Boston Marathon Now at 19,231; 607 Texans

As of Tuesday, February 28th, 19,231 runners appear in the Boston Marathon Entrant Database, including 607 Texans. With the addition of 228 runners today, it is very likely that the 20,000-runner limit will be reached by the beginning of next week.

In case you were wondering, here is some demographic analysis of the entrants to date:

Sex: Male (11,548), Female (7,683) ... almost the same 60/40% split of men vs. women as documented in the 2005 marathonguide.com Year in Marathoning Report.

Age Group

18-24 -- 1,048 overall (423 men / 625 women)

25-29 -- 2,179 (878 / 1,301)

30-34 -- 2,119 (1,044 / 1,075)

35-39 -- 3,036 (1,699 / 1,337)

40-44 -- 3,524 (2,096 / 1,428)

45-49 -- 3,339 (2,260 / 1,079)

50-54 -- 2,062 (1,548 / 514)

55-59 -- 1,118 (906 / 212)

60-64 -- 532 (450 / 82)

65-69 -- 198 (175 / 23)

70-74 -- 59 (55 / 4)

75-79 -- 14 (12 / 2)

80-84 -- 3 (2/ 1)

Geographic: USA (16,843), Canada (1,735), All Other Countries (653)

By Country: United Kingdom (92), Germany (79), Ireland (67), South Korea (61), Mexico (57), Italy (33), Japan (32), Australia (21), Bermuda (16), France (14), Brazil (12), Spain (12), New Zealand (10), Costa Rica (10), Denmark (8), Argentina (8), Austria (6), Belgium (6)

By Province: Ontario (924), British Columbia (266), Alberta (181), Quebec (157), Nova Scotia (65), New Brunswick (55), Saskatchewan (31), Manitoba (30), Newfoundland (18), Prince Edward Island (8)

By State: Massachusetts (3,503), California (1,515), New York (1,088), Illinois (803), Pennsylvania (717), Ohio (630), Texas (607), Michigan (566), Virginia (522), Florida (483), New Jersey (436), Connecticut (372), Minnesota (363), Washington (359), Colorado (343), Maryland (335), Wisconsin (315), North Carolina (314), New Hampshire (302), Georgia (255), Indiana (241), Utah (241), Oregon (211), Arizona (195), Missouri (193), Tennessee (183), Iowa (129), Maine (128), Rhode Island (118), Vermont (117), Kansas (112), District of Columbia (111), Kentucky (104), South Carolina (94), Alabama (73), Nevada (72), Nebraska (67), Oklahoma (61), Delaware (60), Idaho (56), Louisiana (55), Hawaii (52), New Mexico (50), Puerto Rico (49), Arkansas (42), Montana (41), Alaska (39), West Virginia (32), Mississippi (30), Wyoming (19), South Dakota (18), North Dakota (13), Armed Forces Europe (4), Virgin Islands (3), Armed Forces Americas (1), Armed Forces Pacific (1)

ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run 10K News and Notes

Sean Wade won his fifth overall title Saturday at the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run 10K and until he slows down, somebody like Henok Lechebo comes in from out of town like he did in 2004 or somebody like Luis Armenteros seizes the day, Sean could be primed to win a few more.

In his second win 11 years ago, Wade set the course record with a blazing time of 29:20. The event has been won four other times by runners posting sub-30 minute times; however, Wade unofficially set the Masters course record as well. Wade's time on Saturday of 31:01.40 was just over three seconds better than the time (31:05) of 1997's Men's Masters winner, Dmitri Dmitriev. (The Russian also finished 3rd that year in 32:07 in the Masters' division of the Cooper River Bridge Run, held three months later in South Carolina.)

Sugar Land's Jon Butler, with his time of 33:45.55, landed his third Men's Masters' win in four years and is the second man ever to win the Masters event three times. He joins Russian Leonid Moseev, who won the division the first three years from 1994-1996. (Moseev was 77th in Boston in 1992 in 2:34:01 and was 64th at the Houston Marathon in 1996 with a time of 2:35:57.)

On the women's side, Cassandra Henkiel and Carmen Ayala-Troncoso made it an Austin sweep. Henkiel won the event in 35:13.20 while Ayala-Troncoso defended her Women's Masters' title in 36:10.60. Ayala-Troncoso's win leaves her one Masters' win shy of fellow Austinite Margo Braud who won the division in 2000, 2001 and 2004. (Braud was 9th in the women's field on Saturday in 40:17.)

Henkiel is the 16th different winner in the 19 years of the event. Only Joy Smith and Kelly Keane have won the women's division multiple times.

Wheelchair racer Orlando Cortes kept seasoned veteran Ramiro Bermudez from capturing his 9th 10K title while Michelle Colvard won her third consecutive women's wheelchair crown.

Could you call it the perfect field? -- Of the 2,878 runners who recorded times, including bandits and unidentified runners, 1,418 posted negative splits, 23 ran both halves of the course in even times while 1,437 had positive splits.

Of the first 100 finishers, there were only three (3) runners whose pace between the front and back half were off by more than a minute. The Woodlands' Ben Schulz and College Station's Alan Hedengren had positive splits of 1:22 (16:37/17:59) and 1:36 (16:55/18:31), respectively. The only one to negative split from that group was Katy's Chris Boylan, who covered the front half in 20:11 and the back in 18:46.

The second fastest negative split of the top 100 runners? Luke's Locker vice president Matt Lucas. The 37-year-old Dallas native was 70th overall in 39:20 and was 48 seconds faster on the back half than the front.

Only two of the top 10 women ran negative splits -- the winner, Henkiel, who was 12 seconds faster on the back half, and Houston's Helen Grant, 43, who posted a 20-second drop between the halves.

Of the top 100 women who were not included in the top 100 runners, 50 had negative splits while 48 had positive splits and the remaining two did not hit the 5K timing mat. 18 of those runners had negative splits of more than a minute while five (5) had positive splits of more than a minute.

Allison, Alison, Alison -- Had the Rodeo Run been a women's only field, a public address announcer might have thought he was seeing triple. Orange's Allison Sparks, 24, Houston's Alison Borchardt, 25, and 27-year-old Alison Faust of Houston finished in 58th, 59th and 61st places in the women's results.

The top 5 out-of-state runners were as follows:

1. Lloyd Maddock, London, England, 36, 26th overall, 35:42 chip time
2. George Taylor, Oklahoma City, 52, 41st, 37:14
3. Jackie Rzepecki, Rochester, Minnesota, 27, 48th, 37:58
4. Kyle Keffer, Ponca City, Oklahoma, 42, 92nd, 40:09
5. Michael Juppe, Hudson, Ohio, 52, 113th, 40:54

The youngest finishers were 6-year-olds Kobe Trought of Houston and Will Lord of Sugar Land. They finished in 1:17:12 and 1:26:04, respectively, while the oldest finisher was 81-year-old Houstonian Tony Lopez as he stopped the clock in 56:39.

The youngest females were Kobe's 9-year-old twin sisters Danielle and Brittney Trought, who posted chip times of 1:08:27 and 1:08:29, respectively, while the oldest female finisher was Katy's 70-year-old Virginia Mangum who covered the distance in 1:04:43.

Fastest cities at the Rodeo Run? -- To no one's surprise, Houston registered first in both the men's and women's divisions when you score the top five runners in cross country style format (within each division). The rankings went as follows:

Men's (30 cities overall w/ 5 or more runners)

1. Houston - 22 (Wade, Armenteros, John Hedengren, Fred Miller, Joe Flores)
2. Katy - 236 (Rich Fredrich, Patrick Flores, Scott Wilkinson, Chris Boylan, Vincent Debonis)
3. Sugar Land - 301 (Jon Butler, Mike Crowley, Steve Schroeder, Robert Fredericks, Lance Collins)
4. Lake Jackson - 417 (Tom Gonzales, Raul Barriga, Phillip Athey, Michael Mazzei, Bob Bowden)
5. The Woodlands - 515 (Schulz, John Maloney, Buck Snyder, Casey Clark, Vincent Attanucci)
6. Spring - 640
7. Pearland - 647
8. League City - 836
9. Kingwood - 850
10. Conroe - 934

Women's (23 cities overall)

1. Houston - 42 (Sim Maiken, Heidy Lozano, Terie Littlepage, Helen Grant, Lisa Tilton-McCarthy)
2. Katy - 337 (Marne Shafer, Michelle Jones, Karen Rosenfeld, Miriam Terc, Megan Schrader)
3. Spring - 407 (Sue Ann Bacheller, Debi Baxter, Michelle Easton, Kari Ginn, Brittany Parmer)
4. The Woodlands - 532 (Vera Heg, Katie Deshotels, Christy Abrams, Heidi-Lynne Balasch, Milli Myers)
5. Sugar Land - 560 (Cyndy Hetrick, Cindy Lane, Helen Jones-Totays, Kaitlin Kleupfel, Shellie Shingleton)
6. Pearland - 578
7. Kingwood - 591
8. Austin - 710
9. Cypress - 711
10. Friendswood - 811

7 Hills RC Sweetheart 5K Race Report

7 Hills Running Club Sweetheart 5K, February 26, 2006
Skipper Nethery, J.C. Guzman (with medal), True Cousins, Hans Jaegar, John Cook, Jon Walk, Jan Parks, Marilyn Johnson. Marisa Padilla (kneeling in the front)

In the little over a year that I've been a member of the Seven Hills Running Club in Huntsville, I've only been able to attend two (2) previous club runs. Most of the club events are on the fourth Saturday of the month, which lots of times conflicts with my results responsibilities for Run The Woodlands 5K Series.

The February race, "the Sweetheart 5K", for which I took Waverly along with me, was one that I was able to make last year as well. Ken Johnson's wife, Marilyn, did the 1-mile event while eight (8) of us did the Bowers Stadium 5K course -- which has a couple inclines (none of which are on the Huntsville Half Marathon course in October).

J.C. Guzman, who had done 14 miles earlier that morning, and Marisa Padilla led wire-to-wire to win the event in 24:29 and 25:55, respectively, and I ended up 6th among eight (8) runners with a time of 29:58.37 (officially, 29:57, as I might have overshot the line in stopping my watch).

My splits were as follows:

Mile 1 -- 9:15.10 (which included a long incline that ran along Bowers Stadium to the west side ... in oxygen debt early)
Mile 2 -- 9:46.60 (5:06.79 to turnaround and 4:39.81 back ... thinking about .55 out, slight incline but downhill, and .45 back)
2 to 2.6 -- 6:18.34 -- 10:30 pace (steady incline past the cemetery to the left before heading slightly downhill passing the new baseball park)
2.6 to finish -- 4:38.33 -- 9:16 pace
(Last 1.1 -- 10:56.67 -- 9:56 pace)

Overall -- 29:58.37

I always have a good time whether it be at a club event or running the trails at Huntsville State Park. Some of the folks missing, that I know well, included Rick Cook (who was logging at least 20 in the Park earlier), Chris Wilson, Melissa Broussard, Lindsey Tlustos and Robert Duncan. I felt like I was shuffling my feet the entire time as opposed to actually running pretty solid on Saturday morning. (Maybe it was the hills.)

Front and Center at the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run

When I opened up this morning's Houston Chronicle (Sunday, February 26th) and saw the picture below (from page A16 of the main section) of the start of the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run, I was able to easily identify 10 of the runners that I have notated (with their finishing position).

I've never seen David Wittman (of the Houston Harriers) nor Colin Wolfe (who lived here, but now is based out of Austin) before but certainly know that they are top-flight runners.

However two runners just weren't familiar at all to me.

Wearing bib #2455 (on the far right) turns out to be Duval Ruiz, a 40-year-old Houstonian that is the co-owner and running coach of In Flight Running, who finished 195th in 43:10.

Then there is an individual wearing bib #3916 that is front and center and has the charge on them all, including Wade, Armenteros, Rocha and Flores. So ... who is this "too clothed" man?
When you query the results database, it says that #3916 belongs to 37-year-old Houstonian Brad Batteau. Do a query on google.com? Nada. Nothing.

Can you imagine everyone else sizing him up or him telling Sean Wade at the start, "Look I've got a $100 down that I can get in the paper and then I'll get out of your way before we turn the first corner, OK?" Or maybe he was just trying to be one of the Rodeo "Run" clowns!

McKissick Makes It 4 Of 5 For Masters Womens' Runners

With her overall women's victory at the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth on Saturday, 43-year-old Irving, Texas resident Frances McKissick became the fourth female masters runner to win in Texas this year.

Texas Marathon (Kingwood), January 1 -- Kimberly Simmons, 44, Houston, 3:29:27
Chevron Houston Marathon, January 15 -- Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova, 44, Russian Federation, 2:32:25
Sursfide Beach Marathon, February 11 -- Samantha Saunders, 23, Houston, 3:44:39
Freescale Austin Marathon, February 19 -- Tatyana Pozdnyakova, 50, Ukraine, 2:34:23
Cowtown Marathon (Fort Worth), February 25 -- Frances McKissick, 43, Irving, 3:14:55

From Michigan to Tampa for a 5K .....

This story from Sunday, February 26th's online edition of the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times in its coverage of Saturday's Gasparilla Distance Classic 5K in Tampa:

Millie Nuoffer, 89, the oldest competitor at Gasparilla, finished the 5K in 1:03:38.

Nuoffer's accomplishment is all the more notable considering she has survived seven heart attacks, heart failure two months ago and a hernia operation less than three weeks ago.

Nuoffer lived in Dunedin for 30 years before moving to Michigan in November after a bout with memory loss to live with her son Dennis.

Dennis, who drove Millie from Michigan to Tampa on Wednesday, walked with his mother through the 3.1-mile race.

Nuoffer said she simply "had to" walk in Saturday's race because she has walked in the previous six Gasparilla 5K races. Doing anything less, she said, "Didn't make sense."

Nuoffer plans to walk in the Gasparilla "As long as I'm kickin'."

Nuoffer's times the past four years are as follows:

2002 -- 50:15 (age 85)
2003 -- 54:02 (age 86)
2004 -- 58:28 (age 87)
2005 -- 54:33 (age 88)

Last year and on Saturday, Nuoffer completed the course with not only Dennis Nuoffer, 64, of Pinckney, Michigan, but another son in David Nuoffer, 54, from Murrieta, California.

And who said Medicare wasn't able to get you back on your feet again?

28:44 at RTW 5K #148 / Laps Of Love Charity

I took Waverly to do Run The Woodlands 5K #148 this morning.

It was Waverly's first real run since the Aramco Houston Half Marathon as she initially had to be fitted for some orthotics and then has been sick recently. Two weeks ago, she planned to run RTW #147 but had stayed home from school the day before.

We've talked off and on since the half marathon that "if" she wanted to maintain the progress that she had made to date that she'd have to get going again - other than basketball at the church - at some point. But she's 10 and I'm not going to push her before she's ready to do anything.

After I had finished, I started to walk out, as I normally do, and realized that I was going out farther than I had the last time we did RTW together; however, I expected it. When I got out to where she was (and I hadn't said anything to her), she said, "I walked too much." So I said, "alright, let's go and get it done." She did good and finished in 39:44. It was Waverly's 3rd best RTW out of eight (8) appearances and after two more races, she'll be the youngest ever to join the 10-race club!

Here are her splits: 11:56.12, 13:26.72, 13:18.81 and 1:02.67 -- 39:44.32.

She said that she ran the entire first mile, but started walking in both the latter two.

Rick Cook took it easy, ran with me the entire way and I think that is a big reason why I ran a steadier race than I have in the past at RTW. Of my 34 previous appearances (aside from the DNF in '03), three (3) had been sub-29 and another 11 had been sub-30. Five of my last six have been 29-minute 5Ks, which I haven't been happy about.

I started out with a 9:09.64 first mile then recorded a 9:18.06 second mile. In the second mile, we passed a guy at about the midway point.

I told Rick after we passed the mile 2 "blue dot" that I needed to back off the pace for a second. We approached Crown Ridge (which is .3 miles, according to the founder Don Drewniak) and I had checked my watch and realized that it was going to be closer to a 10-minute mile (which would have definitely put me over 29 minutes). However, the guy that we had passed started to get a little closer enough that I could hear his footsteps fairly loud so I decided to speed up. With about two-tenths of a mile to the 3-mile marker, I had gotten to where I couldn't hear him.

Mile three (3) was 9:24.69. Rick said, "I don't think he's going to catch you." However, I decided not to leave it to doubt and had a 52.02 last tenth of a mile for a 28:44.41 finish. (Rick was at 28:47 and the guy that I had passed, Don Hickey, came in at 29:03.)

Houston's Terry Garrett, 43, won his second straight RTW by taking 26 seconds off of last week's winning time to finish in 16:01. Garrett's time is tied (with James Menze) for the 4th fastest ever recorded at RTW. The first three belong to Luis Armenteros, Gabriel Rodriguez and Sesar Figueroa. Armenteros' course record is 15:18.

Katie Gwyn, who has 2 of the fastest 11 women's times on record, picked up her 5th all-time RTW win by beating last week's winner, Rachel Guenther, with a 23-second margin, 19:55 to 20:19.

After gathering the results, Rick Cook and myself both went over to Oak Ridge High School to participate in a "Laps For Love" Walk/Run for The Woodlands resident Michelle Killpack. (I decided to do this as opposed to trying to pull off the RTW/ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run double. Besides, even though the RodeoRun earmarks its funds for scholarships, we had zero doubt that our money would go straight to a needed medical expense. TNT/Luke's Locker Beat coach Bill Dwyer reported that one or both of the groups "passed the hat" this morning at their training sessions and they gave approximately $200.)

Killpack had breast cancer 5 years ago; however, it has returned and is in other parts of her body. She and her husband have 6 children, with 5 still at home. They do have insurance, but she has had so many complications resulting in numerous procedures. The medical costs are not 100% covered, and are very expensive. A former neighbor, Jana Jordan, helped spread the word about the benefit.

We both paid our $20, signed a medical release and then hit the track at about 9:15 a.m. The plan was to try to put in 11-12; however, I stopped after eight (including walking the last one as I chatted with Bill Dwyer). Rick left after 22 or 23 laps as a blister that he was still nursing from Rocky Raccoon 100 Miler was flaring up on him.

My goal in the Mardi Gras Marathon was to try and run as steady as I could for as long as I could. I also know that I'll need that experience and mentality when I start to do trail ultras, including the Rocky Raccoon 50 Miler next February. The splits are below (Rick went to get water in mile 3 and the restroom in mile 6):

Mile 1 -- 2:34.41, 2:39.29, 2:42.75, 2:43.44 -- 10:39.89
Mile 2 -- 2:43.93, 2:41.09, 2:44.89, 2:43.23 -- 10:54.14 (21:33.03)
Mile 3 -- 2:45.04, 2:44.21,[4:12.60,]2:50.56 -- 12:32.41 (34:05.44)
Mile 4 -- 2:56.69, 3:00.72, 2:57.26, 2:56.50 -- 11:51.17 (45:56.61)
Mile 5 -- 2:56.33, 3:00.76, 3:04.00, 2:56.65 -- 11:57.74 (57:54.35)
Mile 6 -- [3:23.27,]2:56.80, 3:01.88/ 2:57.69 -- 12:19.64 (1:10:13.99)
Mile 7 -- 3:04.15, 3:05.85, 3:05.52, 3:06.35 -- 12:21.87 (1:22:35.86)
Mile 8 -- 4:30.00, 4:22.08, 4:23.61, 4:25.56 -- 17:41.25 (1:40:17.11)

I was pleased with the effort despite some of the nasty rain that we ran in at points and glad that we could help out a local family!

Gary Kubiak, Treadmill on Richard Justice's Blog

I think sportswriter Richard Justice of the Chronicle is one of the best to come around in the last 30 years on the Houston sports scene. (I'd throw the Chronicle's current travel editor Harry Shattuck into that mix too. If you included high school sports, I'd add the Post's Ivy McLemore and the Chronicle's Bill McMurray and David Barron.)

Right around the time of the marathon last month, I was perusing the participants' listing and I saw Justice's name signed up for the half marathon, but I didn't know where he lived so I didn't know if it was him for sure. I e-mailed him and he said that he was trained for it, was ready to go, but had to cover the AFC semifinal games in Denver and Indianapolis that weekend.

In this blog post Wednesday, Richard had this insight about new Houston Texas head football coach Gary Kubiak:

We interviewed Kailee Wong on SportsRadio 610 Wednesday morning. He said he'd seen Gary Kubiak running on the treadmill at 6:30 many mornings and then back for a second run at 11:30. Does that qualify as a fanatic?

There's an NFL runing backs coach named Bobby Jackson. He was such a workout warrior he'd lift weights and run sprints almost everyday.

Once he pulled a muscle in his side and couldn't lift. I joked that he was going to get fat and lazy.

''I've already run on the treadmill twice today,'' he said, ''and I'm not done.''

Justice moderates his comments. So if you either 1.) make sense on an issue or 2.) make him laugh, yours gets through. I think mine qualified under the 2nd provision:

Gary's just getting ready to run the Half with you next January. Oops! That would mean that the Texans weren't in the AFC championship game. On second thought, you both will be ready by then!

Pre-Rocky Raccoon 100 Miler Start

Dalton Pulsipher, Jon Walk and Rick Cook before the two of them started the 2006 Rocky Raccoon 100 Miler on Saturday, February 4th at Huntsville State Park.

They knocked out 88 and 80 miles, respectively, before I finished only 26.2 in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras Marathon the next morning.

Friday Morning "Clear The Air" Run

I met up with fellow Houston Running Bloggers RC member Cassie Cowan this morning at Memorial Park. We started at the mile "0" marker in front of the Tennis Center, ran out to the 2-mile marker, turned around and came back.

I was actually glad that Cassie decided not to want to go five (5), especially since she was doing the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run 10K tomorrow. My quads were still talking to me a little bit from Sunday's marathon and yesterday's trail run in Austin and Huntsville, respectively.

Mile 1 -- 10:05.34
Mile 2 -- 10:03.93
Mile 3 -- 10:25.70
Mile 4 -- 9:50.91

Total -- 40:25.88

We carried on a conversation pretty much the entire way (which means to me that we both could have pushed it more had we been racing, let's say.) I decided the turn it up at least the last quarter mile to the finish. Cassie said, "You're speeding up on me," and I replied, "I'm just trying to finish strong." :) Actually, I was trying to see if that classic "Cowan Kick" would rub off on me. (The one that got me at Run The Woodlands 5K #143!)

I gave Cassie the "Houston Running Bloggers RC" banner for Saturday at the RodeoRun 10K. Members should check the "Official HRB RC Business" section on the Message Board to see where a "meet up" space will be pre- and post-race!

Thursday Trail Run / Workout

The quads have been overly sore the last couple of days from the downhill Freescale Austin Marathon course so I delayed getting back out there for a run. (After the Surfside Beach Marathon, I had zero quad pain.)

However Thursday afternoon I drove to Huntsville to meet up with Ken Johnson and to run the 6.7-mile trail at Huntsville State Park. Ken told me early on that if I wanted to run ahead that I could. But as we started running the trail (in the opposite direction that we normally do), I could still feel my quads talking to me so I told Ken that the pace was just fine.

I covered it in a leisurely 1:27:01 - which included a couple minutes of stopping to talk with Hans Jaegar, Marisa Padilla and John Cook (other Seven Hills Running Club members) who all were approaching from the opposite way on the trail as they started a half hour later.

On the way home, I stopped at Bally's in The Woodlands and added an hour on the stationary bike -- something I should have done yesterday.

My Own Way -- And Having Fun!

I never realized over the last two days that being one of the more visible "mid-to-back of the pack" runners would become so difficult. I could see if I was reeling off a 2:32 marathon that people would be nipping at my heels and/or criticizing why I couldn't crack 2:30! (But I've got folks visualizing me on the way to a 24- or 25-minute 5K and a 7-minute mile without me even asking!)

To be honest, just leave me alone. Visualize Paul Tergat hitting 2:03 in the marathon for crying out loud! Let's be frank. Hitting a particular time is not the most singular focus in my world - or my running world. And if anybody looks at me for the magic elixir of the running world - or as an example, 1.) I don't have it and to answer the second part, 2.) don't!

The only thing I've ever expected in my running world is to keep the police car at the end of the race from nipping at my heels. Although, you know, I'm making them drive a little bit faster or I'm talking more slower runners into showing up. :)

Actually, one of my little known claim to fames is that I am the all-time last place finisher in the Run The Woodlands 5K Series with eight (8), including the DNF on 7/12/2003. (I violated the golden rule: "Never cross Alden Bridge.") When I broke the tie of seven, I was pacing Waverly on Christmas Day 2004. So it didn't bruise my ego to break the record by being her pacer! Plus the first two times I finished last, I set personal records doing it!

Regardless whether some of us are road or trail fodder to a small handful of faster runners who believe it is their God-given right to show us the errors of our ways, the bottom line is that the attainment of whatever goals that only we, as runners or (for those who are getting there) walkers, set for ourselves rests solely on how much we are willing to invest in it at any given time.

But that's an axiom that works in all facets of life and anybody with half of a brain doesn't have to be reminded of it. I mean we have people in this world who believe that they are entitled to welfare, government assistance, et. al.; however, I don't think that I'm entitled to a 2-hour half marathon, a 4:30 marathon, a sub-28 minute 5K or whatever. Duh! I have to work at it!

And if I don't feel like working on it this week or next (or there are things that are going on in my world that doesn't allow me to get on top of it and achieve what is necessary to hit a certain goal), so be it!

Plus maybe I'm a "do-it-myselfer." (Psst ... I am!) I get more satisfaction reaching a goal my way versus some set formula. That too is my right! And the fact of the matter is, I don't want anybody artificially imposing their will on my friends who are involved in the same activity.

If they want to replace a cross training workout for a run, great! Go have fun! If it works for them, fantastic. If they don't do as well, then maybe they go back to adding in another run.

Houston Strider Helen Grant is one of the fastest masters runners in town right now and she's gotten there as a result of a lot of hard work and some dose of God-given ability. However, for as good as she is, she was quoted in the club's newsletter, "Stridelines", on page 14 of the August 2005 issue saying, "After seven years of triathlon training, I'm a great believer in cross-training." She also closed her "Meet the Member" interview with this: "I don't come from the 100 miles/week school of training. Do the minimum mileage you can get away with."

We all pick up bits and pieces that work for us from people that we see do well and at the same time respect.

Somebody pretty damn obnoxious recently told me, "Oh, I'm glad to see that you are reading the "Perfect Mile." It was as if to imply that reading the story about Roger Bannister, John Landy and Wes Santee was going to inspire me alone to be a better runner. Yeah right! Go back to the kiln!

But there was one paragraph - on page 78 of the paperback version - that just figuratively jumped off the page when I was reading it almost a month ago flying home from Vancouver.

"Timers, no timer, on the track, in the woods, schedules, no schedules, staleness, peaks, plateaus, stamina versus speed, the Stotan life, long walks, runs of ten miles a week, twenty, thirty, fifty -- training had advanced a long way from carrying calves and flogging backs, but not to the point of certainty. By the 1950s coaches and former athletes had started a cottage industry out of giving (often conflicting) advice. Fads were commong, and the latest champions were proclaimed to have the perfect method -- until they were beaten by others. The only sure thing was the questions about how to train had many answers, and every athlete had to find his own way."

I might be a recreational athlete only competing against myself each time out; however, I too, like John Landy, have to find my own way. And, most importantly, have fun!

HARRA Announcements from President Tom Stilwell

Monday evening, February 20th, the Houston Area Road Runners Association (HARRA) had its monthly Board meeting in the Memorial Park Club House, next to Beck's Prime. The meeting is held on the 3rd Monday of every month, beginning at 6:00 p.m., and all members are welcome.

These notes were received from President Tom Stilwell:

"HARRA had an excellent and productive (Board) meeting last night. I don't have time to get the full set of minutes out to you quite yet, so here are the important highlights for you to pass on to your respective clubs.

"HARRA is exploring replacement directors for PIM (Power In Motion) this week and expects to have replacement directors in place by the end of the week. While we hope and expect that many of the current coaches will again volunteer to help with the program, we will be supplementing the coaching with members of all clubs. Please let your clubs know that persons interested in coaching at PIM will have the opportunity. Stay tuned for more details about whom to contact regarding coaching via email later this week.

"April 1 has become an important date. First, we will be hosting the Spring "Party in the Park", which will be themed as a HARRA member appreciation event.

"Also, April 1 marks the start of the new sign up / renewal for your membership to HARRA. Sign up or renew in April at the Party in the Park and your membership is good till May 31, 2007!

"May 15 is also important. If you want to be elected to the HARRA board (or re-elected) you must submit your name to our membership director, Bill Crich, by the end of the HARRA meeting on May 15. The final slate of elected officers for the HARRA board will be voted on at the HARRA banquet in June (date still to be set).

"Again, May 15 is a cut off date -- the LAST DAY -- to submit your name for a position on the HARRA board for the June 2006-June 2007 running year. Names not submitted by May 15 will not be considered. We will announce all nominees for positions via email and the HARRA website following the meeting on May 15.

"Please publicize this to your clubs so that interested individuals who believe they have the time and energy to initiate and follow through with programs to help the running community can join the HARRA board.

"Thank you for the support. Please be sure to pass on this information to your club members as it is important for them to be informed about events in the running community.

Tom Stilwell
HARRA President

Walk to Speak at RRCA National Convention

On Saturday, March 11, 2006 at the upcoming 49th annual RRCA National Convention, I have been invited to be a panelist for the Blogs/Discussion Groups/Web Sites seminar that will be held from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. My bio, which can also be found at the convention web site (http://www.rrcahouston06.org/), was listed on page 29 of February's Inside Texas Running.

Steve Shepard confirmed today that, as he listed, the webmaster of www.walksports.com and the president of the Houston Running Bloggers will be on the panel with the following individuals:

Lance Phegley - Webmaster of www.runnertriathletenews.com and publisher of Runner Triathlete News and Inside Texas Running.

Heather Marcellis - President Emeritus of the NY Flyers (www.nyflyers.org), two time winners of RRCA Web Site awards including the top web site for 2005.

John Elliott - President of www.marathonguide.com.

I'm flattered and honored to have been asked by the Convention organizers to represent the entire running bloggers community and to talk with others about a passion of mine (and theirs) - the sport on the Internet.

Freescale Marathon Chip Time Response from RunFAR

This picture below and to the right is the only proof that I have of what I ran at the Freescale Austin Marathon on Sunday! (And I don't want to hear from you Oliver Stone conspiracy theorists that I engineered the time on there either!) Even the NewsLady thought this was a great idea!


Here is an e-mail that I received from RunFAR, the timing company responsible for the problem. I don't know if all runners received this or just those whose gun and chip times were the same.

Freescale Marathon and Half Marathon
Chip Timing and Results Issue

Dear Jon Walk
Spring, TX
Bib #: 5846:

RunFAR Racing Services, Inc was responsible for the timing and scoring of the 2006 Freescale Marathon and Half Marathon. At the start of the race, we misdiagnosed an interference problem and failed to review how our staff set up the digital antenna controllers. As a result, we missed half of the participants at the start line. We regret to inform you of this mistake and we are truly apologetic for the mishap.

We are able to do manual inserts of participant's start offset or the time it took for you to get to the start line after the horn was sounded. If you know your start offset time you may contact us to adjust your chip time. If you have already contacted us with your start time, please do not re-email as we are working to adjust your chip time. (NOTE: We will only authorize those start times with comparable paces between the 1st 10k and each other split throughout the course.)

4:57:51.6 is what we captured as your Gun Time and also shows as your Chip Time. You can contact us by replying to this e-mail.

We appreciate your attention to this matter and thank you for you patience. At RunFAR, our goal is to take the best care of our customers as possible. If you have any other questions or comments, you may reach our office at 512-326-1600.

Sincerely,

Raul Najera
Owner/President
RunFAR Racing Services, Inc.
Austin, Texas

Mistakes happen. Although this has to be the biggest blunder at a major marathon since last summer's debacle at the Lakeshore Marathon in Chicago on Memorial Day Weekend when participants ran 27.2 miles instead of 26.2.

I'm not sure what the backup plan would be in an event this big (digital video cameras on both sides of the start line that had the clock superimposed on the footage?); however, you would think that there are solutions out there. (Hmmm ..... wonder if they had been discussed at the Race Director's Conference there the first day of the Expo.)

Lots of Chip Times Missed at Freescale Austin

Lots of runners - including me - did not have their times recorded when they crossed the starting mat at the Freescale Austin Marathon. There has been a lot of chatter on the marathon web site's discussion forums as well as RunTex's in Austin.

Here is what Raul with RunFAR posted in the RunTex forums:

Freescale Runners,

As you have seen, a lot of chip times and gun times are the same. We had a very rare human error at the start and we didn't capture everyone's chip time like usual.

I understand everyone's chip time is important and we'll make every effort to correct the problem. If you can identify you start time, email me and let me know your approximate start time. If you started with someone or near someone with a chip time and can identify that person, that will help.

RunFAR is committed to our running community and providing the best service possible. Our technology is at it's highest level ever for the marathon: results were uploaded faster than ever and splits were captured and on the web faster than ever.

We congratulate everyone who battled the cold weather and made it to the finish line. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Raul

This isn't the first time this has happened to me. I stepped on both of the starting mats at the Bayou City Classic 10K in 2004 and it didn't pick the chip up. (Then I was running with my regular business watch. I know. Go figure.) This is just a good example of having a watch to know exactly what you ran regardless.

I'll have my watch time, note it appropriately on my results page and that'll be the end of it. I know what I ran!

Rodriguez wins inaugural Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon!

40-year-old Houstonian Sean Wade finishes 2nd one day (Saturday, February 18th) in the Masters Men 8K USATF Cross Country Championship in the Bronx.

A day later, one of Wade's biggest challengers in Houston before moving back to the Miami, Florida area late in 2005, Gabriel Rodriguez, wins the inaugural A1A Marathon in Fort Lauderdale today.

According to his blog, Rodriguez, 27, passed Miami's Aldo Virano, 38, midway between mile markers 22 and 23 en route to his first career marathon victory in a time of 2:39:05. Virano finished second with a time of 2:43:07. (Two months prior on December 4th, 2005 at the Marathon of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida, Virano finished 8th in 2:43:19.)

A week before at the Town Center Classic 5K in Boca Raton, Rodriguez, who is training to run the Boston Marathon in April 2006, finished fourth in 15:18 as the first three runners divided just over $1,000. While Gabriel picked up $50 for winning his age group, he also barely missed out on the money last October at the USA Space City 10-Miler when two out-of-town runners, Jacob Rotich and Kevin Castille, and Wade finished in the top three leaving Rodriguez fourth and out of the money.

Here is the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's coverage from Monday, February 20, 2006:

It was only fitting that Rodriguez and Corbett won the men's and overall titles since they have local ties. Rodriguez was an outstanding cross country and track runner at Florida International University before graduating in 2000.

Rodriguez, 27, of Kendall, won his marathon debut (it wasn't his marathon debut -- JW) in what he thought was going to be a training run. He stopped to stretch twice during the race and still won in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 5 seconds and qualified for the Boston Marathon. He overtook early leader Aldo Virano of North Miami at Mile 23.

Rodriguez's wife, Perla, 27, also a marathon runner -- "She's better than me," Gaby said -- and their daughter Madelin, 3, were waiting with hugs and "Go Daddy" at the finish line. "I am so excited for him, he has put so much time and effort into this," Perla said. "He is amazing."

"I always wanted to win a marathon and to do it here in my hometown is great," said Rodriguez, who wore a Cuba singlet given to him by his uncle, Luisito Ricardo, who fled Cuba recently.

"I was trying to cruise and conserve because my longest run in training was 24 miles before this," Rodriguez said. "My coach told me any time I felt any fatigue or tightness to stop and stretch. I ran the last six miles under 6-minute pace so it was pretty solid."

(Special thanks to Edwin Quarles for tipping me off on the results of both Wade and Rodriguez this weekend.)

4:47:32 PR! at Freescale Austin Marathon

I registered late yesterday at the Expo.
I have my bib (#5846).
I have my finishers medal and technical shirt.
And while the only thing that appears online right now is the gun time -- 4:57:52 (I ran with my own chip which didn't scan because the station wasn't networked to the master file), my watch shows 4:47:32 - which is a new PR and a pace of 10:58/mile the entire way!

And, yes, it was my third marathon in 14 days! I'll explain later. (This is not recommended!)

Temperature on my truck was 28 degrees from when I got to the Freescale Semiconducter parking lot before 5:30 a.m. and it hadn't changed at race time (7:30 a.m.) The start had been delayed 30 minutes. When I got back to my truck and started driving back to the hotel, it was 34 degrees.

The course was awesome with the exception of an almost 3-mile out and back between about 22.9 and 25.8.

I had gotten great rest all week long (and I didn't decide to come do this until yesterday morning). I was happy with what I had to eat yesterday as well as what I ate this morning(2 Fig Newtons and a Clif Shot bar) before the race. I felt I was hydrated well. I hit almost every water station (and they had to have had 17-18 - amazing). I had 2 GU and 2 Power Gel during the race. Took them between 10-11, 16-17, just past 22 and just before 25.

I ran the entire way except for less than half of miles 24, 25 and 26 and without further adieu, here are my splits:

Mile 1 -- 11:25.73
Mile 2 -- 10:26.93 (21:52.66)
Mile 3 -- 10:51.79 (32:44.45)
Mile 4 -- 10:33.31 (43:17.76)
Mile 5 -- 10:02.80 (53:20.56)
Mile 6 -- 10:02.79 (1:03:23.35)
First .2 -- 2:37.37 (1:06:00.72)
Last .8 -- 7:44.01 (1:13:44.73) ... mile 7 - 10:21.38
Mile 8 -- 9:53.06 (1:23:37.79)
Mile 9 -- 10:06.48 (1:33:44.27)
Mile 10 -- 10:03.83 (1:43:48.10)

Mile 11 -- 10:37.13 (1:54:25.23)
Mile 12 -- 10:28.08 (2:04:53.31)
Mile 13 -- 10:10.57 (2:15:03.88)
First .1 -- 1:11.22 (2:16:14.10)
Last .9 -- 9:38.82 (2:25:52.92) ... mile 14 - 10:50.04
Mile 15 - 10:52.62 (2:36:45.54)
Mile 16 - 11:03.49 (2:47:49.03)
Mile 17 - 11:27.44 (2:59:16.47)
Mile 18 - 11:04.55 (3:10:21.02)
Mile 19 - 11:02.46 (3:21:23.48)
Mile 20 - 11:03.34 (3:32:25.82)

Mile 21 - 11:44.40 (3:44:10.22)
Mile 22 - 11:35.94 (3:55:46.16)
Mile 23 - 10:58.94 (4:06:45.10)
Mile 24 - 12:49.94 (4:19:35.04)
Mile 25 - 13:08.69 (4:32:43.73)
Mile 26 - 12:33.93 (4:45:17.66)
Last .2 - 2:13.46 (4:47:31.12)

I'll have to recheck the addition of the splits (it seems to be off a second). As you can see I was tracking to between a 4:40 to 4:43 until the last three miles. In the last 1.2 miles, I had to really manage some potential cramping on the entire outside of my left leg.

Oh well, I talked to Rick Cook on the phone (after calling Waverly and Gena, of course) and he could certainly tell that I was - and am - almost giddy!

Should I call this finish, "7th Heaven" (since it was my 7th and best marathon ever)? More later!

Wade Off To Smashing Debut as Masters Runner

Recently turned 40-year-old Houstonian Sean Wade finished second on Saturday in the Masters Men's 8K at the USA Track and Field Cross Country Championships in the Bronx's famed Van Cortlandt Park.

Covering the course in 25:18, Wade was second to Team XO's Rick Fuller from Portland, Oregon, who won the event in 24:52. (In age-graded time, Wade was 6th. Complete results here.)

The Houston Striders' Marcella Paull (of College Station), 56, was 21st in the Masters Women's 8K race in a time of 38:35, but was 2nd in her 55-59 age group.

In the Junior Women's 6K, 17-year-old high school phenom Nicole Blood, who runs for the legendary Sarasota Springs HS (New York) program, won in 20:45 within a pack of six runners that included Baylor University freshman and former Plano West star Erin Bedell. Bedell's former club team, Dallas Metroplex Striders Track Club, which won the team championship over California's Buffalo Chips Running Club by 11 points, finished second by one (1) point on Saturday.

This year's team included the UIL Class 2A state champion Loren Hodges of Paradise and the TAPPS Class 6A state champion Kinsey Farran of Dallas Bishop Lynch. UIL Class 4A 3rd place finisher Samantha Means of McKinney, UIL Class 5A 7th place finisher Jillian Rosen of Richardson and Glen Rose's Morgan Kuykendall rounded out the squad.

The event will be televised on ESPN2 on Sunday night, February 19th from 11 p.m. to midnight, Central time.

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Pictures

Dad and daughter in the George R. Brown Convention Center before the race

If you look dead in the middle of the picture (and in the middle of the street), you can see Waverly's white HRB shirt and I have my hand raised waving to my parents.

Down the stretch, the pacer finally can have a little fun with the job complete!

Boston Marathon Now 90% Full!

A search of the Boston Marathon entrant database at its website, http://www.baa.org/, revealed that 18,108 runners as of February 17th have entered for the 110th running of the world's oldest annual marathon.

The event's website states that "Entries from athletes meeting the qualifying times will be accepted until the maximum field of 20,000 athletes is reached."

Runners with the last name that begins with the letter "M" top the list with 1,762 entrants followed by those whose last name start with the letter "S" with 1,760. Only one runner, 26-year-old Valon Xharra from New York City, is registered with a last name starting with "X".

The number of Texans registered has increased to 580. California has 1,463 registered while Alaska, surprisingly, has 39. Canada will bring 1,704 runners (to date) to Beantown.

Chicago, Marine Corps and New York City 2006

Three (3) of the country's largest marathons, which will take place on back-to-back-to-back weekends this fall, will field somewhere close to 100,000 runners combined.

Registration is already underway for the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, which will take place on Sunday, October 22nd. An early peak at the Active.com confirmation database on Friday revealed that, as of February 16th at 11:45 a.m. Central time, there were 8,793 runners registered toward the 40,000 runner cap. (Last fall, Chicago had 32,868 finishers.)

The 31st running of the Marine Corps Marathon will take place one week later, Sunday, October 29th, and first-come, first-serve online registration will begin on Wednesday, May 17th. In 2005, registration completely filled in 62 hours, 19 minutes -- only four hours longer than it took the last person to finish the Badwater 135 last summer. (The Marine Corps Marathon had 19,211 official finishers last year.)

In its February 14th e-mail, the New York Road Runners Club announced that registration for the Sunday, November 5th ING New York City Marathon 2006 will open at noon EST on Wednesday, March 1st. Lottery applications will be accepted until May 1st for international residents or June 1st for U.S. residents. Specific application policies can be found at this link. (New York City had 36,847 finishers last November.)

In its "2005 USA Marathon Report", the website, marathonguide.com, ranked the three marathons - based on the total numbers of finishers - first (New York City), second (Chicago) and fifth (Marine Corps). The Marine Corps Marathon, when it opened its field to 30,000 runners to commemmorate the 30th running of the event, surpassed Boston pushing the most elite race to 6th.

2 Men, 600 Race Miles, 2 Months and a Day!

As I was checking to see how my fellow Seven Hills Running Club member Melissa Broussard made out at the East Texas Ultra Runners 25K on Saturday up in Tyler, I went to the Hill Country Trail Runners web site and found a reference on the front of the site to Chris Rampacek doing the Rocky Raccoon 100-Miler on the 4th (and 5th) and then doing the 50K in Tyler on Saturday.

I then noticed that both Rampacek and Fort Worth's Rene Villalobos did the "Texas Trilogy" and Saturday's race. Here is a breakdown of their race mileage from Sunmart to last weekend:

Rene Villalobos, 47, Fort Worth (180 career marathons - or greater - to his credit)

12/10/2005 -- 8:56:30 - Sunmart 50M, Huntsville, TX
12/11/2005 -- 6:04:25 - White Rock Marathon, Dallas, TX
1/ 1/2006 -- 4:14:41 - Texas Marathon, Kingwood, TX
1/ 7/2006 -- 16:21:14 - Bandera 100K, Bandera, TX
1/15/2006 -- 5:09:16 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX
2/ 4/2006 -- 24:13:05 - Rocky Raccoon 100M, Huntsville, TX
2/11/2006 -- 8:22:55 - East Texas Ultra Runners 50K, Tyler, TX

321.6 miles

Chris Rampacek, 54, Houston, aka "Dr. Muscle" (3 Badwater finishes, 2001-2003)

12/10/2005 -- 10:57:11 - Sunmart 50M, Huntsville, TX
12/11/2005 -- 3:44:56 - Houstonian Lite 30K, Sugar Land, TX
1/ 7/2006 -- 18:00:26 - Bandera 100K, Bandera, TX
1/15/2006 -- 5:32:49 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston, TX
2/ 4/2006 -- 28:52:20 - Rocky Raccoon 100M, Huntsville, TX
2/11/2006 -- 7:43:42 - East Texas Ultra Runners 50K, Tyler, TX

287.8 miles

I asked my friend (and ultramarathoner himself) Dalton Pulsipher what possesses a person to do this much (other than specifically training for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Miler).

"First, I should note that I do not know either Rene or Chris personally so can only speculate," he said. "Having made schedules like this and gone after them I can guess that there are a few reasons why someone would do this.

"Runners like to run races. When you get to ultrarunners you are looking at people who are compulsively driven to run very long races. Whether it is for the comraderie, the stroll through nature, or the chase for the next race many of these people find a love for the experience of the sport.

"It is not that different from regular runners taken to a new level. As a regular runner someone might go 30 miles in a week training for 5K races. So every day they are running their race length but not at race pace. Take that schedule and add a gradual increase in distance to it.

"These guys are running the miles because they love the trails and I bet they have run many more than 600 combined miles in that time. Their race times are not that impressive which is really an indicator to another point.

"An ultrarunner is generally running the miles for the distance, not the time. If your long run for the week was 20 miles easy pace it is not that hard to imagine a long run of 30 or 50 miles for a more dedicated runner. They just chose to run it in a race setting still at the easy pace.

"Ultimately I think the difference between them and most runners is just a little more love and dedication to running distance. We all have it in us; they just chose to do it."

Houston-Area Road Races Next Two Weekends

Statewide, the Freescale Austin Marathon and the Cowtown Marathon dominate the running landscape this weekend and next.

Locally, this weekend (Saturday, February 18th) there are two excellent events, the Mardi Gras Beach Run 10K/5K in Galveston and the Galloway School 4th annual Mardi Gras Gallop 10K/5K in Kemah.

The following weekend (Saturday, February 25th), the palate for runners is just as tasty. If you have somebody get your electronic timing chip for you at the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run 10K (timed)/5K, you could pull off a "double" that Lou and Nora Wilson did a year or two ago.

Run The Woodlands 5K #148 starts at 8:00 a.m. The Rodeo Run starts at 9:40 a.m.

In College Station that same morning (for all you Aggie fans and alums), there is the Ramp Romp XV which begins at 10 a.m. The 5K race "begins at Kyle Field, winds its way
through the Texas A&M campus and culminates with a run up and down the Kyle Field ramps (not the stairs)."

(Is it just me or is it that only an Aggie would have to have it explained on the entry form that a ramp is a ramp and not stairs?)

If you aren't into racing, but looking for an equally good cause to support, I've just learned of a benefit "Walk/Run" also on Saturday morning, February 25th from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at Oak Ridge High School.

Jana Jordan, a runner from The Woodlands, explains: "My neighbor Michelle Killpack had breast cancer 5 years ago, and it has returned. She is having multiple complications as a result and is not doing well. She and her husband have 6 children with 5 still at home. They have insurance, but the medical bills are excessive. Friends have started raising money to help.

"One of the fundraisers is a Walk/Run on Saturday, February 25th. It's very basic. They have reserved the track at Oak Ridge High School from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. You pay $20.00, get a t-shirt, and can run as much as you want.

"Luke's Locker in The Woodlands has a copy of the flier if you would like to register. I don't have much information, but someone at Oak Ridge Elementary is organizing the walk/run and the phone number there is 832-592-5900.

"I'm going to use the run as my long run for the weekend, and was hoping some of you might be able to do the same."

Last, and certainly not least, is the Seven Hills Running Club club run, the "Sweetheart 5K and 1-Mile Run Walk," on Sunday, February 26th at 2:00 p.m. Just like Run The Woodlands, bring your $1 to the Bowers Stadium parking lot in Huntsville for a little bit of a challenging 5K.

Excellent Speaker Panel in Austin Friday-Saturday

The schedule of speakers for the Freescale Austin Marathon at the Palmer Events Center (packet pickup) will begin on Friday. All clinics and talks are free and open to the public. The schedule looks like this:

Friday
1:15-2 p.m. -- Danny Spoonts and the Mizuno Pace Team. He'll explain all the pace groups, where to meet and how to seed yourself for the marathon.
3:45-4:30 p.m. -- Jeff Galloway, author, Olympian and marathon expert will explains his concepts of marathon training and racing and answer all your questions.
5-5:45 p.m. -- Ultramarathon panel, including Scott Jurek, Joe Prusaitis and Steve Sisson, moderated by Richard Benyo.
6:15-7 p.m. -- Dr. Ted Spears, medical director of the Freescale Marathon.

Saturday
10:30-11:15 a.m. -- Dick Beardsley, former world-class marathoner, on the ups and downs of his fabulous career.
11:45-12:30 p.m. -- John Conley, Freescale race director, explains the new course and answers any questions on the race on Sunday.
1-1:45 p.m. -- Dr. Charlotte Smith of Seton Medical Center answers any medical questions.
2:15-3 p.m. --The Legends of Marathoning. Noted panelists include Jeff Galloway, Alan Culpepper, Steve Jones, Doug Kurtis and Dick Beardsley. Moderated by Wish.
3-3:45 p.m. -- Danny Spoonts, Mizuno pace team.
4:15-5 p.m. -- Dr. Pierre Filardi, Seton Medical Center.

Anybody want to go hang out in Austin this weekend?

A Big Heartwarming, Half Marathon Story Missed!

I got an e-mail the other day saying, "Oh! Nice mention of Waverly in Inside Texas Running’s marathon section this month!" I was a little embarrassed. Dad hadn't seen it.

My curiosity last evening got the better of me after I got back from the gym and the post office as I went to Memorial Park to purchase a copy out of the rack in front of the Tennis Center. (Psst ... it is $1.50 - bring your quarters - there as opposed to buying it at Luke's.) The mention was nice, brief and to the point. And, of course, Dad was appreciative.

A WALK IN THE PARK: Ten-year-old Waverly Walk finished the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in 2:54:06, making her one of the youngest finishers in the half marathon's history. Shelby Zimmerman and Mia Bloomer, both eight years old, became the youngest finishers in the five-year history of the half.

Well, as I was scanning the Chronicle's archives, looking for a name of a runner who finished the first 25 Houston marathons that I saw earlier in the day, the first page of the search came up with the following: "6-year-old Shelby Zimmerman". I thought to myself, "That's odd. It can't be." When I clicked on the link and read the story, I realized that it was and then I knew exactly where things were headed.

The story was about a 13-year-old boy named Chase McGowan. Two years ago, the article stated that he became the first Texan and 14th person in the United States to undergo a complicated lung-liver transplant. It also stated that like most of the other patients, Chase had cystic fibrosis.

Chase's aunt, Kim Zimmerman, then a veteran of eight marathons, ran the 2004 hp Houston Marathon as a fund raiser for his care, posting a time of 3:43:41 and raising $225 per mile.

The article, of course, was two years old. I again wondered to myself what had transpired since. So I entered "Chase McGowen Medical Assistance Fund" in a search engine and came across the website, http://www.helpingchase.com/.

And one link made me realize that I wish that I would have known of the story sooner because I would have made sure that it got passed on to the appropriate individuals - instead of Waverly.

On the following link, http://www.helpingchase.com/updates.html, appears the following e-mail:

Saturday, January 14 , 2006
Email from Shelby and Kim Zimmermann

Good Morning to All! I write to you to let you know what Shelby is going to be doing in less than 24 hours. She will be running the HOUSTON 1/2 Marathon! She decided back in October that she wanted to attempt this 13.1 mile adventure. I did NOT suggest this. She began to put in her miles and get serious about her goal. In November, we attended an assembly to honor Chase as the Texas Spokesperson for The Children's Miracle Network (see Carol's story below, and the pictures). Governor Rick Perry was the speaker who described what a hero Chase has been. We got to talking about running with the Governor, and realized he would be in Houston with his friend, the Governor of Arkansas for the 1/2 Marathon. Well, as if to stand in honor of Chase and solidify our support of him, Governor Perry asked Shelby to start the Half Marathon with him. At noon yesterday, the secret service agents called to confirm our plans to run! : )

SO, at 7am Sunday, January 15th, we will run! Run because we can! Run to honor Chase. Run to show our support for the daily battle he still fights! If you would like to join us in support, Shelby is asking for:
- Prayers for her Cousin Chase
- Prayers for her 8 year old body to feel GREAT tomorrow.
- Donations for Chase's Medical assistance fund -- just $1 / mile would be a donation of $13.10. Please consider this.
- Send this email onto others you know that may offer their support.

Last week, her 3rd grade class began a research project about an "Important Person." Shelby has selected Chase. He truly is important! Please take a look at his web site and see what all he has conquered. www.helpingchase.com.

To start this new year, Chase got test results indicating a LEVEL II rejection of his lungs. They are aggressively treating this. We are praying for our God to continue to work miracles in Chase's body. And we are in AWE at the courage and strength that Chase takes on yet another battle. I thank you for your time to read this letter. I appreciate all the prayers and support through the years. I ask for your prayer support tomorrow.

Blessings to you and your family, Shelby and Kim Zimmermann

Shelby and her mom, Kim, finished the half marathon last month in 2:20:41!

Sure, Waverly worked hard and was deserving of all of the attention she received. However, this little girl, Shelby Zimmerman, and her older cousin, Chase McGowan, deserved - and deserve, in the present tense - much, much more of the spotlight for ALL of the right reasons.

Random Running News and Notes

6 FOR 6: Marathonguide.com reported over the weekend that Jackson, Mississippi's Chuck Engle won his sixth marathon of the year, the Valentine Marathon in Olympia, Washington with a 21-minute win over his closest competitor. Engle posted his second fastest time of 2006 breaking the tape in 2:37:39.

In his Marathon Maniacs scorecard, Engle reports that five of his six (6) wins represented new course records. He reports 53 career marathons in 28 states, including 26 of those in one year. His interview for the "Marathon Maniacs", for which I qualify to join for running marathons on back to back weekends, can be found here.

Engle plans on running the Pensacola Marathon this weekend and Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth next weekend. Last year's winner at Cowtown, Andres Hernandez, ran the course in 2:47:16. However, the course record was set in 2000 when Santos Ortega posted a 2:17:35.

MOST ALL-TIME MARATHON VICTORIES?: 40 by Michigan's Doug Kurtis. His last win came in 2002 at the Whidbey Island Marathon near Seattle. At the age of 50, Kurtis won in a time of 2:44:35 more than 18 minutes over his closest competitor.

The 2003 and 2004 winner as well as the 2005 runner-up? None other than the individual who may break his record, Chuck Engle.

NO AMERICANS?: According to Association of Road Racing Statisticians, of the 100 top men's marathon times so far this year, not one is held by an American.

Americans hold just seven (7) of all sub-2:50 marathons run by women so far this year. They are as follows:

40. 2:41:31 a (7th) Susan Loken (AZ/USA), 28 Jul 1963, 15 Jan 2006 Tempe AZ USA
59. 2:45:34 (7th) Patty Rogers (CO/USA), 1974, 15 Jan 2006 Houston TX USA
66. 2:46:49 (8th) Jacklyn Rzepecki (MI/USA), 1978, 15 Jan 2006 Houston TX USA
71. 2:47:47 (9th) Trisha Cukbertson (KS/USA), 1982, 15 Jan 2006 Houston TX USA
74. 2:48:14 a (8th) Katherine Blackett (CO/USA), 26 May 1977, 15 Jan 2006 Tempe AZ USA
75. 2:48:27 a (9th) Betheny Lewis (IA/USA), 1978, 15 Jan 2006 Tempe AZ USA
77. 2:49:14 a (1st) Mary Akor (CA/USA), 25 Sep 1976, 29 Jan 2006 Port of Spain TRI

AMERICA'S FASTEST ELDERS: Most hardcore running enthusiasts are aware of Ed Whitlock's three (3) 70-and-over sub-three hour marathons - one in each of the last three years. Canada's Whitlock turns 76 next month, March 6. The American record for a 70-and-over marathon? It belongs to McMinnville, Oregon's John Keston, who ran a 3:00:58 at the age of 71 on October 6, 1996 at the Twin Cities Marathon in St. Paul, Minnesota.

An American, 72-year-old Ginette Bedard, a member of the New York Road Runners Club, now holds the world record for the fastest 70-and-over marathon after her 3:46:34 finish at this past November's ING New York City Marathon. In 2004, Bedard set the world age group record of 3:57:11 only to have Japan's Miyo Ishigami, 70, break it in March of 2005 with a 3:56:10 performance at a marathon in Arakawa, Japan.

As far as Keston is concerned, he's still running strong. According to the Oregonian (8/29/2005), last August at the World Masters Games in San Sebastian, Spain, Keston won the men's 80-85 age group in three events: the 8K cross country race in 40:53, the 5K in 22:39.97 and the 10K in 47:42.27.

Three months before, Keston, 80, set an age-group world record by clocking a mile in 6:48.3 (http://www.xro.com/keston/).

This past December, both Keston and Bedard were named USA Track and Field "Outstanding Athletes of the Year" in their respective age groups.

A Few Thursday Sports Shorts

I don't necessarily hate running like my friend, Joe Breda. And I'm not going to compete against the new "Sports Junkie"; however, there were a few things that I felt worthy to bring up (since I don't stray off course too much here).

1. Yes, we're still celebrating the fact that 2005 was a great year for Pennsylvania football -- the Pittsburgh Steelers winning the Super Bowl and the Penn State Nittany Lions being back in the national mix of things. (Shhh! I didn't say anything about the Temple Owls.)

2. According to my father, who was at last Saturday's Astros FanFest and the College Baseball Classic (Jen ... this is what the lines were for around Minute Maid Park on Saturday), the last question asked of Astros owner Drayton McLane and broadcaster (and rah-rah! leader) Milo Hamilton was from a 10-year-old boy. It was simple and to the point, "Why did the Astros fire Alan Ashby?"

2a. Speaking of Milo. I will buy or read the 79-year-old broadcaster's new book whenever he - and the Astros - stop calling him a "Hall of Fame broadcaster!" He's not. Look it up. He won an award - the Ford C. Frick Award. Even the Hall of Fame's web site says, "Each award recipient (not to be confused with an inductee) ...." So why do we allow them to perpetuate the fraud?

3. Before his sports segments many nights, we're entertained going into the commercial break by Giff Nielsen doing some type of sports activity on the set. Hmmm ... let's see, if one of the anchors can pound out a marathon surely Giff could clear a hurdle on the set!

4. I'm not the biggest soccer fan in the world. Well, frankly, I'm not a fan of the game period. I primarily understand the game and appreciate the talents and skills needed to play it; however, I think the name - Houston 1836 - was just fine. I don't understand why the ownership is acquiescing on the issue. I don't understand why certain community groups are lamenting over a war that took place 170 years ago that helped secure us the freedoms on this land that we are enjoying today.

Are they really changing it because it offends a group? Or are they considering changing it to ensure that they'll come out and spend their hard earned dollars? I think it is more of the latter than the former. When the name was announced, I took it for what it was: the year that the city of Houston was founded. End of story.

5. John McEnroe at the age of 47 is back on the ATP tour and winning doubles matches at the San Jose, California tour stop. Can we guarantee that George Foreman doesn't find out anything about it?

6. Slovakia? Latvia? I'm no hockey expert either, but I do know that the United States and Russia met in the semifinals of the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. And 26 years later, they're losing to a couple of "vowels" countries in their first games? How times have changed.

Ok, and a non sports short or two ...

1. George. Please. If you're going to give a speech about health care at Wendy's, at least you could have rode your mountain bike into the press conference and peeled off your helmet. (Since you've given up running, that is.) Give Clinton a little bit of credit in this area. At least when he was photographed near a McDonald's, Bill was in his running gear and was either jogging to or from one.

2. But, at the same time, it was kind of fun to see the establishment - and entitled - White House press corps up in arms because "their" supposed scoop of Buckshot Cheney was handed to a non-big city Texas newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. And Dick, here's $7. I'm not racing this weekend. Go buy that darned stamp!

Digging Into The Past: The Woodlands Marathon

I think one of the reasons that Bill Dwyer and I get along so well is that we're both information freaks regarding this sport of running (even though I'll claim a few more sports in my past though too).

I e-mailed Bill on Tuesday asking that when he saw Coach Danny Green of The Woodlands (the first winner of the Houston Marathon in 1972) next to find out if he still had all of the results from any of the 14 The Woodlands Marathons that took place between 1978 and 1992. (Coach Green was the co-race director of the event before it was cancelled.)

I get an e-mail back from Bill - other than saying that he'd check with Coach Green - that said, "I think my first marathon was on February 14 in 1980 - The Woodlands Marathon. I'm a pack rat and I still have the cancelled check for the entry fee - $7.00 - and my race number."

Bill later wrote back and said that The Woodlands Inn Marathon took place on Feburary 16, 1980 and that his finish time was 3:44:38. He also added that, "It was cold ... a few snow flurries at the start."

Can you imagine? $7 for a marathon entry fee!

The cheapest that I know of is Steve and Paula Boone's New Year's Day Texas Marathon in Kingwood - at $35! In our immediate area, we now have four (4) marathons including Kingwood, Houston, Surfside Beach and Seabrook Lucky Trails. And they are part of twelve (12) in Texas and there may be a 13th one coming soon.

But The Woodlands Marathon and the Galveston Marathon, which was reported to be the first marathon in Texas and held from the 1960s up until about the same time, are two obviously that have long gone by the wayside; however, one of my many projects is to eventually build an all-time list of winners from those events.

566 Texans Entered for the 110th Boston Marathon

My curious nature - or perhaps because it "is the most glorious carrot at the end of my stick" (Nah!) - got the better of me on Monday as I went to the Boston Marathon web site to see who from Texas was entered for its 110th running on Monday, April 17, 2006.

As of Monday, there were 566 runners -- 329 men and 237 women - from approximately 120 different cities, towns and communities across the Lone Star state. They range in age from 19 (Nederland's Clay Freeman) to 67 (Houston's Nagindra Prashad, Dallas' Shamalee Haliman and Hewitt's Cliff Burgess). [The latter of who I got to meet Saturday at Surfside Beach when Ken Johnson from Huntsville introduced me to him.]

The following cities or communities are sending more than 10 runners to Boston (some of the numbers may surprise you): Houston (95), Austin (85), Dallas (69), San Antonio (21), Sugar Land (19), The Woodlands (16), Fort Worth (15), Katy (13), Arlington (12), Plano (12) and Kingwood (11).

Just over 10 percent of all Texas runners entered to date are members of HARRA (58) with non-affiliated club members leading the way with 13. Here are the HARRA members that are going from each affiliated club:

Al Lawrence Running Club (3) -- Danielle Ryan, Richard A. Peoples, Jr., Scott Schepps
Bay Area Running Club (1) -- Ronnie Schreiber
Bayou City Road Runners (12) -- Barbara Rowe, Claire Greenberg, Carolyn Parsons, Suzy Seeley, Caryn Honig, Allison Nadolski, Bill Butzner, Jay Hendrickson, Bruce Mansur, Bill Batzer, Tom Stilwell, Eric Stotzer
Clear Lake Fitness Club (1) -- Nelson Harbison
Fort Bend Fit (1) -- Terrie Gorney
Finish Line Sports (7) -- Audrey Christiansen, Nina Jannetti, Karen Nelson, Jean Leach, R. Don Ruggles, Darwin Williamson, Bert Molina
Galloway (1) -- Sally Sims
Houston Fit (1) -- Philip Trumbly
Houston Masters (1) -- Eva Luckey
Houston Striders (10) -- Yong Collins, Patti Sears, Kelley Richard, Caroline Chamness, Jackie Connelly, Jennie Minken, Ken Blott, Wayne Choen, Bill Lyons, David Waddell
None (13) -- Eva Moldovanyi, Irene Duvo, Nora Wilson, Kimberly Simmons, Tessa Hickham, Kelly Carrington, Nils Bengston, Marshall Penwright, Nagindra Prashad, Mike Thorn, Thomas Hensey, Paul Evans, Britt Walther
Tornados Running Club (7) -- Steve and Nancy Brammer, Nancy Husby, Anita Werner, Mark Coleman, Sean Dunbar and Jack McClintic

The age distribution of runners would follow the traditional bell shaped curve, peaking in the 45-49 age group for all runners as well as the number of male runners. Here is the list:

18-19 -- 1 overall (1 male)
20-24 -- 19 overall (7 male, 12 female)
25-29 -- 51 overall (15 male, 36 female)
30-34 -- 56 overall (27 male, 29 female)
35-39 -- 85 overall (48 male, 37 female)
40-44 -- 111 overall (62 male, 49 female)
45-49 -- 122 overall (75 male, 47 female)
50-54 -- 61 overall (45 male, 16 female)
55-59 -- 32 overall (26 male, 6 female)
60-64 -- 20 overall (16 male, 4 female)
65-69 -- 8 overall (7 male, 1 female)

Next to 52-year-old Run The Woodlands 5K regular Vincent Attanucci (of The Woodlands) in the alphabetical list of Texans is Austin's (and Runner's World columnist) Kristin Armstong. Yes, that Armstrong -- the former wife of 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Here is the 34-year-old's career marathon times, courtesy of marathonguide.com:

3:35:29 -- Chicago Marathon, October 9, 2005 (how she qualified)
3:45:35 -- New York City Marathon, November 7, 2004
3:48:15 -- Dallas White Rock Marathon, December 14, 2003

And speaking of Attanucci, he was one of five (5) 2006 Boston Marathon entrants to run in the record-setting Run The Woodlands 5K on January 28th when 127 runners graced the grounds of Barbara Bush Elementary. The other four who will be in Boston are either current or alumni runners with Team in Training - The Woodlands -- Lee Harlicker, 36, The Woodlands; Jon Minor, 28, College Station; Pam Owens, 38, The Woodlands and Dana-Susan Crews, 36, The Woodlands.