BENeeezy Purple Monkey 10K Race Report

This weekend, if all goes well, I'll complete a first in my running career (although not sure that it means much at all) by running a race on three (3) consecutive days. The holiday weekend affords me the opportunity ... so why not do it?

Although I almost didn't make the drive this morning to Alvin simply because of the distance (and the price of gas.) However, I felt like I needed to get some more distance in under race conditions to continue my preparation for the New York City Marathon in early November (2 months and 3 days away).

The event was the BENeeezy Purple Monkey 5K/10K in Alvin. It is a first-year event that honors Ben Garcia, a 1998 graduate of Alvin HS who was killed in an automobile accident with his best friend last June while home from California to attend the high school graduation of his brother. His parents, Lenny and Vicky Garcia, stated this morning during the awards ceremony that the goal of the Benjamin James Garica Memorial Scholarship Fund was to fund six (6) $500 scholarships for Alvin HS student-athletes. (More on the event itself later on.)

Here are the obligatory statistics:

121st career event; 41st in 2005
21st career 10K; 5th in 2005
30th Texas city that I've run an event in! (Long way to 100!)

Not sure when the official results will be posted online, but my time was 1:04:47.53. Not as sterling as I might have hoped; however, it gives me a benchmark for the fall running season.

I tried to pull back at the start, but I'm thinking that the strategy may have hurt me a little bit in the end. The reason I did so was more because there were a lot of Alvin HS football players who were unofficially running the 5K. My thought is that a majority of them would start out too fast and flame out so I tried to avoid getting sucked into it.

The double-loop course, laid out like a large "C" laying on its back, was one that elite runners prefer: few turns and long straightaways. And, most importantly, it was as flat as Parkersburg, West Virginia was hilly two weeks ago. There wasn't even a speed bump on this course!

It was definitely humid outside, but the threatening rain kept things fairly cool (by Houston's standards for September).

I felt very good early on but the student that was calling out a mile 1 split was off the mark as I clicked 7:46.42 on my watch. I'm thinking to myself, "No way!" (One of the things that I shared with organizer Lenny Garcia via e-mail is that the mile markings needed to be made more noticable on the course - either by sign or on the ground. The course was recently USATF-certified by Tom McBrayer.)

The mile 2 marker was just beyond a water stop, which I hate! If I'm going to take on water at a water stop, I want to run hard to the mile marker THEN get my water and go. (Not sure how much of a difference this is for everyone. I know I need that fuel belt.) Anyways, I clicked off a 12:01.43 split for a time of 19:47.85. I thought to myself, "Ok, this is slower" as well as figuring that it would put me at about 1:02 for a finish time.

Mile 3 seemed a bit more difficult as well as heading into the 10K turnaround at the 5K finish line. However, the marker wasn't clearly noticeable and the person calling the mile 3 time was on the other side of the road. I had a mile 3 split of 10:19.22 and a tenth of a mile split of 1:20.79 for a 5K time of 31:27.86 - off more than a minute from last week.

That really didn't bother me that much but I felt my legs start to have some effect from the hard 2-hour workout the night before. Basically, I think the .1 mark was off because at the mile 4 marker, which I could clearly see on the ground, I hit my watch at 41:14.05 overall and a split of 9:46.19.

My mile 5 split was 10:59.72; however, I really didn't feel like I was running that slow. I actually blew by the mile 5 water stop because I didn't want to stop when there was nobody manning it (as they were *all* picking up trash.)

I actually finished in a negative split situation by running a 10:32.36 mile 6 and a last .2 of a mile in 2:01.40 (which was less than a 10:10 mile) but I think that was because I was treated to a motorcycle escort by Alvin ISD police officer M.R. Cruz. (I told some folks on the course watching for one or two runners behind me that I must have been in the lead as everyone else got lost.) Cruz told me how Lenny was the school's swim coach and that he had known the Garcia kids since the 5th grade and instructing them in the school district's DARE program.

I ran strong down the stretch (last 1.2 miles), but I really needed to be doing that pace the entire race and I've got to go back and figure out why I didn't.

It was my fifth 10K of 2005 and first since April. I have my work cut out for me to get back into early 2005 running shape. Here are my other times from this year:

58:29.4 - 6th annual Mardi Gras Beach Run, Galveston, 1/29
59:31.2 - Bayou City Classic, Houston, 3/12
59:57.60 - 18th annual ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run, Houston, 2/26
1:02:44.7 - 27th annual Blue Bell Fun Run, Brenham, 4/16
1:04:47.53 - BENeeezy Purple Monkey 10K, Alvin, 9/3

But if I compare it to other September 10Ks that I've done, it isn't really that bad. (Can you tell I'm a little hard on myself?)

1:02:56.24 - 25th annual Hopewell Challenge, Hopewell, NJ, 9/25/04
1:04:02 - San Marcos Running Club Country Roads 10K, San Marcos, 9/18/04
1:04:47.53 - BENeeezy Purple Monkey 10K, Alvin, 9/3/05

I think if my preparation is solid this week (and I don't work out hard or at all on Friday night), I should be in a good position, dependent upon the weather, to push the envelope next Saturday at the Klein Bearkat Bash 10K.

Age-group winners got stuffed animals in the form of a purple monkey! (Ben had won a large purple monkey at the Orange County (Ca.) Fair while attending school out there.) In the race packet were some comments various folks had made about Ben. Here is the story about the purple monkey that I thought it was appropriate to share:

"From Jen - ....When I came back (from a restroom break), Ben had bought 50 rings to throw around Coke bottles. I just laughed and joined in on the fun. And would you believe he got it around the one that won the biggest prize?!? Ben wanted that big purple monkey. He walked around all night with it on his shoulders asking random people how they were doing. We received various responses and each time Ben replied, "I'm alright except for this monkey on my back!" People were cracking up! I had the greatest time."

Since there weren't that many running the 10K, I thought that I might have been able to sneak in a 3rd place finish in the 30-39 age group and get one of the purple monkeys, but I think I was 4 of 4! (However, I did win a door prize of two family videos from Southwest Video in Alvin. Waverly got them no doubt!)

I met Danny Gilbreath of Houston before the race. Danny is one race away from joining the 20-race club at Run The Woodlands 5K. (Late registrants initially didn't get T-shirts. I understood this as it is hard to estimate the need for a first-year event.)

After the race, I saw a runner in a 20K singlet from last year and asked him if he was planning on running it again. He said that he was and I told him that I was a Striders member. He commented that "Ya'll are growing" and I remarked that we really had a good group of folks.

I found out his name was Leno Rios and he was a member of the Tornadoes Running Club and that we were looking forward to the Cross Country Relay that they host each year.

Then came the magic words (chuckling) ... he said, "I saw something on the web ..." He had found my blog and the note that the Striders were going to have 36 teams!

We had a good conversation and, of course, he took first place in our age group! I had said before that their club was fast! A good day all in all!