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"!
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"!
posted by WalkSports.com | 3:06 PM
1 Comments:
The part in Waco you describe along the Brazos was miles 24-26.2 of the marathon. Ended up being some of the flatest & shadiest parts of the course. I still dislike that course.
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