Run The Woodlands 5K #138 "Official" Race Report
Submitted by "Mr. Woodlands" Thomas McDonough
At 7 A.M. on the first Saturday of year 2000, Don Drewniak stood at the front doors of Barbara Bush Elementary School in The Woodlands, and thus began the Run The Woodlands 5K Series.
Through 137 iterations that saw a tropical storm ("Allison"), Christmas Day (in 2004), freezing temperatures, a giant cat on wheels (the "Meow Mix" race), and other potential impediments, the series has been run without fail on the second and fourth Saturday of every month for over five and one-half years. But this weekend, Hurricane Rita loomed with impending, potentially debilitating force that could have potentially interrupted this streak.
When Mr. Drewniak moved to the shores of Delaware earlier this year, Luke’s Locker graciously accepted the responsibilities of presenting and operating the race, and have done a magnificent job. For RTW #138, however, Luke’s Locker politely declined to stage the logistics. From a corporate liability standpoint, this was exactly the right thing to do.
But the race was never cancelled. Spurred by tradition, a grass-roots movement, and considerably less-than-apocalyptic weather, seven (7) hearty souls materialized (entirely at their own risk), saved their dollar (yes, one dollar), and completed the somewhat-impeded course.
Participants, all RTW “regulars”, included a 70-year-old, a 69-year-old, a runner who drove in from Houston, a female, and a dog. All finished safely. The streak continues.
Russell Meyer, the only participant to ever finish both first and last (and now the only participant to run through both Allison and Rita), notched his third victory, leading from start to finish in a smooth 20 minutes flat. Debbie Tripp, our RTW favorite, got her first victory in 48 tries. She has long deserved it.
Pictures will be posted soon, and the statistics page will be updated early this week.
Conditions: 70’s, light rain, high humidity, “breezy”.
1 Russell Meyer 20:00 M30-39 Houston, TX
2 Tom McDonough 23:36 M30-39 The Woodlands, TX
3 Tom Hippe 23:54 M50-59 The Woodlands, TX
4 Jim Braden 24:39 M70-79 The Woodlands, TX
5 Lou Wilson 29:52 M60-69 The Woodlands, TX
6 Debbie Tripp 31:39 F40-49 The Woodlands, TX
7 Tom Pinney + Khobar 31:58 M50-59 The Woodlands, TX
Starting, Photography, Timing, and Scoring: Mrs. Nora Wilson
At 7 A.M. on the first Saturday of year 2000, Don Drewniak stood at the front doors of Barbara Bush Elementary School in The Woodlands, and thus began the Run The Woodlands 5K Series.
Through 137 iterations that saw a tropical storm ("Allison"), Christmas Day (in 2004), freezing temperatures, a giant cat on wheels (the "Meow Mix" race), and other potential impediments, the series has been run without fail on the second and fourth Saturday of every month for over five and one-half years. But this weekend, Hurricane Rita loomed with impending, potentially debilitating force that could have potentially interrupted this streak.
When Mr. Drewniak moved to the shores of Delaware earlier this year, Luke’s Locker graciously accepted the responsibilities of presenting and operating the race, and have done a magnificent job. For RTW #138, however, Luke’s Locker politely declined to stage the logistics. From a corporate liability standpoint, this was exactly the right thing to do.
But the race was never cancelled. Spurred by tradition, a grass-roots movement, and considerably less-than-apocalyptic weather, seven (7) hearty souls materialized (entirely at their own risk), saved their dollar (yes, one dollar), and completed the somewhat-impeded course.
Participants, all RTW “regulars”, included a 70-year-old, a 69-year-old, a runner who drove in from Houston, a female, and a dog. All finished safely. The streak continues.
Russell Meyer, the only participant to ever finish both first and last (and now the only participant to run through both Allison and Rita), notched his third victory, leading from start to finish in a smooth 20 minutes flat. Debbie Tripp, our RTW favorite, got her first victory in 48 tries. She has long deserved it.
Pictures will be posted soon, and the statistics page will be updated early this week.
Conditions: 70’s, light rain, high humidity, “breezy”.
1 Russell Meyer 20:00 M30-39 Houston, TX
2 Tom McDonough 23:36 M30-39 The Woodlands, TX
3 Tom Hippe 23:54 M50-59 The Woodlands, TX
4 Jim Braden 24:39 M70-79 The Woodlands, TX
5 Lou Wilson 29:52 M60-69 The Woodlands, TX
6 Debbie Tripp 31:39 F40-49 The Woodlands, TX
7 Tom Pinney + Khobar 31:58 M50-59 The Woodlands, TX
Starting, Photography, Timing, and Scoring: Mrs. Nora Wilson
posted by WalkSports.com | 7:55 PM
3 Comments:
Lance,
Tom hadn't done a "Run The Woodlands" in awhile. He's been pretty busy with his job and hasn't been actively training. He had an early-season 23-minute, but I know got it down under 20 minutes once this year and placed at Stu's Country Mile in Centerville on the 4th of July.
Tom reads the blog so maybe he'll chime in. I suspect he'll get close to 17:59 before the end of the year.
Tom was the motivation behind ensuring that yesterday's event was not officially cancelled. There's a group of "RTW veterans" that support Luke's now and would step in should they decide that the event didn't meet their needs.
Jon
Hello. Thanks so much for the interest. Despite the nature of the post (i.e., my demise...), it is nice to know that people are following the Houston area racing scene as closely as they are.
The root causes of my decline are easy and simple to identify... I've been told that's the first step ;) . I don't know if I'll ever get back to the days of glory from a couple of years ago... but I'll always support the Houston running community and especially here in The Woodlands.
Hope everybody and their loved ones made it through the weekend safely.
Respectfully
Tom McDonough.
http://www.thewoodlandsassociations.org/bod/index.php?page=45
Holy shmoly folks, I need to clarify something that I wrote a little bit ago.
I was making a joke with the "first step" comment... I am not, nor need to be, a member of any 12-step program. Frankly, when you boil it all down, you can chalk it up to laziness. Nothing else is a good excuse...
I apologize if anybody was misled or offended.
Respectfully
Tom McDonough.
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