Run For The House

Yesterday I took part in the Run For The House benefiting Ronald McDonald House Houston. The race packet had helpfully included a suggested parking map for downtown, but wasn't able to advise on which lots or garages would actually be open. The result was that I ended up reaching the start area after the 10K race for which I had registered had already taken off.

A few minutes later, I was able to start running with the 5K group and finished in 34:31 according to my Garmin Forerunner 110. I made sure to go around the start and finish lines so as not to trigger the timing chip sensor and potentially confuse any recorded results.

Overall, it was a pretty successful test of some new chilly weather gear I had bought earlier in the week. I'm now a believer in the warming power of a neck gaiter.

It's been a little while since last posting in this blog. I've actually relocated in the interim, but don't need to alter the masthead above; I'm still around the bayou. A bigger race day is coming pretty soon and it's getting to be crunch time for training....

Cinco Ranch Rotary Camo 5K

Kicking off my Memorial Day weekend, this morning I ran the Cinco Ranch Rotary Camo 5K out in Katy. This race was staged out of the Villagio Town Center shopping area with a straightforward out-and-back on Peek Road.

The splits:
Mile 1 - 9:38
Mile 2 - 9:48
Mile 3 - 10:02
Last .13 - 1:05
Elapsed 5K time - 30:33 per Garmin Forerunner 110

It bugged me a little to see that many of the participants around me were absorbed in whatever was in playing in their earbuds. Being a back-of-packer for years, on out-and-back courses I typically watch for and cheer for race leaders on their return leg. It just seems like the right thing to do. After a few minutes I realized I was the only one doing so. So in exasperation, I yelled out, "The running community in Katy is way too quiet!" I don't think my message made its mark on anyone around me, but I felt better.

In the middle of the third mile, I got passed by some pre-teen girls wearing tutus and "CAMO FOR A CAUSE" T-shirts. They made me feel like a slacker, so I picked up my pace the best I could, muttering "Just try to hang with the ponytails....just hang with the ponytails...."

The ponytails dropped me like a brick anyway, but I felt good returning to the Villagio. Around the final turn, I saw the Chik-Fil-A cow executing some animated mascot moves, which inspired me to pause for a microsecond before the finish line and give a bow towards the bovine in appreciation.

This was definitely my first true race of the summer. My shirt was beginning to soak through with perspiration  even before the starting horn. 'Twas a good thing I opted not to wear the stylish, but cotton, camo pattern race shirt. The "camo" theme was new for the Rotary Club race, as a salute to America's troops and especially as a nod to one of the race beneficiaries, Team RWB Texas. The other beneficiary was Katy ISD's Special Buddies program, The combo of the two made an compelling choice as I -- as Houston Running Calendar -- helped sponsor a race for the first time . . . and hopefully not the last time.

One e-Reader to Rule Them All (Or . . . Nook's Last Stand?)

For about two years I've been wielding a dual-solution to my e-reading needs. For text-only books, I've been using the Sony Pocket (blogged back here) with it's super-sharp e-ink screen. And for large-format/color PDFs and magazines, I was rocking with one of the original Nook Colors.

But in one week, Barnes and Noble announced that they were adding Google Play -- Android's biggest app store -- to the Nook HD and HD+ and cut the price of the HD+ by $90 for the week before Mothers Day. So I decided to jump on it.

With B&N's Nook business on shaky ground these days, this may be the beginning of the end of Nook as we know it, as rumors have swirled about Microsoft possibly buying up the business.

But no matter what happens next, I think I'm pretty darn happy. The Nook HD+ has a color screen that's not only larger than my previous two eReaders, but plenty sharp for text. Not only that, but by opening up app horizons with Google Play, I can see this device capturing a lot of use cases that used to be given to my Intel Atom-based Windows 7 netbook.

More impressions to come....

Run for Wellness 5K (April 2013 make-up)

So for what feels like a long time I've been aware of the free monthly Run For Wellness 5K series at George Bush Park, but strangely I hadn't been able to remember to register for and show up for any of them until last month's, scheduled for the day after the Green 6.2. So of course, they canceled that one because they got scared by strong storms the previous night.

But on this Cinco de Mayo, they had a make-up race. And it looks like a confluence of perfect weather, rested legs and a no-worries attitude made me fast this morning.

The splits:
Mile 1 - 9:17
Mile 2 - 9:35
Mile 3 - 9:49
Last .09 - :47
Elapsed 5K time - 29:28 per Garmin Forerunner 110

Honestly, I wasn't thinking about any kind of time goal when I got to the park, but my breathing was just so easy that I just decided to push it in the first mile and then hang on as long as I could. The pace caught up with me in the third mile and I opted to walk for a few seconds but it wasn't long enough to thwart a sub-thirty, which I hadn't seen since the November 2011 Run With The Saints.

After the race I took a lime green shirt to a tent at the postrace gathering. The April event was designated as a Boston tribute after the marathon bombings. A company called called Handmade Collective Silkscreening invited us to BYOT for Run To Remember iron-ons at no charge. They turned out looking pretty good.

Green 6.2

It doesn't make sense to me, but I finished this morning's Green 6.2 a few seconds faster than I finished Rodeo Run two months ago.

The splits:
Mile 1 -- 10:06
Mile 2 -- 10:34
Mile 3 -- 10:40
Mile 4 -- 10:43
Mile 5 -- 10:50
Mile 6 -- 10:10
Last .14 -- 1.21
Elapsed 10K time -- 1:04:24, per Garmin Forerunner 110

We got a dose of warm weather, closer to what you'd expect in Houston in late April. My clothing was a little damp at the end, but obviously the humidity didn't drag me down too much.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the race course layout helped by being twisty. There were very few points where the view ahead was an intimidating length of pavement that stretched out our line of sight to the horizon. From the satellite image of my Garmin data I count 22 turns in 10 kilometers, which may be the highest frequency of turns I've ever seen in a one lap road race. At the final U-turn, I caught up with a lady with "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" on the back of her shirt, so of course I was humming the Monty Python tune through the finish line.

Overall this event seemed well-organized and finishers collected both a tech shirt and a medal -- which is bound for my next Christmas tree with all the others.

Thoughts moving forward after the attack on the Boston Marathon

• My heart has ached for everyone affected by the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon. We don't know each other, but we're united in our mutual experiences and respect for what it takes to complete a 26.2-mile course, and in appreciation for all the friends, family members, and volunteers that make these events possible. As soon as I got home Monday afternoon, I laced up the Asics and plodded out four miles in a Boston T-shirt. 
• Be wary of fraudulent fundraisers that will inevitably spring up in the wake of tragedy. The Boston community has more than enough resources to handle the immediate needs of people. Be patient -- HARRA through the Road Runners Club of America are in contact with the Boston Marathon about this exact topic and there will be a legitimate channel for supporting healing in their community. There's no need to rush financial contributions -- the bombing survivors will have needs well beyond the days when these headlines recede.
• To those responsible for the bombing: Enjoy your waning hours of freedom; you will be caught. You've just kicked over a hornets' nest populated by lots and lots and lots of people for whom DNF is the most abhorrent thing, ever. If this is a matchup between crazy levels, you lose.

Bellaire Trolley Run 5K

Slacking again -- I see that I haven't blogged since Rodeo Run. Of course, that's probably because I haven't done much worth blogging about in the past couple of months. This morning, I finally got my butt out to a race again. I've seen the Bellaire Trolley Run on the HARRA calendar for years now, and I finally decided to go try it.

The course starts in front of Bellaire's city hall, then heads north on South Rice to Bellaire Boulevard where runners run around the eponymous trolley car before heading back south again. After a looping around Bellaire High School, the course returns north to finish back at city hall. Small community race on a flat, landmark boulevard with a nice after-party spread -- it sounds like a recipe similar to the Heights Fun Run, and I can now recommend it as a good Houston-area spring 5K.

My personal run went pretty well, especially considering that I haven't been putting in a bunch of miles this spring:

Mile 1 - 9:18
Mile 2 - 9:42
Mile 3 - 9:42
Last .16 - 1:27
Elapsed 5K time - 30:10, per Garmin Forerunner 110

I'm sure other runners can relate to the mind game of picking "rabbits" in front of them to help pull themselves forward. My rabbit in the first mile was a guy wearing a shirt with "1948 MODEL / STILL RUNS" printed on the back. I wish I was able to stick with him, particularly since I ended up falling just short of breaking 30 minutes.

I ended up glad I hung around the after-party. After sampling stuff from Jerry Built Homegrown Burgers, Chik-Fil-A, Cici's Pizza, and Berryhill, I ended up walking back to my car with a restaurant gift certificate that more than paid off my race entry fee. Bonus!

Oh, and I promise: The next race report won't be more than two months from now.

Rodeo Run 10K

Yesterday morning I took part once again in the springtime mass spectacle that is the Rodeo Run. With the ongoing METROrail construction, we got a new route for this year's 10K. The initial downtown parade loop started next to the Hobby Center, and instead of the remaining distance over the Elysian viaduct, the bulk of the run was an out-and-back on Allen Parkway, a flatter and faster course.

And with the mild conditions, I was all ready to go faster:

Mile 1 - 10:12
Mile 2 - 9:38
Mile 3 - 9:59
Mile 4 - 10:24
Mile 5 - 10:13
Mile 6 - 10:42
Last .33 - 3:28
10K elapsed time - 1:04:34 per Garmin Forerunner 110
10K elapsed time - 1:04:36 per D-tag chip

I had to flip back on this blog a few years to find a faster 10K time than that. A nerdy thing about Rodeo Run is that they're using all the stat breakdown reports that the Houston Marathon uses on their website. So  in addition to knowing that my 5K split times were 31:16 and 33:20, the results page also graphically shows how far back in the pack I was compared with my peers, or compared to the women. I can even take pride knowing that during the second half of the race, I passed 367 people and only got passed by 113.

Anyway, the new course gets mostly a thumbs-up from me. Only the couple of Allen Parkway underpasses keep this from being a really flat course, and the finish line area is a short walk back to the starting area -- which also means that it's easy for a runner to enjoy the rest of the parade after finishing. It is a little bit mean, however, that the 5K finish line was placed about a half mile before the 10K finish line. It's a bit disheartening to see a finish line, then realize it's not yours, and have to go around it to the left and continue on.

At least reaching the real finish line felt rewarding. Wait -- no it wasn't. It felt like a bug in the face, because right as I stepped on the chip mat, a moth suddenly appeared on the wrong side of my glasses. So on the finish cam, instead of looking of relieved, accomplished, or victorious, I look like a crazy person swatting at my own face.

Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Last Sunday I was relieved to run that left hook around Discovery Green and finally have the finish line on Avenida de las Americas directly ahead. Relief and excitement were combined in a strange cocktail, however, as it felt like my heartbeat was located on my shoulders as I touched down on those chip mats.

One might think I'd have a been-there-done-that feeling about Aramco Houston Half Marathon number six, but I don't. Oh, sure, I can never quite duplicate the experiential thrill of the first time back in '06 -- although I can sort of re-live it by watching my belly wobble over the finish line on the recording I made of the ten o'clock news that night. But there's satisfaction in being older and slower (**sigh**) and yet still deciding to show up and run.

Showing up was a bit tougher of a decision as we had some of the most challenging race weather I've ever seen. I think everyone involved had their eyeballs on the weather forecast all week long, and when Sunday a.m. arrived, we were lined up on La Branch and Crawford streets under cold showers and facing directly into a 17-mph head wind. I shivered some in the corral trying to keep warm in shorts, two long-sleeve layers and one of my venerable C9 wicking hats. After Ryan Hall fired the starting gun, one thought kept repeating in my head -- "I'll be OK if I can just get moving." I had that thought on fairly continuous repeat for half an hour, because that's how long it took for my "open corral" in the rear to finally make it to the starting arch.

And I was right. Once I started plodding forward, I felt much better. By mile 5, the rainfall eased and I was able to shed my outer layer and wrap it around my waist. I was in a fairly good groove, mostly sticking to the 10:1 intervals we were doing for many Saturdays beforehand. Then the challenge became one of covering the distance, From mile 10 onward, I pulled over multiple times to stretch out my complaining calf muscles. At the turn onto Allen Parkway, I unknowingly made a cameo appearance onto the KTRK-TV broadcast.

Once again, the organization of the Houston Marathon Committee shined through. Thankfully, the wait for the start was definitely the longest of the morning. Porta-potties, food, finish chute presented little in the way of bottlenecked lines. I didn't check in a gear bag, but I didn't see any significant lines there if I had. The spectators were still out in force supporting their runners, but I think the weather dampened the enthusiasm of the residents who have houses along the route.

Just for the sake of completeness, let's check the splits....

Mile 01 - 12:11
Mile 02 - 11:56
Mile 03 - 11:44
Mile 04 - 11:49
Mile 05 - 11:40
Mile 06 - 12:46
Mile 07 - 12:13
Mile 08 - 11:45
Mile 09 - 13:07
Mile 10 - 14:07
Mile 11 - 14:19
Mile 12 - 13:25
Mile 13 - 12:19
Last .27 - 2:57
Elapsed half marathon time - 2:46:18 per Garmin Forerunner 110
Elapsed half marathon time - 2:46:14 per timing chip

I'm pretty sure I've turned in slower times on this course only twice, I walked the 13.1 miles last year, and finished in something like 2:47 way back in 2006. So it feels like I'm back where I started.

And now, time to ponder my spring running. . . .

Remembering How It's Done

Normally, the sight of port-o-potties has a fairly neutral effect on my mood. But when I see a bunch of them bloom along the side of Memorial Drive, my heart beats a little faster....

Yes, marathon weekend is here again in Houston. I've made it through the training season and will be looking to take home another Aramco Half finisher medal in the morning. I tried to do the smart thing and take care of packet pickup yesterday. I allowed myself to splurge on a new pair of Asics Gel Kayano (which will be broken in after this race). But I actually went home with a net loss in the number of shoes I own, since I dropped off half a dozen pairs of retired running shoes at the Waste Management/SEARCH Homeless booth.

The last few weeks of training saw a cessation of running. Almost on cue, the onset of the holidays brought the onset of a cold that knocked me on my but for a couple of weeks, causing me to miss the last "long runs" of training. But this week I'm back, just in time to log a few dam miles and find my feet again before Sunday.

Here we go....