Waverly Improves at Brenham Hillacious Invitational

She started out last going down the hill at Brenham State School earlier today, but she didn't finish last in a race that included seventh and eighth grade girls combined! She might have been third or fourth from the bottom (knowing that she at least had a girl from Brenham and Bryan and one of her school's eighth graders behind her).

Waverly covered a much more challenging course in 23:43.47, about nine (9) seconds faster than last Friday. She went through mile 1 in 11:34, but she still had three quarters of a little more than a half mile incline to go through. (One of their eighth graders ran the first mile in 8:01 before posting a 7:50 on the back half.)

Aside from the steep hill at the end of the HARRA Cross Country Relay, this course had much more change of terrain than that one does.

There was another bus adventure, but it didn't cause Waverly to be rushing for her race like she had been the Friday before last. Their bus showed up five (5) minutes before the scheduled start time, which was 8:00 a.m. for the junior high boys event. (Dad, while being able to move faster in my pickup, was at the school grounds at 7:15 a.m.)

With all of the running around, I probably got in three miles (but to be able to get her back so she could support her volleyball team at a "B" tournament in Conroe I wasn't able to do the Open race at 12 noon.)

Friday Night: More Treadmill

I got in from LAX by about 7:30 p.m., was in Bally's - The Woodlands by 8:00 p.m. and got an hour in on the treadmill.

Ten minute warmup, then I did some intervals -- two (2) minutes (to simulate a 400) and then three minutes "recovery". The goal was to do this for up to an hour ... but the treadmill when I was doing a sixth 400 started to go "haywire" changing speeds intermittently.

Interval: 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7
Recovery: 4,4, 4.5, 4,6, 4,7, 4,8

When I got to the 5.8 mph interval, that's when the treadmill went nuts. I switched to another machine (different brand and just a completely different feel) and then did a nice and easy 25-minute slow run while reading a bit of the latest edition of Running Times that came in the mail while I was gone.

Montgomery County Triple Fall 2007 Shaping Up!

The Montgomery County Triple is taking off!

Fall '06 - 3 runners (plus two runners/RDs/volunteers)
Spring '07 - 13 runners

We got some nice support from Roxanne Davis at the South Montgomery County YMCA, who listed all three events on the web site for the 18th annual GE Run Thru The Woods. Talk about a heck of an endorsement - and what's very cool is that the creator of it is listed as "friends of the running community". Just how I like it!

I'm reaching out to the City of Conroe Parks and Recreation Department and Mike Lucas of Luke's Locker to make sure that their onboard with what we're doing. And what is that? Encouraging people to support the local events and have some fun with a little endurance challenge.

I've approached Cindy Jones with the Davy Crockett Bear Chase in Groveton to give away a race entry to their April 2008 event to a random finisher of all three races and I'm asking another race director - when they read their e-mail I can change this post - to grant an entry to their October 2008 event for a random finisher of the Spring version of the Montgomery County Triple.

Plus we've been advised by Lance Phegley (who said he doesn't have a vote) to enter our award - three pine cones on a 2x4 - in Runner Triathlete News' annual contest.

Thursday Late Night Running

Yes, the time on the post is right -- 4-something Central time Friday morning. I hadn't done crap the rest of this week. In fact, Waverly probably ran more miles than me as she runs Monday thru Thursday at school. (And she has her second junior high cross country meet this Saturday morning in Brenham at 8:30 a.m.)

I ran about a mile and a quarter at approximately 8:30 p.m. Pacific time to the IHOP for a late dinner. I ate, left the restaraunt at close to 9:30 p.m., walked back and waited until about 11:15 p.m. to head downstairs here at the Marriott Courtyard in Pasadena to run on the treadmill.

I knew I couldn't go fast (for me) on the treadmill so the idea was to try and go an hour upping the mph .1 every 10 minutes and if things were going good, shoot for two hours.

Well, my stomach wouldn't let me make it past 31 minutes. That's when I started to get light-headed. So back upstairs here to the sixth floor.

I went back downstairs at about, yes, you're reading this right, 1:30 a.m., I picked up at the mph marking that I left off (well, .1 mph more) and went back at it while reading the latest edition of Sports Illustrated. Things were going good as I felt my stomach acting up again, but it was reading the emotional story of Mike Coolbaugh, the Tulsa Drillers minor league baseball coach that was recently killed as the result of a batted ball while he was coaching first base.

Right at about 27 minutes into the run, it talked about the player, Tino Sanchez, who hit the ball that killed his coach and how he met with the late coach's sister and her sister-in-law for the first time. My emotions got the better of me ... especially down in the bottom right-hand corner of page 61 when this was written about Coolbaugh (who couldn't seem to get a brake during his playing days):

"Yet off the field Coolbaugh was an object of envy. He took his two boys with him everywhere, couldn't seem to breather without holding them."

I could only think about Waverly.

Many don't have quite the idea of some of the despair that I've faced recently. Some, of course, has been recent crap (and how foolish it has been) and other has been a bit prolonged (and that's quite foolish too ... but that is something that I've been trying to make changes in and those ideas aren't being acted upon.)

It's been tough on me. I'm not proud to admit that I've thought of the worst. Does that make me a bad person? No. It just means that I hurt like others do.

So I stopped this time at 30 minutes, just a bit overwhelmed with emotion.

I love my daughter. I really do. I feel like I'm the most lucky father in the world.

I talked to her this evening after she made it home from her volleyball game. She told me some things that she did well and a couple of mistakes that she said that she made, including one that her coaches got on her about pretty hard. But she said she knew what she didn't do and why they were upset. (And I didn't ask. She just told me.)

The first scrimmage two weeks ago wasn't quite the same.

Her coaches, who are both extremely professional but aren't going to try to be coaches in the American Pro Volleyball Association anytime soon, really chewed their butts out and shortly into the Rendezvous, her emotions took over. It's my job not to sugar coat things for her.

But in a loving way, I told her, "Welcome to public school athletics."

However, she said after the analysis this evening, "I had fun."

The volleyball and the cross country hasn't been mixing well for her. It is kind of tough to do two things and not have to give up one or the other occasionally. This weekend, for example, her volleyball team has a tournament on Friday and Saturday and she has a cross country meet on Saturday. (We're still going to cart her from Brenham to Conroe after the meet so she can go support her team on Saturday at noon. It is a lesson that we pointed out to her two years ago when she sat out of an Upward basketball game at our church the day before she ran the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. And thank goodness, it has stuck.)

She was going to miss the first game on Saturday for the cross country meet; however, she's not playing volleyball at all this weekend. Why? Her coach indicated that a lot of the girls on the "A" team are not going to be available Saturday, October 20 and that she will move her up and let her play with them.

But guess what? She has the last of five cross country meets that day! She play volleyball. :)

This coming week she was going to have another conflict, but her cross country coach really stepped up to allow Waverly to do both. They had a meet on Thursday, the 4th, and a volleyball match. Actually, it is the district meet! Waverly is only one of two girls now on the 7th grade cross country team so it isn't like they can score and win the district with just two of them.

So Waverly could play volleyball, I asked her to ask her coach if she could run Nike South on Friday afternoon, October 5 at Bear Branch Sports Park in The Woodlands.

Her coach checked with the school's principal to see if it would be OK and she is going to volunteer her time to go with Waverly (since they have to have a school official to be able to wear her school colors and participate in the Junior High race.)

I guess if she wasn't a good kid, they wouldn't go out of the way for her like that.

So, she'll run the Junior High girls race and then I'll run the Open race at 6:30 p.m., which will benefit The Woodlands Running Club, before I hop on a plane that evening to Newark, New Jersey to run a couple of events in New York and Connecticut.

A Bit Here and There

I'm running again here and there.

Last Thursday, I got in an hour on the treadmill here in Pasadena.

After getting back in to town on Friday (on a red-eye) and after a little sleep, I went to Bally's in The Woodlands and got in 27 minutes. Yes, I know. It is an odd number. The first 20 minutes was on one machine where I started at 3.9 mph and upped it .1 mph every minute. When I got to 5.9 mph, the unit shifted to different speeds without warning. I almost fell!

I moved to another unit and only lasted seven (7) minutes as the same settings were a bit more difficult, but I needed to get back to the house to meet my father so we could go watch Waverly in Magnolia. I probably added another mile chasing her around the second lap of the course - and a lot of this was sprinting as I moved from place to place. :)

Saturday, at Bailey Middle School, after the first of her four (4) matches that day, I went out on the track and got in 2.75 miles (28:05.51). I was going for consistency and I would have made the last quarter mile, but I started to taste the chocolate milk I had earlier in the morning. Here were the lap splits:

2:30.27, 2:33.62, 2:32.10, 2:32.33
2:34.97, 2:33.81, 2:34.06, 2:33.32
2:35.72, 2:34.20, 2:31.11

So this would have been about a 10:10 per mile pace, but I wasn't racing. I was just trying to maintain a steady consistent pace. (I didn't make it back out there later or on Sunday. The blahs won out.)

However, once I got to Pasadena this morning, I ran another 40 minutes on the treadmill while listening to the speech from Columbia University by Iran's leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I may do a bit more this evening and call it a "double". We'll see.

Speaking of doubles, I had to scratch this past weekend's planned half marathon double in Virginia and Maryland; however, I am considering doing Connecticut and New York next weekend. (Trying to keep the pressure on The Woodlands' Patrick Morein ... but he has two more to add to his state total the week after that.)

I also have an invite to run the Texas Independence Relay course on October 28-29 with Jay and Joy Hilscher and crew.

Couldn't Sleep On Friday Night

I have a lot on my mind, and couldn't sleep.

I have some columns to write - one for the Conroe Courier, which I have to get in before tomorrow for either Sunday or Tuesday's paper, and the next one for Runner Triathlete News, which will appear in the November edition of the magazine.

First things first, I'm getting some of my spirit back, but this blog will never open back up to what it used to be. I'm much more guarded now. And who loses? The runners and triathletes who deserve the recognition that I have the ability to give - and that others in official capacities aren't giving.

Some of you who have access here may have received the e-mail, but one positive thing is that Waverly participated in her first junior high cross country meet.

Here's what I wrote to a handful of people - on and off this blog:

On Wednesday, September 5th, Waverly tried out for - well, she showed up (and) was the only one - and made the 7th grade cross country team at Twin Creeks Middle School. That day or the following day, they had their first work out and she ran two miles on the track in more than 26 minutes.

Early the month before, she did a 5K out in Fort Davis in the 37-and-change, but hadn't done much before that other than also try out for the volleyball team.

Today, she put on her school colors for the first time (well, second time since she had a volleyball match Thursday night) and competed in the Bear Branch Junior High Cross Country meet today in Magnolia.

Even though she started out last, because the bus pulled into the parking lot 90 seconds from the starting gun and she had to run about 400 meters to the starting line, she didn't finish last. (Dad ran to the bus, got her school stuff and ran with them and her towards the start line. They actually had started before Waverly had to go another 20 yards, go around a cone and start.)

She covered a two-mile loop - primarily flat with one slight incline - in 23:53.42 (under 12 minutes a mile) and in 91 degrees heat. She got outkicked on the track by a girl from Willow Wood MS who Waverly had passed a bit earlier. I was (and am) very, very proud of her. The heat and humidity today was tough, but she was out there competing when she could just as easily be at home watching TV.

Next Saturday they go to Brenham and run on the hilly course at the Brenham State School. I saw Coach Dan Green of The Woodlands High School at the meet and he said they quit going to that meet, but knew that course very well. (Why is TWHS as dominant as they are in the sport? Because they have a great program and the fact that Dan is at a middle school meet watching kids ... is a large part of it.)

Dad ran around the course -- not as fast as Sean Wade and Jeff Wells did the Saturday before at Rice's meet mind you -- cheering her (and everyone else on) and probably got in another mile on top of the 30 minutes I did on the treadmill in a little bit of a speedwork I did in the late afternoon. (Thursday morning I got an hour in on the treadmill in Pasadena.)

Recently, I was taken to task by a runner, who has worked hard and done well but who also reguarly posted here anonymously and criticized me because I didn't take the sport as serious as they did. They said, "Running is serious."

My response should have been, "Yes, it is. Only if you're trying to make the Olympic team or are trying to make a living at it." Which few are and they're not.

While trying to fall asleep this evening, I realized that while the individual was running a local 5K last Saturday morning - and winning their age group - I took Waverly out to the Rice Invitational cross country meet so that she could experience first-hand what she was about ready to do the following Friday.

When that individual was out on a Sunday morning long run, trashing me I'm sure as they did to a local runner this week, I was out on a 2-mile run with Waverly at Bear Branch Sportsfields in The Woodlands to get her in a cross country run because her coach hadn't had them to a run on grass yet even. I also pulled in an individual to join us who was responsible for pushing the school district that she is in many years ago to do cross country in the middle schools.

The individual in question is blessed with three children to share their love with while I have one. I wish I had more to share my love with, but I'll do the best with what God has given me to be responsible for. And I think the way that Waverly has turned out so far that it is evidence that I - and her mother - have done well. I'm thankful for that.

The individual is blessed to have a wife at home - by his own admission - that doesn't work and can care for their three children. That's wonderful. I've experienced some situations in my life where those luxuries haven't been able to be enjoyed as much - and it has nothing to do with how hard I worked in life.

To do what I do for a living, I spend 12 hours at a minimum each week travelling to and from my assignment. That's just door to door. That doesn't count the time doing my own laundry, packing and so on. It takes a little extra out of me. Not the laundry part, mind you, but the travelling does.

I'm not complaining one bit, but I find it incredulous how people can be so mean-spirited because I choose to comment on some things in the running community that are painfully obvious; however, to do so is "bashing".

No, it is simply questioning the status quo and wondering why can't it be better.

And not accepting the fact that somebody sticks their name and title to a statement and expects you to respect it for that reason alone. I think you're able to respect it when there is an effort made to prove that you're worthy of the respect.

They say that you really haven't made it in the media business until you piss somebody off. I guess I've really made the big time then! But, believe me, it is never a goal of mine ... yet, I'm the only one that has been willing to put a view out there and sign my name to it.

I guess that makes me controversial.

I've been fortunate. Very fortunate. When I tried to get coverage for others, I ended up getting coverage. And if I want to know something, I have access to all of the best in the sport - of whom I've earned their respect not with my feet but with my words and actions.

But, in the end, I'll never stop being me.

And if you really know me and know what I'm all about, you'll understand that I never ever really have the desire to see myself get credit for anything.

Again, I want to see others be recognized for the things that they've done.

Just A Thought Or Two

I really appreciate what a good friend wrote recently for a training group about a "goal". It was very insightful and pulled no punches, which I appreciate that in my friend.

As far as running and sport goes, that is where my missed opportunity (I had written "problem", but that's negative) is: I don't have one these days.

Yes, my spirit is broken and, it hurts. And that, of course, is more than just what the "running world" has thrown my way recently.

There's a bigger goal that I have in life and that is just to be loved. I know that you have to show love to receive it. That's biblical.

But I think those that have a big heart tend to get hurt a lot more easily. That's Jonspeak ... lol

And the people that want to criticize me about my running don't know what is going on in personal life. They just don't have a clue and, at the same time, it is none of their business. I let know who I want to let know about that. They don't know how much I hurt in that area and how that draws energy away from everything that I do.

When I'm in that space, I do the things that I have to -- work, eat and sleep - and make sure that certain needs are met. Most importantly, Waverly's. I'll sometimes pull myself back up for a little bit and then people find it necessary to want to tear me down. Guess I don't understand that.

On a happier note, Waverly had her first volleyball scrimmage last night and it was an eye opener for her, I was told. Welcome to middle and high school athletics! The words from the coaches were a bit harsh for her ears. This isn't Upward basketball anymore!

Dad will have to do the same type of coaching to help get her through it - if and when she needs it - as we did with the half marathon two years ago. And while it is tough love, it is done - and given - with love, unconditional love.

When I get home, she and I will have to go out for a run, perhaps at Bear Branch Sportsfields in The Woodlands to get her ready for next Friday. When we do, I get to help her and she helps me with my spirits. It is something that I look forward to when times get tough.

Some of that you'll get to read a bit more in detail about that in the October edition of Runner Triathlete News. Those that proofread it for me saw what I wrote about in some of their lives ... which means that it hit the target audience that I was looking for.

Quick Update

Seems like I've been the topic of discussion lately and I have an official group of haters!

What fun! Comes with the spot light, I guess. Have to get the thick skin of Richard Justice, Jerome Solomon and those guys. (Here come the e-mails!)

There are some people who didn't enjoy getting shut off from here and making anonymous attacks. I will say this, though, that as a result of it - which was some very ugly shit, there may be some progress out of it. I won't say any more, and in fact, I probably won't be blogging too much period. (Or it will be a stealth one. I can do it. It'll be like an adventure race!)

I'm working on the October edition of Footprints right now. My Conroe Courier column ran today instead of this past Sunday. I've got a column coming up in October in Runner Triathlete News. I'll get some haters from that one, but it involves my daughter!

Speaking of Waverly, she's got two cross country meets coming up, but I'll keep the dates and locations to myself. I'm telling you, the people giving me grief would have enough balls to show up at a meet and attempt to make things ugly - and these folks call themselves the best that the running community has to offer? I think not.

Waverly's volleyball gets going tomorrow night. It will be her first game, and Dad is in Pasadena, California. Kind of stinks. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I need them on multiple fronts right now. I got some relief today from a couple of stresses this afternoon so there's no doubt, in my mind, that God is concerned about how much I can reasonably handle.

Friday, September 7 - 30 Minutes, Treadmill

That's right, friends, you missed the title, "Thursday, September 6," above. My goal to be like Ken and Vincent failed once again! But I'm not undeterred!

I was wiped out yesterday evening, went to bed fairly early and couldn't drag myself out the door at 1:30 a.m. when I woke up - the first time.

So at 7:30 a.m. this morning Pacific time, I went downstairs here at the Marriott Courtyard and hammered out 30 minutes on the treadmill. Yeah, it said 2.43 miles, but I know I can cover 3 miles in 30 minutes.

Did the 4.3, 4.5, 4.7, 4.9 and 5.1 for the first 22 minutes then added .1 mph a minute until I did the last minute at 6.0 mph. And Bill, yes, that brought the knees up doing so!

Those of you are taking the trouble to sign in to read the blog, thanks. I appreciate your effort. This blog will just be for me and my friends. I tried to cover the sport and the community, but a couple of folks who wanted to make things personal changed that. I'll drive more to the RunHouston Chronicle blog and that's OK. It has never been about me having an audience. It just sort of grew.

A local invited runner (or very much on the cusp of) to the Marathon - and no, it wasn't Jim Braden or Brett Riley either - sent out an e-mail yesterday to their distribution list talking about the $40 for the Koala / Luke's Half Marathon and how it was more than the Space City 10-Miler and the HMSA Classical 25K.

Therefore, I have two (2) posts on the Chronicle blog that may interest you. They are basically a Texas Marathon and Half Marathon price guide.

I think I may end up at the Kolance Krunch 5K in Caldwell tomorrow morning. It would be easy to go to the Bearkat Bash 5K in Klein, but I want to run something different. The interesting thing on their race materials is that they said that the course is "GPS-certified". Sorry, there isn't such a thing. I wish I had the money for every little race like this to be able to send Tom McBrayer out there to certify their course.

If anybody is interested in going out there with me, let me know!

McBrayer is one of the best there is, and his measurement was put to the test in January when Ryan Hall broke the U.S. record at the distance. When there is a belief that a record may be set, a course is often pre-qualified for record quality. This wasn't done. So Tom had to withstand a little nervousness until Bob Barnhill, another quality and top-notch measurer, used some different techniques to say that McBrayer's work was up to snuff. Hall's American record as well as Cantu's, Lauren Smith's and Marcie McCaskill's single-age marks will be certified this December.

Wednesday, September 5 - 6.24 Miles

These miles will get easier, right? And they will pay off, correct?

6.24 slow ones, but they're in the book instead of copping out and crawling into bed a bit early. I went a little bit further on about the same out-and-back course that I did last night.

If interested, the course is here. The numbers aren't pretty, but I kind of tried to slow it down early (and for me, they're all slow!)

Out to Sierra Madre - 2.93 @ 10:44 (31:28.94)
Walnut to Colorado - 0.29 @ 11:04 (3:12.64)
Sierra Madre to Fair Oaks - 3.02 @ 11:06 (33:30.32)
Overall - 6.24 @ 10:56 (1:08:11.90)

When I tried to start following a plan last fall from Bill, he put that these runs should be much slower than my 5K pace (which right now is in the 9:40-9:50 range - want this to be about 9:20), but he had put some of these runs down at like almost at 12 minutes per mile.

I felt like I was going way slower than 11 minutes per mile tonight, but it was at the end of the day and it was after I walked 1.38 miles each way to/from dinner. So 9 miles on my legs.

Waverly Makes 7th Grade Volleyball and XC Teams

One of the things that I've repeatedly told Waverly as we've run and have done other things is that those people that work hard, listen, give it their all and do what the coach asks you to do usually get opportunities that others don't even though they might not be the most talented athlete.

Waverly entered the school year wanting to try out for volleyball and basketball with no guarantee, obviously, that she would make either because she doesn't play either sport on a regular basis. And, granted, certainly not to diminish her achievement in any way, shape or form, but the very best in both of these sports play club volleyball and AAU or select basketball.

And that's perfectly OK, and I'm sure that some of these kids still also play middle school volleyball as well to play with their friends ... but even if they do, it still gives opportunities to more kids to experience the benefits of participating in athletics.

Last week, Waverly went through three days of 2-hour practices (from Tuesday to Thursday) and at the end of Thursday's practice, made the first cut down to 33 girls - for 22 spots on the two (2) teams. They had them come out Friday and then again yesterday, but still hadn't made a decision.

Waverly said that the coaches indicated that their level of play had improved and made their selection process a bit more difficult.

Well, I got the call this afternoon while I am here at work in Pasadena, California that she made the volleyball team -- and her first game is Wednesday afternoon next week!

You can't even imagine how proud I am of her about right now!

When I talked to her last night, I was concerned that with having the practices extended out that her trying out for the cross country team this morning (from 7 to 8 a.m.) might take away from her last practice to make the volleyball team ... but I left that decision up to her.

She still went to the cross country tryout and good for her that she did! And this is kind of sad, but there were only eight (8) young men and women who came out to fill teams in both grades.

There were five (5) eighth grade girls, two (2) seventh grade boys and Waverly - the 7th grade girls cross country team! She said they ran two miles and that she only walked a little bit as she's in the process of getting some new orthotics for her shoes. Without these she's getting a little knee pain and that's what she was experiencing today.

She said that there's a meet at one of the Klein middle schools and another out-of-town meet in Brenham. I told her that if they run it at Brenham State School that she isn't going to like it!

Tuesday, September 4 - 4.32 Miles

These miles just plain sucked, but I have to start getting them done. I've been making excuses for too long. Somewhere in this body there is a 26- or 27-minute 5K, 55-minute 10K, close to 2-hour half marathon and about a 4:30 marathon. I just have to work to find it.

I'm not sure if it had something to do with it being a travel day out here. Or if it was the late lunch/early dinner that wasn't settling right. Or even if it was a day out from biking 16-17 miles on Monday at a fairly brisk pace.

I ran this out-and-back route here in Pasadena, California. It turns out that it is a very slight downhill going out and uphill coming back. It is enough that you can see as you get further in to each mile, and your lungs can feel it as well.

Out -- 2.14 miles @ 10:16 (21:59.28)
Back -- 2.18 miles @ 10:46 (23:28.13)
Total -- 4.32 miles @ 10:31 (45:27.41)

I felt like I was going slower than Sunday even and, yes, the numbers above there confirm it.

Bill and I talked about 6 tomorrow and 4 on Thursday. I also feel like I need to get him to look at my form and stride. It feels contrived and not loose and relaxed. It just didn't right. Maybe it is just me being tired as I write this at 1:21 a.m. Central time.

Changes ... but good ones!

If you're reading this, you've been extended an invitation to do so -- and thank you for understanding.

Even though we don't have an upfront and center link on the Chronicle web site any more with their re-design, I'm going to try and push all of the local, area news to the RunHouston Chronicle blog.

Otherwise, the rest here will just be about what I'm doing and the things that I'm involved in -- whether it be running, volunteering or whatever. Look forward to seeing you out at an event soon!

Is anybody running anything this weekend? Klein is hosting its annual Bearkat Bash 5K (miss the 10K) while Sugar Land will see the 5K for Huntington's Disease Society of America.

I see the Kolache Krunch 5K in Caldwell for Saturday. (Has anyone ever done this?)

2nd annual The Woodlands Adventure Race Report

Bill Dwyer and I were part of over 50 teams of two who participated in this event on Labor Day morning. The 2nd annual The Woodlands Adventure Race is a creation of The Woodlands High School Triathlon team and helps them raise monies for team uniforms and it allows the team to travel to one out-of-town event during the school year.

The cost was $50 per team and the course included the parks in The Woodlands as well as biking on most of the roads, including a swim in the pool at the Branch Crossing YMCA (oops ... I forgot about the pool slide.)

I could go into a lot more details, but I'll tease you and say that my complete race report will be featured in the September edition of "Deer Tracks" -- the official newsletter of The Woodlands Running Club.

West Fest Kolache 5000 / Bicycling in Waco

This was a Sunday that neither Waverly or I ran real well, but we had a good, safe and fun trip nonetheless!

The Kolache 5000 Fun Run is a course that is almost an out-and-back course and that primarily runs parallel to the railroad tracks that run through town. Runners start down Main Street just south of the West Fest grounds. There is a very slight incline that is visible, but really can't be felt by the legs.

At the top of that slight rise (which is near the 3-mile mark coming back in, you're inclined to try and turn things up early in the first two to three tenths of a mile.

Going beyond the mile one marker, you go another six blocks through town and make a right on to Pecan that begins the upper-right hand corner of what looks like a baseball home plate on the map. But as you head on to Columbus, which brings you back to Main Street and the 2-mile marker, you're met with an incline that your legs can definitely feel after enjoying a nice little down incline midway through the second mile.

My times were as follows:

Mile 1 -- 9:30.96
Mile 2 -- 10:11.81
Mile 3 -- 10:02.28
Last .1 -- 1:01:31
Total -- 30:46.36

Waverly's looked like this:

Mile 1 -- 12:37.02
Mile 2 -- 13:25.92
Last 1.1 -- 13:44.15
Total -- 39:47.09

The people, as in most small towns, were super friendly and this might have been the first race in awhile where I actually didn't know anyone personally - even though I recognized Mexia's Pete Martinez, who was last year's runnerup finisher (in 17:28).

My performance has no excuse, but Waverly's legs probably weren't the most fresh after having four (4) days worth of volleyball tryouts last week at school.

After eating breakfast in Bellmead, we headed down to the trails along the Brazos River and got in almost an hour's worth of bike riding. It wasn't fast probably ever and we actually crossed the Brazos River twice -- once on a bridge that we both had to work a little bit to get over while the other was the famous Waco Suspension Bridge, which was completely level.

I got Waverly out on some streets as they weren't completely busy, yet did have traffic to get her used to it.

Before we left Spring, we had to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart at 3:30 a.m. this morning to get her a bike helmet (she had been using mine when I was gone) and each of a lock to secure the bikes in the back of the pickup while we ran. (They would not fit in the truck. We tried before we left the house.)

The locks were a heavy cable with a dial-the-numbers combination lock. I got Waverly's bike in place and secured the new lock with the password. Voila! Then I did mine. The plan was to make both passwords the same (and something that meant something to the two of us.) When we got to the park in Waco and tried to unfasten the second lock (which was securing my bike), we couldn't get it off. I wasn't worried about the bicylcing on Sunday ... it was the Adventure Race that I was teaming up with Bill Dwyer on Monday!

Well, I started trying all of the number combinations that were one digit and by golly, it worked!

And with her helmet that I picked out for her early this morning, she'll be known as the "Aloha Biker Girl"!

Saturday, September 1 - The Blahs

Well, well, I get to type this a second time!

After trying to get to bed earlier on Friday evening (around 10 p.m.), I was back up at 10:45 a.m. and didn't get real tired until about 1 a.m. Saturday morning. (Must have been the sleeping on the plane from Los Angeles in first class.) Therefore, I didn't have the great mental attitude necessary to make the drive down to Alvin for the Beneezy Purple Monkey 10K/5K.

I had been politely reminded on Friday that the event ran out of water in the second loop last year and I didn't want to go through that drama again, but really I was just tired. I knew I would miss seeing fellow TWRC member Vincent Attanucci and one of his sons, probably Matt. I hope Vincent had a great race before later celebrating Penn State's 59-0 drubbing of Florida International at home. (Hopefully, the Nittany Lions don't get caught being too optimistic going into next week's affair with Notre Dame.)

Waverly and I had a late breakfast and I finally made it to the gym - my focusing point - at around 4 p.m. where I posted an hour on the elliptical trainer and 45 minutes on the stationery bike.

We're getting up in the morning to drive to West, which is 12 miles north of Waco, for the West Fest 5000. We're both going to run and I won't be pacing her. She's done fairly well compared to past years at this same time, plus she has spent the last week practicing volleyball as she's been trying out for her school's 7th grade teams.

I hope she makes it. She made the first cut, which took the numbers to 33 girls (for 22 spots -- 11 each on the 'A' and 'B' team.) But there is some realization that the girls in the athletic period aren't getting cut - or only one of them has. I told her to just go and continue to lay it on the line and let things fall where they may. And if she doesn't make, she'll know that she gave up the athletic period so she could continue to take the advanced level Language Arts class.

After we run, we plan to head back to Waco for breakfast and then we're taking our bike to the roads near the Lake Waco Trails, thanks to a reference from the Waco Bicycle Club. We'll see how far - or long - we can ride while having some different fun before heading back to Spring.

When we get back, I'm planning on getting to Bally's in Humble to get a little pool time before Monday morning's 2nd annual The Woodlands Adventure Race. My focus is going to be having fun with a great friend in Bill Dwyer.

My "Talking The Talk" column for the October issue of Runner Triathlete News is ready to go with a couple of more in the pipeline ready to write. I had a really good story last December and I haven't seem to be able to have recovered from that since. The October column is personal and perhaps that what made it a little bit easy to write.

Trying to get HARRA's Footprints together for October as well and that may be my last issue. I've put the word out with many of the club report writers that I'd like to transition from that responsibility.

This is the first post of blogging in silence, so to speak, and it is a lot better. I can really write what I feel. (I realize that it may be possible to back door the blog ... so be it.) I've never needed the audience. I'm just amazed at how much attention I draw when I decide to swim upstream against conventional thinking. I've not been one that has rolled over real easy.

Instead I'll just step aside and let others step in and do what they think is necessary. I've been thankful to have lots of other opportunities - and headaches are not what is needed.

Fired Up 5K Past Winners

For those of you running the Fired Up 5K in Sugar Land on Labor Day, here are the previous year's winners:

Overall Men
2006 - Gerardo Mora, 16:58
2005 - Joe Melanson, 17:14
2004 - Rudy Rocha, 16:08
2003 - Jon Butler, 15:53

Overall Women
2006 - Allison Nadolski, 19:32
2005 - Zoey Beckner, 19:01
2004 - Jackie Connelly, 20:01
2003 - Shannon Shea, 21:44

Masters Men
2006 - Mike Crowley, 18:23
2005 - Mike Crowley, 18:01
2004 - Kurt Pepper, 18:29
2003 - Mark Hornbrook, 17:57

Masters Women
2006 - Sabra Harvey. 21:08
2005 - Bonnie Jo Barron, 20:33
2004 - Helen Grant, 20:14
2003 - Patti Sears, 23:49

West Houston Marathon, January 5, 2008

I saw this blog -- http://westhoustonmarathon.blogspot.com/ - approximately two weeks ago, but I purposedly held it back.

Why? Because the traditionalists will have a field day with it.

We'll see if it actually happens and/or if anybody really shows up for it. Maybe I can hold a 41st birthday party out there that day - since it will be the day of my birthday!

Schrader, Wacker lead way at Cougar Classic XC

Last weekend at the University of Houston's Cougar Classic Cross Country Invitational, the high school runners competed against one another by grade.

Two of the individual race winners - Kingwood Park freshman Bree Schrader and Clear Lake junior Jeanette Wacker - were very recognizable names and some might have expected them to win.

Schrader, who got her start running the Run The Woodlands 5K Series as a child with her father, Chris, actually ran the two-mile course faster than any other girl last Saturday with a two-mile time of 12:06, besting by a second the effort of Alvin's Brittany Robertson, a senior.
Wacker, meanwhile, is one of the top young duathletes in the country.

She is in Hamburg, Germany this weekend representing the United States as she will compete in the 16-19 age group at the ITU Sprint Distance World Championships. Her event tomorrow will feature a 750-meter swim, 22-kilometer (14-mile) bike and a 5-kilometer run.

The 16-year-old was recently featured in a story in the Bay Area Citizen.

Beyond Schrader and Robertson, the next six best times among all four classes belonged to - no surprise - Clear Lake runners, including Wacker.

Finishing second to Schrader in the freshman division was Lake's Brittney Wade, who finished in 12:22.

The boys race in the senior division found St. Pius X' Joey D'Eramo edging out Kingwood's Ryan Bennett by one second with a two-mile winning time of 10:06.

Thinking of adding ...

9-22 - Quantico Half Marathon, Quantico, Virginia
9-23 - Bachman Valley Half Marathon, Wesminster, Maryland

Those two will get me to 20 states overall.

I missed out, it looks like, on Sunday's Tupelo 14.2 in Mississippi. Bummer! And there's no race-day registration.

That would have gotten me to 19 states, first, and New Mexico on Sunday is a bit too far as well.

Who did I stand behind in line and watched buying a sandwich and two Heinekens at a deli in Terminal 6 of Los Angeles International Airport on Friday afternoon?

One of the two remaining Highwaymen, Kris Kristofferson.

No, not December 14 ... but maybe October 29!

The Houston Business Journal reported on Wednesday, August 29 that Chevron Houston Marathon officials indicated that "9,163 runners have registered for the two races, compared with 2,728 registered at the same time in 2006."

The story quoted race director Brant Kotch - a great guy who took time out of his busy day-before-the-marathon routine to talk to Edwin Quarles and myself for a story on RunSport's closing for the March edition of Footprints - as saying, "We expected registrations to be ahead of schedule over last year at this time but never expected it to take off like this."

From Tuesday, August 7 to Wednesday, August 29, that's an increase of 2,709 runners in 22 days - an average of 123 per day.

At that pace, the race would sell out in 60 days - or October 29 (give or take a day since I didn't literally count.)