Running for the Arts

Ah, another tardy race report blog post.

Last Saturday, April 28, I ran the Spring Branch ISD fundraiser Running for the Arts. This 5K, now in its 20th year, was staged out of Memorial City Mall.

The splits:
Mile 1 -- 9:40
Mile 2 -- 9:38
Mile 3 -- 10:31
Last .17 -- 1:44
5K Elapsed Time -- 31:05 (per Garmin Forerunner 110)

Thanks to the large number of students, the first mile had a little extra fun -- there's nothing like being among hundreds of giddy kids that are uninterested in keeping a steady pace or following a tangent. But somehow they managed to not get crushed by me.

The late spring has really been feeling more like early summer, so the best part of the morning had to be the post-run snowcone.

Alex's 5K

Happy Easter!

I started the holiday weekend at Bear Creek Park, where the Bayou City Road Runners hosted their second annual Alex's 5K on Friday evening. This race benefited two autism-related charities, Avondale House and Autism Speaks.

The course consisted of two circuits of a loop road that connects to the various picnic areas on the park's west side, and the tree shade was most welcome during this rather warm sunset race. In a kooky coincidence, I clocked the same elapsed time for this 5K as I did last week.

The splits:
Mile 1 -- 9:24
Mile 2 -- 9:40
Mile 3 -- 9:46
Last .18 -- 1:41
5K Elapsed Time -- 30:31 (per Garmin Forerunner 110)

Being an Energy Corridor denizen, I did enjoy getting a rare local Friday night race opportunity. I even took advantage of the "must be present to win" clause to score one of the door prizes at the end of the night. My only real complaint is that the timing company ran out of chips for walk-up registrants. Let's hope they noted this year's turnout and come better supplied next year.

Attack Poverty 5K

I decided to try out some flat-out speed yesterday morning at the Attack Poverty 5K in Richmond. I believe this is a brand new event (correct me if I'm wrong) benefiting the Friends of North Richmond and staged at River Pointe Church. It was an under-frilled production, with no chip timing and awards only for overall and masters winners. The bib numbers were even leftovers from other races. (The emcee mentioned that considering the good turnout, they'd be back with a higher "frill level" next year, including chip-timing.)

The course was an out-and-back using only a single lane of Ransom Road and surrounding neighborhood streets. If the attendance grows much more this will definitely need to be expanded. My race went OK, and I came somewhat close to going under 30 minutes. By the second mile, I could feel myself fading and the dangling blonde braid I had been using as a pacesetter faded out of view. Running low on energy I joked to one of the course marshals, "I swear, the second half of this course is longer than the first."

The splits:
Mile 1 -- 9:01
Mile 2 -- 9:31
Mile 3 -- 10:17
Last. .15 -- 1:43
5K elapsed time -- 30:31 (per Forerunner 110)

I did find myself a little jealous of the little ones in the kids run that took place after the 5K. Their event ended with a water balloon toss, and on a warn spring morning, that might have felt pretty good.

Lookin' Good Shamrock Strut 10K

This start corral scene still needs more green.

After my feel-good time at Rodeo Run last month, I was a bit curious about how I might do on a flatter course. Well, I found out this morning's fundraiser for the Houston Eye Foundation.

The splits:
Mile 1 - 10.46
Mile 2 - 10:40
Mile 3 - 10:23
Mile 4 - 10:20
Mile 5 - 10:35
Mile 6 - 10:15
Last .26 - 2:26
10K elapsed time - 1:05:24 (per Forerunner 110)

I haven't clocked a 10K that fast since 2009, so the green beads I was wearing must have been lucky charms. The funniest moment of the morning came shortly before I reached the mile one marker, when I overheard one girl grumble, "Eww. Eww. Eww. I, like, so need a shower now. See, this is why I don't do outdoor sports."

Yeah, I suppose it was a little humid. We've only reached March, though. Poor thing.

I'm in a geeky mood, so the rest of this post gets dedicated to a couple of tech debuts. Only the insanely-devoted readers of my blog would have noticed, but I recorded today's splits with a new Garmin Forerunner. The Enter button on my ol' 205 has cracked rubber and went intermittently responsive. So after 3-1/2 years, I decided to retire it in favor of the 110, Garmin's new base model GPS for runners. The latch on the wristband is wide, which I think will make it less likely to tear through the wristband notches. Also, the device has been shrunken down to the point where it looks like an ordinary digital watch. Indeed, it even has a "sleep mode" where all it does is tell time. It might be a while before I can get used to the idea of a Garmin as an everyday accessory though!

The other geeky item of note from this morning is that the timing crew used back-of-bib tags I've never seen before, attached using double-sided foam tape. The sensor equipment was mounted on the arch above the start and finish lines, so that probably explains why our instructions heavily emphasized wearing the bib numbers up on the fronts of our shirts. (Coincidentally, this makes the race photographer's sorting job easier later, too.) Do these work better than shoe-mounted chips? I don't know, but the manufacturer has a slick cat logo, so that's got to help.

It's such a shame about that Mayan-end-of-world-thing, because the 2012 running year is looking like a good one so far.

Rodeo Run 10K

15,000 on Texas Street ready to stampede. The guy in the banana costume slipped ahead and I never saw him again

(This is being typed on March 3. Yeah, I snoozed a little on this blog post!)

If spring is breaking in, then 'tis the season to Rodeo! The Rodeo Run date hasn't been really all that kind in the past weather-wise, but 2012 brought in some pretty good running weather. Just cool enough to be refreshing, the overcast skies were a welcome sight in a late morning run that has given me sweltering sun . . . . when not pelting me with rain and wind.

I've always had an affection for the 10K distance -- it requires you to save some in the tank lest you burn out early, yet it's still short enough where you want to make each second count. And I'd have to say that this was overall a really good race for me at this time. I was able to keep the sub-11 minutes pumping through practically the whole race, except for mile 5 (rising over the Elysian viaduct for the second time) and the brief mile 1 rail stoppage.

Yes, one of the unexpected things runners sometimes get in a race finally happened to me. During the Leeland Street leg of the course, a string of METRORail cars on Main Street rolled into my view. After halting in my tracks for a couple of dumbfounded seconds, I realized that hundreds were bearing down on my position behind me, so I made a point of turning around and yelling

"TRAIN!"

Once again, I saw numerous people demonstrating of one of my pet peeves -- wearing headphones during a crowded race. I still don't understand why someone might think it's a good idea to block out the surrounding sound during a mega-event like Rodeo Run. There are bands on the course, course marshals are barking out directions, and other runners may try to alert you that they're about to pass . . . or warn you of a train.

Safety first, pardner.

It's all downhill from here!

The splits:

Mile 1 - 11:32
Mile 2 - 10:43
Mile 3 - 10:54
Mile 4 - 10:40
Mile 5 - 11:07
Mile 6 - 10:51
Last .25 - 2:24
10K Elapsed Time - 1:08:12 (per Garmin Forerunner 205)
10K Elapsed Time - 1:08:05 (chip time, with 5K halves of 34:12 and 33:53)

CitySolve Urban Race

Outside the Chase Bank tower, the sculpture Personage and Birds by Joan Miró was one of our final checkpoints.

Yesterday afternoon the rain clouds blanketing the city took an intermission just long enough to let the lovely Laurie and I race CitySolve Houston under dry skies. And after the gusty soaking we took in 2010, it was a relief to be able to keep the umbrellas stowed away this time around.

♫♪ "Red Solo Cup
you're more
than just plastic.
You're more
than amazing
you're more
than fantastic." ♫♪

CitySolve is a scavenger hunt that asks racers to solve pop culture trivia or other puzzles to derive their photo checkpoints. For example, one of yesterday's clues referencing Ashton Kutcher's relationship troubles was pointing us to take a picture of ourselves in front of Demi's Dog House in Neartown.

At high noon all teams assembled at Little Woodrow's for this battle of wits to the death . . . or about four hours, whichever came first. After a kickstarter question led us under the freeway to Discovery Green, we picked up our full clue sheets and sat down to plan our attack. At 12:35, we had finished our phone-tapping and paper-scribbling and set out for the Main Street Square METRORail station.

I was wearing my Garmin Forerunner 205 and after boarding, the spring bars for the wrist strap popped loose. Rather than try to fix it aboard a shifting train, I thought it best to stow it away in my backpack. Even hidden away there, the GPS receiver would go on to record our entire journey. So that Couldn't-Have-Worked-If-I-Was-On-A-Bus alibi by marathon cheater Rob Sloan is still very much busted!

In hindsight, there were a few places where more careful reading of the clues would have made our wanderings more efficient. Our biggest goof added an extra half-mile to our race by forcing us to double back south into Midtown to complete a cup-stacking challenge at Maple Leaf Pub, which must be the only sports bar in the city of Houston to have hockey on every screen.

CurrentlyVince Field-Tested-and-Approved Pro-Tip:
CitySolve is much easier if your phone
isn't turn-of-the-century tech.

By the time we plopped our butts down on the sofas back at Little Woodrow's at nearly four o'clock, we were far from contending for the cash prizes, but we had experienced eight miles through city neighborhoods in a way that you simply don't get while cocooned in an automobile. Better yet, we logged our nine checkpoints, so unlike our soggy mess two years ago, we finished the assignment and avoided DNF shame. And as the new season of The Amazing Race begins on CBS tonight, I'll certainly have a little more empathy for the contestants scrambling to keep their directions straight!

Our journey!

Top Ten Suggested Marketing Taglines for the 2012 Houston Astros

10) Hey, it couldn't get any worse this year, can it?
9) We've got one season of reprieve before we're stuck in the same division as Albert Pujols again.
8) With the power output of our lineup, you can rest assured that no one's 'roiding here!
7) We promise that you'll never see Orbit again.
6) Given a choice between watching us or the London Olympics on tape-delay . . . we win, right?
5) The Mayans would have wanted you to enjoy a few more games before it's all over.
4) We've got Livan Hernandez -- fresh off of his 1997 World Series MVP campaign.
3) Minute Maid Park: The perfect antidote to the congestion of Houston rush hour.
2) You did hear about the lower beer prices, right?
1) Did the Texans or Rockets win 56 games last year? Didn't think so!

Heart of Katy Fun Run

The rhythm of the Katy Taylor drumline helped us beat the cold.

I made a race morning decision to drop in on this year's Heart of Katy Fun Run at Christus St. Catherine Hospital. It was a challenging race because I had been focusing on endurance so much leading up to last month's Aramco Half, so this was really the first time in a while that I tried to dial up the pace at a shorter distance.

The air at gun time had a brisk texture to it as it was 40F with a breeze gently pushing from the north. The good thing was that it was still humid enough to breathe comfortably. I was decked out for battle in my "Houston cold" gear -- dual-layer shorts, a T-shirt covered with a long-sleeve tech, gloves, a hat and my Nike earwarmer band. The earwarmer band provided some great pre-race amusement as I rummaged through my car for a few minutes before noticing that it was still wrapped around my forehead.

The course is a simple out-and-back on a very flat Kingsland Boulevard, and I was indeed able to push the pace. I had been flirting with the idea of cracking 30 minutes, but had to take a couple of short walk breaks just to keep things safe. Later I'd learn that I was only a couple minutes away from taking home age group hardware, so I'll take that as encouraging even in this small community race.

The splits:

Mile 1 -- 10:04

Mile 2 -- 10:09

Mile 3 -- 10:35

Last .1 mi -- :55

5K elapsed time -- 31:44 (per Garmin Forerunner 205)

5K elapsed time -- 31:36 (per IPICO chip)

5K elapsed time -- 31:44 (per gun time)

Linkpost for January 26, 2012: Blog Stuff

Fairly recent blog posts that I liked. (Yup, I'm still trying to keep up with all you crazy kids.)

• ClaireTheCpChic muses on portrayals of the disabled on TV, and makes me think about The Facts of Life for the first time in a long, long time.
• Josh Cox tweeted about some Texas un-Hospitality upon his arrival in town for the Olympic Trials. Runner's World Daily expanded this into a illustrated storyboard worthy of Unsolved Mysteries.
• Tim at The Dragyn's Lair runs down his favorite movie fight scenes. (I must click into my Netflix account later.)
• Mommy's Fabulous embarks on an epic quest for Snow White panties. And the drama has a happy ending.

I ought to do more of these linkposts in the future, so I can properly recognize these authors for making my day a little brighter or more insightful..

Aramco Houston Half Marathon

On the "heels" of the ordeal at RNR San Antonio, the new year found me ill with a sickness bug that seems to be still making the rounds. So my run confidence coming into Marathon Weekend here in Houston was sagging. But as I had deferred last year's registration, skipping this year's race would mean swallowing a DNS for a half marathon that has cost me in total more than $200 in registration. So I found myself holding out hope that maybe things would come together somehow on race morning.

If nothing else, I was scoring myself a PR in the number of visits made to the George R. Brown Convention Center in one week thanks to my involvement with Saturday's Olympic Trials.When my alarm jolted me awake at 3:30 a.m. yesterday it felt like my serendipitous perfect storm was gathering.

I was breathing freely.

I downed some cold medication anyway just in case and managed to tick off my entire checklist, including finding a downtown parking space by 5:00 a.m. For the type of person I am, this is miraculous.

So it only felt appropriate to praise the Lord at the pre-race Mass in the GRB at 5:30 a.m. This is the only time of the year you'll see me show up this early for church services. After being dismissed with a "blessing of the feet" I put on one more application of BodyGlide, then headed out to the starting corral under perfect running conditions -- 40F, humid, no wind. This is shorts/short-sleeve weather for me, if not for the thousands of others I saw bundled up as if they were preparing to board The Polar Express.

Before gun time, I had made a decision to go ultra-conservative -- NO RUNNING. This would be a nearly 100% walk strategy where I would make a point of keeping one foot on the ground at all times. I was not going to risk pounding pavement like I did in San Antonio. Not now, when my feet have grown accustomed to the crushed surface trails along the neighborhood forest.

And the strategy paid off. As I type this now, I have the usual postrace quad soreness. But I have no pain in my feet -- none. My best memories of this race are from the last three miles. I got the best-tasting cup of Gatorade ever from my girlfriend working the aid station on Allen Parkway. Shortly after that, I came upon a random stranger handing out American flags right before I entered downtown.

I had watched the tape-delayed Trials broadcast on Saturday afternoon and remembered the joyful footage of Meb Keflezighi being handed a flag on the homestretch as he claimed victory. So naturally I decided to recreate my own "Meb Moment," turning the corner at Discovery Green, grinning at the people in the viewing stands and waving the Stars and Stripes above my head as I crossed the same finish line on Avenida de las Americas.

The splits:
(GPS readings at the end are likely inaccurate because I was in the midst of all the skyscrapers.)
Mile 01 - 12:37
Mile 02 - 12:02
Mile 03 - 11:50
Mile 04 - 12:39
Mile 05 - 11:49
Mile 06 - 12:44
Mile 07 - 12:18
Mile 08 - 13:34
Mile 09 - 12:38
Mile 10 - 15:24
Mile 11 - 15:30
Mile 12 - 15:20
Mile 13 - 17:03
Last .04 mi - :26
13.04 mile elapsed time: 2:56:01 per Garmin Forerunner 205
Chip Time reported by race: 2:55:54
Gun Time reported by race website: 3:11:40