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.