More on Aforementioned Record Attempt

I'll get blamed for "bashing" a noble attempt because I raised a few questions, but I've learned some interesting information in asking questions about the record quest of Reza Baluchi below.

In trying to gather more information to post something on the RunHouston Chronicle blog, which, by the way, has gotten lost in the Chronicle's website redesign (oh, well), I was curious to find out where he was going to be running in the next two days (in case there might be some runners who wanted to run some with him.) Karnazes and others have welcomed this.

I learned that those that wanted to speak with him could go to the 1 p.m. gathering and that perhaps afterward those interested could go and run with him at Memorial Park.

I also found out that the next day he would be in San Antonio!

Hmmm .... did the border - or perimeter of the United States - change and I'm just now figuring it out?

Well, I was told that he only needed to run 10,608 miles for the record and that only required him to run along I-10 from Texas to San Diego. That's kind of not the perimeter, if you ask me.

I might be wrong, but the closest you could get to the perimeter from the state of Maine to Brownsville, Texas would be running on the beach as much as possible. Right?

So my next question was whose record is he attempting to beat and when was it performed?

Don't get me wrong the fact that he is logging that many miles is very admirable, but trying to build and write a story around facts makes it difficult when there appears to be a bit of spin to things.

The Texas Independence Relay at Hood to Coast

I would recommend that you check out TIR co-race director and founder Jay Hilscher's race report of last weekend's Hood To Coast. It can be read here!

If I haven't gotten to know Jay and his wife, Joy, a little bit and realize that TIR is going to be a success based on their efforts thus far, I would be impressed by the fact that they went and participated on a team (and maybe they have in the past too) to see and confirm what they may or may not be able to tweak with their event.

What Jay didn't tell you in the report is that the Boca Raton, Florida-based team that they ran on, the "Slug Hunters", won the Mixed Submasters division in 21 hours, 28 minutes and 19 seconds - a 6:32 per mile pace and a 43-minute, three-second advantage over the "Komodo Dragons" from Holladay, Utah.

Iranian Runner in Bayou City as part of World Record Attempt

Runner Attempting to Break Current World Record for Longest Solo Run Around the Perimeter of the Continental U.S. Arrives at Houston on September 1, 2007

Houston, TX – August 29, 2007-- Iranian Reza Baluchi is attempting to break a current world record for longest, solo run around the perimeter of the continental U.S. which is 10,608 miles in 9 months. Reza hopes to finish that run in 6 to 7 months. This means running an average of 50 -60 miles a day. Reza started on June 17 in Central Park, New York City. His run will take him from New York City down around the southern perimeter of the U.S., up the west coast then around the northern U.S. perimeter. Reza will then finalize his run, and finish in New York City. He is also running to raise money for The Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado.

Upon leaving Iran, Reza set out to bicycle around the world with a message of peace. After a 7-year ride, he ended up in the United States where he was granted political asylum. He hopped off his bike and laced up some running shoes. Still trailing the banner of peace, he ran 3,720 miles from L.A. to New York City to witness the memorial ceremony of the September 11 crashes and honor the victims of those tragedies. Moved to tears by the sights and sounds of the day as well as the message of peace he had carried worldwide, Reza completed his journey.

To cap off his experience, he presented a check for $28,000 to the Children’s Aid Society. A portion of the money was composed of donations from the generous Iranian-American community and others moved by his story and message.

Reza will arrive at Houston on Saturday, September 1, 2007. He will be greeted by the Iranian-American community in Houston at Bijan Restaurant (5922 Hilcroft Street - @ SW Freeway, Houston, TX 77036) at 1:00 p.m. Reza will need ample financial and moral support to achieve his goals of a world record, spreading his message of peace and helping the children. His expenses total around $200+/day which include food, gas and maintenance of the RV following him, communication, and physical check-ups. Monetary donations can be paid through Pay Pal on his website or be wired to the following account information:

Citibank, N.A.
111 Wall Street
New York, NY 10043
ABA Number: 021-000-089
FBO: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Account Number: 4055-3953
For the Account of: Run With Reza, LLC
Account Number: 3170-9829

Reza hopes to inspire people across world that face difficult times and inspire people to strive to reach challenging goals. For information, please visit www.runwithreza.org.

Texas Teams at Hood to Coast Last Weekend

These are the teams - with Texas registrations - that finished the 26th annual Nike Hood to Coast Relay this past weekend in Oregon:

MALE OPEN (293 teams in division)
24. Merky Waters, Dallas, TX - 22:31:25 6:52
(Mike Lucas and Susie Schreiber of Luke's Locker participated on this team)
173. Fun With Bodyglide, Houston, TX - 27:44:04 8:27

MALE SUBMASTERS (101 teams in division)
46. Brass Monkey's, Lakeway, TX - 26:20:37 8:01
86. Ben's Roadkill, Weatherford, TX - 28:44:37 8:45

MIXED OPEN (292 teams in division)
8. The Fat Cheetahs, Austin, TX - 23:05:45 7:02
33. Team Insanity, Dallas, TX - 25:31:52 7:47
67. Team Nads, Plano, TX - 27:02:43 8:14
147. Austin To Oregon Runner, Round Rock, TX - 28:50:52 8:47

MIXED SUBMASTERS (62 teams in division)
34. Group Therapy, McKinney, TX - 28:40:38 8:44
62. Twelve Nutty Texans, Bellaire, TX - 33:54:01 10:19
(Team In Training group from Sugar Land)

August 2007 Running Club Newsletters

Bay Area Running Club -- Here (Actually this is September's)
Bayou City Road Runners -- Here
Houston Masters Sports Association -- Here
Houston Striders -- Here
Seven Hills Running Club -- Here
The Woodlands Running Club -- Here

Houston Racing Triathlon Club -- Here (July's edition)

The Memorial Park Running Club (MPRC) has jazzed up its website and nailed down a formal domain name -- http://www.mprchouston.com/.

August 27-September 2 Activity

Monday, August 27 - 3.53 miles @ 10:12 (36:00.24) on the streets of Pasadena, California (this point-to-point route here) followed by 20 minutes on stationery bike at Bally's.

Sellout by December 14th?

At its current pace of registering approximately 80 runners per day, the Chevron Houston Marathon is poised to sell out in 108 days -- or December 14th (which would miss by two days the deadline for allowing transfers of entries from one runner to another.)

The Chevron Houston Marathon website is reporting that it is 50% full for the marathon and half marathon combined. That would represent approximately 8,500 runners.

In Roberta MacInnis' Thursday, August 9 column in the Houston Chronicle, she reported that the Marathon said that its combined total was 6,904.

That's roughly a difference of 1,600 registrants in 20 days.

My guess is that people will continue at this pace until September 30 when pocket books will be lifted for $120 and $85, respectively, for the marathon and half marathon.

You just might be able to run the Texas Marathon Triple - the Texas Marathon in Kingwood, the Surfside Beach Marathon and the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon - for right at that $120 price tag.

Of course, that is, if you sign up today! (Actually, registration isn't open on the latter two events. You were able to register for Steve's event on January 2!)

Ironman Louisville Notes

Congratulations goes out to Houston's Lisa Tilton-McCarthy, who finished IM Louisville today in 11:43:58 - good enough to be fifth in her 40-44 age group and only 20 minutes from a trip to Kona!

Panorama Village's Paris Menefee, 38, a member of the Conroe Triathletes club, finished in 13:07:15.

Iron Star Triathlon race director Greg Pennington, 48, of Seabrook, finished in 13:55:44.

Kingwood's Jacqueline O'Brien-Nolen, 42, finished 17th in the same age group as Tilton-McCarthy with a time of 12:38:52.

League City's Jitka Newald, 49, of the Bay Area Running Club, earned her Ironman designation with a finish of 15:17:48.

Weekend In Review: 5-Miler, Pub Crawl and Triathlon

I had sandbagged things during the week after last weekend's News and Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia. I found a Bally's a few blocks from the hotel in Pasadena and got in an hour on the stationery bike on Wednesday and then an hour on the elliptical plus another 20-plus minutes on the bike late Thursday night.

After working on the Tri One O One story on Friday, and finishing my column for the Conroe Courier (which ran today) at about 3 a.m. Saturday morning, I was up by 6:30 a.m. and out the door by 7 a.m. to participate in the inaugural Oak Ridge 5-Miler at Oak Ridge High School.

I covered the 5-mile, triple-loop cross country course in 52:33.42 - not bad for a hot and humid morning. A good, low-key event put on by Jacob Mazone and Dennis Muehlstein. I had a good time and got to see Thomas McHale and his daughter, Liz, Vincent Attanucci and his son, Matt; Anne Gilmore-Smith and Robert Duncan from Seven Hills Running Club.

Liz, a senior at Oak Ridge and ranked 5th in her class, won the women's race. Robert and Vincent went 1-2 in the men's masters while Anne won the women's masters.

I went home, showered, and was going to try and swing by the very tail end of HARRA's Party In The Park, but I didn't make it. (HARRA has my support already while, because I write also weekly for the Conroe paper, I felt like I should support the local event and it was being done for all of the right reasons.)

However, I was on time for the 7th annual Bay Area Running Club Pub Crawl, which started at Carlos' Beer Garden in Webster. 9 bars. 6 miles. Four cities (Webster, Pasadena, El Lago and Seabrook). I wonder if we ran through Sarah's favorite city of Clear Lake Shores too?

Why did I make the drive once again? Good friends. Co-owner of On The Run Jay Lee, whose wife recently delivered their first child; BARC club report writer Veronica Hoge, almost 30-year-veteran of the Chevron Houston Marathon Wayne Rutledge and, of course, Joltin' Joe Carey.

We ran - safely, of course - across busy highways (NASA Road One), through the parking lots of numbers of strip centers, in a downpour or two, bought increasingly expensive soft drinks ($2.75 for a diet coke at the bar at the Clear Lake Hilton) and had a great time with a record 75 runners which included BARC, Clear Lake Fitness Club, Bay Area Fit, Clear Lake Fit and Team In Training. (Bill Dwyer made the drive down to surprise a friend of a co-worker who had just started running recently and had joined CLFC and their marathon training program.)

We had pizza at Boondoggles (I spelled it right the first time ... but I had to Google it to be sure) at the next-to-last stop before finishing at the Seabrook Beach Club.

Next year will be another singlet year (every other year). This year's theme was Hawaiian and Veronica said if I came I would get ... well, you know. And she was true to her words. Before we left Carlos' Beer Garden, I had a pink lei around my neck for the run. =)

So 11 miles for Saturday, altogether.

I happened to be up early this morning and had noticed yesterday that the 1st annual Stephanie Johnson Triathlon - a "mini-Sprint" - was taking place just down and off of FM 2920 west of my house. Who Stephanie Johnson is was shared during online registration:

Stephanie is a 38-year-old mother of three young children who is battling Stage 4 stomach cancer. The doctors say she's incurable. She refuses to believe them. She and her family are hosting this event to increase cancer research and to provide direct help to area families who are also in the fight. You can see Stephanie's story in streaming video here. All of the proceeds from the event went to cancer research and the support families who are currently fighting cancer.

As I walked out about four-tenths of a mile out the 2-mile run course, I talked to a gentleman with Paragon Pools, who identified himself as a sponsor. He said that they've taken out her stomach and esophagus, but ... still ... she competed today in her first-ever triathlon. It was certainly inspiring to see her come in off the bike and then come to the last part of the run course.

(I found a story in the Houston Chronicle from three weeks ago on Stephanie. It is very well worth the time to read it. It can be found here.)

I recognize far fewer people at triathlons, but the scorecard for today was as follows:

+ Saw, but didn't talk to Sam Luna or Mandy Heintz. Mandy won the women's division with a strong performance while Sam cheered the former LSU soccer star on and took pictures of his bride-to-be come next month.
+ Saw Jana Landry, but talked to Kevin - the other couple involved in On The Run. They were both working the bike transition areas as well as having sponsored the event.
+ Watched 65-year-old Chris Gause from Spring finish her run strong. This is just an incredible woman to see what she has done the last couple of years. And she got started by coming out to a number of Run The Woodlands 5Ks. When she saw me, she said, "Where's Waverly?" Of course, Dad was flattered by that comment to know how people respond to her.
+ Saw Andy Stewart of Finish Line Sports competing today.
+ Carol and Don Steele, who are coaches for Team In Training - The Woodlands.
+ Lynlee and Joe Linke, who are members of the Houston Striders.

I heard some names over the public address system that I've recognized such as Finish Line Sports members Dave Depinet and Mark Berman, who both finished towards the top of the men's division.

It was a great atmosphere and I'm glad that I took the time to go be a small part of it.

Working on the Tri One O One Story ....

... for my Sunday column in the Conroe Courier!

Participants, such as Sarah Graybeal, received the following on Wednesday, August 22:

"Dear Triathlon One O One - The Woodlands Participant,

Over the last several months, the Triathlon One O One staff has been working diligently to secure the final course layouts as well as the required permits in order to execute this event on November 11th, 2007 in The Woodlands, Texas. At this point it is becoming very clear after working closely with the various entities in the local area that it is going to be next to impossible to put on this event in The Woodlands venue.

For the last ten days, Triathlon One O One has been working feverishly to secure an alternative venue in the Houston area. Once this is complete, we will notify all the participants, partners and sponsors of the venue change and what the new course layouts will be moving forward for this 2007 event.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter,

Sincerely, Triathlon One O One Staff"

I have e-mails or calls into:

+ Series founder/creator Shannon Kurek
+ Local race director Dana Lyons of The Woodlands
+ Media contact with the Community Associations of The Woodlands
+ Parks & Recreation department of the Community Associations of The Woodlands
+ Iron Star Triathlon race director Greg Pennington

I've also communicated with athletes who were using the long-distance event as a step up point in their training for Ironman Arizona in April and aren't happy.

Should be an interesting piece on Sunday.

Friday Night Lights 2-Mile XC Race, August 31

Get an early tune-up for the HARRA Cross Country Relays on Saturday, September 22 with Friday Night Lights -- an invitational cross country race for Jr. High and Sr. High school teams on Friday evening, August 31 at the Bear Branch Fields in The Woodlands.

Coordinator Cindy Andrews (281-292-7434) welcomes all - including those who wish to volunteer - to participate in a 2-mile Open Cross-Country race, which will precede the Woodlands High School Invitational races. Registration will open at 5:00 p.m. and close at 6:15 p.m. Entry fee is $5.00. No advance registration is necessary. The Open race will begin at 6:30 p.m. T-shirts will be available for purchase and a concession stand will be on-site.

Proceeds benefit The Woodlands Lady Highlanders Cross Country team and coach Noel Hansen can answer any additional questions at 936-273-8585.

Legacy IronStar Triathlon Performers

I was looking to see if any of the individuals who have completed the IronStar Triathlon (Half Ironman distance) in Conroe/Mongtomery each of the past four years were signed up for the Tri One O One event this November -- two or three weeks after this year's IronStar.

Only one -- Pascalus Striet of Houston -- of 15 had indeed done so.

The complete list of four-time IronStar Triathlon finishers are as follows:

Alfredo Locht
Bruce Cobb
Cory Lucas
David Talkington
James Brandenburg
Jennifer Browning*
Jerry Robinson
Neil MacKintosh
Pascalus Streit
Paul Capello
Sandy Parker*
Stuart Page
Thomas Heitzman
Thomas Wellbern (Willburn)
Tommy Elder

Not quite sure why I looked it up ... but nonetheless there you have it!

Which Is Harder?: Parkersburg, WV or Huntsville, TX

I've run both courses three (3) times each (Huntsville, 2004-2006 and Parkersburg, 2005-2007) and looking back, I think I have to consider myself a bit masochistic for doing either! My best run on either course was a 2:20:50 in Huntsville two years ago.

If you look at the elevation profiles of the two races (Huntsville and Parkersburg), you'd be inclined to say that Huntsville definitely looks harder. Plus, it's a double-loop course.

With the Parkersburg event being in August and Huntsville being in October, Parkersburg definitely gets the literal degrees of difficulty for its potential broiling temperatures.

Yet Huntsville is deceiving as I can think of four long stretches of flat straightaways and a short stretch by the Walls Unit. In Parkersburg, you get beat up until the mile 8 marker before you get two fairly flat miles followed by a slow and steady 100-foot climb in the next mile and a half.

I'd have to give the edge though to Huntsville. It is just a bit more mentally when you finish the first loop and you get to stare the next big hill again!

Some interesting notes though on Saturday's race in Parkersburg, West Virginia, courtesy of the Association of Road Racing Statisticians:

+ The event doled out $23,800 in prize money, which was up 23% from last year and the most in six (6) years.
+ Alene Reta's winning time of 1:02:39 was the fastest since 1993 and the men's field was the most competitive since 1994.

The fastest time at last year's Houston Half Marathon, which bid against the News and Sentinel Half Marathon for the 2008 RRCA National Half Marathon championship, was run by Houston's Sean Wade in 1:12:50.3. However, Wade was running with one of his students, Ray Caesar Martinez, that day and later in the year covered the half distance in 1:09:36 in Barbados.

By comparison, the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, with the USATF Championship, announced a prize purse of $62,500 before the 2007 event with an additional $5,000 for breaking the race and U.S. record (which Ryan Hall did in the men's event.)

Texas Independence Relay Team Challenge #2

Since Bill Dwyer and I had no takers to join us in the 9th annual Midnight Bike Cruise, which benefitted the Montgomery County Food Bank, on Sunday, August 12 ... it's time to have some more fun at our own expense!

So ... here comes Challenge #2 to our Texas Independence Relay teams - the "Texian Road Warriors" and the "Battling Bloggers of the Texas Republic".

On Labor Day, Monday, September 3, Bill and I will be teaming up and participating in the 2nd annual The Woodlands Adventure Race, which is being put on once again by and for the benefit of The Woodlands High School Triathlon Team. Coached by Sandra Sutherland, the team was featured in the August edition of Runner Triathlete News.

The event, which costs $50 per team, will take place at The Woodlands' Northshore Park and will start at 8 a.m. Registration information is listed in the PDF file on the link above. Please note that there is no race day registration.

If you can't participate or find somebody to compete with you, we would request that you come out and cheer us on!

Earlier in the day, I had suggested also about recommending a team name for Bill and I. Bill had sent me the initial e-mail late last night and I rattled off a number of suggestions a couple of hours later. They were as follows:

"Double Bigfoot Thunder" ... after Darryl Dawkins' favorite slam dunk
"We'll Shake The Ground"
"Three Months to Sunmart"
"No 101 For Us"
"Ironman Prelude" ... 2009 perhaps?
"We Have To Be Fast For This?"
"Chicks Will Dig Us" ... a play on words to the Chris Cagle song
"We Can Do More Than Write"
"HARRA Fully Loaded"

His family liked what will go on the registration form Saturday morning ... Double Bigfoot Thunder!

HARRA Power In Motion on KPFT, August 23

HARRA's Power In Motion co-director Tom Radosevich will be a guest Thursday afternoon, August 23, on Radio Pacifica, KPFT, 90.1 FM from 12:35 p.m. to 12:55 p.m.

Please tune in!

Some Food For Thought

Tossing a couple of questions out for discussion ....

Does a running event having more participants lend itself to potentially having more sponsors? (My gut feel says, "Yes," as a company would want to expose their organization to more people. Advertising 101, right?)

And we've been led to believe that more sponsorship money helps keep the cost to the runner from being as high as without.

Are there any economies of scale gained from as the number of participants in a race goes up?

I'm trying to figure out if any semblance of an apples-to-apples comparison can be made from one stand-alone event at one distance can be compared to another of the same distance.

And, finally, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Chevron Houston Marathon.

Conroe Courier Column Excerpt from Sunday, August 19

BRING SHOES – If you have used running shoes that still have some life left in them, The Woodlands Running Club would like for you to clean them off a little and bring them to Fuddrucker’s, located at 2290 Buckthorn in The Woodlands, on Friday evening, August 24, between 6 and 8 p.m.

Meet some new friends and fellow runners in the community at Happy Hour or enjoy a reasonably-priced meal while your generosity will help someone in need have warmer feet this winter.

BRING WATER – The fledgling Oak Ridge Track Club, directed by Oak Ridge High School cross country and track coach Dennis Muehlstein and Jacob Mazone, will culminate its summer season of events with the Oak Ridge 5-Miler on Saturday morning, August 25 at 7:30 a.m. at the Oak Ridge High School track.

No, not 20 laps on the track. Just eight.

The race will begin with approximately one mile on the track before entering the fields behind the high school. Runners will complete two 1.5-mile loops, each on the grass, before finishing the fifth mile back on the track.

Day of race registration will be $8.50 for members and $11.50 for non-members.

Pre-registration instructions can be found at http://www.oakridgetc.itgo.com/.

BRING MUSCLE – Well, even if you need a few, like me, still join the The LoneStar Multisport Club on Sunday, August 26, as it will be holding its monthly meeting on from 4 to 6 p.m. at the South Montgomery County YMCA – Branch Crossing location, located at 8100 Ashlane Way in The Woodlands.

Three-time Badwater Ultramarathon finisher and National Strength Coaches Association-certified Dr. Christopher Rampacek, aka Mr. Muscle, will be speaking on “Strength Training for the Endurance Athlete.”

CLOCK IS TICKING – The entry fee for the Saturday, October 13 Ten For Texas 10-mile race, which is to start and finish on Market Street in The Woodlands, will increase on Saturday, September 1.

Online registration, which is currently $35 and will increase to $40 in less than two weeks, can be done by clicking on http://www.thewoodlandsassociations.org/.

Save the online processing fee by registering in person at The Woodlands Recreation Center or at Luke’s Locker on Market Street.

PLAN AHEAD – Support The Woodlands High School Triathlon Team, featured in the August 2007 edition of Runner Triathlete News, by participating in the second annual The Woodlands Adventure Race on Labor Day, Monday, September 3, at Northshore Park in The Woodlands.

Two-person teams will work as a team to bike, run, swim, navigate and find clues to the mystery question and participants should be able to bike 15-20 miles, swim 50 meters, and run a half mile at a time on three separate trail runs.

The entry fee for the event, which starts at 8 a.m., is $50 per two-person team.

Houstonians at Leadville Trail 100 So Far

Houston's Chuck Cofer, 56, going for his 8th Leadville Trail 100 finish, made the first 50 miles - and the Winfield stop on the out-and-back course - in 10 hours, six (6) minutes.

Porter's Robert King, 46, reached Winfield in 11:37 while HARRA VP, Clubs Roger Boak, 58, did so with just 19 minutes to spare in 13:41.

Houston's Kim Pilcher, 44, and Sugar Land's Nina Jannetti, 50, arrived at the stop 46 minutes late and have been disqualified (or DNF'd).

Magnolia's Daniel Curtis, 36, and The Woodlands' Bill Travis, 42, appeared to have been DNS (Did Not Start) while Katy's Andrew Rogers, 36, appears to have DNF'd.

News and Sentinel Half Marathon Race Report

Why was it listed as "brief" earlier? Because I was going to sleep at about 3 p.m. Eastern!

The biggest news of the day? Cassie Mondragon kicked butt with a 2:14 on a pretty good day weather-wise for running. She ran all of the hills where I still had her in sight (through to about mile 6). It was her third best marathon ever, to follow up on 2:12 and 2:10 showings the last two years at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon.

I didn't do too bad. I ended up at 2:24 - down from the last two years, but the conditions in '05 and '06 were brutal - and The Woodlands' Tara Wilson, who works at Luke's Locker there (and like Cassie, is from Parkersburg - as is her husband, Steve), came in just under 2:28 in her first half marathon ever.

It was fun for the three of us to be able to socialize before and after the race that far away from where we live - even though it is home for both Cassie and Tara. (In fact, I didn't even know that Tara was definitely going to be there. Or if she had told me recently in the store, I forgot about it. About 45 minutes before the race, I could see somebody walking my way down one of the downtown streets with a Ten For Texas shirt and I'm thinking to myself, "How odd?" But it was Tara!)

Here are the official results:

554 22 Cassie Mondragon, 28*, Houston, TX 1:05:06 2:14:54 10:18
610 59 Jon Walk, 40, Spring, TX 1:06:20 2:24:19 11:01
634 14 Tara Wilson, 48*, The Woodlands, TX 1:07:14 2:28:04 11:18

As you can see, Cassie really ran strong on the back half, which is what she has been doing on her long runs - starting out slower and steady and then getting stronger at the end.

Here were my splits - a lot better looking than last year:

"Chip" Difference - 31.67
Mile 1 - 10:12.92
Mile 2 - 10:52.77 (uphill)
Mile 3 - 11:05.96 (uphill)
Mile 4 - 9:41.33 (slight downhill)
Mile 5 - 10:50.01
Mile 6 - 10:49.55
Mile 7 - 10:52.00 (Mile 6.2 - 2:17.09)
Mile 8 - 10:48.07
Mile 9 - 10:44.83
Mile 10 - 11:16.96
Mile 11 - 11:26.88 (includes bridge over the Little Kanawa River)
Mile 12 - 12:15.14 (includes 13th Street Hill)
Last 1.1 - 13:09.33 (this is pretty flat, but I was spent)

Watch Time - 2:24:37
Chip Time - 2:24:05

Which makes sense with the time above. That's a gun time as the event doesn't use a timing mat at the start and I didn't get my watch stopped until I finished being dizzy after paying tribute to Jon Blais (aka Blazeman), who passed away earlier this year after being diagnosed two years ago with ALS, with a "log roll" finish.

I made one attempt, during mile 4, to see if I could get to Cassie and blew off one water stop, but she held that 40-second lead into the 10K spot and then opened it up from there. (I really knew that I wasn't where she is physically right now, but I figured for a moment, "Hey, it's still a race.") What's strange is that all of those miles from mile 5-10 at an even pace still hurt.

This is a great event with incredible hometown support - 1,400 volunteers! - from the water stops and people cheering in the street. The only race in Houston that can equal the energy at this distance or greater is the Chevron Houston Marathon. And the people in Parkersburg are volunteering at a time when they could be enjoying all of the Homecoming Festival events themselves.

They also bring in a host of foreign runners with 16 of the top 20 finishers hailing from Kenya or Ethiopia. The event has been doing this since 1997, long before it picked up the designation as the RRCA National Half Marathon Championship two years ago. The top seven (7) female finishers were from either Kenya, Ethiopia or Russia. You don't even see the depth of these numbers at the Chevron Houston Marathon!

Looking at the results, I realized that I did see Chuck Engle of Columbus, Ohio warming up. He finished 25th among all men with a 1:14:57 finish. Chuck and Dane Rauschenberg both racked up over 50 marathons last year. (Dane did a marathon every weekend in 2006 while Chuck doubled up once or twice.)

I also saw another running legend warming up and that was Indianapolis' 56-year-old Gary Romesser, who covered the course in 1:20:34. He was the fourth fastest Masters runner.

I'll see how I feel later about the Nationwide Health CMTS 15K in the morning here in Columbus, plus I haven't looked at logistics. Columbus is bigger than what I thought it was. (I looked. It is doable, but we'll see.)

It's 2:45 a.m. in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday

... and there's a half marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia at 8 a.m. Will I make it?

You betcha! After what this day has been like, I'll be dragging ... but I'll be there.

Here's the Cliff Notes version:

Thursday
11:45 p.m. Pacific - Arrive at LAX after work for red-eye flight home.

Friday
1:30 a.m. Pacific - Continental flight from LAX to IAH scheduled to depart.
3:17 a.m. Pacific - Continental flight scheduled to depart upon getting to LAX (because of whether from Tropical Storm Erin in Houston).
9:10 a.m. Central - Continental flight lands.
9:45 a.m. Central - Arrive home in Spring.
12:45 p.m. Central - Lay down to get a little bit of a nap.
3:25 p.m. Central - Leave to go into the office because I can't connect from home. Where's the office? The Galleria.
4:25 p.m. Central - Arrive in the parking garage at the Galleria.
4:50 p.m. Central - Pulling out of the parking garage after going in, connecting (checking for a deliverable to review), and going back to the truck.
5:30 p.m. Central - Have gone across I-10 to I-45, got off Crosstimbers, over to Irvington and up to Interstate 610. Call Bill Dwyer and tell him of the crazy turn of events.
5:32 p.m. Central - Hit the Hardy Toll Road. Should be able to get to the garage by 6:00 p.m. at IAH for a ... 6:45 p.m. flight. (Yeah, I've done this before.)
5:40 p.m. Central - Just shy of the Aldine Bender exit and begin seeing break lights. Call Waverly and talk to her to keep from getting stressed out.
5:55 p.m. Central - In the garage, level 3, and parked in a different spot. (Need to remember that for Sunday afternoon.)
6:05 p.m. Central - Have checked in and gotten through security, even though I just learned that the flight wouldn't leave until 7:51 p.m.
6:40 p.m. Central - After eating dinner, I learn that the flight has been pushed back to 8:31 p.m.
8:03 p.m. Central - Begin making my way to the gate after sitting in one of the shoe shine stand chairs in between the two sides of terminal C.
8:45 p.m. Central - The flight to Philadelphia finally pushes away the gate.
9:15 p.m. Central - We begin to board for Columbus. (Passengers getting off the plane told us that a normal one-hour flight from Tulsa turned into four for them.) Called my grandparents in Pennsylvania from seat 14A, exit row. (Yeah, the seat where I could stretch my legs out.)
9:50 p.m. Central - Begin to push away from the gate.
9:55 p.m. Central - Just before the pilot gets the engines going to move away from the gate after being turned around, he informs us that the load planners in the 14th floor of a building in downtown Houston had to evacuate because of a fire.
10:05 p.m. Central - We're out on the runway in a off-the-beaten path queueing area.
10:25 p.m. Central - Wheels are leaving the ground. He tells us that it will be 2 hours, 10 minutes. Start my watch.

Saturday
1:35 a.m. Eastern - I'll be darned. 2:09:42. No, that's not my predicted time for later this morning either. That's 16 seconds faster than my PR in Oregon in March 2006.
2:00 a.m. Eastern - Go straight to the Hertz counter to make sure that they were still open like they said they would be when I called. (Had already planned to sleep there until they opened at 5 a.m., if they weren't.)
2:15 a.m. Eastern - Got my bag, got my car (after bypassing one person in line because of my Gold status and calling ahead) and am out on the road heading to the hotel.
2:30 a.m. Eastern - Check in at the Towne Place Suites in Gahanna, a suburb. No Kool Aid to be found here.
3:00 a.m. Eastern - Signing off from this post.
4:30 a.m. Eastern - Wake-up call.
4:45 a.m. Eastern - Showered, dressed and out the door.

My wild and crazy life! Although, it is a little cool out. Let's hope it stays that way for a little while. It will be a welcomed departure from the last two years at the News and Sentinel Half Marathon - the RRCA Half Marathon Championship.

And for your reading enjoyment over coffee on Saturday morning, here's what happened to me - in an e-mail to friends and family earlier in the day - between 10:00 p.m. Pacific time and getting to LAX last evening:

Here's one of those travel stories that you would have to have been there to believe. This was last night, Thursday, August 16th.

I'm working at a client in Pasadena, California. The hotel is right across the street from the office (and less than two miles from the Rose Bowl.) Therefore, I don't rent a car. We'll take a car service to and from LAX.

Since I had a red-eye flight home at 1:30 a.m., I left the office at 10 p.m., walked across the street to get the bag that I had checked with them so I could change out of my suit before the car came and got me at 10:45 p.m.

After giving the bellhop my claim check, a problem developed a minute or two later. They didn't have a key to the room. A few short minutes revealed that someone had locked the key inside the room accidentally and they couldn't locate the right spare.

This is where the fun started to occur.

In my suitcase was my running gear, including my two current pair of running shoes. I am flying this evening to Columbus, Ohio to run a half marathon in Parkersburg. Therefore, what was in there was important plus I wanted to be able to wash my clothes at home for the next week. (Speaking of which I need to go and start.)

The manager on duty asked if they could FedEx my bag. I told her that it wasn't an option. I needed it before I took off at 6:45 p.m. Friday evening.

At 10:35 p.m., the driver showed up. I informed her that he had 10 more minutes and that I only had him for an hour to get me to LAX. I spoke to him, let him know what was transpiring and we enjoyed a bit of a chuckle.

They tried calling everyone and nobody was answering. I had called Continental to see when their next flights were in the morning. They had three. The latest leaving at 9 a.m. and getting here at about 2:20 p.m.

Granted, I wouldn't have been happy to go out and get it, but I was willing to work a little bit.

They were willing to pay for my car service, which would have left, and then arrange to take me to LAX if they could just get another hour to get somebody there (which wasn't even a guarantee). I said that that wasn't acceptable because I had planned accordingly to get to the airport without having any delays.

As she was speaking with her Operations Manager, I even offered a third alternative. I said, "Let the bag in there. I'll be a set of running gear, bring you back the receipt and you do my cleaning - a suit, four shirts and underwear and I guess it will all be less than $200."

The Operations Manager didn't want to do either of my two options, but wanted me to do his. Aren't I the one that is troubled in this situation? Shouldn't I be appeased to adequately remedy the problem?

So ... what was their next move? A crowbar. Yes indeed, a crowbar.

This nice, newly remodeled Marriott Courtyard taking a crowbar to a door just off the main lobby area. It was an interesting scene to say the least that was witnessed by more than a few guests.

The first two or three workers to take a stab at it messed the lock up pretty good, but were scraping up the varnish pretty well too. After they didn't seem to be getting anywhere, another employee, who might have had some experience at this in a prior life, started to take the crowbar and jam it straight in.

In less than five minutes, well, I had my bag.

The manager felt bad. I told her none of it was personal. Things happen. It is just how do you respond to them when they do.

Everyone had a good laugh, except maybe for the employee who locked them inside the room whenever they found out who did it. I told them that I'd see them all on Monday.

The kicker to the whole story though? When I got to LAX, the 1:30 a.m. departure had been delayed to 3:17 a.m. (Never saw anybody get off the plane from the gate. Therefore, the crew must have timed out. I never asked. By the time I got on the plane, I don't ever remember the plane moving until we were somewhere between LAX and here.)

Touching Story: Bill and Dana-Susan Crews

Two of the nicest and most all-around humble people you'd ever want to meet, Bill and Dana-Susan Crews of The Woodlands are profiled in today's This Week section of the Houston Chronicle.

The story is about Dana-Susan's book that she wrote about her husband's cancer from their kids' point of view.

The couple, who have completed numerous triathlons, have signed up for the 2008 Ironman Arizona in April. Dana-Susan qualified for the 2006 Boston Marathon at the Chevron Houston Marathon in January 2006 and ran Boston in 3:57:28.

The family's web site, with more information about the official release of Dana-Sue's book, is at http://www.morgananddylan.com/.

From The Reader Bag!

Hi Jon -

I stumbled upon your blog when I was googling, trying to find a 5K or a 10K race Labor Day wknd. I can't seem to find any! Do you know of any races in the Houston area that wknd? Or even in Dallas...

Thanks!
-Vicki

P.S. - Great blog! Enjoyed reading bits of it... :-)

=====

Vicki -

Thank you for finding my blog and dropping me a note! Glad to hear from you!

If you're staying in Houston, there are two excellent races on Labor Day Weekend.

On Saturday in Alvin (the hometown of former Astros and Rangers great Nolan Ryan) is the Beneeezy Purple Monkey 1k/5k/10k Fun Run/Walk. This event is put on by Lenny Garcia and his wife in memory of their son who was killed in an automobile accident. Not sure that you'll find a more flat course around. If you're fortunate enough to take home an age group award, you'll get a unique Purple Monkey!! The fee for both the 5K and the 10K is $20 before August 25th and just $25 after.

On Labor Day in Sugar Land, attention turns to another excellent event that is co-sponsored by the Sugar Land Fire Department and First Colony Community Association -- the Fired Up 5K. Registration fees are a nice $20 before August 27th, $22 before race day after that and $25 on Monday at the race.

A good site or two - or more - for Southeast Texas races? The Seven Hills Running Club has a good race calendar. So does the Tornados Running Club as does HARRA, the RRCA (put in TX) and Running In The USA.

A good Dallas calendar can be found here and one for Austin can be spotted here.

Thanks again for stopping in!

Jon

Run To The Rose Bowl

Yes, it was dark out; however, I got to see the outside of the Rose Bowl! But I have to say that there wasn't much to it! Perhaps my perspective will be a little bit different in the daylight.

6.3 miles in 1:07:02 on this route. 10:38 per. Nothing to write home about. Slow, steady inclines to mile 3. Pasadena is just below the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, which contains the Angeles National Forest.

This after being completely wiped out Monday after work and emotionally overwhelmed last evening. I was hoping to go a little bit longer, but maybe just a few more before Friday morning.

Changes Ahead

If you've ever wanted to contribute to publicizing the sport of running here in Houston or the activities of the Houston Area Road Runners Association (HARRA), here's your chance!

1.) I'll be letting the folks at the Houston Chronicle know that I am no longer able to keep up and do the type of job that I desire to do with the RunHouston blog.

2.) I'm also seeking a replacement for my role as VP, Communications and Footprints Editor for HARRA.

On the first opportunity, please e-mail me at walksports(at)aol.com and on the latter, you can let myself or Anna Sumrall Helm, HARRA's president, know.

Note that I'll continue to serve in the HARRA role until we find an adequate replacement and can transition those responsibilities. (By the way, I might add that this decision doesn't have anything to do with HARRA itself. I think the group of people on the Board are great individuals and I appreciate the respect I'm given by them.)

I think I've been fortunate enough to raise the bar in both areas, but personal situations and work pressures keep me from doing the job that I desire to be able to do in each endeavour.

Thanks for your past support and I'll see you on the roads!

Oh .... and if nobody steps up to the plate, guess what? You're stuck with me calling it as I see it. I've said before and will say it again, that I think there are others who agree with me but may be afraid to step out there and say what I think (and subsequently write.)

As I said in the comments of the last, most contentious post (to some), all it sometimes would take is a phone call to say "let's sit down in person and see if I can address some of your issues."

And in Colorado today ...

HARRA At-Large Board member Bruce Mansur, 54, finished just outside of the Top 10% overall (228 of 2,053 finishers) at the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon in Colorado. Bruce covered the primarily downhill course in 1:39:29.8, just a bit slower than his 1:35:26.3 finish a year ago.

But Montgomery County made a little bit of an invasion to the area as well.

Conroe's Don Koontz, 53, led the way with a time of 1:46:37 while The Woodlands' Edward Coffey, 65, registered a time of 2:11:12.5 - just off of his 2:10:40.3 showing from last year.

The one runner from The Woodlands that I was most interested in was fellow The Woodlands Running Club member Patrick Morein, 43, who added another state by finishing in 2:12:49.9.

Also from the greater Houston area was Dick Trask of La Porte, who is 74 years young.

Trask posted an almost identical time as he did a year ago. He finished today in 2:02:39.2 while his time last year was 2:02:40.0.

Holden Smashes 2005 Chicago Distance Classic Time

One of our Texas Independence Relay runners, the honorable Holden Choi, 41, of The Woodlands, smashed his 2005 Chicago Distance Classic time by 31 minutes earlier today with his 2:08:01 half marathon finish in Chicago.

Choi ran the course two years ago in 2:39:52 after experiencing knee problems after the mile 6 marker. (Yours truly ran it in 2004 in 2:29:34.)

Holden was less than four minutes from achieving a new PR as he ran 2:04:35 at the Surfside Beach Half Marathon in 2006.

Also putting together a nice showing today was Seabrook's Vera Balic, 35, who is also a Bay Area Running Club board member and the assistant manager of On The Run in Clear Lake. Balic, who has been battling off and on injuries the last year or two, ran a real strong 1:36:51 to be 11th in her 35-39 division.

Popping up in the Texas results was Dick Beardsley, 51, who has been spending considerable time in Austin as of late. The 1982 Boston Marathon runner-up covered the course today in 1:25:37 to be third in his age group behind runners from Indiana and Illinois.

9th annual Midnight Bike Cruise, The Woodlands

Bill Dwyer (aka "Bigfoot") and I covered 23 miles during the 9th annual Midnight Bike Cruise benefitting the Montgomery County Food Bank.

The ride was originally advertised as 20 miles on the website, but when we got to the Alden Bridge Shopping Center we found out that it was scheduled for 25.5 miles.

We were joined by fellow The Woodlands Running Club member Scott Brian and his wife, former Woodlands Fit coach Beth Whitehead, Andy and Amber Brock (who Beth introduced us to) as well as another TWRCer, Mitch Hall. We also saw Peter Manry of "Other Brother" PA/music fame as they let wave after wave of bikes start the charity ride.

If you ever need to be cheered up, you need to meet Beth Whitehead. Bill kept noting that Beth never ever quits smiling. She made a comment while we were riding that she had turned 40 this year and I told her that there is no way that I would have guessed that. She had told me in an e-mail that she is preparing for the San Antonio Marathon in November (although she is signed up for Houston.)

Beth, who has two children, will forever be known as the individual who spearheaded one of the greatest outpourings of community support The Woodlands may have ever seen with her "Run For Hans 5K" at Run The Woodlands last November. To provide you with the link to Hans' (Weberling) blog, there is an entry on July 25 that the now 4-year-old is disease free of nueroblastoma. And ... I just also read that Hans' sister, Elle, did the Kiwanis Kids Triathlon today at the South Montgomery County YMCA where I was covering the event for my Sunday Conroe Courier column.

Cool stuff! Bill and I rode with Beth most of the time. Although in the last 7 or 8 miles, Beth took off with her a couple of her friends and Bill held back to let me get caught back up.

The bike I have has always bother my knees because I can't fully extend my legs. So when I'm resting, my knees are bent a bit more than they should be the whole ride when not pedaling.

We're getting closer to the end and Bill says, "With the knotty tread, you have to pedal more to go fast" or something to that effect. I said, "So that means I have to work harder to keep up?" He chuckled, "Yes. See, I'm speeding up and not even pedaling."

We had a great time. Scott Brian had 23 miles on his bike (and we're going with that.) We made the 23 miles within 2 hours, but we didn't get to a particular point in time to get the planned mileage. The word is, though, that the real distance was about 28 miles.

So ... to go out and do 23 miles, the longest that I've ever been on a bike on the road, AFTER running 62 minutes on the treadmill at Bally's and another 20 minutes on the elliptical machine just four (4) hours early is a very good evening in my book.

The 62 minutes on the treadmill was fun.

First 10 minutes - 4.4 mph with 1.0 incline
15 minutes - increase incline to 1.5
20 minutes - increase mph to 4.5
25 minutes - increase incline to 2.0
30 minutes - increase mph to 4.6
35 minutes - increase incline to 2.5
40 minutes - increase mph to 4.7
45 minutes - decrease incline to 2.0
50 minutes - increase mph to 4.8
55 minutes - decrease incline to 1.5
60 minutes - increase mph to 4.9 ... and then after a couple of minutes, I crashed.

The only thing that would have made the bike ride better would have had Waverly riding (she was spending the night at Gena's parents' house) as well as both TIR teams!

But we had fun and benefitted a great cause in the process! Now time for some sleep!

Fort Davis, TX / Parkersburg, WV

As I mentioned earlier, Waverly and I made the 664-mile trip (one way) to West Texas to participate in the Prude Ranch Races in Fort Davis, which is the highest town in Texas.

Next Saturday, I'll be in Parkersburg, West Virginia for the third consecutive year to take part in the RRCA National Half Marathon Championship News and Sentinel Half Marathon. The weather forecast currently is calling for a high of 86 and a low of 65 with isolated thunderstorms, which would be a welcome change from the scorching heat the last two years. (I expect to see Cassie Mondragon run better in her hometown this year, being under 2:19 even with the hills. Wait, let's make that 2:17 - you know, the shorter hair thing!)

It was an interesting trip, to say the least. I didn't decide to go for sure until about 12 noon. The former plan was to go to Schulenburg, run their 5K and then drive on out to Fort Davis. But getting in after midnight from Oakland left me a little more than beat - and I didn't think I could make that early morning drive safely.

After making a final decision at about noon (and picking up an inexpensive rental from Enterprise here in Spring), we were on the road by 2 p.m.

We had passed through San Antonio and it is at mile marker 488 where the speed limit signs go to 80. (Drivers on I-45 think they see the same once they cross Kuykendahl/Rankin heading north.) It was interesting to see, but not surprising, that as we kept driving further west that the price of gas went up. We made a stop at the River Road exit near Iraan to go to the restroom and the gas at the Fina station was $3.09!

At about 10 p.m., we stopped in Fort Stockton to get a quick bite to eat and made it into Fort Davis around 11:45 p.m. On the road from Balmorhea south to Fort Davis, nature called. Well, there's nothing between the two towns, except the road, the mountains and the stars.

Having turned off the lights to the car, it was darker than you'd ever experience in the city and when I looked to the sky -- wow! Stars like I've never seen before covered the entire sky!

I told Waverly to get out of the car. She was a little nervous given how dark it was, but it was worth it. There's no surprise that not far from Fort Davis north on Texas Highway 118 sits the McDonald Observatory on Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes.

I didn't check before we got to Fort Davis how big it was.

I had looked for overnight accomodations in Balmorhea, but didn't book anything because I thought I would find something in Fort Davis. When we rolled into town, everything was shut down! Uh oh!

We pulled into the Fort Davis Motor Inn. It looked kind of Bates-ish from the outside, but I didn't want to go back to Balmorhea. I rang the outside bell. A woman came to door and she said that she had rooms. Thank goodness, I thought to myself!

Actually, it wasn't bad at all. Spartan? Yes. It was clean, the air conditioning worked and it was less than six miles from the ranch, which meant we could go back and shower before we started the long drive home.

We were up by 6 a.m., filled up with gas and drove to the Ranch.

We got there, registered and they had a bunch of copies of Inside Texas Running on the counter. I made a comment about that it was good to see that they had them there and proceeded to point out what we do with our HARRA section in there.

They loaded up the runners on buses for the 5K and 10K, which were point-to-point back to the front gate of the ranch. They had to be on the buses by 7 a.m. and the half marathon would be an out-and-back from the main gate and it started at 7:30 a.m.

I met a young man named Cody Smith from Cypress who was going to be running a marathon a month here soon. He looked as if he would probably finish high in the light field of 19. (I ended up being right as he finished third.) But I also spoke to a gentleman named Glenn Beck from Austin just before the start too.

I told him that we drove in from Houston and that I covered the sport. He shared with me that he had been the RD for the race the last six years, but couldn't do it this year as he took over as the Activities Director for the Fitness Camp the week that followed. Therefore, he was running it.

All 19 of us got started and I ran with two gentleman -- one from the Austin area and another from Lubbock but after the first mile (and a little incline I needed to back off some). I also knew that I would see Waverly coming back in and I did as we started to climb a hill that made up a good bit of mile 2.

As I started to make a slight turn to the right in the road (after the first water stop) and move to the left to run against traffic again (as the roads were open), I could see Waverly cresting the hill. She had just finished the first mile in her 5K. I was excited for her. I crossed the road and as I approached her and got close enough to be eye-to-eye, she rolled hers which told me that the first mile was a little bit of a challenge for her. I gave her a high 5 and was off again.

Her 5K splits were like this:

Mile 1.1 -- 13:57.30
Mile 2.1 -- 12:31.51
Mile 3.1 -- 12:04.18

Finish -- 38:33.01

So she had run three 5Ks in four weeks and all in the 37-to-38-minute range. The last couple of summers, she started out in the 43- and 44-minute area. I think it is quite an improvement. Last week before that race, she had run 2.1 miles on Monday and did the workout with Bill Dwyer's Tuesday night group in The Woodlands. (She hadn't run on Thursday because she wasn't feeling well.)

The remainder of the Prude Ranch Races half marathon was fairly tough. Nothing like Leadville and not as hot as Lander on the fourth of July, but the temperature at 6 a.m. was 75 and when we left the Ranch, it had gotten to 82 degrees.

I took too much time at each water stop, but I needed to make sure I had fluids in me because of not having anything to eat in my system since the night before. Plus my feet were killing me running the roads with shoes that I had no business running in.

Mile 1 -- 10:43.21
Mile 2 -- 11:48.57 (WS)
Mile 3 -- 10:36.04
Mile 4 -- 11:55.96 (WS; 1:26.35 to the .1 mark)
Mile 5 -- 11:18.48
Mile 6 -- 13:22.89 (WS and a steady climb)
Mile 6.2 -- 3:27.00
Mile 6.55 -- 5:43.77
Mile 7 -- 6:00:00 (15:10.77 overall)
Mile 8 -- 11:16.53 (WS)
Mile 9 --10:59.29
Mile 10 -- 11:12.66
Mile 11.1 -- 14:58.05 (1:11.46 to the .1 mark and 13:56.59)
Mile 12.1 -- 12:40.39
Mile 13.1 -- 11:32.89

Total -- 2:37:42

Hey, the time wasn't pretty, but I had fun and a great experience that I'll never forget with my daughter.

As always, Waverly was waiting for me to finish. She had been helping at the water stop just beyond the finishing gate after she finished her race. She enjoys it and it helps her pass the time. I come to find out that she talks quite a bit about what we've been doing, which is interesting to hear about afterwards. :)

Like I could with her, she could tell when I appeared on the horizon just by my stride (and knew when to start heading out.) She's learned too that when I've had a tough race to just run with me and not say anything, but I know with her being there and doing that that she'd do anything to help her Dad. And that means a lot to me, all things considered.

Now what was funny is that they were starting the awards at 10 a.m. (and we got started at 7:30 a.m.). They were coming to get Waverly because she was getting a medal for finishing second in the 19-and-under division. She ran in - about two-tenths of a mile (as I tried to get down a granola bar while was up the dirt path to the campgrounds.)

Glenn had come up and asked what I thought. I told him that while I had a tough day that I really enjoyed myself. We talked a lot more and all of the sudden, the discussion turned to their camp and about a bike ride that they did round trip to Balmorhea and back.

He stated to tell me a story about one of their running coaches. He said one of their coaches was Austin's Keith Dowland, one of the fastest 50-and-over runners in the state and then he asked me if I knew their other coach, who was from Houston.

It was HARRA's VP of Clubs, Roger Boak, who will be leading the Tour de Art Run for the Houston Striders coming up on September 21 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the RRCA's Run @ Work Day. Roger told me at the July HARRA Board Meeting that he went out to west Texas to train for this month's Leadville Trail 100 but didn't say where. Now I know!

Anyways, Glenn went on to say that Roger has been the running coach at the camp for approximately 20 years and that when the bike ride to-and-from Balmorhea comes up, Roger was once heard saying, "Who needs a stinkin' bike?" as he has run the 37-38 miles from Fort Davis to Balmorhea. All I can say, having seen it in the daylight, is that I'm impressed.

Of course, knowing that Roger has done the Leadville Trail 100 three times already and will be gunning for number 4 this coming weekend had already been enough to impress me.

No long drive is complete without hearing at least once on the radio, C.W. McCall's "Convoy", which we heard on San Antonio's AM 680 on the way back. (It's a country oldies station that we'll be able to play during Kim Hager's runs at the Texas Independence Relay. Big band era music for Juliee Sparks.)

The most interesting site were the windmills between Fort Stockton and Ozona. (On the trip to Lubbock and back in late June, we saw lots of them in Sweetwater.)

And the one sad note of the trip is that we pulled up on an accident on Interstate 10 about 20 miles west of Ozona. It was a one vehicle accident where an Explorer-like vehicle was turned over in the median of the freeway. We couldn't have been five minutes behind it. My guess is that somebody might have been trying to pass going up the hill and lost control of their vehicle or got cut off inadvertently. There were at least two people out of the vehicle and one was very bloody.

As we pulled by, a Texas DPS Officer was just getting on the scene and it was at least 5-to-7 minutes, as we wearing driving east towards Ozona, until we saw an ambulance approaching. We only hope that everybody made it through that accident safely.

9th annual Midnight Bike Cruise, The Woodlands, TX

Come on up to The Woodlands on Saturday night, August 11 and join Bill Dwyer and myself as we both ride 20 miles and participate in the 9th annual Midnight Bike Cruise that benefits the Montgomery County Food Bank.

It's a great cause and we'd like to challenge both the "Texian Road Warriors" and the "Battling Bloggers of the Texas Republic" Texas Independence Relay teams to join us!

How Fast is the Aramco Houston Half Marathon Course?

Just how fast is the Aramco Houston Half Marathon course that 24-year-old Ryan Hall of Mammoth Lakes, California set the U.S. record on?

Honestly, I really don't think that you can say how fast the course is. But if you can, let's face it, Houston has been fast long before Ryan Hall. When I interviewed John Wellerding and Mark Finucane for my December 2006 story on the 1984 Houston-Tenneco Marathon, they both said they came to Houston seeking a U.S. Olympic Trials marathon qualifying time.

If you say Houston is fast, is Arizona's P.F. Chang's even faster because Haile Gebrselassie ran 58:55 on it in January 2006?

All you can really do is measure the field on the course.

Using the finishers data from Runner Triathlete News (2002), the Chevron Houston Marathon web site (2003-2006) and the first post-race file available to the media (in 2007), the average finishing time of Aramco Houston Half Marathon participants over the years has actually increased from 2:11:57 to 2:25:30.

The median time, which represents the time where there were an equal number of finishers above and below the person who had that time, steadily increased through to 2006, but dramatically dropped in 2007. Factoring out the 31 finishers that posted official times of more than four (4) hours, it only moved the median time down to 2:15:15. (The mean time also dipped to 2:25:08.)

2002 - 2,649 finishers - 2:11:57 mean - 2:09:34 median - 13 times over 4 hours
2003 - 3,990 finishers - 2:16:18 mean - 2:12:52 median - 3 times over 4 hours
2004 - 5,207 finishers - 2:17:35 mean - 2:13:34 median - 7 times over 4 hours
2005 - 6,732 finishers - 2:21:35 mean - 2:19:58 median - 3 times over 4 hours
2006 - 7,351 finishers - 2:25:18 mean - 2:21:10 median - 19 times over 4 hours
*2007 - 6,954 finishers - 2:25:30 mean - 2:15:22 median - 31 times over 4 hours.

Therefore, one could make a case that the men's and women's U.S. half marathon championship fields pulled the field through the first half of finishers a bit faster than the last two years.

But that doesn't make "a course itself" faster, does it?

Remember what two-time Chevron Houston Marathon winner David Cheriuyot said in his June 6, 2007 Runner's World interview: "Instead of the smaller, I would like to run a bigger city marathon - in fact, something like Chicago where I have a chance to get my time down lower. I know, if given the chance, I can run just as well as Limo and Rodgers on a course like Chicago. So a chance to run in the big marathons are what I want."

I noticed two things here:

1.) Cheriuyot's reference of "the smaller", which would be Houston, Baltimore and Ottawa - the three primary ones that he's run.
2.) His reference about getting his time down lower at Chicago. How would he do that? By being pushed by faster, more elite-level runners than he is.

I've not run Chicago. Is its marathon course more flat than Houston? Would that contribute alone or would the more elite-level class do so?

Interestingly enough, the mean time of the 2006 Koala Health & Wellness Centers / Luke's Locker Houston Half Marathon? 2:07:15.8. So does that make it a faster course? The median time was 2:06:01.8.

Maybe. Maybe not. Koala / Luke's Locker had 2,315 finishers. But if you looked at the first 2,315 finishers of the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, the mean time was 1:52:00.

But the January event had its course open longer, which sucked the mean times downwards for all finishers.

* The initial data file had 6,989 finishing times and 35 of them had calculated chip times of 8 to 12 hours. Therefore, I excluded them from the calculation.

Chevron Houston Marathon Registration Numbers

In Roberta MacInnis' Running Notebook column today:

As of Tuesday, 3,547 people had registered for the Jan. 13 marathon, compared to 848 at the same time last year, reported Steven Karpas, director of marketing and race development. That's a 310 percent increase.

The half marathon is growing even faster. Last year, 729 people had signed up for the race by this time. This year, 3,357 people have registered — a 346 percent increase.

Registration for the companion 5K, which has a new sponsor in El Paso Corp., is also up 89 percent.

I don't doubt the numbers, but again they are what the organizers tell you they are ... Houston isn't like Chicago or Boston where you can check the list of ALL registrants online.

Karpas attributed this year's numbers to the increased awareness about registering early.

He also credits last year's exciting event for increasing interest in the city's big distance races.

I would agree with the first point, but not because "increased awareness". Rather people didn't want to spend $100 for the full and $70 for the half - where the prices are at now and at the highest point earlier than they've ever been - versus paying $75 and $50 at the same time last year.

The second line I find laughable and pure schlock. Go to any training group in town and ask the members why they're running Houston and I'd be very surprised that you'll hear,"I just have to run Houston this year because Ryan Hall ran 59:43 last year."

Do they really believe that?

"Having Ryan Hall smash the U.S half marathon record here certainly helped get the word out that Houston has a fast course," Karpas said.

If the U.S. Championship wasn't held on the course, how likely would it have been for Ryan Hall to have been here? Not very likely.

Look at the winning times from 2002-2006:

2006 - Nicodemus Malakwen, Kenya, 24, 1:02:07
2005 - Julius Kibet, Kenya, 22, 1:03:17
2004 - Gilbert Koech, Albuquerque, NM, 23, 1:03:08
2003 - Scott Strand, Birmingham, AL, 34, 1:05:13
2002 - Justin Chaston, Houston, TX, 33, 1:08:42

The course was the same at least from 2004 forward. The course itself isn't fast, but it may facilitate faster times than the Leadville Heavy Half Marathon. Just the runners on it.

Plus your faster runners are lining up races - outside of the various U.S. championships - based on what their end goals are, such as the Olympics.

Hanging Out in Pasadena, California

By the way, a congratulatory shout out for Texas' top finisher in Sunday's NYC Half Marathon Presented by NIKE -- Chevron Houston Marathon Director of Race Development Steve Karpas, 41, of Bellaire.

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie won the event in a time of 59:24 - 19 seconds faster than Ryan Hall's performance at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in January. Sunday's fastest American was 30-year-old Tucson, Arizona native Abdi Abdirahman, who came in second in 1:00:29.

Karpas finished in 1:26:07.

The NYC Half Marathon had 9,925 finishers -- just a few more than the Aramco Houston Half Marathon's 6,857 finishers in 2007.

So ... I've begun a project in Pasadena, California. I'll be here for at least the next three months and then it will be month-to-month after that. I'm staying at a Marriott Courtyard that is in what is known as Old Town Pasadena.

I got out this evening for an extended walk around the area - to sort of loosen up the soreness in my legs from yesterday's half marathon in Fort Davis.

There is a lot of interesting architecture here. Those that are into it would probably appreciate more. To me, I just see something and think to myself, "That's cool looking."

One of the most interesting structures is Pasadena's City Hall, which can be seen here on the city's web site.

Our client partner here, who picked me up at the airport, drove me by the headquarters for the Tournament of Roses Parade. It is an Italian Renaissance-style mansion, called the Tournament House, that was once owned by chewing-gum pioneer William Wrigley, Jr.

I've been told that I can run to the Rose Bowl Stadium, which had its first game in 1923 when USC defeated Penn State, 14-3. (Always good to know that we beat the Fighting Irish to something - even though it was a loss.)

Hmmm .... I just found out that they have a Rose Bowl Half Marathon! But it is on December 8 - the weekend of Sunmart (and I want to see Bill finish the 50K!)

On The TIR Course ....

The "Battling Bloggers of the Texas Republic" certainly have a bead on where we'll get the party started at ...

We just wonder how far ahead we'll be when we get here ...

Prude Ranch Races Race Report

I'll expand upon this on Monday night from Pasadena, California where I'll be for work.

However, Waverly and I drove to Fort Davis for the Prude Ranch Races Half Marathon - the first in Texas this year - and 5K.

Tough course (as The Woodlands Running Club's Vincent Attanucci can attest to as he ran the race in 2004, I believe.) I was really proud of Waverly as she ran the 5K. The first mile had a little bit of an uphill and she was running at altitude for the first time ever.

Last Saturday at Run The Woodlands 5K #182, she ran the course in the heat and humidity in 38:20. Today, she ran the 5K in 38:33, but this was at least a mile above sea level.

I ran the half marathon in 2:37:42. I made two (2) mistakes - assuming that there would be something open at 6 a.m. in Fort Davis to get something in my stomach and my shoes. On the former, I ran the race with the last bit of food going in at around 10:15 p.m. the night before. I carried my current road shoes, but I'm thinking "trails". So I took the pair that I ran 20 miles during Rocky Raccoon with Rick back in February.

After Waverly was going out on the bus to the 5K start point (and where the keys to the rental car were with her), I found out that we would be on the road the entire time and I didn't get a chance to change my shoes at all.

We had a great time. Lots more to expound on. It is a half marathon PR -- at altitude!

The Bay Area Slacker

Yes, that's me!

Four days in Fremont, California and I got in a run on one of them! Friday morning starting at about 5:15 a.m. and it turned out to be a pretty decent one.

The route looked like this. 7.29 miles in 1:14:59.03 - 10:17 pace.

I was 3.86 miles in 37:12.84 and then 3.43 miles in 37:46.19. I didn't think that I was faster than 10 minutes a mile going out and I surely wouldn't have guessed that I slowed down as much as I did.

Next week will find me running a block away from the street - Colorado Blvd. - away from where the Rose Bowl Parade.