2014 Cinco Ranch Rotary Camo 5K

My last blog post . . . was for the Aramco Half? Really? Well, long time, no type.

Technically, I did do a race between then and today. In March I dropped in one evening at the Flash Mob Race Series. With a course very conveniently located, I was able to run to the start area, run three trail  miles in 31:09 and finally run home.

Now catching up with today's event: I ran the Cinco Ranch Camo 5K in Katy with a Garmin-recorded time of 31:15. I was able to knock out the first couple of miles in sub-ten-minute pace, then found myself rather winded so I ended up taking a walk break in the last mile. I was returning not only as a participant but once again as a race supporter. It's pretty cool to be wearing the race T-shirt with a Houston Running Calendar logo among the sponsorship smorgasbord on the back, and even cooler to know I've been kicking in support for the benefit charities of Team RWB and Special Buddies.

Farther ahead -- I've taken the lottery uncertainty back out of my life as far as the Aramco Half Marathon is concerned. For 2015 they introduced a "veteran status" for early registration eligibility as well as eligibility for those with five-to-nine Aramco Half finishes. So I jumped on that this week and re-installed a commitment device to stop me from slacking off running too much.

And now, back to life here 'round Buffalo Bayou.

2014 Aramco Houston Half Marathon

Nine Januarys of collectibles from Marathon Sunday in Houston

Yesterday morning felt like a fresh start to this "running thing." I ran the revised Aramco Houston Half Marathon course with a surprising energy, with a finish time the likes of which I had not seen in five years. Let's go ahead and get the split data out of the way:

Mile 01 - 11:18
Mile 02 - 10:43
Mile 03 - 10:28
Mile 04 - 10:27
Mile 05 - 10:15
Mile 06 - 10:21
Mile 07 - 10:08
Mile 08 - 10:29
Mile 09 - 10:53
Mile 10 - 11:01
Mile 11 - 11:12
Mile 12 - 11:26
Mile 13 - 12:15
Last .1  -   2:23
half marathon elapsed time per Garmin 110 - 2:23:20
half marathon elapsed time per chip scan - - 2:23:22

Start conditions were close to ideal for a strong run -- upper 40s and humid with a light north breeze. By midday, the bright sun likely made things a little too toasty for the full marathoners, but I was already back at the convention center by then.

Despite starting in Caroline Street's "D" -- the last of four corrals -- I didn't have a difficult time establishing a pace early and often throughout. There was significantly less bottlenecking in the early portion of the course than in previous years, especially on five- or seven-lane roads like Washington Avenue, Waugh Drive and Kirby Drive. I would occasionally catch myself uttering a steady cadence under my breath -- "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-5-and-6-and-seven-8....1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-5-and-6-and-seven-8."

Somewhere around mile 4, I was surprised that I was carrying a sub-11 pace so easily and wondered if I had suckered myself into going too fast. By mile 8, I was positive I had not. I could see that I had passed a lot of folks from the A, B, and C corrals. I did interact with some of the wonderful spectators cheering us on, but mostly I was focusing inwardly, because in the midst of this race I realized that I wanted to run like I had something to prove.

I did hit a "wall-ish" feeling going into the 12-mile mark near the edge of downtown, to the point where I felt I was losing some feeling in my legs. I was able to regroup after about a block of walk/jog in reverse.

Passing The Grove restaurant at Discovery Green, I was suddenly mindful of an aroma in the air. "I smell bacon," I called out. "Who has the bacon?" And a spectator answered perfectly, "You got to finish before you can have bacon!"

My packet pickup at the preceding expo was largely unremarkable, although I feel I should close this blog post by making a note to myself here to make a batch of the chocolate avocado muffins that I sampled from the Luby's booth.

Doesn't that recipe sound delectable?