Houston Running

One of the leading sources for the discussion of Houston-area (and Texas as well) road racing. Focus and attention will be given to Houston-area runners, specifically HARRA members, that compete in outside-of-the-area events as well as those who do interesting things that aren't captured in the various media outlets, such as Inside Texas Running, Runner Triathlete News and Roberta MacInnis' Running Notebook in the Houston Chronicle (all fine publications and columns but with limitations too).

Name:
Location: Spring, Texas, United States

I'm a mid-to-the back of the pack runner who probably enjoys promoting runners more than I do running myself ... I've completed 21 marathons (with a 4:47:32 PR! in Austin) and 52 half marathons (with a 2:09:58 PR! in Oregon) since November 2003 ... I've done a marathon in 12 states, half marathon in 23 and an event in 30 states and one Canadian province ... I have a 13-year-old daughter, Waverly Nicole, who completed her first half marathon in January 2006, made only two B's each of the last two years, was the only sixth grader to sing a solo (Carrie Underwood's Don't Forget To Remember Me) in their choir program (adding Taylor Swift's Tim McGraw in '08) and scored a 19 on the ACT in December 2007 as a seventh grader ... Waverly and I are members of the following clubs -- the Seven Hills Running Club, HARRA and The Woodlands Running Club ... I'm Marathon Maniac #308 ... I edit HARRA's Footprints in Inside Texas Running and write a column for Runner Triathlete News called, "Talking the Talk" ... I'm also the running columnist for the Courier of Montgomery County ... I'm a three-time winner of TAPPS' Sportswriter of the Year Award as well as TABC's Golden Hoops Award.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Fired Up 5K Race Report Part 1

A day that I can't really complain about too much!

Before I get into anything else, congratulations are in order for the following Houston Running Bloggers this weekend:

Sarah Graybeal -- 1st place in the Athena Division of the Summer Time Blues Triathlon in Freeport, Texas on Sunday (1:41:42.0 with splits of 10:54.7 in 500 meter swim, 53:01.5 in the 15-mile bike ride and 33:44.9 in the 3-mile run)
Bill Cox - New 5K PR of 23:51.4 in the Fired Up 5K in Sugarland
Steve Bezner - New 5K PR of 21:28.1 in the same race!
Erica Smith -- Another half marathon finish in the Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, Virginia, 3:12:10.

Although I ran better than I expected for where my commitment level is and the amount of miles I threw on my legs in the last 72 hours (30:21.4), I got the most enjoyment in delaying my post-race festivities by performing HRB's "Leave No Blogger Behind" duties. (Or as TNT and the Fit programs call them -- "Sweeper Duties".)

Just as important as the individuals listed above, I was able to get back out and offer support and encouragement to three (3) of our members -- June Vidrine, Jan Poscovsky and Vic Kaiser.

June was the first one in of the three and looked strong coming around the last corner (where the 3-mile marker was) as she finished in 34:04.8 - just more than a minute off of her PR.

In the middle of training for the Chicago Marathon that is coming up in about 6 weeks, Jan admittedly indicated that she was having a bit of a challenging day but still finished in 40:28.3. (Her husband, Stan, was part of the volunteer crew directing traffic at one of the intersections in the first mile.)

And Mr. Kaiser trimmed four minutes and 31 seconds off of his time from Run The Woodlands 5K #159 just three weeks ago (45:22) as he hauled in a time today of 40:51!

Before the race, I told June that I wasn't going to take the race too seriously and she said, "Yeah, right!" I did; however, one sign that I wasn't 100% prepared is that I didn't clear my watch from running with Rick Cook on Sunday in The Woodlands. Therefore, I have to back into my mile 1 split.

Mile 1 -- 9:20.48
Mile 2 -- 10:00.06
Mile 3 -- 10:02.38
Last .2 -- 58.08
Chip Time -- 30:21.4

I saw lots and lots of friends and fellow runners this morning. Some that I haven't seen in quite some time and others that I had hoped to see that weren't there this morning.

Part 2 later!

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the help out there today, Jon. I was this close to a much needed walk break but when I saw you, I picked it up and kept running. You surely saved me another 30 seconds. Appreciate it.

7:22 PM  
Blogger Hey Zeus said...

Imagine that, you ran when you said you were not. You should start making statements like, "I'm not going to B.Q. at my next marathon" and see what happens.

9:18 PM  

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