"Just Another Hour, Bill"

Didn't make the gym to hit the stationery bike Thursday night, but I did make it on the treadmill here on Friday morning at the hotel in Pasadena for another hour.

I have to take Delta back through Salt Lake City as I got squeezed price-wise by Continental around the Thanksgiving holidays. But I have a friend who is a gate agent at IAH and, without me saying anything or even expecting it, he got me an upgrade on Monday morning's leg from Houston to Salt Lake City.

So nice and easy today, which is going to be the theme on Sunday for the Tucson Marathon, which I hope will result in me finally being able to complete a goal and join the Fifty States Marathon Club -- with state No. 10.

Yes, unorthodox and non-textbook training, but I'm not coaching anybody that I have to maintain an expectation of following traditional norms.

If Waverly wanted to do another half, we would do it textbook -- the way that we did it last time in January '06.

Maybe a short run tomorrow morning before catching my flight to Phoenix late Saturday morning. I found out that good friend Jack McClintic, the Katy Fit director and the individual that graciously took over the Power In Motion program for HARRA, will be going back to Tucson this year. It will be good to see a familiar face there.

First Two Floats!

Well, I've now been initiated first-hand into a part of the Tournament of Roses Parade experience! Moving south on Raymond Avenue so that they could be decorated were:

1.) The American Indian Festival float sponsored by Farmers Insurance
2.) The Bon Voyage float sponsored by the City of Glendale

The company decorating them, Phoenix Decorating Company, were the ones that were also doing the transporting with a City of Pasadena police escort, of course.

The linked newsletter shares the following information: Several of Pasadena’s neighbors are providing tours of the Southern California environs: the City of Glendale is bidding travelers
“Bon Voyage” as they depart the historic Bob Hope Airport ...... and The City of St. Louis
honors the pioneer spirit with a celebration of “The Lewis and Clark Expedition,” which traversed much of previously unexplored U.S. territory in the early 1800s. Although unexplored, the area they charted wasn’t undiscovered – having long been populated by indigenous natives. Farmers Insurance pays tribute to those natives with “The American
Indian Festival.”

I'm hoping to be able to fly Waverly out here on Friday, the 21st and then return back to Houston on a red-eye the morning of the 24th.

"No, Bill, Just One Hour"

My AOL inbox had filled up with 1,000 messages.

Bill was trying to send me a return e-mail Wednesday night and it bounced. So he called my cell phone and said something to the effect, "I know that you're probably on the treadmill running for two hours getting ready for TIR."

I laughed. No, it was just an hour this morning. Nice and easy. It is the first activity since Sunday afternoon when I biked on the stationery bike for an hour.

Hopefully some more biking tonight and another nice and easy hour long run in the AM before flying home Friday afternoon.

City of Conroe Turkey Trot 5K Race Report

Working my way backward, Friday morning brought us the City of Conroe Turkey Trot 5K at Carl Barton, Jr. Park.

The plan was to meet Bill at the Park at 6:30 a.m. to set up The Woodlands Running Club tent. We expected the cold temperatures again, but were hoping that the rains that we experienced on Saturday weren't going to move in sooner. If so, the multi-terrain and predominately cross country course would have been mush.

It was a morning, after staying up a little too late on Thursday night, that I really didn't want to get up for.

Nonetheless, Waverly and I were out of the door by 6 a.m. We stopped at the Shell station at the corner of Rayford/Sawdust and Interstate 45. Those familiar with the intersection would ask, "Which one?" as there are three of them! I picked up a copy of the Courier to see the incredible headline, "Home Cook-ing" to describe Thursday's Run Thru The Woods 5-Miler win by Andrew and Melissa Cook of Denton. (Andrew Cook qualified for this year's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, while Melissa is hoping to qualify for the 2008 10,000-meter trials in July. She was 6th in 2004.)

We were no more than a couple of minutes from exiting Loop 336 to meet Bill on time when 93Q indicated that they were broadcasting live from the Conroe Outlet Mall. What does that have to do with running, you ask?

Well, they were giving away tickets to the next 10 people that came up and said the secret phrase, "Frosty The Snowman will not melt today."

Waverly and I took one look at each other. I asked who she wanted to go see if we got there soon enough and she said, "Miranda Lambert". I'm glad that this isn't an open blog anymore as we proceeded up to exit 91 off Interstate 45 a little bit fast. When we arrived to the Outlet Center, we at first couldn't find where they were setup. Once we did, we pulled up and Waverly was off running not even feelings the effects of her three-mile effort the day before.

I parked the truck, hustled over and she had just been given the tickets. Thinking that they might mention something over the air about the 5K (I had to try), I told the main individual of the trio where we were headed. He said that he had done the Turkey Trot in Sugar Land yesterday. I said, "Andy Stewart's event." He said, "Andy's a great guy." And, of course, I quickly agreed. He introduced himself, now runner to runner, "I'm Kevin Kline." I then told him that I knew all about he and his Snowdrop Foundation through Andy's e-mails.

We called Bill to explain the delay. Mr. Easy Going said that he, Andrew and Stephen Smith were about done setting up the tent. (Perhaps it was fitting that Stephen then won Dana-Sue's book the next day.)

Andrew Perry and Mick Long were setting up the Luke's Locker tower. (I didn't learn until later in the day that one of them had blown over at Run Thru The Woods.) Mike Lucas was there as well.

I soon got to meet Christine O'Hagan, the City of Conroe's Special Events Coordinator and Race Director for this event. She is a very nice young woman who is extremely enthusiastic about what was going on.

The only glitch that they had was getting the information into Gary Mulvehill's lap top for the event to be chip-timed. Otherwise, organizationally, the event came off very well. (There was a little concern about if there would be a lead vehicle that would take the first runners through the course, but by the time I made it to their same spots on the course the chalk line was still very visible and there were volunteers in key places.)

This is the second time that I've done this event in its three years, and I've been extremely pleased with it.

It was just incredible watching the people that we saw the day before doing Run Thru The Woods. These folks were coming to do the Triple. Unreal. It was taking on a life of its own!

And then Bill's daughter, Keriann, showed up to run with him. (I'll get to run with Waverly again next Sunday during the Jingle Bell Run in downtown Houston. I may even put on the antlers.)

I don't have my mile splits here in Pasadena with me, but I remember running miles 1 and 2 fairly close then slowed down during the third mile. (The 3-mile marker was too close to the finish line.) In fact, I remember not pressing my watch hard enough at the mile one marker.

Karen Felicidario was a good little bit ahead of me and I had Ron Longtin in striking distance at the mile 2 marker, but I needed a quick blow or two. I let him slip away. I was a little frustrated with myself after having run pretty well the day before. As we made a left-hand turn on the far corner of a soccer field, I took a look to see Ken Johnson off in the distance.

However, it was a little closer for my comfort so I picked things up again (or so it felt like it).

I had Ron within 20 seconds in the last half mile, but couldn't make up any of that time. My chip time was 31:59. I'm not even sure what my time was on the same course a year ago. In a sense, who cares? I had fun ... and I beat Bill for the second day in a row. Plus two of my Texas Independence Relay teammates were there, Dave Smart and Karen.

The official results are posted here on Runner Triathlete News.

Like the Tyler Half, the post-race food hit the spot -- Chick-Fil-A! I got with Christine and she let me say a little bit about the Triple. I thanked her for letting us be a part of their event and when she gave me the microphone, I made sure that people knew their effort to put on a first-class event was appreciated.

As the awards were going on, I got a chance to meet Rand Henderson from Conroe who introduced me to Stuart Simmons, from Willis, who is involved with the Conroe Triathletes. Good people. One of their triathletes, Meredith Bryarly, won the women's overall while Ruth Fields, who writes for the Courier, took the women's masters division.

I also met Lauren Arnold, the Parks and Recreation director; however, I was a bit embarrassed because I always thought that Lauren was a "she" until I saw that "he" was one spot in front of me in my age group. Oops! Nice guy. He said that the City of Conroe is getting more grant money to build more trails and Christine shared with Bill and I that she's got some exciting plans coming in the future.

All in all, it was a great morning. After a few of us helped Bill get the tent down and back into its case, Bill, Waverly and I were off to I-HOP in The Woodlands along Interstate 45 for breakfast and to continue planning and strategizing for our October event.

November 27 Conroe Courier Column Online

My Tuesday column in the Conroe Courier can be found by clicking here.

Friday's coverage of the 18th annual GE Run Thru The Woods can be read here.

When I shared information about the Montgomery County Triple to a friend in Joe Carey's part of town, I received the following nice compliment, "What fun! I'm jealous. I sure wish you lived down here by us. : )"

Hmmm ... perhaps I need to get a bit more loose during the Pub Crawl next year!

Run The Woodlands 5K #189 Race Report

I guess I'll begin working my way backward on this past weekend. It might be the best way to remember everything. :)

Run The Woodlands 5K was the last race in the Montgomery County Triple this past Saturday. (And yes, we raced in all of that rain and cold weather!) It was going to be a busy day for me as I needed to be able to get out of The Woodlands by a certain time to be able to take the medals for the kids that would be participating in HARRA's Just For Kids Fun Run.

By the time I got to The Woodlands with Waverly, Bill already had The Woodlands Running Club tent set up and Karen was just arriving with all of the pine cone awards that we all made at Rick's house the afternoon before.

It was just absolutely incredible to watch all of the people begin to show that we saw the day before at the City of Conroe's Turkey Trot 5K. They were there to run in the rain and 45 degrees temperature for a small piece of wood with three (3) pine cones hot glued to it.

But it wasn't about a tangible award, it was about instilling some "intangible" thing in people to get out, do something different and have fun.

Woodlands Fit organizer Rich Cooper registered (which involves dropping a $1 in the box and signing a waiver) and made the comment of the day saying, "It's pine cone time, baby!" I'm glad that he was comfortable making it because that is what will be in black and white in the Conroe Courier on Tuesday.

We welcomed Cindy Jones, who is involved with the first annual Davy Crockett Bear Chase Marathon and Half Marathon, to come out and speak to the runners about their race in Groveton on Saturday, April 12, 2008. She was giving away a free marathon or half marathon entry to one of the finishers - chosen at random.

Then Ken Johnson surprised me. He thought that the Huntsville Half Marathon was giving away an entry on Saturday as well, but we intended for the Seven Hills Running Club-produced event to do so for the spring version of the MC3. Ken stepped up and sold his race saying, "Since it is so cheap to enter our race, we'll give away an entry today."

Wow! So we had two free entries and two copies of Dana-Sue Crews' book, "Our Daddy's Cancer," to give away!

We all got out in the rain and, of course, many of the usual suspects (i.e. runners) were there including the Van Kuikens (Gary and Denise), Ann Leoni, Carlos Ortegon, Jim Braden (his wife, Karen, helped out as always), Vincent Attanucci and his son, Matthew, and then there were numbers of regulars doing the Triple including Mike Mendeck, Stephen Smith, Debbie Tripp and so on. It was good to see Tom Sherwood and Wayne Rutledge. They showed me a picture of their Clear Lake Falcons high school cross country team that was coached by none other than, Dan Green.

As we got lined up and started, I made a willful decision to simply run the race with Ken. It was a good run, and one that was almost done on a completely even pace. Check out these splits:

Mile 1 -- 10:50.84
Mile 2 -- 11:04.66
Mile 3 -- 11:08.25
Last .1 -- 1:07:01
Total -- 34:10.76

I could have gone out and tried to run as hard and as fast as I could (having put down a few sub 10-minute miles on Thursday), but this was an enjoyable run for me. Plus I knew that as soon as I got in that I would need to be worried about getting people together for the grand Pine Cone ceremony.

And speaking of the "grand Pine Cone ceremony", it really went incredibly well despite a couple of big fears of mine.

While I realize that this was about a "2 x 4 with three pine cones" on it, people still, I believe, expected us to be very organized. Besides, to do this, they spent anywhere from $16-$21 more than what they might have this weekend - plus gas to and from. Therefore, they expected something to be delivered of some intrinsic value.

There were also people there that didn't know me all that well (for example, Rich Cooper of Woodlands Fit) or we they were our guests there (Cindy Jones of the Bear Chase Marathon). I was also representing HARRA, The Woodlands Running Club as well as Bill Dwyer. So I put a lot of pressure on myself to "perform". I thanked everybody once again and promised that I would try to get through things as quick as possible because it was cold (plus I needed to get to Memorial Park!) However, I didn't feel that I rushed anything.

We drew for the two race entries. I had Karen Felicidario's daughter, Emma, draw the popsicle sticks out of a bag to award these. We took pictures and then this is where things got a little dicey - and not in a bad way, at all.

I had purchased two copies of Dana-Sue's book about her husband's Bill's battle against lymphoma. Instead of me trying to re-tell it, this is what is on the family's web site:

"Our Daddy's Cancer: How We Helped Him Fight"
by our mom, Dana-Susan Crews

When our dad was diagnosed with blood cancer in October 2003, we were scared. But we learned that we are pretty tough kids and we helped our daddy fight his terrible disease. He beat cancer and we're so proud of him. Our mom wrote down some of the things we did and said when our dad was sick. We hope that our story will help other kids and even grown ups fight against their troubles and win.

Anna just had something on her blog about defying you not to cry. Reading that bit above, I make the same challenge. And guess what happened when I was introducing Dana-Sue, Bill and their kids, Morgan and Dylan. You guessed it. I choked up and couldn't hold back a tear or two. The one thing that I remember saying is, "These are good people." And they are. They're competitive and talented. (They're both training for Ironman Arizona.) But they are also as sweet of people that you're ever going to meet.

I got through it. We drew a couple of more names. They autographed the books for the winners and we proceeded. [The one mistake that I made, and it wasn't noticeable ... it is just that I missed a little bit of a nice touch is that I had Morgan and Dylan only draw one of the two names. It was because Emma was doing such a nice job!]

We proceeded then to recognize each finisher from where they finished that day at Run The Woodlands 5K. I think I said, "The faster you were, the bigger pine cones you get to choose!"

I tried to say something about each individual that came up. Some I knew very well and others I didn't know at all; however, I tried to make each one feel special.

When Karen came up to get her award, it hit me - Emma met the requirements by running both 1-milers and helping us all out so wonderfully. So I paused, picked out an award for her and recognized her so that she and her Mom could get their picture taken together.

After we went through all of the finishers, I got a chance to recognize Bill and Andrew Perry for their efforts (and I got to raz Bill for his 5K DNF from last year.) But this year, Bill finished the Turkey Trot 5K and got to run with his daughter, Keriann. Good stuff! (Mick Long, who works at Luke's Locker and helped Andrew set the tower up at the first two races and RD Run The Woodlands, had already left.)

And who did I forget to recognize out of all of this? Waverly! She got her award, but after everybody else had started to leave.

I couldn't help Bill, Debbie and Stephen Smith take the TWRC tent down because I needed to head south to Memorial Park. However, if I had checked my voice mail, I would have received a note from Christopher Rampacek that the Just For Kids Fun Run had been cancelled due to torrential rains that were taking place down in Houston.

Nonetheless, we made the drive, saw Erin Foley (who had been there since 8:30 a.m. to make sure potential participants and the entertainment knew that it had been cancelled) and then after visiting with her for a few minutes, we ate breakfast at IHOP on Washington and I-10.

To see more about the Montgomery County Triple, please click here.
To see pictures of the event from Debbie Tripp, please click here.

Tyler Half Marathon Race Report (Updated!)

Yes, a half marathon in Tyler!

And I - and Seven Hills Running Club vice president Ken Johnson - represented.

Another hilly half marathon for me this year, and the time - despite good running weather - represented that. A lackluster 2:30:39 ... but I'm running / racing my way back.

44th half marathon
63rd race of 13.1 miles or more (14 full, 2 30K, 1 25K, 1 15m, 1 50K)

Here are the mile splits (11.14 "chip" difference):

Mile 1 -- 10:18.19
Mile 2 -- 10:13.21
Mile 3 -- 10:45.96

The first three miles were in and around the very nice UT-Tyler campus. Mile 3 ended with a bit of an uphill on a little bit of an out-and-back while still on the campus.

I tried keeping up with this attractive young woman ... and ended up sucking wind in this picture. (Reminder: Enjoy the sights, but don't go into oxygen debt over it!)

Mile 4 -- 11:16.30
Mile 5 -- 8:47.74
Mile 6 -- 12:21.24

As you can easily see, mile 5 was short and mile 6 was long. Overall together, they were probably just right as I saw that the mile marker sign was moved forward from where the actual "5" was spray-painted on the road.

And the kicker is that mile 6 ended on a downhill, but we were warned by the race director - and a runner out on the course with me that a tough uphill was coming. I thought to myself that the pace between the two miles was 10:34 and that was OK with me.

Mile 7 -- 13:15.01

A tough hill that I ran some and just power-walked as quick as I could the rest. Other than Leadville and the half in Wyoming at altitude, this was the second toughest mile behind mile 20 or 21 during the Alpharetta Marathon in Georgia.

Mile 8 --10:53.88
Mile 9 -- 11:06.58 (Overall time of 1:39:09, which was 11 minutes per mile)
Mile 10 -- 12:51.48
Mile 11 -- 14:23.35

My time went to hell and a handbasket in these last two miles. Miles 8 and 9 were on the open country road, which wasn't bad to run on at all. I remember running to the mile 9 marker to try and beat the 11-minute time split, but just missed it.

Mile 12 -- 10:11.59
Mile 13 -- 13:12.16
Last .1 -- 1:02.61

Save three (3) miles and I would have been in more of an acceptable 2:23-2:24 range, given that my running and working out had not been consistent to that point.

Here's one of the Brightroom pictures [click here] ... I might have looked good, but I don't know that I was too happy. :)

As I approached the finish line, there with the public address system with good friend, Lewis George of Mellew Productions in Richardson (Dallas). This was the third event of Lewis' that I've done. The other two have been the Azalea 10K in Tyler back in 2004 and the Big-D Texas Half Marathon in April 2005, I believe.

I'm really not even sure when he and I hit it off. It was some time during the first Love The Half Texas Challenge campaign in '04-'05 that Paula Robertson put on. From then on, we'd see each other at the various Expos at either Houston or Austin. He was more than a little surprised to see me ambling across the finish line.

Lewis puts on very good, well-run events and they're worth the money. The pricing structure for this half was $45 through October 1, $50 up until the day before the race and $55 race day (which is what I paid). Compared to many other half marathons, this was worth it - especially with the course taking it out of you.

Water stations were well-manned. Gatorade and water was available at each station. Mile markers were easily seen. It is not a closed course, but it isn't in a high traffic area. When it did get into such an area, cones and police were positioned appropriately. Post-race foods consisted of Chick-Fil-A (hit the spot on a cold day), plenty of fluids, bagels and bananas.

The winning times (results) were 1:17:57 and 1:34:38, respectively, for the men's and the women's to give you an idea of the course difficulty in Smith County.

Leon Rieger, 42, of The Woodlands - a long-time Run The Woodlands 5K veteran - was there and finished 50th overall out of 279. My time was 2:30:40 in 217th overall. Ken, who was running in his home town, came in about 12 minutes later in 2:42:48 (243rd).

Friday Night Treadmill Run and San Antonio

Scheduled Departure Time from LAX - 3:05 p.m. Central time
Garage Parking Receipt - 6:56 p.m.
Exxon Gas Receipt - 7:20 p.m. (Think I buy Citgo? Hell no!)
Treadmill at Bally's - 8:10 to 9 p.m.

Fifty (50) minutes. Started at 4.3 mph, went 10 minutes and then took it .1 mph each five minutes until I got to 5.0 mph. Completed that cycle through 40 minutes, went at 5.5 mph for another five and then 6.0 mph for 2.5 minutes and 6.5 mph for another 2.5 minutes. (Why the rush at the end? Well, I know that Dwyer - although he may not have the endurance (unless, of course, he's sandbagging on us with his training information) - still has wheels.)

And I get to do battle three times next weekend. :)

San Antonio? Well, I've signed up for my first Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. The deadline was midnight to register at the $65 price. And I got in a few minutes ago. (Bill's signed up for this already too. Plenty of time for him to get ready.)

I'm starting to get my energy back. I think my plans for the upcoming weeks are as follows:

Thu.-Sat., Nov. 22-24 -- Montgomery County Triple (5M, 5K and 5K)
Saturday, December 1 -- St. Jude Marathon, Memphis, Tennessee (State No. 10 - Anybody want to go along and run it?)
Saturday, December 8 -- Sunmart 50K, Huntsville
Sunday, December 9 -- (Hang out at ...) Sugar Land Lakes at Williams Ranch 30K
Sunday, December 9 -- Jingle Bell Run 5M (with Waverly), Houston
Saturday, December 15 -- Wildkat 5K, Willis

After that, we'll see!

I'm even thinking about opening up this blog -- albeit "Houston Running 2" -- to the public. However, my personal running - times and training (what ever you call it) -- will stay here.

Every Other Day

Goodness knows that I'm not even posting every other day!

Thu., Nov. 8 - 1:00 on the stationery bike (Pasadena).
Sat., Nov. 10 - 1:20 on the treadmill (The Woodlands).
Mon., Nov. 12 - 1:00 on the stationery bike (Pasadena).
Wed., Nov. 14 - 1:20 on the treadmill (Pasadena).

I'm going to try and run some more tonight. The latter two workouts were a bit easier so improvement is being had somewhere. It's not what I'd like, but life - and work - has got me a little whipped right now. :)

I was trying to look and go do something long this weekend (regardless of the time) just to push myself. Obviously the two halves in early October (ugh, a pair of 2:38s) and then the one the following week in Huntsville (2:29) didn't carry over through the rest of the month. However, I can't make the logistics work for either Tulsa, Oklahoma or Overland Park, Kansas. (If they were 7 a.m. marathon starts ... possibly.)

There's a lot going on right now. I don't even have the time to adequately recap it.

I'll be doing the Montgomery County Triple next week so I look forward to seeing everyone out at one or all three of those events. (The 3rd annual City of Conroe Turkey Trot 5K even made the Chronicle today!) Hopefully, we'll get some cooler temperatures for all three!

But through it all, I'm pretty fortunate. I have great friends!

I get to write in the newspaper once a week! (Not that makes me anything special, but it is pretty neat. Even at the age of 40.)

Our December edition of Footprints looks really solid. I made edits to the proof this week. (Edwin: Thank you for what you do to make the product first class.) Anna really writes well in addition to having the great columns of Dr. Bob Hoekman, HARRA's Medical Director.

I get great assistance from a lot of the clubs, and I'd love to have another four (4) pages but I need money to make that happen.

Even though I know what it is going to look like, I can't wait to get my Inside Texas Running in the mail to see what my content and Patrick Leung's layout is going to look like on black and white.

Back to my crazy life, here's a quick recap on what's been going on week-to-week:

Sat., October 13 - Ran Huntsville Half Marathon (well, if you want to call it running). More importantly, Waverly sang the National Anthem! (Thanks Ken!)
Sun., October 14 - Travelled with Juliee Sparks, Bill Dwyer, Waverly and Kim Hager down to the United Space Alliance 10-Miler in Clear Lake. Watched Kim come in third. She ran really well and barely missed out on second to Dawn Domaschk.
Sat.-Sun., October 27-28 - Did about 17.5 miles in doing a pre-inaugural Texas Independence Relay course run with Jay and Joy Hilscher. It should be on their site next week ... a "race report", if you will.
Sat., November 3 - Did 8.5 with Bill's Woodlands Fit half marathoners. Well, I went out with Rick Cook a blazing for the first mile (in around 8-per) then had to back off.
Sat., November 3 - Watched the U.S. Men's Olympic Trials on the Internet. (Should have been there in person, but oh well!)
Sun., November 11 - Went to the HMSA Classical 25K downtown and ended up manning a bullhorn for about two hours and 45 minutes. (Edwin and Holden had rough days, but it is why there are more than just one race in our life. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that to somebody like Brian Sell.)

That gets me caught up a little. I may have replicated something. If so, I apologize.

Oh, Waverly got her materials for the ACT last last week, which she is taking on Saturday, December 8th. I'm pretty excited for her ... a 7th-grader taking the ACT. (Sort of like two of my friends -- Cassie and Sarah -- who have shared their thought processes with me of what to expect from a parent's perspective.)

Tuesday Night Treadmill

Darn, I didn't succeed in getting anything in Sunday (fighting cold) or Monday (travel wiped me out); however, I made up for it this evening with an hour and a half run on the treadmill here at the Marriott Courtyard in Pasadena. I tried a couple of different things to mix things up since I knew that I was going to run between an hour and two tonight.

I started out at a very slow 3.5 mph, but I added 0.1 mph every minute until I got to 5.9 mph and needed to back it down. I walked for two minutes and started the progression again.

Somewhere around 41 minutes (in total time expired), I was on page 31 of this month's edition of Running Times and was reading about fighting fatigue in the 3,000-10,000 meter distances. It said, "Long intervals 3 to 5 minutes) increase the heart's stroke volume (amount of blood pumped by the heart per beat) and cardiac output (amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute), leading to an increase in VO2 max ..."

So, I threw in intervals of 3, 3 and 4 minutes before the treadmill got to an hour. Then, I ran another half hour starting at 4.0 mph and adding 0.1 mph each five (5) minutes.

And, actually, before I came back up to my room to shower before grabbing a late night breakfast at IHOP (which included an easy 1.25-mile walk to and from), I was completely soaked and I didn't really feel banged up.

For the record, I'm NOT running the HMSA Classical 25K on Sunday. I do know that Mr. Quarles will make his first appearance from Lufkin - and hope not to get pipped again by HARRA's Madame President, Anna Sumrall Helm.

However, I may find a race of some distance to go and do on Saturday. Not necessarily that I can do well at it, but just to get the rust off. And I'm thinking that the Asics Texas Twenty in Dallas isn't going to be one that I choose to do. :)

Actually, I really need to slug out a marathon and get back in the groove.

Congratulations to Cassie for finishing the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday. I know I e-mailed all of our Texas Independence Relay teammates once I saw the result. Of course, Sarah had her and Jen Kim's times plugged in. I should have known. :)

As I was walking back from a late dinner, I stated to contemplate a number of things. Two of which were December's Footprints and the wealth of friends that I have.

Edwin really wrote a nice piece about the Houston Striders' Brett Riley. (Of course, I had to update it a bit at the end to reflect Brett's superb finish in New York City on Sunday -- 14th American male and a new PR ... I think by a second if my research was correct.)

He also stepped up and wrote the Brazosport Area Road Runners Association (BARRA) report in a pinch. I cranked out club reports for The Woodlands Running Club (TWRC), Finish Line Sports (FLS) as well as Team In Training (TNT), with an assist from Bill Dwyer, plus I wrote event coverage of the United Space Alliance 10-Miler and the Koala/Luke's Houston Half Marathon.

In addition, we have our normal columns from Anna and Dr. Bob Hoekman.

I'm really proud of the product that we put out. (To be honest, I want to make sure that I'm doing a better - as an editor - than the Dallas Running Club and the Austin Runners Club.)

I also couldn't help but think tonight of the incredible friends that I have. Some of you know of a struggle or two that I face in my personal life - and I'm not talking about those who tend to be a little bit jealous of some of the opportunities I've been given - and your friendship really makes some of the rough times bearable.

I'm really looking forward to the Texas Independence Relay in March, but there are still so many more good times leading up to that.

I get to work with Bill and Rick in putting together the Montgomery County Triple! (Check out the new blog that Rick set up for it.) We've asked the folks with the Davy Crockett Bear Chase to give out a free entry to a random finisher from the Fall version. Seven Hills Running Club's Ken Johnson has agreed - if the Bear Chase does - to give away a free Huntsville Half Marathon entry to a random finisher from the Spring version (which only requires you to run three Montgomery County 5Ks in consecutive weeks).

I was wondering the other day if Sarah was planning on taping "Go Sarah" to the outside of her running top again this year as she runs the Chevron Houston Marathon. (At least this year when I hear it, I'll already KNOW who she is!)

I'm looking forward to hanging out at the Texas Marathon in Kingwood on New Year's Day. Rick's going to punish himself with four brutal laps on concrete, but Steve and Paula Boone really make it a fun morning to be a part of. They are really some very kind people.

And Bill and I are working on something really, really cool.

Alright, enough rambling, have a great Wednesday!

Nov. 3-4 Weekend Update

It is a couple of minutes past midnight on Sunday morning. I'm watching the Internet coverage of today's U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Trials and I'm kicking myself that I wasn't there earlier today as there was no rain! Ugh!

(Congratulations to Ryan Hall, Dathen Ritzenhein and Brian Sell and how sad about the passing of Ryan Shay. Just a testament that things can happen to any of us at any time.)

Normally, I would throw caution to the wind and just do it; however, I thought that rain was going to be in New York City from Hurricane Noel. I had made it back to Houston on an earlier flight and was able to get reward travel into LaGuardia. I just didn't know how I was going to manage the rain with the cold and the wind.

So instead of going to New York City, I was able to get in an 8.48-mile run this morning with the Woodlands Fit half marathoners. (Karen, when I mapped mine, that is what I came up with!) It was a run that I needed to get in as I've recently fallen off the truck for about the 39th time over the last three or four years.

From a time standpoint, I wasn't happy. But I felt good out there.

Mile one was fast. Why? I was running with a guy who is in absolutely the best shape of his life, Rick Cook. After about 8 minutes, I told Rick that I needed to back off. I hit the 1.99-mile mark in 19:19.12 - which isn't my 5K best, but for where I'm at, it is OK.

Mile 2.72, I had backed off to 28:01.88 and by the finish, which was longer than Bill's "8 miles", I was in at 1:30:36, which was a pace of 10:41 per mile.

I've got to get back and doing at least an hour of something from here on in.

Fri., Nov. 2 - Ran 1.3 miles from the office (I had to go in for about an hour and a half at 4 a.m.) to breakfast. Walked back a good bit of that to Bally's where I went and hammered out an hour on the stationery bike.
Sat., Nov. 3 - 8.48 miles in 1:30:36, 10:41 per mile.

Bill had introduced Rick and I to the rest of his Woodlands Fit group before we got started. Of course, when you run 100 miles, you get a round of applause which Rick so richly deserved. :)

With me, they said, "Oh, the sportswriter!"

I had Waverly bring over both the award for the Montgomery County Triple as well as the medal for the Texas Independence Relay.

I held off the second group for about 2 miles while Rick was off chasing the first group that went off.

We had breakfast with Bill at Skeeter's and then Waverly and I later met with Bill this evening at Denny's in Spring as we're preparing for a really special situation in The Woodlands that will come up in October 2008.

Waverly with an Olympic Qualifier!

Waverly pictured with Brian Sell, today's U.S. Olympic Qualifier for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the marathon.

Sarah and Brian Sell and Waverly and Jon Walk in Roaring Spring, Pa.