Let's just say that 2020 has been unexpected

This is probably all my fault. I had a 14-year streak of participation in Marathon Sunday in Houston -- 12 years running the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, one year running the Chevron Houston Marathon, one year as a course volunteer. That streak was broken this past January. After months training as if I was going to run the Aramco Half again, I realized during race week that I had overlooked actually registering for 2020. Oops.

As soon as registration opened, I made a point of registering for the 2021 Aramco Houston Half Marathon, and my current running goal is making up for my mental goof-up with this event. However, it feels like my streak-breaking unleashed a tumult upon the entire year to date. Uneven response to  coronavirus pandemic and flareups of social unrest have spun the entire nation weary. Numerous running events have either been canceled or "gone virtual" and right now I'd say even a January 2021 race date is looking threatened. But I'll continue to prepare as if there's still hope.

Meanwhile, events have refocused life squarely on home more than ever, and I'm appreciative of my past decision to make my home in an Energy Corridor neighborhood where just about all my daily needs are nearby within biking range. Since transitioning to a work-from-home arrangement, my car use has dropped dramatically. My active time has been supercharged, and I take more time prepping meals in my own kitchen. Despite my new ritual of baking cookies every weekend, the result has been weight loss, which I consider a delightful natural experiment after years of reading about the obesogenic effects of car-commuting.

No promises, but I may even start blogging more often again.

Thanksgiving greetings and other things before 2019 slips away

Yesterday I got back into the groove of racing with a fairly informal event here in the Energy Corridor. The Nottingham Forest Club hosts a Turkey Trot adjacent to Buffalo Bayou. Thanks to Tropical Storm Harvey's flooding, the event went on hiatus. It was great to see this event benefiting Family Point Resources return this year. The course wasn't certified and felt longer than a true 5K and I got back to the start area in about 33 minutes.

It's been a real quiet 2019 on the racing side of things. Back in April I was pleased to have Houston Running Calendar join as a sponsor of the Spring Dash benefiting West Houston Assistance Ministries. And in January I did make it back to the Aramco Houston Half Marathon and even posted my fastest time on that course in years. I guess I just hadn't felt motivated to blog about those as they were happening. Now my attention turns to the 2020 Aramco Houston Half, because of course I'm coming back. I have a streak to maintain. I may or may not try another "tuneup" event before then, but mainly I know I need to focus on training volume -- a.k.a. time on my feet -- as race day approaches.

This week I bought a pair of Asics Gel Kayano 26. It was like coming home after seven months on a dalliance with a pair of 361 Strata 3.  I actually surprised myself when I figured out that I had put more than 400 miles on the Strata 3 -- no wonder my feet were aching a bit too much after runs. I had stayed with them a bit too long after totally beating the stability out of them! I have made the decision to go with the familiar Kayano model from now through the Aramco Half.

So that's it for now. I'm still running. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Holidays (assuming I don't feel like blogging again before 2020).

Welcome, 2018!

My favorite course marker sign from the HMSA Classical course

As I woke this morning, I got a twinge of no-blog guilt and decided to pop in this brief update. It's been six months since Harvey struck Houston. Rebuilding is still happening all around in flood-damaged areas, but normal life has resumed.

In that time I was able to muddle my way through a training regimen, running the HMSA Classical 10 Miler in November in preparation for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in January. Neither event was remarkable performance-wise but I'm mostly grateful that I'm still  out there to run each year.

Since the Aramco Half, I think I was really ready for a shift and haven't done much exercise-wise really. Now it's March and I can't really use chilly weather for an excuse to stay in. So now I find myself scanning Houston Running Calendar for something fun to do this spring.

It's the most runner-ful time of the year -- 2017 edition

Yes, I still have something of a running life, even if I've slacked on blogging about it in the past year.

This weekend I will take on the Aramco Houston Half Marathon for what will hopefully be my tenth finish and achieve "Legacy" status. (I believe this is not much more than a free hat and bragging rights.) With the cap (full+half) at 27,000, participation in the event is close to doubling the numbers that were showing up when I completed my first Aramco Half in 2006; it's still one of the greatest days on the calendar in the city. I've had a very informal training season that culminated with a decent sub-3-hour jaunt for 13 miles around west Houston a couple of weekends ago. It's a good thing I didn't really need more long-run mileage because last weekend was miserably chilly with overnight lows in the 20s. Brrrrr!

My registered event count in 2016 was pretty low. I was registered for Run For The House benefiting Ronald McDonald House in December, but lousy (stormy) weather caused organizers to cancel the race. In November I ran the Nottingham Forest Club Turkey Trot and the Crimson and Gold 10K at Pope John XXIII school in Katy. And I think that was it. Maybe I should get back into doing a few more in 2017.

Meanwhile I'm still churning out monthly linkposts over at Houston Running Calendar.Good luck to all runners in the Aramco Houston Half Marathon and the Chevron Houston Marathon!

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.

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.

Peak Week and the Return of the Lost GPS

For most of the past week, I've been living every gadget-loving runner's worst nightmare: I couldn't find my Garmin Forerunner 110 after Monday night's run. Several days of fruitless searching later, I knew there was one surefire way it would turn up.

After visiting a local retail outlet, I walked through the front door last night, announcing, "I'm sure looking forward to wearing this brand new Forerunner 410 on tomorrow's long run."

Within the hour, the 110 was spotted next to my bed.

With a smug look on my face, I returned my purchase today. I knew the whole time that the 410 was never leaving its box.

So the 110 and I reunited in time to take on the longest long run of this half marathon training season -- a 14-miler into the heart of George Bush Park and back again. I started with my pace group but needed to let them go at the first available restroom break. Morning coffee gets all kinds of body systems going....

At least dawn had broken over the forest by the time I found myself solo. I felt just a twinge of regret about deciding to return the newer Forerunner, as the 110 is a basic model that doesn't include an interval-training function. I was doing on-the-run arithmetic to figure out when to take the next walk break. I finished off the 14th mile right at the end of the 3rd hour.

Once again, weather played a part in pacing as it was singlet-warm today. Most likely it will be cooler on race day and I can knock off 13.1 miles in significantly less than three hours. The starting gun in downtown Houston booms in 28 days and 16 hours.

Finally, I feel that I must share this trailside message of motivation that I saw this morning from Katy Students Run:

Winded

Speaking of tweaks: It's becoming clear during this half marathon training season that I'm unable to keep up with my current pace group on long runs. We've been going out at roughly 11:20-11:30/mile, which didn't feel too fast at first, but as our distance has increased, by mid-run I would find myself uncomfortable with speaking in sentences -- failing the classic litmus test of Long Slow Distance pace.

It became painfully obvious last weekend, when we headed out for our "cutback" run of seven miles and I was feeling ill by mile two. The resulting really-I-got-up-before-dawn-for-this funk of exhaustion clung with me for the rest of the day. I'm sure the chill of 38F air that morning did no favors to this non-acclimated body either. (We've got daytime temps back in the 80s Fahrenheit as I type this now.)

I was kind of hoping that as my mileage base has increased, I'd also adjust to this pace. A few years ago I was doing long runs solidly in the elevens, so I don't think I was being unrealistic. But the elevens aren't right again for me (yet). So the new plan is to try to find another pace group in the program that moves something closer to 11:50-12:00/mile, so my long runs suck less -- literally.

Tweaked

After a week of tweak after tweak, I think I'm now finally satisfied with the way Houston Running Calendar -- my "side blog" -- looks. The most significant change was finding additional code to tighten up a lot of wasted white space in the gutters. (If anyone else needs the CSS answer to reducing padding in Blogger's Simple template, I found it on another blog -- thanks, Simple Blogger!).

The resulting layout pushes the advertising slots much closer to the edge, making more room for what everyone really comes for -- the race listings. Those listings get a bump up in text size, which may be appreciated by a certain segment of visitors.

And web visitors continue to come. I think half a million total pageviews by the end of this year is possible. Not too shabby for a linkblog. As always, community contributions are a big help. If you know of an organized run event happening within 60 miles of downtown that could use more publicity, send a link to their webpage to list@houstonrunningcalendar.com.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all, and if you want to make a last-minute plan for an area Turkey Trot tomorrow morning, I know this online reference you can check.....

Summer drips away like softened mint chocolate chip down the inverted incline of a waffle cone

So how has summer been working for you? After being scorched and burned last year, the dam area has just finished draining after a really wet July. I feel like it's time for another bullet-point post to recap random stuff.

• Pittsburgh-based Cello Fury made a tour stop in Houston at the end of July and we got to enjoy a free performance at Market Squre. A trio of cellists backed by a drummer, Cello Fury's expressive sound spans that gap between chamber music and Headbangers Ball that you didn't even ask to be bridged. Their YouTube channel is well worth the visit.
• Last weekend the summer Olympics left us for another four years. Requiring a cable or satellite TV subscription turned the online offerings into a non-starter for me, and made NBC look like the old legacy media company that I guess they are. So among the garbage I had to scrap for the worthwhile moments on the network broadcast -- especially Meb Kefleghizi's fourth-place finish in the men's marathon. My gut feeling told me that he was the USA's best shot at a medal, and I was correct.
• We took a tour of the Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting. As a contributing member of KUHF, I finally got to see exactly where my dollars go, including the studio where The Front Row is recorded and the workday desks of news staffers like Carrie Feibel.. Our guide was Eric Ladau, whose voice I've heard on evening traffic reports. 
• My running mileage is on the upswing. This morning I hung on pretty well during our group run of five miles. The Aramco half is now less than five months away.
• I've been surprised that site traffic on Houston Running Calendar has merely leveled off during the summer when I thought it would nosedive. On August 1, the Facebook "fanpage" reached 500 Likes, which I think is a happy metric for something that isn't being actively marketed; people are searching for this stuff.
• My "must-see TV" right now is Breaking Bad. The conclusion of season 4 was so decisive that it could have easily served as a series finale. But I suppose the fans now get one last season to see exactly where "ever after" takes the characters. As counterweights to that heavy drama I've discovered Portlandia and The Guild on Netflix; both are comedy gold.

Now, if you'll pardon me, there's a carton of Breyers waiting for me in the freezer....

Catching Up: Girls On The Run, Flash Mobs, Lottery, etc.

For the first time in eight years, I did not take part in any of the area races on Independence Day. I was up a little on the late side as I watched my first MLS game on Tuesday night at the Houston Dynamo's new downtown stadium. For all the wonderful crowd buzz that abounded in boisterous shades of orange, it felt like nothing really happened as we all went home after a nil-nil conclusion in the match against the Chicago Fire.

But to resume my running story here on the upper reaches of Buffalo Bayou, there's been a little more than nothing as I've been trying to keep the fitness fires lit with some fun runs close to home. It's just that I hadn't felt motivated to blog much about them. In late May, the Greater Houston Girls On The Run organization held their annual fundraiser 5K and I rolled up the neighborhood concrete course in about 32 minutes. Then last month, I tried something new as Sun and Ski Sports put together a weekly Flash Mob Race Series. I made a couple of the races. Each course was roughly 3 miles or even less, but on the cross-country terrain of Terry Hershey Park and George Bush Park. Combining the late p.m. heat and the off-road footing meant slow times but fun times. At least I came away with a copy of Jason Robillard's The Barefoot Running Book as a door prize. From what I read online, there may be more Flash Mob madness yet to come.

And finally, it's already time to start aiming the training towards winter goal races. I successfully made it through the lottery and registration process for the 2013 Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Unlike the Independence Day runs, my Houston Marathon weekend participation streak is a meaningful one I'd like to keep rolling.

Don't Do The Bartman: Playing a cog in the machinery that minted Team USA

Caution: This post steers into logistics and running nerdity. You've been warned.

My favorite action snap of the morning: Jeanne Cooper of Colorado splatters a mile 19 Powerade at my table. Cooper went on to finish in 2:49:16.

When I got the Thanksgiving-week email from the Houston Road Runners Association soliciting a little more fluids crew help with the Olympic Trials that would happen yesterday, I decided to inquire. Growing up, I learned that the Olympics were a Very Important Television Event that only happen every four years in far-off lands, and even the partially-jaded sports fan that I am now still thinks it's a special thing. So I felt that being even a small part of the process that will send our best athletes to the coming London games will give me a vested interest in seeing them succeed when I watch them from the comfort of my living room in about six months.

So how does an aid station for world-class athletes differ from the table, Igloo cooler and Dixie cups found at the turnaround of my typical neighborhood 5K? For starters, there are more tables -- lots more tables. The last thing you want to see is a slow rush-hour-like crowd stacking up around a small area. These tables get spaced far apart. With approximately 20 feet between tables, our fluids station would consist of 44 tables covering a five-block span of the turn at City Hall. (There were two additional aid stations elsewhere on the course, each with a similar number of tables.) The spacing would make it easy for athletes striding by at 12 miles per hour to pick up a drink.

The next difference is the personal attention: Most of the tables would have eight large dots spread out on them, Each dot was the spot where a specific athlete could expect a bottle pre-filled by the athletes themselves with whatever they thought they would like to drink at that specific point in the race. With the triple-loop course layout, the runners would meet us at the mile 3, mile 11, and mile 19 points. So, as an example, the two volunteers at our table number one were entrusted with the three bottles top-seeded Ryan Hall would fill and label "Bib 1, Mile 3," "Bib 1, Mile 11," and "Bib 1, Mile 19" as well as the similarly-labeled bottles from seven other athletes. (Table two would have bottles from second-seeded Ritzenheim plus seven others, and table three would have bottles from third-seeded Keflezighi plus seven others, This staggered arrangement would help prevent closely-seeded runners from reaching for the same table at the same time.) As the race progressed, the volunteers would be responsible for having the right bottle on the right spot on the table at the right time.

I suppose they decided that this task was too complicated for me, so I was assigned to one of the last couple of tables. My job was to make cups of Powerade available, just in case an athlete wanted something in addition to (or instead of) their pre-filled bottle. On the preceding Wednesday, I left an orientation meeting with a belly full of pepperoni pizza and these words from our team leader -- "Remember Steve Bartman."

In case your baseball trivia synapses in your brain didn't fire just then: On October 14, 2003, the Chicago Cubs hosted the Florida Marlins in a playoff game. With the Cubs leading 3-0 in the eighth inning, a Marlins player hit a foul ball just over the railing into the left-field stands. The Cubs' left-fielder attempted to reach over the railing to make a catch, but previously-unknown fan Steve Bartman deflected it and possibly prevented the Cubs from recording the second out of the inning. The Marlins would eventually score a bunch of runs in that inning, and angry Chicago fans would point at the Bartman "interference" as the turning point that cost the Cubs the game and eventually the league championship series.

"Remember Steve Bartman" meant that we had specific instructions to not become part of the action in any way. We were asked to stay off the course if there were athletes in the vicinity. Drinks would be set out on the table, but unlike my neighborhood races, athletes would be expected to pick them up on their own. USA Track and Field officials would be watching, and handing a bottle or cup to an athlete could be counted as outside assistance and a possible reason to be disqualified. And none of us were interested in becoming infamous in the running community for interfering with a competition that would be aired on NBC later in the afternoon. (Can you imagine the hate mail that Houston would get if one of our volunteers tripped Ryan Hall?)

In the end, my assignment went exactly as planned. My table partner and I served up a few Powerades, provided soft-spoken encouragement (no cowbell-level cheering!) and marveled at sports history passing us by. The frontrunners, as some of you may have seen on the TV broadcast, looked invincible. But even in the Olympic Trials, many of the back-of-packers looked like they were visibly struggling on their last pass by us (mile 19). One woman made a grasp at four different Powerade cups at my table and fumbled them all. And at the end, we waited around for nearly an extra thirty minutes for an update on one female straggler that was injured. Eventually we got word that she decided to drop out, and then we dismantled our refreshment stands.

Thanks for reading all this text. Your reward at the end is more of my pictures from my smartphone camera! (Click for larger versions.)

On Friday night, opening ceremonies happened in Discovery Green. The Trials hopefuls were introduced as a group, followed by speeches and presentations from Team USA officials and past Olympics greats. Trials competitors Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor were recognized for their medal accomplishments in the 2004 Athens games. "Elder statesmen" Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit Samuelson were recognized for their accomplishments by being named honorary captains of the men's and women's teams and were gifted with cowboy hats. It was like a pep rally for the Olympic Team.

The opening ceremonies concluded with a smile-inducing fireworks show.

My partner Rachel stands behind our ready Powerade table early on a chilly Saturday morning. This is the view the runners would see if they glanced in our direction heading north on Bagby Street. Eight cups are in the positioned in front for easy grabbing, and we had a bunch more in the back to replace them as necessary.

This was the table next to ours, with athlete-filled bottles ready to go. In general, the men didn't do much other than fill their bottle, slap the supplied labels on, and turn them in. Some athletes taped energy gels to their bottles. The women got more creative, attaching stickers, glitter paint, or in one case I saw, pink foam flamingoes. The "LSS" bottle on the corner belonged to 50-year-old Linda Somers Smith of California.  I remember this because when she drank and discarded it, it came right at me and landed at my feet.

The race itself didn't yield any real dramatic turns of events. The top seeds went to the front of the pack  and were the only contenders in the competition to secure the top three spots and be named to the Olympic Team. This is the men's lead pack passing us at mile 11, approximately 55 minutes into the race. In front is Ryan Hall, who eventually placed second. Dathan "Ritz" Ritzenheim would get the dreaded "not quite" fourth-place finish. I believe behind Ritz in this picture is third-place finisher Abdi Abdirahman. Way in the back with the blue cap is the eventual men's winner of these Trials, Meb Keflezighi.

The athletes arrived in waves that got further and further spaced out as the race progressed. This is the mass of women appearing after they made the turn from McKinney onto Bagby at mile 3, at around 16 or 17 minutes into their race. They are led by the NBC cameramen on a motorcycle.

And here is the front of that mile 3 women's pack. The Olympic squad would eventually become Shalane Flanagan (right, with blue top and her just-about-trademark high socks), Desiree Davila (red/yellow/black top) and Kara Goucher (left, blue top, obscuring her bib in this shot). 

For $18 per mile, this better be good

Last weekend was the date for the Sugar Land 30K. I wasn't going to be participating, but since that was the last race in this fall's "Warm Up Series" before the Houston Marathon, I was reminded to go ahead and submit my switch to the Aramco Half. The drag in San Antonio had me convinced that 26.2-Ready wasn't going to happen this year. I'm still at a better place than stuck-on-the-couch, though, and that's the important thing.

"U-S-A . . . U-S-A . . . U-S-A . . . U-S-A . . ."

So, considering last year's deferral, I will be at the start line of a $235 half marathon in one month. I certainly hope to have a non-sucky run for that money. On the plus side, during the same weekend I'll be making myself available as a volunteer for the Olympic Trials Marathon, and the opportunity to be even a small part of some elite athletes' Road To London is something I'm looking forward to just as much. 

Octoberfast dreaming

Tonight I ponder both where the training time has went and how the remainder of training time will be coming prior to race day in January. The Houston Marathon Kick-Off Party came and went a couple of weeks ago and we're at the point of the year where the long runs will be served mostly in increasing helping sizes.

I feel like I'm ahead of the curve as I stretched out for 16 miles this past weekend. Yes, I was very exhausted by the end, but I was pleased to see that the body recovery was a snap, compared to previous long runs where I'd be working out soreness for more than a couple of days. It was a humid morning, but partly cloudy with temps that stayed under 80F through mid-morning. I was breaking in a new hydration belt -- the Nathan Speed 2 -- and it felt really good to have that pair of 10-ounce bottles around my center-of-gravity instead of 20 ounces sloshing around together as usual in my handheld Amphipod.

Fueling this season's PR distance on Saturday were Black Cherry Clif Shot Blocks, Blueberry-Pomegranate GU Chomps, and a MP3 playlist with nothing but albums from the band Cake. Cake gave a great show for their Houston fans recently as headliners of BestFest in Midtown. One thing I hadn't noticed until that night is that their songs don't vary too widely in tempo. So a nothing-but-Cake soundtrack was actually useful in keeping up a decent running rhythm.

Endurance is building, but I'm still concerned about speed. If Marathon Sunday was tomorrow, I wouldn't be ready for the 13:45/mile pace needed to finish in the 6-hour limit. I'm hoping speed will come around with cooler weather and more training time. Meanwhile, this week I'm dialing back the distance this weekend for at least one short race, so here's a toast to finding some Octoberfast in my glass!

Ever call in an order for "wildflowers" and have "wildfires" show up instead?

The other morning, I woke up listening to the update on Tropical Storm Lee and had a really good laugh when I heard that the tropical storm watch area stopped at Sabine Pass. It's like the weather knows exactly where the state border is located. Houston, normally gifted generously with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, continues to be hit with the Texas Drought of 2011.

It's been so dry that my neighborhood reservoir caught fire twice this past week. When the air has been just right this summer, I can still catch a whiff of ashes from a fire that burned about a hundred acres just after Memorial Day. During this morning's long run, I got a look at a small pumping base the fire department has set up to fill up their tanker trucks with water from Langham Creek in case another flareup appears.

The run itself was a wholly impromptu affair with a lot of unplanned sidetracking to check out how the flora and fauna are faring. The 11-mile Garmin track resembles a rough sketch of an amoeba. I'm continuing my experimentation with fueling, and after last week's Sport Beans, today's choice was an old friend, Vanilla Bean GU Gel. I can't exactly say I enjoy eating them, but the packets are very compact and they still digest readily.

Just for fun, I'll leave the next few choices up to the audience:

GU Chomps vs. Clif Shot Bloks -- between those two, which should I take with me on the next long run? (The other, of course will be used on the one after that.)

And, what's your favorite stowaway on-the-run energy source that I should try next?

Spirited Thirteen

It wasn't my first time to pass the spot, but this morning I was on foot in Cullen Park on my long run and finally noticed a small cemetery tucked into the thick vegetation beside the trail less than a mile away from Barker-Cypress Road. A historical marker identifies the spot as being in use since antebellum days. The plots are surrounded by a fifty-foot square of chain-link fence, so I wasn't able to get a close look at the markers themselves, especially to satisfy my curiosity about the headstone where a medal appears to have been left very recently.

All the other times I've taken this path I have simply wheeled by on the saddle of my bicycle, so once again having my feet on the ground reveals details missed when being occupied with riding or driving. Before moving south to present-day Interstate 10, the town of Addicks was actually located in this area until the Corps of Engineers built the dam and created the reservoir for floodwater containment. I find it a little haunting to see the burial sites left behind.

And now I have another reason to refrain from going for any late-night runs on this unlit trail!

The run itself went reasonably well. I learned my lesson from Sunday and brought some extra get-up-and-go in the form of Extreme Sport Beans. (There was nothing wrong with the beans, but I think product names like this are an unfortunate "Generation X" legacy of the 1990s. The word extreme should not be allowed on any packaging unless it's accompanied by a frank medical warning that what's inside actually pushes the boundaries of what is considered edible.) My total distance was thirteen miles at my usual snail-like pace, with the last two mostly walked as the heat index had uncomfortably escalated past 90F.

What's your favorite not-so-extreme use of the word extreme? And have you recently noticed any sights in your neighborhood while running that someone in a car would surely miss?

12 miles, done. In your face, August.

I did walk a lot this morning, and I finished my distance fueled by nothing but gumption and a fantasy of double fisting Klondike Bars while riding dolphins in a sea of chocolate milk. But a dozen miles is a dozen miles.

I was able to fill my Amphipod at least five times with the fountains along the trail, so hydration isn't a problem. I'm just at the point where I ought to plan on packing some gels/beans/cantaloupes with me so I can kick in those energizing carbs when I need them.

Since my last visit to Terry Hershey Park, the county has added some convenient distance markers to the trail, spread out in quarter-mile increments. So if you forget the GPS at home, you've got something with which to measure your outing. I believe the playground and the restrooms at the Beltway 8 end of the trail are also recent improvements. Y'all have no excuse for using Buffalo Bayou for lavatory purposes now.

6 New or Improved Happenings for Houston Runners After This 100-Degree Garbage is Gone (Hopefully)

With the annual back-to-school sales tax holiday weekend upon us, I'm sure you're already looking for ways to spend the enormous pile of cash you'll be saving. Well, maybe it'll be more like another penny or three squeezed through the couch cushions, but if you scrape together enough for a race registration fee, then I can suggest a handful of notable new (or tweaked) events for which you could make space on your fall calendar:

Duck Run (August 27) -- The people that created the Luke's Locker/Baker Street Pub "beer runs" on Wednesday nights are launching this four-miler event in the heart of Katyland. For the ethanol-needy, note that the start/finish venue is a brewery. Also note that the benefit cause is Ducks Unlimited, so wearing bright orange might be a good idea if the suds are flowing a little too freely to the waterfowl enthusiasts.

Tour de Art Run (September 18) -- Originally held as a RUN@WORK Day event, this year's Tour de Art is happening on the weekend, which is likely more convenient for many of us who would not be able to participate due to conflicts with work. If you've ever had a curiosity to learn more about the public art scattered around downtown Houston, this is your opportunity. Think of it as a super-casual art gallery stroll with a tour guide jogging the group to 15 pieces scattered over five miles. The gathering will happen at 7:45 a.m. at the downtown library (500 McKinney Street) and the run starts at 8 a.m. And best of all, aside from transportation/parking downtown, this one is FREE!

Running of the Bulls 5K (October 16) -- The Houston Texans are back with their 5K event. I believe the course posted online is a new one, snaking almost exclusively through Reliant Park. (I can't think of a worse abuse of the word "park" in a Houston area place name, aside from "Deer Park" perhaps.) The finish line is now in an end zone of Reliant Stadium itself. If we could have members of the 2010 Texans defensive secondary personally welcoming finishers and joining them in end zone dances, the NFL fantasy experience would be complete.

Toughest 10K Galveston (October 22) -- In case your appetite for racing over bridges isn't satiated with the original Toughest 10K in September, the concept has been franchised to the Island. Let's hope the recently reconstructed causeway is pedestrian-friendly and the morning ocean breezes are gentle for this inaugural event. Remember, the sharks are more afraid of you than you are of them!

Run In The Park (November 5) -- The old Park to Park five-miler benefiting the Hermann Park Conservancy is being taken off the streets and relaunching as a happening totally within Hermann Park. I'm sure they will save money by not needing a score of law enforcement officers for traffic control at dozens of intersections. When the route map is released, can we hope for a path that shows off the park at its best -- perhaps right through the zoo and even across the Miller Outdoor Theater stage? Maybe the kids' choo-choo train could even be the pace car.

Texas Metric Marathon (November 13) -- The kilometer is unloved, misunderstood, and even shunned as un-American. The Houston Striders made a smart move a few years ago by trotting their tape measures out and tacking on a little distance to their tired 20K to turn it into the Houston Half Marathon. The word marathon is popular and familiar; the average American can participate in one with nothing but a free weekend, a couch, and a cable TV subscription. This fall the Houston Masters have also decided to go some extra distance with their unsexy 25K and bring the 26.2-kilometer "metric marathon" concept to Houston. Listen to how that sounds: putting "marathon" in a race title is like tearing open a packet of Instant Sexy. (Now I'm waiting for Finish Line Sports to market their 30K as the "Sugar Land 25-Percent-Off Marathon Distance Run." Everyone likes a discount!)

All these were events that stood out as I've been putting together the next month's update of my other blog project, Houston Running Calendar. What local run dates have you looking ahead? Do you know of a new or overhauled event that I didn't list that could use a little publicity? Drop a comment and run away!

Red pigtails are streamlining

Today's fresh, hot-n-juicy random running update channels the muses behind some of Wendy's ad campaigns to sell burgers over the years.

You know when it's real.

I did register for Rock'n'Roll San Antonio as mentioned previously, and it feels great to have that waypoint approaching on the calendar. It's going to be fun and I won't be concerned with any specific training for the half marathon distance, as I'll always be keeping completion of Houston 2012 in mind as the ultimate goal. Virtually no speedwork will be on the menu and the emphasis will be on long-run mileage and bringing it earlier.

Always great, even late.

Whereas a typical novice half marathon buildup might gradually introduce double-digit long runs around October, I'm taking them on now -- in the midst of the worst Houston heat wave in my lifetime. Oh, joy! But I feel like I must make up for lost time from last year, so I'm coping by trying to get significant parts of these done before dawn even breaks.

Never cut corners.
This gem of a sign was spotted at a local day.care center during last weekend's 10-miler. Perhaps they're skipping the proof.reading and passing the savings on to parents.

Where's the beef?

You won't find any in these avocado enchiladas. This weekend I dug up this recipe from Deena Kastor that was overdue for another go in my kitchen. Even if you can't keep pace with an elite marathoner, you can at least learn to fuel up like one from her website.

So, would you say "it's better here" where you're at? Or are you just feeling square?

Practicing Solo

I'm going bloggin'

After midnight
Can't get no shuteye
What am I supposed to do?
So here I'm bloggin'
After midnight
Posting for you.

Sorry, Patsy.

I started getting drowsy in the nine o'clock hour and thought things were falling into place for a restful night before an early a.m. Saturday run. But a mere few hours later, I find myself very much awake, so I'm pecking away at a running-related blog post I was planning to write sometime this weekend anyway.

I've decided against joining a marathon training group this year. The Katy Fit experiment last year was going okay up until I found myself out for the season sick. (No, I'm not blaming all those nice people for that.) Training for Houston 2012, however, I know I really want flexibility in my schedule. I can easily see a lot of long runs fitting in on Sundays instead of Saturdays. I certainly didn't need the coaching tips, which are abundant online and on my bookshelf.

With autumn creeping up on the calendar horizon, I want to solidify my weekly mileage. June certainly challenged us with the unusual triple-digit heat. (Unlike inland parts of Texas, Houstonians traditionally had an understanding with Mother Nature to have mostly "moderate" summer high temps in the mid 90sF in exchange for pea-soup-thick Gulf humidity.) And I've been dragging for nearly two weeks of July thanks to a head cold.

So here's hoping that things "fall" into place in the coming months. I'm thinking that a return to the 13.1-miler at Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio would be a good waypoint along the way. Surely in three years the city has figured out how to host this event since my first terrible taste of the RNR series, right?

Now it's back to another attempt at gathering some bits of sleep before putting on the shoes for . . . I don't know . . . five miles? I'm in full control of my schedule after all.

How has your summer running been? Has it been dreamy, or has it been like a fight with the snooze button?