Blue Bell Fun Run 10K Race Report

I think the song goes, "Blue Bell homemade ice cream: the best ice cream in the country." And I can tell you that three ice cream bars after running a tough 6.2 miles at the Blue Bell Fun Run is almost worth the drive to Brenham!

It almost made me forget about how miserable I felt like I ran on a challenging course with a lot of long inclines, but the bottom line is that I had a great time seeing all of the people that I have come to know through running. Therefore, be forewarned that this may be a long race report!

First, my running. 1:02:44.7 was my chip time in another event that was timed by RunFar out of Austin. My stopwatch was 1:02:44.09. It was my slowest 10K of 2005, but the toughest course, and it was the slowest since my 1:02:56.24 at the 25th annual Hopewell Challenge in Hopewell, New Jersey on September 25, 2004. However, that course might have been just as tough if not tougher than this one.

My splits looked like this:

Mile 1 -- 9:07.06
Mile 2 -- 9:33.91 (18:40.97)
Mile 3 -- 10:34.13 (29:15.10)

So I knew I was off my 5K pace, but again I ran hard through a couple of inclines in the first two miles so no surprise that I slowed up in mile 3.

Mile 4 -- 10:39.60 (39:54.70)

This mile marker was at the top of a bit more steep incline (but nothing like the Bearathon in Waco) and the water stop was at the bottom before the mile marker. I passed this one up because if I'm having to walk at all during an event, I'd rather do it after I get to the mile marker.

Mile 5 -- 9:59.45 (49:54.16)

I ran awhile with, but couldn't stay up with the cute blonde with Texas emblazoned on the back of her shorts. Yes, I admit. I noticed!

Last 1.2 -- 12:49.93 (1:02:44.09)

This was a 10:42 pace, but half of the last 1.2 was the longest incline of the race. Even the downhill to the finish line at Brenham High School didn't seem fast (and I had to put on the breaks Wednesday night going down Tramway Blvd.) And I even had a high-five from a local law enforcement official that remembered me from running a cross country race in Brenham on September 11, 2004 out at Brenham State School. Incredible!

This event races money for Brenham High School athletics and the kids and the coaches that worked this event really, really did a nice job. Late registration was easy, everybody was polite and were glad to see you there. There was music playing ahead of time and the public address announcer that interrupted from time to time did an effective job. (This is something I would really enjoy doing!)

The only downside to this event was that the pre-race restroom lines at the gymnasium were long and there weren't any port-a-potties at all, especially near the start line which was on Business 38 a good walk from the high school. Many men were seen going to take care of business behind a church building that appeared to have been vacant for quite some time.

Congratulations to John Yoder of the Houston Striders who won his 4th overall and 3rd straight Blue Bell Fun Run 10K in a time of 35:09.2. The 34-year-old Katy native was competing in his 11th straight Fun Run. (82-year-old Austinite Jim Southard, who finished 3rd in male 75-and-over age group, was recognized by race director Earl Hathaway for having taken part in all 27 Blue Bell Fun Runs.)

I had the pleasure of meeting another early bird (I got there at 6:30 a.m., two hours before race time) Allen White, 60, a HARRA member from Houston. We had the chance to visit quite a bit before the race and he used the event as a training run for Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon in two weeks. Allen is an humble man because when I asked him how he did he failed to inform me that he finished 2nd in the 60-64 age group in a time of 53:51. Some other HARRA members seen at the event were Spring's Suzy Seeley (BCRR), who was second to Caldwell's Becky Shirley in the 45-49 age group with a time of 44:43.4, and Sugar Land's Audrey Christiansen (FLS), who finished 5th in the 40-44 age group with a 50:41.8 effort.

Just in front of Audrey in that age group was Run The Woodlands regular Ann Leoni, who was 4th with a time of 48:48.6. Ann and Debbie Tripp, who placed 3rd in the 5K 45-49 with a time of 32:25.9, were there with both of their mothers as they were heading out after the race for a day of shopping. Both Ann and Debbie are two of the 25 members of the Run The Woodlands 20-race club. Ann leads the way with 74 and Debbie has done 39 of the event's 127-race run.

Speaking of Run The Woodlands, back on March 26th, Carol Steele, 45, from Houston, passed me around the mile 1 marker and beat me by 36 seconds (28:52 to 29:28). She did it again. I joked with her at the start line about it and like before, I got ahead of her, but she caught me between the mile 2 and mile 3 markers before finishing in 1:00:58.8 (just under two minutes ahead of me.)

As expected, there was a host of runners from the Seven Hills Running Club in Huntsville and it's always good to see what I would consider my third group of running friends (besides those at Run The Woodlands and the Houston Striders). 57-year-old Conroe native Hans Jaeger finished 6th in his age group with a time of 56:17.3 while his frequent running partner, 51-year-old Tomball resident Ray Alexander, was just over a minute ahead of me at 1:01:39.3. Club president Ken Johnson, 63, finished in 1:10:15.6.

Stealing the show, though, was 71-year-old True Cousins who took first place in his age group with a time of 31:18.3. Huntsville's Chris Wilson, 55, took 3rd in the 55-59 age group with a time of 23:44.2.

I've commented before about Galena Park ISD athletic director Ed Warken, who was a football coach at Spring HS when I graduated in '84. I had the chance to see Ed for the first time today in quite awhile. He finished in 1:04:53.9 which is impressive as his last two 10Ks were the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run in 1:09:56.1 and the Bayou City Classic 10K in 1:05:51.5. Nice job Ed!

And, finally, there's the HBU connection.

I'm standing beyond the finish line talking to Coach Warken and I notice a young lady cross the line in a blue Houston Baptist University women's basketball T-shirt on. Thought to myself, "Hmmmm .... Just don't see too many of those in Brenham unless they belonged to Velencia Kuykendall's family (a sophomore on this year's 36-3 team who is from Brenham)."

In fact, I hadn't made it to my first ice cream sandwich when I spotted her and told her as much. I asked her if she played for the Huskies and current coach Shane Brown. She said she did and I asked her her name and she replied, "Shawnaka" and I said, "Holland." she went, "No way," surprised that somebody knew who she was. We had a great conversation after she had improved on her ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run time of 1:05:43.5 with a mark of 1:04:02.7 on Saturday.

I'm planning on a training run on Sunday morning, April 17th. If I don't do that reasonably well, I may scratch my participation in back-to-back halves the weekend of April 30th-May 1st. We'll see.