A couple nights ago, I played back my DVRed coverage of this past Sunday's race coverage here in Houston. I did feel a wee twinge of disappointment at not seeing my wobbly lumbering image onscreen. But hey, the rational part of my brain able to calculate probability knows that one person out of annual crowds of 20,000+ can't be reasonably be expected to make cameo appearances every year, right?
On the plus side, ABC13 did a super job of getting more feel-good "everyrunner" stories from the community. However, the competitive coverage of the elites was awful. At one point, I wondered aloud, "Why do I have no idea how Meb is doing?"
Back to my personal run: This was my eighth Aramco Half finish. If I also count in my precious 26.2-miler in 2008 and the year I marshaled runners in the correct direction as a volunteer, then I just extended myself to a ten-year streak of Marathon Sunday participation on the course in one manner or another.
By CurrentlyVince standards this last half yielded an undistinguished chip time finish of 2:35:49. For most of the run I was well-positioned to break 2:30, but fatigue (read: sad lack of conditioning) began progressively dragging my pace down around mile 8. And a discomforting rub in the late miles eventually made me stop on Allen Parkway to remove my shoe and re-adjust one of my socks.
Gearwise, I did have a success story this training season with a prescription pair of goggles. Firmly strapped to my head and holding steady in front of my eyes, I had the best vision in-race I could recall.
I'm pretty close to Houston "legacy" status -- 10 or more finishes in same race -- that I can't think of a good reason not to sign up for 2016. I guess that means I can't slack too much now. Here's to a new running year. . . .
