I'm thankful . . .

• For remaining employed in a time of heightened economic uncertainty.
• For the FCC's opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger that has no upsides for the customers or the employees of either company.
• For having comfortable housing in an area with beautiful neighbors.
• For the contents of my kitchen, where my biggest complaint is that I have run out of space in my freezer for any more yummy things.
• For opportunities to go and make a difference for others.
• For the nineteen thousand pageviews at Houston Running Calendar last month. (Whoa!)
• For the organizers and volunteers that make all those running events happen.
• For the CyanogenMod team whose firmware has made my Nook Color a much more interesting device.
• For the knowledge that there will be a season 5 of Mad Men.
• For the cessation of wildfires (for now) and for the firefighters that have been keeping our homes safe.
• For being able to sleep in this morning, run my own one-man Turkey Trot with the treetops, come home and write a 351st post to this blog.

. . . and much more. Happy Thanksgiving!

Chase After A Cure one mile (give or take a few hundred yards)

Technically speaking, if today's run was a race, I won.

I've never tried a one-mile event, so when I heard about the Chase After A Cure on the University of Saint Thomas campus, I thought it might be fun to try. I wasn't expecting a USATF-certified course, but during my warmup, I couldn't help but notice that my Forerunner was counting the cone-marked path short by nearly a quarter-mile. Oh well.

The race director was an MBA student hosting this fundraiser as a class project. Her start line instructions could be distilled into three words: "Follow the cones." The course was an short out-and-back surrounded by a larger loop, laid out functionally in what is known as a "lollipop." When we were sent forth from the back of the athletic center, the two young guys in front of me reached the end of the "lollipop stick," glanced both ways and then exchanged puzzled looks before taking a left turn on the sidewalk. Everyone else followed suit, except for me. I'm certain that I was the only one -- aside from the RD -- that got a look at the arrows on the course map pointing to the right.

So as I proceeded clockwise around campus, I got a chance to wave hello to everyone following the loop the other way. The attendance was roughly thirty and most were walking. I wasn't the first one to return to end of the "stick," but I was the first one back who had followed the course correctly. I slyly suggested to the RD to try directional arrows or signs at her next event.

There was a real winner today, of course -- the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation -- and I hope this project puts that young RD on the path to an A in the classroom.

Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio 1/2 Marathon

Along with the soreness in my heel, I'm now home with real lingering doubts as to what I can do in Houston in January. On Sunday, November 13, I made my RnR return in San Antonio, and the race toasted my expectations.

Acknowledging that I'm still working on my comeback to running, I had registered a few months ago with an anticipated finish time of 2:45. For race morning, that placed me in corral 26, close to the back of the 30,000 participants, so I didn't cross the starting line until after 8 a.m. I knew it was going to be a warm morning, so I had to balance two concerns -- not going out too fast due to the heat and knowing that I should try to cover as much ground as I could before the fog lifted.



The fog dissipated by the time I hit the 10K point, and I found myself in increasing difficulty. I remember this part because the RnR organizers had planted a large inflatable guitarist balloon figure that straddled San Pedro Avenue. I made it under okay, but I saw people behind me get a surprise obstacle as the breeze caused the figure to dive and crotch-bounce the pavement, blocking all lanes.

The last half of the race had me heat-bothered and hurting more than expected. I'm sure some of my problem was taking on this course on sloped pavement after logging just about all my training miles on trails here in the Houston flatland. But that doesn't explain why I only consumed half a package of GU Chomps when I was consuming a package and a half during long runs of similar length. Looking back, perhaps I should have taken one of those little packets of margarita salt from the volunteers at the start area. I could have been running calorie-rich, but electrolyte-poor.



There were a fair number of spectators along the course, but I really could have used more cowbell. The most memorable signs I spotted were "My Mommy Is Faster Than Your Mommy" and "FART!" which came at the right moment to crack me up. I did my best to acknowledge the cheering and otherwise have a good time of things with the people around me. Yelling "Watch out: heavy man being acted upon by gravity!!!" while passing people on a downhill hasn't gotten old for me yet.

With a lot of walking and stopping to stretch my aching achilles, I was heading for my personal worst finish time for a half marathon. I gathered myself for one final push to try and finish under three hours, but was unable to do make that happen. After humbly accepting half marathon finisher medal number ten, I plopped my butt onto the Alamodome parking lot with some HEB-supplied snacks as headliner Vince Neil gave us "Dr. Feelgood," "Girls, Girls, Girls," and other Mötley Crüe tunes that I'm sure the under-30 crowd imagined were playing on the wagon radios during San Antonio's cattle drive days.



I did have an excellent weekend overall, though. Being able to get a downtown hotel really did make the expo and race morning logistics a breeze. I feel fortunate not to have been one of many participants to have needed medical attention. I even read that one runner died.

I'm counting a burger from the original Fuddruckers restaurant and a little historical sightseeing in downtown San Antonio as a great start in "active recovery." After this race, however, and knowing the Houston Marathon course has a lot more pavement waiting in a couple of months has me seriously considering a switch to the half distance. I really am learning how to do this stuff all over again.


The Splits:

Mile 1 - 11:15
Mile 2 - 11:13
Mile 3 - 11:37
Mile 4 - 11:46
Mile 5 - 12:24
Mile 6 - 11:56
Mile 7 - 12:52
Mile 8 - 12:37
Mile 9 - 14:04
Mile 10 - 14:47
Mile 11 - 16:32
Mile 12 - 20:26
Mile 13: - 16:31
Last .1 - 2:47
Half marathon elapsed time - 3:00:45 per Garmin Forerunner 205, 3:00:41 chip time

Run With The Saints 5K

A near-frosting front blew through town recently, and before next weekend's half I thought it might be a good idea to have a "race rehearsal" in cool/cold conditions. So this morning I dropped in on an event I've never done before, the Run With The Saints 5K at John Paul II Catholic School right here in the upper Buffalo Bayou neighborhood.

For the first time since the end of the Summer of Fire, I pulled a C9 shirt from the long-sleeved side of the closet and when I arrived at the school, I literally warmed up for a mile with a jacket on. By gun time things were aligned perfectly -- I was warmed up, the temps hung in the mid-40s and there was plenty of residential shade and no wind on this flat course.

After the first mile of weaving through walkers and telling half a dozen kids about their untied shoes, I was able to settle in with my breathing and let the legs go on auto-pilot. I let my mind wander to thoughts of oven-warmed brownies in mile two and visualizations of a banana split with mango ice cream in mile three.

When I reached the finish line, I noticed we had been tricked! The entrance to the finish chute was the exit driveway to the parking lot, with a "DO NOT ENTER" painted on the pavement. We'll never be saints if we're flagrantly disobedient, right?

But hey, I've got my first sub-thirty 5K since 2009 and it feels like a thin slice of heaven.

The splits:

• Mile 1: 9:39
• Mile 2: 9:37
• Mile 3: 9:36
• Last .1: 0:49

5K elapsed time: 29:39 per Garmin Forerunner 205

Houston Texans Running of the Bulls 5K

While waiting in the "bullpen" for this morning's race to begin, a surprising thought entered my head:

I am on the attack today.

Yesterday, I went out to prove that I wasn't too sick to finish 3.1 miles, and did it. And today, I felt better than I did yesterday. So, I could say that I felt ready to take this one by the horns.




I looked over the crowd that had come in for today's race, and it was much bigger than the one that showed up for the Battle Red Run the Texans hosted in 2006. Not Rodeo Run large, but there were easily as many people here as at the last Astros Race For The Pennant 5K I was at, so the Texans' event marketing people must have stepped up their game recently.

We were told to expect the sound of a cannon blast to signal the start of the Running of the Bulls 5K, but I guess there was a firing malfunction and we were sent forward without much fanfare at all. As planned, I attacked the first mile way more aggressively than I did yesterday. I did my best Arian Foster impression, weaving and cutting around many, many people for that entire first mile. I found myself amused at passing numerous walkers for that entire first mile. In the end there was only a one minute discrepancy between my chip time and gun time, so I can only presume that they must have started the course early.

The Bullpen Pep Band that plays at Texans home games was out to play for us next to the Mile 1 water station, and I gave them an enthusiastic wave even though I couldn't quite make out the number they were playing at that moment in time. Mile 2 of this course features two crossings over Kirby Drive using the pedestrian bridges that lead out of Reliant Stadium. My inner nerd became the motivator during the bridge crossings, as these were the on-the-spot mantras I muttered to myself over the bridges:

Uphill: "Potential, potential, potential, potential. . . ."
Downhill: "Kinetic, kinetic, kinetic, kinetic. . . ."

I was even feeling better than expected in Mile 3, and I'm pretty sure I passed more people than passed by me. I still feel a little discouraged when I can barely keep up with some of these long-legged ladies and gentlemen that appear to be merely walking enthusiastically, though.



The finish line was through the north tunnel. Although a 20-yard "red zone" and end zone were marked on the pavement, I was really hoping to end the race on some of the actual turf used during games in Reliant Stadium. Surely they grow spare squares of the stuff, right?

Even though I struck out during the door prize drawings, I still came away with my fastest 5K in more than two years, and that's no bull.

The splits:
Mile 1: 9:13
Mile 2: 10:09
Mile 3: 9:59
Last .1: 1:43
5K Elapsed Time: 31:05 per Garmin Forerunner 205

Official race results:
Chip Time: 31:00
Gun Time: 32:01
Placing: 77th in M35-39 AG

Run to Cure HD 5K

Friday afternoon found me being dragged down by what I believe is a head cold. Even with a medication-assisted night's sleep, I wasn't exactly feeling 100% when I showed up at Oyster Creek Park to take on this morning's Run To Cure HD. I registered the requisite brain malfunction when I arrived and realized I had left my timing chip at home. No problem, really, since I'm rarely in danger of being within sniffing distance of a podium finish.

I had my trusty Forerunner 205 GPS to record my race, and it was secured with the replacement Velcro strap I ordered from Garmin after one of the eyelets on the original "watchstrap" broke, It's not stylish, but the Velcro worked really well to stop the device from bouncing around, just as it did with the original Forerunner 101.

This wound up as a tightly spaced race, as we were doing two out-and-backs on a narrow asphalt trail that was not closed to the public during the race. It's a good thing that the turnout for this was only a few hundred people or else we'd have problem with runners weaving into others' path. I kept up a pretty good pace during mile 2, "drafting" behind a woman mimicking a rollerblading motion with her stride.

In the final mile, the beginning of the final leg-in was marked with a line of white tape and some college-age volunteers were there marshaling runners to touch the line before turning around. I decided to play this up even further by asking if I could not just touch the tape line, but if I could caress it, stopping and bending over to give it a nice patting. That got a nice whoop-and-holler response.

We may be slow in the back of the pack, but we have more time to have fun on the race course!

And now, it's off to bed for me: I'll be taking on another 5K in the morning.

The splits . . .
Mile 1: 10:37

Mile 2: 10:39
Mile 3 11:17
Last .1: 1:24

Elapsed 5K time: 33:58 (per Garmin Forerunner 205)

Houston Running Calendar re-launch

My other blog project has been a simple, yet comprehensive, list of upcoming races and fun runs in the Houston area. I'm moving it to a custom domain name of its very own. So http://houstonrunningcalendar.blogspot.com is changing to http://www.houstonrunningcalendar.com.

Thanks to everyone who's been giving me positive feedback. Update your browser bookmarks!

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!

Just Run for a Just Cause 10K

I began the morning by slicing a fingertip with one of my fingernails while tying the drawstring on my shorts.

Yup, that's the kind of pro runner I am.

After applying a Band-Aid and muttering, "Who does this!?" a few times, I was on my way to the Just Run for a Just Cause at Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy. I just wanted to give myself a little test to make sure I haven't forgotten too much about race execution.

I'll generously grade myself a D-plus for this one. The course is a semi-shaded 5K loop on suburban concrete. I would be circling it twice for 10K distance. The first loop went by in about 32 minutes. This was way too easy, so of course I immediately hit trouble in the form of lightheadedness and a feeling that control of my breathing was slipping away. I think I can put the blame on any combination of the following causes:

• A little too much caffeination before the race.
• An arcing sun dialing up the mid-morning temperature to almost 80F.
• Pushing the pace too fast too soon.
• More than the recommended daily allowance of running skirt sightings.

I decided that the smart thing to do was to slow down before I gave myself a lovely case of heat exhaustion. So I completed my second loop at long-run pace, basically keeping myself in line behind a guy sporting excellent facial hair and a finisher shirt from the Cowtown Half Marathon. With the power of Cowtown Soul Patch leading the way, I trundled back into the church parking lot in a total time of about 1:11, which is totally acceptable versus laying myself out on a random curb with my heartrate skyrocketing.

This run was a benefit event to fund aftercare for women rescued from human trafficking operations. The shirts given to today's registrants were created in a factory that gives these rescued women jobs outside of the sex trade. They sport a unique design, with the race name on the back and signatures of some of the workers on the front.

Today was the race debut of a new pair of shoes, the Asics Gel Phoenix. Interestingly enough, years ago I was in "shoe love" with Saucony's Grid Phoenix which was discontinued, so it's a wonderful happenstance that the competition also picked up the "Phoenix" moniker years later for mild stability running shoes. They even have the nice wide toebox that had been a Saucony hallmark.

So I'll close this report with a question: Before I run away with the stupid-injury crown, what is the wackiest race day injury you've had that had nothing to do with running the race itself?

The splits:

Mile 1 - 9:59
Mile 2 - 10:31
Mile 3 - 11:20
Mile 4 - 11:20
Mile 5 - 12:40
Mile 6 - 13:10
Last .2 - 2:30
10K Elapsed Time - 1:11:32 per Garmin Forerunner 205

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?