Park to Park Run 5M Race Report!
It's a day late, but certainly not a dollar short! Or, at least, I hope it isn't.
Excellent day. I covered the 5 miles from Minute Maid Park to Hermann Park in 47:06.7. A new PR! at that distance, eclipsing the 49:45 I posted at the Anadarko Run Thru The Woods on Thanksgiving in The Woodlands. I really feel like I'm running well. PR's at four (4) different distances since January 16th: marathon, 5K, 10K and 5 miles. I'm still getting out a bit too fast. My mile splits were as follows:
Mile 1 - 8:59.99
Mile 2 - 9:08.91
Mile 3 - 9:29.08 (27:37.98, a 5K PR pace)
Mile 4 - 9:49.01 (walked right after the water stop at mile 3 and again right before the mile 4 sign)
Mile 5 - 9:41.02
There were five other Houston Striders there that I saw (a sixth, John DiMarco, ran the event, but I haven't met him yet). The ones that I knew about were Karen and Tim Bowler, Barry Chambers, Noah Matthews and Theresa Drago. All excellent runners, but even better people. I talked to Karen before the race and updated her about some of the numbers that I've compiled about her Houston marathon performance at age 55 and how it rated across the state. I told her I'd love to see her write something about her experience as an "Invited Runner" at the hp Houston Marathon.
I had met Theresa only twice before. Once at a Strider meeting (the one after the Egg Race) and as she surged past me at the finish line in November at the Run with the Saints 5K.
I also had a chance to visit at length with Lou Wilson of The Woodlands. Lou is 68 and has done six (6) Texas marathons so far this season and has three more on the calendar (Cowtown on Saturday, Lucky Trails in Seabrook and then the Big D in Dallas in April). He's done 36 marathons and this is all in the last 6.5 years, he said. Amazing! He and his wife, Nora, are great people who I first met at the Run The Woodlands 5K series.
I wasn't concerned about the distance on Saturday. Just the visual. It looks a LOT longer than 5 miles. Maybe because, essentially, it is a straight-away course.
I never attempt to go out too fast. I just get into a good rhythm. Somewhere around the mile 1 point, I passed Noah and Theresa. (But in the back of my mind, I was concerned about fading and that they'd pass me. No shame in that. They're experienced runners. Noah, last weekend, ran a 1:56:49 half marathon to win his age group (60-69) at Surfside Beach.) I joked and said that I was trying to catch Sean Wade, one of Houston's top runners, who is in my age group. Sean won in 24:42!
Mile 2 was OK, but I could start to feel taxed a bit in Mile 3. Because the water tables were in front of the mile marker at Mile 3 (put them behind please), I grabbed a cup, kept moving until I crossed the marker, hit my watch, and then took a walk break.
I was going too fast, in a sense, because I could feel the oxygen being sucked right out of me; but I still felt like I didn't need to slow down (and that I needed to push). Mile 4 was my slowest, but I stopped to walk right before the Mile 4 marker. Then, I pushed it on in. When I first saw the clock, I saw that it was late in the 46th minute (Sean probably had had two beers by then); however, I was just a little bit too far to reel in a sub-47 minute 5M.
Lou passed me in mile 3 and said that he didn't think that he'd catch me, but he was running strong. His chip time was 46:20.4, finishing ahead of Noah at 47:33.9 (in their age group).
Karen won her age group (55-59), Tim was second in his (50-54) and Barry was third in the 60-64 category. Theresa was 1.5 seconds in chip time from finishing 3rd; however, Noah said that they ran the race they wanted to. So all the Striders were happy!
Part of the entry fee included a token to get back to your car that was parked on the other side of Minute Maid Park. Bottom line: the Light Rail train is slow! Don't get me wrong, it's nice and eventually I think will be a great addition to the city as they expand it. However, they need to treat it like a train with rail crossings (and speed it up). Just my take!
Excellent day. I covered the 5 miles from Minute Maid Park to Hermann Park in 47:06.7. A new PR! at that distance, eclipsing the 49:45 I posted at the Anadarko Run Thru The Woods on Thanksgiving in The Woodlands. I really feel like I'm running well. PR's at four (4) different distances since January 16th: marathon, 5K, 10K and 5 miles. I'm still getting out a bit too fast. My mile splits were as follows:
Mile 1 - 8:59.99
Mile 2 - 9:08.91
Mile 3 - 9:29.08 (27:37.98, a 5K PR pace)
Mile 4 - 9:49.01 (walked right after the water stop at mile 3 and again right before the mile 4 sign)
Mile 5 - 9:41.02
There were five other Houston Striders there that I saw (a sixth, John DiMarco, ran the event, but I haven't met him yet). The ones that I knew about were Karen and Tim Bowler, Barry Chambers, Noah Matthews and Theresa Drago. All excellent runners, but even better people. I talked to Karen before the race and updated her about some of the numbers that I've compiled about her Houston marathon performance at age 55 and how it rated across the state. I told her I'd love to see her write something about her experience as an "Invited Runner" at the hp Houston Marathon.
I had met Theresa only twice before. Once at a Strider meeting (the one after the Egg Race) and as she surged past me at the finish line in November at the Run with the Saints 5K.
I also had a chance to visit at length with Lou Wilson of The Woodlands. Lou is 68 and has done six (6) Texas marathons so far this season and has three more on the calendar (Cowtown on Saturday, Lucky Trails in Seabrook and then the Big D in Dallas in April). He's done 36 marathons and this is all in the last 6.5 years, he said. Amazing! He and his wife, Nora, are great people who I first met at the Run The Woodlands 5K series.
I wasn't concerned about the distance on Saturday. Just the visual. It looks a LOT longer than 5 miles. Maybe because, essentially, it is a straight-away course.
I never attempt to go out too fast. I just get into a good rhythm. Somewhere around the mile 1 point, I passed Noah and Theresa. (But in the back of my mind, I was concerned about fading and that they'd pass me. No shame in that. They're experienced runners. Noah, last weekend, ran a 1:56:49 half marathon to win his age group (60-69) at Surfside Beach.) I joked and said that I was trying to catch Sean Wade, one of Houston's top runners, who is in my age group. Sean won in 24:42!
Mile 2 was OK, but I could start to feel taxed a bit in Mile 3. Because the water tables were in front of the mile marker at Mile 3 (put them behind please), I grabbed a cup, kept moving until I crossed the marker, hit my watch, and then took a walk break.
I was going too fast, in a sense, because I could feel the oxygen being sucked right out of me; but I still felt like I didn't need to slow down (and that I needed to push). Mile 4 was my slowest, but I stopped to walk right before the Mile 4 marker. Then, I pushed it on in. When I first saw the clock, I saw that it was late in the 46th minute (Sean probably had had two beers by then); however, I was just a little bit too far to reel in a sub-47 minute 5M.
Lou passed me in mile 3 and said that he didn't think that he'd catch me, but he was running strong. His chip time was 46:20.4, finishing ahead of Noah at 47:33.9 (in their age group).
Karen won her age group (55-59), Tim was second in his (50-54) and Barry was third in the 60-64 category. Theresa was 1.5 seconds in chip time from finishing 3rd; however, Noah said that they ran the race they wanted to. So all the Striders were happy!
Part of the entry fee included a token to get back to your car that was parked on the other side of Minute Maid Park. Bottom line: the Light Rail train is slow! Don't get me wrong, it's nice and eventually I think will be a great addition to the city as they expand it. However, they need to treat it like a train with rail crossings (and speed it up). Just my take!
posted by WalkSports.com | 6:08 PM
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