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.