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!