Stu's Country Mile (Centerville) Race Report
Career Event #112 (32nd this year)
Career 5K #57 (20th this year and 51st in Texas)
An event in 28 different Texas cities or towns now with a goal of 100!
Stu's Country Mile, I must say, is one of the more interesting runs I've ever done. (Before I forget, thanks to Seven Hills Running Club president Ken Johnson for making sure I knew about this race. While it was a good 1:45 drive each way, the fun was well worth it. Plus I ran well to boot!)
Runners meet on the downtown square in Centerville, which is located on Interstate 45 north of Houston, Huntsville and Madisonville as you drive towards Dallas. I got there at about 7:20 a.m. and walked up to the registration desk. I asked how much it was and the woman told me $10. (Which was good because all I had in cash was $15 and Ken told me he thought it was either $10 or $15 -- with the T-shirt even. More on that later!)
It was slightly more informal than Saturday's race in Wharton. My name was written down with my age on a yellow sheet of notebook paper. I even got to pick my bib number! It was done with a desktop publisher (which works just fine), laminated and I chose my age: 38!
Also, there were two plastic pans on the registration table: one had bananas and the other had grapes!
Race T-shirt? They all said, "Stu's Country Mile, July 4th, Centerville, Texas" and they were in a couple of different colors on white. Notice that it didn't the year! (Great way to keep the costs down. After the run, Hans Jaegar said he just gets a different color each year.)
I was kind of getting worried for a little bit because I was expecting to see Ken and the other folks from the Seven Hills club. But before too long, I surprisingly saw Thomas McDonough, who compiles the stats spreadsheet for the Run The Woodlands 5K series. He said Stan Timmer of Luke's Locker told him about the race as well as seeing it on this web blog. (After some good-natured discussion about where the course was -- "neither of us really knew", we started to see Ken and the others from Huntsville begin to appear.)
Ken's description of the course was actually quite humorous, but it wasn't anything compared to what we heard at the start line from race director Joe Langley of Centerville's Langley Ranch. Ken said, "You go down there to the interstate, take a left down the frontage road, take another left past some mean old dogs, cross old Highway 75, make a right, go past some more mean old dogs...."
There were really a lot of people as they ran out of bib numbers! (When I talked with Joe after the race, letting him know how much I really enjoyed it, he said that it was the biggest turnout in the 20 years that they've had it.)
The start of the race was at the corner of one of the intersections on the downtown square. It was explained to us that there were eight (8) youngsters who were doing a mile run so that we should watch out for them as they turned off midway towards Interstate 45. Langley continued to explain that "traffic had the right of way!" Whoa! No course control? I began to get worried as he went on to say about not "taking on any cars." (Actually, Leon County Sheriff's with a DPS Trooper patrolled the intersections.)
We were told that the time would be told to us as we crossed the finish line and that we were to go to table where the ladies with the yellow note pad would write down our times. (I thought to myself, "Well, at least we take care of that at Run The Woodlands!")
I'm not even sure how we got started (I don't think there was a gun fired like there was in Wharton on Saturday), but I tried to make sure that I didn't get out too fast like I always do.
On this day, though, I wasn't going to have to worry about mile splits because there were none. (We were told to turn each place that we saw an "orange cone.") Actually this was probably a good thing as it forced me to focus on just continuing to run without stopping.
The stretch out to the frontage road that bordered Interstate 45 was an incline, which I ran the entire way. We took a left at the top of the incline and was met with a short upward pitch in the road. During this stretch I had passed SHRC member True Cousins, who is 71 and is definitely no slouch. His times have been getting better. He was first in his age group at the Blue Bell Fun Run 5K in 31:18.3 and was third in his age group with a time of 31:12 at Bremond's Polish Pickle Run. True made a good push on me as we headed south down the frontage road and as I passed two female runners (one, of which, I didn't see finish). The other eventually passed me and finished just in front of me.
As we headed back east, there was a cute blonde that (sorry .. but that is how I saw her as she) passed me. I later figured out that she started out with her husband, who finished next to last, and then she went blazing by to make up some time.
I made it to the 15:40 mark without having to stop (where I got in a quick 50-step breather) and then I got water at about the 18:40 point. We continued to head east until we got to the old Highway 75 and then we took a right heading south.
We proceeded south to Centerville HS before turning left, going further east, and heading up a hill. I got half way through it before walking 100 steps to the top and then I ran it on in (which included a left turn going north and then the final left turn onto the square towards the finish line.)
Tom McDonough was waiting just before the turn on to the last stretch to keep me encouraged as I finished! [Thanks, Tom! It's good to have people helping you finish. The most notable belongs to Steve Shepard though. At the Bellaire Trolley Run 5K in April, Steve yells from the sidelines, "Andrea (Chan) wants to beat you!" That was motivation enough!]
As I crossed the finish line, the time of 30:45 was called out; however, I had 30:46.23 on my watch (with no mile splits)! Since the times probably won't appear anywhere, my time will be my official time!
The Seven Hills Running Club times looked like this:
Robert Duncan - 19:57 (1st Overall)
James Spencer - 20:36 (1st AG)
David Cook - 21:49 (2nd AG)
J. C. Guzman - 23:09
Hans Jaeger - 25:33 - Currently training for a marathon in Switzerland in eight weeks
Ben Johnson - 26:38
Melissa Broussard - 26:46 (1st AG) - Has a goal of breaking 26 minutes for a 5K
Jan Parks - 26:50 (1st AG)
Jerry Flanagan - 27:00
True Cousins - 31:19
Ken Johnson - 34:07 - Finished race #298 (Run The Woodlands next week will be #299)
Heidi Morse - 34:30
Casey Spencer - 35:59
The age groups were tough -- 12-20, 21-30, 31-50 and 50 and greater!
To illustrate how the course was off a bit, Robert Duncan's PR is 18:40 at Run The Woodlands and his last effort there was 18:54 (race #128)! Tom McDonough's time last week at RTW (#132) was 19:39. The two of them were 1-2 most of the way until Tom, realizing that the course was more than 5K, was passed towards the end finishing third overall behind Duncan (19:57) and Spencer (20:36).
Melissa Broussard and Jan Parks (of Point Blank) carted off two of the four first place age group awards. It was Broussard's second hardware win in as many races as she was the first Filly runner at the Polish Pickle Run in Bremond on June 25th with a time of 26:09. (She completed her first marathon back in January at Houston with a time of 4:57:48!)
To read about how Melissa dropped 80 pounds in the last two years, click here!
In conclusion: For me to run 30:46.23 on a 5K plus a few hundred yards with a couple of inclines and a short hill, I am REALLY pleased with my effort!
Career 5K #57 (20th this year and 51st in Texas)
An event in 28 different Texas cities or towns now with a goal of 100!
Stu's Country Mile, I must say, is one of the more interesting runs I've ever done. (Before I forget, thanks to Seven Hills Running Club president Ken Johnson for making sure I knew about this race. While it was a good 1:45 drive each way, the fun was well worth it. Plus I ran well to boot!)
Runners meet on the downtown square in Centerville, which is located on Interstate 45 north of Houston, Huntsville and Madisonville as you drive towards Dallas. I got there at about 7:20 a.m. and walked up to the registration desk. I asked how much it was and the woman told me $10. (Which was good because all I had in cash was $15 and Ken told me he thought it was either $10 or $15 -- with the T-shirt even. More on that later!)
It was slightly more informal than Saturday's race in Wharton. My name was written down with my age on a yellow sheet of notebook paper. I even got to pick my bib number! It was done with a desktop publisher (which works just fine), laminated and I chose my age: 38!
Also, there were two plastic pans on the registration table: one had bananas and the other had grapes!
Race T-shirt? They all said, "Stu's Country Mile, July 4th, Centerville, Texas" and they were in a couple of different colors on white. Notice that it didn't the year! (Great way to keep the costs down. After the run, Hans Jaegar said he just gets a different color each year.)
I was kind of getting worried for a little bit because I was expecting to see Ken and the other folks from the Seven Hills club. But before too long, I surprisingly saw Thomas McDonough, who compiles the stats spreadsheet for the Run The Woodlands 5K series. He said Stan Timmer of Luke's Locker told him about the race as well as seeing it on this web blog. (After some good-natured discussion about where the course was -- "neither of us really knew", we started to see Ken and the others from Huntsville begin to appear.)
Ken's description of the course was actually quite humorous, but it wasn't anything compared to what we heard at the start line from race director Joe Langley of Centerville's Langley Ranch. Ken said, "You go down there to the interstate, take a left down the frontage road, take another left past some mean old dogs, cross old Highway 75, make a right, go past some more mean old dogs...."
There were really a lot of people as they ran out of bib numbers! (When I talked with Joe after the race, letting him know how much I really enjoyed it, he said that it was the biggest turnout in the 20 years that they've had it.)
The start of the race was at the corner of one of the intersections on the downtown square. It was explained to us that there were eight (8) youngsters who were doing a mile run so that we should watch out for them as they turned off midway towards Interstate 45. Langley continued to explain that "traffic had the right of way!" Whoa! No course control? I began to get worried as he went on to say about not "taking on any cars." (Actually, Leon County Sheriff's with a DPS Trooper patrolled the intersections.)
We were told that the time would be told to us as we crossed the finish line and that we were to go to table where the ladies with the yellow note pad would write down our times. (I thought to myself, "Well, at least we take care of that at Run The Woodlands!")
I'm not even sure how we got started (I don't think there was a gun fired like there was in Wharton on Saturday), but I tried to make sure that I didn't get out too fast like I always do.
On this day, though, I wasn't going to have to worry about mile splits because there were none. (We were told to turn each place that we saw an "orange cone.") Actually this was probably a good thing as it forced me to focus on just continuing to run without stopping.
The stretch out to the frontage road that bordered Interstate 45 was an incline, which I ran the entire way. We took a left at the top of the incline and was met with a short upward pitch in the road. During this stretch I had passed SHRC member True Cousins, who is 71 and is definitely no slouch. His times have been getting better. He was first in his age group at the Blue Bell Fun Run 5K in 31:18.3 and was third in his age group with a time of 31:12 at Bremond's Polish Pickle Run. True made a good push on me as we headed south down the frontage road and as I passed two female runners (one, of which, I didn't see finish). The other eventually passed me and finished just in front of me.
As we headed back east, there was a cute blonde that (sorry .. but that is how I saw her as she) passed me. I later figured out that she started out with her husband, who finished next to last, and then she went blazing by to make up some time.
I made it to the 15:40 mark without having to stop (where I got in a quick 50-step breather) and then I got water at about the 18:40 point. We continued to head east until we got to the old Highway 75 and then we took a right heading south.
We proceeded south to Centerville HS before turning left, going further east, and heading up a hill. I got half way through it before walking 100 steps to the top and then I ran it on in (which included a left turn going north and then the final left turn onto the square towards the finish line.)
Tom McDonough was waiting just before the turn on to the last stretch to keep me encouraged as I finished! [Thanks, Tom! It's good to have people helping you finish. The most notable belongs to Steve Shepard though. At the Bellaire Trolley Run 5K in April, Steve yells from the sidelines, "Andrea (Chan) wants to beat you!" That was motivation enough!]
As I crossed the finish line, the time of 30:45 was called out; however, I had 30:46.23 on my watch (with no mile splits)! Since the times probably won't appear anywhere, my time will be my official time!
The Seven Hills Running Club times looked like this:
Robert Duncan - 19:57 (1st Overall)
James Spencer - 20:36 (1st AG)
David Cook - 21:49 (2nd AG)
J. C. Guzman - 23:09
Hans Jaeger - 25:33 - Currently training for a marathon in Switzerland in eight weeks
Ben Johnson - 26:38
Melissa Broussard - 26:46 (1st AG) - Has a goal of breaking 26 minutes for a 5K
Jan Parks - 26:50 (1st AG)
Jerry Flanagan - 27:00
True Cousins - 31:19
Ken Johnson - 34:07 - Finished race #298 (Run The Woodlands next week will be #299)
Heidi Morse - 34:30
Casey Spencer - 35:59
The age groups were tough -- 12-20, 21-30, 31-50 and 50 and greater!
To illustrate how the course was off a bit, Robert Duncan's PR is 18:40 at Run The Woodlands and his last effort there was 18:54 (race #128)! Tom McDonough's time last week at RTW (#132) was 19:39. The two of them were 1-2 most of the way until Tom, realizing that the course was more than 5K, was passed towards the end finishing third overall behind Duncan (19:57) and Spencer (20:36).
Melissa Broussard and Jan Parks (of Point Blank) carted off two of the four first place age group awards. It was Broussard's second hardware win in as many races as she was the first Filly runner at the Polish Pickle Run in Bremond on June 25th with a time of 26:09. (She completed her first marathon back in January at Houston with a time of 4:57:48!)
To read about how Melissa dropped 80 pounds in the last two years, click here!
In conclusion: For me to run 30:46.23 on a 5K plus a few hundred yards with a couple of inclines and a short hill, I am REALLY pleased with my effort!
posted by WalkSports.com | 3:19 PM
1 Comments:
The registration process.
As I'm looking for a registration form and liability waiver:
Me: "Hello Ma'am, I'm here to register".
Lady behind the card table set up in the middle of the street: "What's yer name. How old are ya. 10 bucks. Go git yerself a shirt off the other table."
CLASSIC. About 15 more of these stories from yesterday. I won't miss this race again if I can help it.
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