Three Days Away / Warden to pace Walk

Eleven (11) weeks ago, I was a nervous wreck getting ready to head to Washington, D.C. to run my first marathon -- the Marine Corps Marathon. My anxiety level had reached its highest point on Wednesday evening/Thursday morning as I knew that they were many details, aside from the actual event, that needed to occur from when we left on Friday and returned on Sunday evening.

Perhaps it's because I'm at home. Maybe it's because I've done one of these before. Or maybe even it is because I've run the course once already with my running club, the Houston Striders, and the weather looks like it is shaping up to be very favorable. Whichever it is or if it is all three, I'm much more relaxed about this Sunday's hp Houston Marathon.

I'm excited that my daughter, Waverly, is going to attempt another 5K. And should I have a favorable day on Sunday, I'm setting my sights on a marathon in between now and November's New York City Marathon -- the God's Country Marathon that runs between Galeton and Coudersport, Pennsylvania the first weekend of June. (It will give me a chance to squeeze in a visit to see my grandparents in central Pennsylvania.)

Joining me near mile marker 19 on Woodway Drive will be 2001 Houston Second Baptist School graduate Peter Warden, who ran cross country for the Eagles. The Texas A&M student assistant for the Aggies' men's basketball team will be in town this weekend and will be pacing me on into downtown. When I burned out from covering private and parochial high school sports during the football season of 2001, Warden and Bryan Allen Academy graduate Casen DeLucia created txprivatesports.com to pick up some of the void that I had left with my departure. I'm really honored that Peter will help keep me focused and running down the stretch towards downtown.

The only thing different that I've done is gone out and gotten a Timex Ironman sports watch that will allow me to measure my mile splits on Sunday. I had planned to use some of my Christmas and birthday money to buy a fancier Timex unit with the Garmin GPS tracking system built-in. However, when I went to Luke's Locker this evening in The Woodlands, the woman there kind of talked me out of it as well as taking a look at Nike's non-GPS option (with a foot pod to measure distance). What I didn't tell her is that I primarily wanted to have something for Sunday.

So I ended up between Oshman's and Wal-Mart before landing a $34 watch at Wal-Mart that I'll be able to measure my performance with on Sunday (and races beyond).