Run The Woodlands 5K #158 Race Report

I think it kind of says where I am at with things when I said to somebody this morning, "I could just as easily watch the finish of this one instead of running it." So I went out and ran this fairly easy, despite the low 80's and high humidity, and turned in a time of 30:16.51.

My splits were as follows: 9:23.76, 9:53.73, 10:04.97 and 54.05 (last .1)

Actually, I was pleased. It's a drop of 42 seconds from two weeks ago without souped-up mileage. This is the third straight race, other than the hills in last weekend's races (10k and 10.3-miler), that I didn't walk at all. And I didn't ever put myself into a place where I felt completely spent.

Plus this came after an hour and a half on the bike last night at the gym -- the longest I've ever done.

As I approached the 2.3-mile mark (the turn back on to Crownridge), I finally caught up to Tommy King's 12-year-old daughter, Syndey, and told her "just .8 of a mile to go."

Maybe about as far out as what Bret Ramsey did two weeks ago, Tommy came out to run Sydney in. I quickened my turnover a little bit and got ahead of her before we made the turn into the parking lot at Barbara Bush Elementary, but I knew that she had a better kick. She passed me just before the 3-mile marker (blue dot) and beat me by five (5) seconds.

And Tommy came out to run her in after picking up his first overall win at Run The Woodlands in a time of 17:21 denying Ramsey his fourth consecutive win. His last appearance at RTW was during RTW #139 (October 8, 2005) when his Houston Striders running partner Brett Riley won in a time of 16:20. That day King finished second in 17:15.

The one thing that I realize everytime I show up to run at Run The Woodlands is how many friends I have and how many new people I get to meet.

Here's the news and notes from this Saturday:

+ Was introduced to Dick Esselborn of The Woodlands Running Club by Jim Braden. (Esselborn and his daughter, Maria, ran some of the races in the very first year of the event. Esselborn's son, Chris, ran collegiately for Georgetown University and competed in the NCAA Division I 10,000 meters cross country championship which was held at Indiana State University. He ran the 10k course in 31:42.9. The year before, he ran the same distance in the same meet in 34:10.5.)
+ Talked to Russell Meyer about his 1:02:15 performance two weekends ago at the Boilermaker 15k in Utica, New York. He said it was a hilly course, especially at the beginning.
+ Chatted with Art Dacosta, 54, from Flowery Brand, Georgia, who ran the recent Peachtree Road Race 10k in Atlanta in 43:48.
+ Spring's John Soul, 48, sat the race out with some tight hamstrings. (Here's wondering where Kirk Norton of Spring has been recently.)
+ Since I missed his farewell Run The Woodlands 5K earlier when he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, I was at the return race of Tom McDonough. (Tom, you can always work the original date on the 14th now that you're back in town.)
+ Father, Vincent Attanucci, beat son, Michael, again, 20:59 to 22:24.
+ Always good to see Tom Hippe, Jeff Westergren, Jim Harrington, Tom Pinney, Tim Bowler, Danny Gilbreath and Denise Van Kuiken. Husband, Gary, will be going to South Dakota next month to click off state #34 in his 50-state quest with a 50K trail race. He's saving Arizona for last - for a marathon in Sedona!
+ A couple of good masters runners, Gary Johnson and Rich Yanacek, were out today.
+ Rick Cook had run to the course from his house, finished in 22:36, won a running shirt in Luke's post-race drawing and was running back. In three weeks, he'll be pushing the door with 100-mile weeks in preparation for October's Arkansas Traveller 100.
+ Seven Hills Running Club's Ken Johnson brought down Jerry Flanagan, 66, of Madisonville to scout out the course for the next RTW on August 12th. Jerry finished in 26:14 while Ken put together a nice 32:27 effort today.
+ Dick introduced me to Stuart and Michelle Comrie, who are from South Africa, living in The Woodlands and both training for their first marathon in Houston.

Thanks as always to Susie Schrieber, Tara Wilson (and husband, Steve, this morning) and Becky Isaac from Luke's Locker for making the event possible again today.