Thursday Afternoon Running in Houston

A combination of my quads being a bit sore from Tuesday's run, a busy work day, having to box up another employee's personal belongings and ship them back to the States, a late dinner and an early wake-up call this morning, I got nothing on the books for Wednesday. (I was wiped out and in bed last evening at 10:30 p.m. That is how tired I was.)

I flew home today (Thursday) to be able to be in attendance for Waverly's fifth grade graduation ceremony this evening! (And I go back in the morning as we are in the middle of a system build!)

I had my shoes laced up at about 5 p.m. to get in the 4.1-mile loop in the heat (90 degrees); however, talking running with a good friend of mine on the telephone cut that down to 2.1 miles at 5:40 p.m.

But, good news (for me, at least)! I did the 2.1-mile loop in 21:43.57 - a 10:20 pace! And this was a run that everything was wrong! I wasn't hydrated real well, I just had a regular pair of shorts and a cotton T-shirt on. (All of my running gear was in Vancouver as I was going to be in for less than 24 hours.), and I was wearing a recently retired pair of shoes.

That gives me 10.65 miles for the week, which probably means that I won't get to 25 before the end of the day Saturday. But I have to remind myself that I am coming back from something that I needed to see the doctor about less than a week ago too.

One thing of note on the run though. I was no more than about four-tenths of a mile into the run when I was beyond the neighbor's driveway across the street when I saw him in the corner of my eye behind me. He and his wife have been retired for awhile and they are very nice people. I was pretty focused as the heat wasn't bad, but it was on my mind.

I knew he wouldn't think anything of it; however, as I kept running, I wanted to make sure that he didn't think that I was being a jerk and didn't say "Hi!" After I finished up in front of both of our houses, I walked across the street and talked to George to make sure he completely understood. (Of course, he thought nothing of it.)

When I run (and even when I walk to work in the city), I typically try to make eye contact with people. It is something that makes many people nervous or is something that they have a hard time doing, but for me it is an attempt to make a personal connection with people. One of the things that bugs me is when you say "Hi!" to somebody while running that they can't take the time to return the greeting - or even acknowledge it.

As I commented the other night when I was in Memorial Park, Sean Wade was able to maintain his 6-minute pace but still motion at me and acknowledge my presence. (As an aside, a participant in one of Sean's Monday morning Kenyan Way training sessions reported that if you hadn't sought it out your own, he never would have brought up the fact that he won the Masters division of the Bloomsday 12K Run in Spokane. One would say, "Well, he's getting paid to coach, not brag." This is true; however, when the focus is on one's self, that level of modesty regarding one's abilities or their contributions to the sport can get easily lost.

To me, this sport is all about people and the relationships within it. I just don't have time for the head games. I do too much and get in over my head sometimes, but I would rather deal with that stress than the emotions that come with doing nothing.

Why do I do this blog -- other than attempt to positively promote the sport? Because I have fun with it and I have made so many wonderful friends through the sport and this medium -- and I will continue to make them.

One of the best pictures that I've seen recently on a club website is on that of the Central Mass Striders -- a club that Run The Woodlands 5K founder Don Drewniak was very, very active in before coming to Houston. The bottom line is: "How can you not get excited about a picture like that!"

If we all participated in the sport and maintained our relationships with people with the enthusiasm of a child, you wonder what we could all accomplish together!