Waverly Rocks the Rockets Run 5K Race Report

35:56.87!!

I know that time may not seem like a lot to most. But for a 10-year-old young lady who posted a 43:57 on a hot Run The Woodlands 5K #135 on August 13, 2005, it caused Waverly to finish the last .2 of a mile of this morning's 4th annual Rockets Run 5K with a pumped fist or two in the air! (She also got to debut her Texas flag running shorts that she got from Santa and will wear them next Sunday - but running the opposite way on LaBranch!)

From an HRB perspective, Cassie and Manny, Jen, Sarah, Lance Collins and Steve Schroeder were all there this morning. From reading Sam's blog today, he borrowed Sarah's alarm clock from the Lunar Rendezvous Run 5K this summer! (Sam: Rest up and take care of business on Sunday!)

Prior to the race, I had a chance to visit with Striders John and Ryan DiMarco and Bayou City Road Runners' Jacob Tonge, who was volunteering for the race today after a PR a few weeks ago at the White Rock Marathon. (John and Jacob will be running the full next Sunday while Ryan will be running the Half.) Jake greeted Waverly today with a "I saw you on TV!"

I also saw Striders' Lee Greb, who has had a tremendous Fall Series of racing, and Sam Ogundele. (Lee is one of 117 runners who did the 10-Miler, 20K, 25K and 30K and is 39th in cumulative time from a non age-graded perspective.)

With the exception of the mile 1 and mile 3 markers apparently being a bit off, the parts that the Bayou City Road Runners were responsible for handling was perfectly fine. The Rockets, however, really are focused on letting you cross the finish line at center court and then getting you off the floor and upstairs as quickly as possible.

Then for you to redeem your free ticket, you have to go to Will Call the day of the game. (Which what they are banking on is that a majority of people won't make two trips into downtown on the same night.) For further complaints about the Rockets' portion of event management, check out Sarah's post from today. She's right on the money!

Speaking of money ... did I mention that I short a C-note?

Just so people don't think that I'm bribing my daughter with prize money, here's how the conversation went back in August! "If you can beat 40 minutes (i.e. 39:59) before marathon day, I'll give you $50, and if you can beat 37 minutes (i.e. 36:59), I'll give you $100." Honestly, I figured that she'd get the first one, but never the second one! (And it isn't something that when we are training that I would bring up all the time. If anything I've tried to remind her what it means to accomplish what she has undertaken and what it will feel to have earned the medal and the sweatshirt!)

However, she did that today and I'm so proud of her! I was hugging her so hard after the race that she said, "Dad, stop, I can't breathe!"

Sarah shot out ahead of everyone followed by Cassie, Manny and Jen. In the first mile on LaBranch headed south, there was one time where Waverly had actually passed Jen and was closing on Cassie and Manny; however, I knew that that wouldn't hold.

Waverly hit the first mile marker in 11:03.12. At that point, I knew that she had a chance. (Some folks felt this marker was a little long.) If it was long then, we really had a big separation in between mile 1 and mile 2.

Mile 2, which was just past the I-45 bridge overhead, came in at 11:57.16; however, it wasn't easy for her as she began to develop a side stitch and had to walk it out a little but on Austin heading back to the north. At this point, I knew that she had a minute in the bank - ahead of her 37:12, 12 min/mile pace from December. I also knew that it was a few blocks (7 to be exact) then a series of right-hand turns followed by a downhill in through the Tundra Garage, which is connected to the Toyota Center. She took on some water and we talked about getting it and moving on - like we would need to do on Sunday during the Half.

We saw Karen Thibodeaux as we ran by the Toyota Center on the north side on Polk, but just before that Waverly's side stitch started as we started to run with the sun in our eyes. After making the right hand turn on to Chenevert and getting passed the other garage, I pointed to the Tundra Garage entrance, stated that the hard part was about done and that once she hit the garage that it was all downhill from there.

When we made the garage, we were met by the most vile cloud of vehicle exhaust fumes that I've ever been through. Striding downhill through the fog, I saw the mile 3 marker (which was short) and told her that she was at about 34:30 and that she was going to smash 37 minutes!

Waverly's last mile was 11:44.40 (long) while the last .1 of a mile was 1:12.19 (short).

After she made the last right hand turn is when she, in stride, pumped her right hand fist in the air at least once. She charged the concrete ramp uphill beyond making the right and left back on to the court and crossing the finish line at 36:17 gun time -- 35:56.87 on the watch! [I purposedly held her back a little bit at the starting line - to the tune of about 21 seconds - to allow the start to thin out some.]

Sean Wade and Luis Armenteros, as expected, went 1-2 as Sean posted a sweet 14:49 to start the New Year off with while Luis was second in 15:01. Lance Collins and Steve Schroeder went 18:44 and 18:50, respectively, to finish 20th and 21st while Ryan DiMarco, a freshman at Fort Bend Elkins HS, went 40th overall.

For more on the Houston Running Bloggers RC participants and some race day pictures, please visit http://houstonrunningbloggers.blogspot.com/.