Baylor Student Foundation "Bearathon" Race Report

When is a half not a half?

A half is not a half when the Baylor University police department doesn't have enough officers - because of other events - to safely patrol an additional .35 miles of a half-marathon course that was recently certified by USA Track and Field.

It's a shame because the Baylor Student Foundation, with tons of Baylor students involved, put on a nice event Saturday in Waco (my first running effort in the central Texas town) with a tough course that included parts of Cameron Park. (And, by the way, I had been warned but never noticed it. In the original e-mail from the event on 2/24/05, here is what is said: "Please note that this course is a hilly course especially in area of Cameron Park!")

With only one run and no additional workouts this week, I knew that this run was going to be a challenge and it was early as I started to take a walk after the first two miles. (It was more that my quads burned and that without the elliptical trainer workouts, they were probably more tight than anything.)

My mile splits were as follows:

Mile 1 - 10:12.26
Mile 2 - 9:49.72
Mile 3 - 10:09.54 (30:11.52)
Mile 4 - 10:56.08
Mile 5 - 11:23.06
Mile 6 - 10:55.82
Mile 7 - 11:17.90
Mile 8 - 15:44.28
Mile 9 - 7:08.78 (two mile average - 11:26.54)
Mile 10 - 11:00.35
Mile 11 - 9:49.09
Mile 12 - 11:29.66 (two mile average - 10:34.38)
Last .85 - 6:19.66

12.85 miles - 2:16:16.22

As you can see, we went into the hills during, at least, mile 5 (maybe mile 4), and came out of them before the mile 10 marker. [The mile 5 marker was at the top of an incline!] The reason for the big difference in mile 8 is that the mile marker sign was on the left hand side of the road instead of the right. So when you are running on the right side of the road (and runners are coming back on the left, by the sign), it was hard to tell if that was the mile marker or not.

Once I came back by the sign, hit my watch and looked at my split, I realized that I should have done it on the first pass of it. Additionally, it seemed that the mile marker for 11 was off. I can't imagine that I went from 11-flat (mile 10) to 9:49 (mile 11) and back to 11:29 (mile 12) in three miles.

So was the course short? Yes. Was I disappointed? Sure. But here is where good runner's etiquette comes in. Have a complaint or question? Ask! And I happened to spot the woman, who I've misplaced her name, that was handling the award envelopes and she explained to me that an announcement was made early that the course was short. (I didn't hear it, but I was hearing it now.) She explained that, at the last minute, they found out that Baylor's police department couldn't staff the street closures on campus. (The Waco city police did a great job manning the course!)

What was excellent is that she was very apologetic as well as eager to seek input as the event is completely student-run and was in its 3rd year.

The biggest plus is that you get two (2) nice T-shirts! One, a green and yellow (Baylor colors, of course) entrant's T-shirt and then a blue finisher's T-shirt! [I crossed the finish line with my fingers in the UH! salute - Eat 'Em Up Coogs!] The event was chip-timed by Run Far out of Austin who I'm becoming more convinced are the best group in the state.

The overall winner was Clint Bell of Wilmer, a former Dallas Christian School and SMU cross country and track star.

This may come across as tacky, but it is clearly unintended to be. (I'm aiming for the comedic effect!) I'll be willing to do this event again for one reason alone: Where else can a 38-year-old man go and have tons of college co-eds cheering him on at nearly every mile? Actually, it was an added touch: especially in the hilly sections of Cameron Park!