News and Sentinel Half Marathon Race Report

I told myself that I wasn't going to write this, but nonetheless, here it is!

(As Rick Cook quoted ESPN's Dan Patrick, I'm truly "day-to-day"!)

I left Altoona, Pennsylvania Friday afternoon at about 2 p.m. after having lunch with my grandparents. I arrived in the thriving metropolis of Parkersburg, West Virginia just about 6 p.m., made my way downtown to the Bureau of Public Debt building and picked up my race packet. The not-so-good news is when I weighed in for the Clydesdale division! I found that I was setting records in a different direction! Whenever I break my marathon PR, I'll reveal what this number was! Until then, not a thing!

I had dinner with a good friend of mine, Shane Brown, on Friday evening. He just accepted the head women's basketball coach's position at Ohio Valley University - an NCAA Division II school. (Edwin: He is the one who recruited Dominique to HBU!)

Saturday morning, I was up early enough to be in downtown at about 7 a.m. and no doubt, after picking my chip up, I heard someone saying, "Jon! Jon!" It was Manny. I had the chance to meet his parents and before too long, Cassie was there as well. (Her parents were getting ready for their wedding shower that I overslept at the hotel for after the race.)

Cassie informed me that the family members that she was going to pace were going to end up walking the course. I told her that we should just run the course together, shoot for 11-minute miles (as I knew that I wasn't in 2:09:58 shape) and have a good time!

I looked for Jean Knaack, the executive director of the Road Runners Club of America, before the race (or Bee McLeod, the president) but could fine neither. As I was looking for them, I believe that I ended up speaking to Joe Corra, the president of the River City Runners.

I was really glad that Cassie finally got to run her hometown race! She had to sit out last year because of an IT band injury that she suffered after finishing her first marathon in San Diego in June. Her dad had driven the lead police motorcycle for 15 years something that Cassie said on the course that he's always said that he's "finished first for 15 years!" (Was there even a motorcycle this year?)

Other than when I have paced Waverly, I've never paid an entry fee and gone out there to just enjoy myself ... but I did in this race and was glad that I did. However, I'll note that Cassie is in better shape than she gives herself credit for. We finished together in 2:32:29, but she could have gone a little bit faster. She said that this was the longest distance that she had run at one time since the Aramco Half Marathon in January.

One thing to note about Parkersburg, West Virginia -- there might have been 2 or 3 people who couldn't find time to stop warming up while the National Anthem was played before the race! In Houston and in other places, there seems to be such of a lack of disrespect to our country by runners who can't stand still for two (2) minutes, regardless of what their viewpoint is of the country's state of affairs. Runners should be setting the example! (And I won't even begin to talk about the flurry of activity going on at an Astros or Texans game!)

Here are the ugly, but "we had fun" splits:

Mile 1 -- 10:39.34 (10:39.34)
Mile 2 -- 10:45.82 (21:25.16)
Mile 3 -- 11:40.57 (33:05.73)
The incline here is probably tougher than the 11th St. hill that everyone talks about.

Mile 4 -- 10:15.81 (43:21.54)
Mile 5 -- 11:20.12 (54:41.66)
Mile 6 -- 11:11.05 (1:05:52.71)
First .2 -- 2:28.35 (1:08:21.06)
This was a couple of minutes faster than last year, but I attribute that to the fact that it was just a couple of degrees cooler than 2005. I'm also thinking to myself, "Wait, two weeks ago, I ran just under a 1:03 10k ... but, wait, that was in Squamish, BC and it was flat!"

Last .8 -- 9:21.06 (1:17:42.12)
Mile 8 -- 11:27.35 (1:29:09.47)
Mile 9 -- 11:42.97 (1:40:52.44)
Mile 10 -- 12:08.66 (1:53:01.10)
Mile 11 -- 12:48.02 (2:05:49.12)
Mile 12 -- 13:09.88 (2:18:59.00)
Last 1.1 -- 13:30.31 (2:32:29.31)

There were so many people on the course as it is what is known as Parkersburg's "Homecoming Weekend". Last year, I swear - tongue in cheek too - that in the last mile that they didn't applaud because they wanted us slower runners off the course for the parade to start! But, seriously, the people were great and the only thing that you could continue to do was thank them for being out there -- which gave us a chance to get a few more breaths.

It wasn't Houston hot (a bank clock midway through the race displayed 76 degrees), but the humidity was right out of the Bayou City's playbook. Nonetheless, we both ran up the 11th St. hill in mile 12. It was slow, but we were running and passed quite a few people that were walking.

In mile 12 or close to the start of mile 13, I noticed that there was a pool of salt at the bottom of my shorts on my thighs and, of course, shortly thereafter, I began to cramp a little bit in both of my calves.

Manny and his parents saw us in downtown in mile 11 and then again close to the finish line.

As we came towards the bridge, where the finish line was, I told her that I was about (and this was totally tongue in cheek ... you have to know me and my sense of humor) to "upset all of the Robert Byrd Democrats" (who have a disdain for Bush and Texas) as I was going to break into my traditional "Hook 'Em Horns" salute. (Here's the Brightroom.com picture! and here's Cassie's pictures!)

I gave her the option of going ahead of me at that time, but to her credit she hung in with me. I also told her that I didn't know if I was going to do it from 2 or 3 blocks out (as I didn't know how far I could run with my hands outstretched above my head at that point). Actually, to my surprise, everybody cheered for a couple of blocks! (Rumor has it that the fire truck to start the parade wasn't far behind!)

After I finished, I heard somebody hollering, "Jon!" (Ah, an interview? Wait the Kenyan finished an hour or so ago.)

It was Jean Knaack! I'm sure she figured that the only person that could come down the finish line like that had to have been me! What a nice lady! We communicate via e-mail often as I quoted her in one of my "Talking The Talk" columns in Runner Triathlete News. She said she finished in 2:06:17 (official) and I introduced her to Cassie. She has a sister-in-law that lives in Marietta, Ohio - just across the river from Parkersburg.

I went back to the hotel room and crashed -- only to wake up at around 5 p.m. to find that I had missed the start of Cassie and Manny's wedding shower and had left the windows down about 25% in the rental car (while there had been a thunderstorm that had passed through.)

Bottom line, though, is that I had a great time and I got to run the race with one of my many friends!