I'm thankful . . .

• For remaining employed in a time of heightened economic uncertainty.
• For the FCC's opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger that has no upsides for the customers or the employees of either company.
• For having comfortable housing in an area with beautiful neighbors.
• For the contents of my kitchen, where my biggest complaint is that I have run out of space in my freezer for any more yummy things.
• For opportunities to go and make a difference for others.
• For the nineteen thousand pageviews at Houston Running Calendar last month. (Whoa!)
• For the organizers and volunteers that make all those running events happen.
• For the CyanogenMod team whose firmware has made my Nook Color a much more interesting device.
• For the knowledge that there will be a season 5 of Mad Men.
• For the cessation of wildfires (for now) and for the firefighters that have been keeping our homes safe.
• For being able to sleep in this morning, run my own one-man Turkey Trot with the treetops, come home and write a 351st post to this blog.

. . . and much more. Happy Thanksgiving!

Chase After A Cure one mile (give or take a few hundred yards)

Technically speaking, if today's run was a race, I won.

I've never tried a one-mile event, so when I heard about the Chase After A Cure on the University of Saint Thomas campus, I thought it might be fun to try. I wasn't expecting a USATF-certified course, but during my warmup, I couldn't help but notice that my Forerunner was counting the cone-marked path short by nearly a quarter-mile. Oh well.

The race director was an MBA student hosting this fundraiser as a class project. Her start line instructions could be distilled into three words: "Follow the cones." The course was an short out-and-back surrounded by a larger loop, laid out functionally in what is known as a "lollipop." When we were sent forth from the back of the athletic center, the two young guys in front of me reached the end of the "lollipop stick," glanced both ways and then exchanged puzzled looks before taking a left turn on the sidewalk. Everyone else followed suit, except for me. I'm certain that I was the only one -- aside from the RD -- that got a look at the arrows on the course map pointing to the right.

So as I proceeded clockwise around campus, I got a chance to wave hello to everyone following the loop the other way. The attendance was roughly thirty and most were walking. I wasn't the first one to return to end of the "stick," but I was the first one back who had followed the course correctly. I slyly suggested to the RD to try directional arrows or signs at her next event.

There was a real winner today, of course -- the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation -- and I hope this project puts that young RD on the path to an A in the classroom.

Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio 1/2 Marathon

Along with the soreness in my heel, I'm now home with real lingering doubts as to what I can do in Houston in January. On Sunday, November 13, I made my RnR return in San Antonio, and the race toasted my expectations.

Acknowledging that I'm still working on my comeback to running, I had registered a few months ago with an anticipated finish time of 2:45. For race morning, that placed me in corral 26, close to the back of the 30,000 participants, so I didn't cross the starting line until after 8 a.m. I knew it was going to be a warm morning, so I had to balance two concerns -- not going out too fast due to the heat and knowing that I should try to cover as much ground as I could before the fog lifted.



The fog dissipated by the time I hit the 10K point, and I found myself in increasing difficulty. I remember this part because the RnR organizers had planted a large inflatable guitarist balloon figure that straddled San Pedro Avenue. I made it under okay, but I saw people behind me get a surprise obstacle as the breeze caused the figure to dive and crotch-bounce the pavement, blocking all lanes.

The last half of the race had me heat-bothered and hurting more than expected. I'm sure some of my problem was taking on this course on sloped pavement after logging just about all my training miles on trails here in the Houston flatland. But that doesn't explain why I only consumed half a package of GU Chomps when I was consuming a package and a half during long runs of similar length. Looking back, perhaps I should have taken one of those little packets of margarita salt from the volunteers at the start area. I could have been running calorie-rich, but electrolyte-poor.



There were a fair number of spectators along the course, but I really could have used more cowbell. The most memorable signs I spotted were "My Mommy Is Faster Than Your Mommy" and "FART!" which came at the right moment to crack me up. I did my best to acknowledge the cheering and otherwise have a good time of things with the people around me. Yelling "Watch out: heavy man being acted upon by gravity!!!" while passing people on a downhill hasn't gotten old for me yet.

With a lot of walking and stopping to stretch my aching achilles, I was heading for my personal worst finish time for a half marathon. I gathered myself for one final push to try and finish under three hours, but was unable to do make that happen. After humbly accepting half marathon finisher medal number ten, I plopped my butt onto the Alamodome parking lot with some HEB-supplied snacks as headliner Vince Neil gave us "Dr. Feelgood," "Girls, Girls, Girls," and other Mötley Crüe tunes that I'm sure the under-30 crowd imagined were playing on the wagon radios during San Antonio's cattle drive days.



I did have an excellent weekend overall, though. Being able to get a downtown hotel really did make the expo and race morning logistics a breeze. I feel fortunate not to have been one of many participants to have needed medical attention. I even read that one runner died.

I'm counting a burger from the original Fuddruckers restaurant and a little historical sightseeing in downtown San Antonio as a great start in "active recovery." After this race, however, and knowing the Houston Marathon course has a lot more pavement waiting in a couple of months has me seriously considering a switch to the half distance. I really am learning how to do this stuff all over again.


The Splits:

Mile 1 - 11:15
Mile 2 - 11:13
Mile 3 - 11:37
Mile 4 - 11:46
Mile 5 - 12:24
Mile 6 - 11:56
Mile 7 - 12:52
Mile 8 - 12:37
Mile 9 - 14:04
Mile 10 - 14:47
Mile 11 - 16:32
Mile 12 - 20:26
Mile 13: - 16:31
Last .1 - 2:47
Half marathon elapsed time - 3:00:45 per Garmin Forerunner 205, 3:00:41 chip time

Run With The Saints 5K

A near-frosting front blew through town recently, and before next weekend's half I thought it might be a good idea to have a "race rehearsal" in cool/cold conditions. So this morning I dropped in on an event I've never done before, the Run With The Saints 5K at John Paul II Catholic School right here in the upper Buffalo Bayou neighborhood.

For the first time since the end of the Summer of Fire, I pulled a C9 shirt from the long-sleeved side of the closet and when I arrived at the school, I literally warmed up for a mile with a jacket on. By gun time things were aligned perfectly -- I was warmed up, the temps hung in the mid-40s and there was plenty of residential shade and no wind on this flat course.

After the first mile of weaving through walkers and telling half a dozen kids about their untied shoes, I was able to settle in with my breathing and let the legs go on auto-pilot. I let my mind wander to thoughts of oven-warmed brownies in mile two and visualizations of a banana split with mango ice cream in mile three.

When I reached the finish line, I noticed we had been tricked! The entrance to the finish chute was the exit driveway to the parking lot, with a "DO NOT ENTER" painted on the pavement. We'll never be saints if we're flagrantly disobedient, right?

But hey, I've got my first sub-thirty 5K since 2009 and it feels like a thin slice of heaven.

The splits:

• Mile 1: 9:39
• Mile 2: 9:37
• Mile 3: 9:36
• Last .1: 0:49

5K elapsed time: 29:39 per Garmin Forerunner 205