for me in 9:23. I knew this pace realistically couldn't last, but it did feel great to lay down one mile at this speed.

"K . . . L . . . M . . . N"

At the turnaround I could already feel my fast-twitch muscles going down for a siesta. Fast Vince was beginning to feel like Fat Vince again.

"P?"

Mile 2 in 10:02: Now with roughly one mile to go, I was struggling to hold pace. I had also lost track of my alphabet musings. This might have been a poor time to attempt a sobriety test. At 13th Street I let go of my fantasy goal of breaking 30:00, because five blocks in four minutes wasn't going to happen.

Mile 3 in 11:05: With the finish line in sight, a couple of other runners and I were mutually encouraging each other in Wizard of Oz fashion. "Follow the yellow big sign! Follow the yellow big sign!" we chanted. I hopped onto the finish mat, looking down to confirm that the D-tag timing chip was still attached to my ankle Road ID. 31:34 was my elapsed time per my Garmin Forerunner. If I didn't fade so much by the end, I could have had a shot at a 10:00/mi overall pace or faster.

Two years ago, I defined success at the Heights Fun Run as making it to the finish line before all the breakfast tacos were eaten. Phil's Texas Barbeque did a great job in covering us, because despite coming in four minutes slower than I did in 2008, I was able to enjoy not one, but two small brisket-and-egg-stuffed bundles of tortilla bliss.

Now what? I'm not sure. But just being within sniffing distance of a 30-minute 5K again is a welcome confidence booster.