Armadillo Dash Half Marathon Race Report

This might have been one of those races that I shouldn't have done. I registered though the day before while we were in College Station so it was "race on" for me.

I didn't think the course was as tough as Huntsville, although it certainly had its challenging points. But what made it most difficult was a stiff headwind that we faced from before mile 10 to just after mile 12 as we ran on the feeder lane just east of Highway 6 (Earl Rudder Freeway).

Ken Johnson, Hans Jaeger and John Cook rounded out the Seven Hills Running Club lineup. The day before, Hans, 60, a retired HPD officer, had been quoted by KBTX during their story on the 17th annual Ramp Romp 5K. It can be seen here. (You have to understand that Hans' is a character, but is great to have as a friend. He told me this weekend that there were three races that he'll never do again -- Houston, Sunmart and Surfside.)

I'm beginning to learn a lesson about race courses and their pre-race descriptions.

If there is no description of the course (and no elevation chart), assume that it has some roll to it somewhere. If it is said to be hilly, expect that it is probably tougher than you might have thought. In fact, the only courses that I know that are basically pancake flat are the United Space Alliance 10-Miler (minus a little overpass before the mile 9 marker) and the Beneeezy Purple Monkey 10K in Alvin.

This course probably had a little bit more roll to it than what I had faced the Sunday before in Texarkana. It was cool enough that I wore my "Happy Valley" (Penn State) t-shirt over my technical shirt and I'm glad - later on in the race because of the cool, brisk wind - that I did.

This was another pretty well-done race. I don't think that any of the water stops were right on top of the mile markers. There was a mile marker just before mile 9, but somebody warned me to say that the marker wasn't marked. (All of the others were with a very tall pole in a potting plant bucket.) This mile marker, though, was painted on the ground (in addition to all of the others.)

There was more than plentiful police support and most of them were friendly, except for a couple of Bryan PD members. It was excellent. Sure we were running alongside of Highway 30 (the road to Huntsville) and Highway 6, but every major intersection was manned with law enforcement.

Post-race had plenty of water with plentiful amounts of bagels, bananas and oranges. The only ding is that there was only electrolyte replacement twice on the course.

Here is the damage - basically known as splits:

Mile 1 -- 10:22.41

I thought about running with Ken like I did one time at Run The Woodlands 5K, but for some reason I passed on the idea. I could tell though after this mile that it was going to be a long day.

Mile 2 -- 10:38.02 (21:00.43)

Grabbed some water before mile 2 and making a right-hand turn on Highway 30. Came across the strangest sensation shortly thereafter. I smelled what I thought was cigarette smoke, but I didn't see any spectators along the highway.

Maybe after we passed mile 2 (or just before), I see this shorter gentleman - running with a backpack - and all of a sudden there is a billow of smoke that comes up over his head. I'm thinking to myself, "I've heard of this before, but I've never seen it."

Mile 3 -- 10:32.60 (31:33.03)

The time was OK if I was content for a 2:15 half marathon and if I was able to hold it, but we were going slightly uphill and into the sun. Additionally, I could never seem to get my breathing under control and it had nothing to do with Mr. Smokey.

Mile 4 -- 11:08.09 (42:41.12)

The rough day was confirmed with this split. Also getting confirmed is that Mr. Smokey wasn't just stopping to take a puff of a cigarette, it was a cigar and it was pretty much down to the bottom! Maybe he was smoking it before the race and thought that it started at 8 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. and wanted to finish it. I was stunned.

Mile 5 -- 10:52.88 (53:34.00)
Mile 6 -- 11:05.68 (1:04:39.68)
Mile 7 -- 11:11.03 (1:15:50.71)
Mile 8 -- 11:46.10 (1:27:36.81)

I finally got my breathing under control, but it didn't improve my time at all. I felt very bloated the night before and still into the morning after eating Mexican food Saturday night. But as I passed the mile 8 marker, my spirits perked up somewhat.

I saw a Texian Road Warrior!

While Jay Hilscher of the TIR said it best that I'm not one of swiftest on my feet, but I am competitive. I met John Laskowski two weeks before after a Run The Woodlands when Bill and I was at Luke's Locker taking our picture for the TIR website. John was one of the two replacements for Andrew Perry and Kim Hager. He is one of Kim's triathletes and he was walking.

I knew from two weeks before that Bill was trying to keep John in zones 1 and 2, relating to his heart rate. Therefore, he was doing this half marathon with the same approach. I figured this, but I thought to myself as I went past him - and not saying a word to him - that he was definitely in zone 1 here!

Mile 9 -- 10:55.78 (1:38:32.59)
Mile 10 -- 11:04.69 (1:49:37.28)

You could see that I started to improve a little bit until I hit the wind in mile 10, which was alongside Highway 6. But all of the time, I was trying to fight it so I could say that I took down (lol) one of the Texian Road Warriors.

Mile 11 -- 11:31.40 (2:01:08.68)
Mile 12 -- 11:41.16 (or 11:57.13) (2:12:49.84)

These two miles were tough and that tall sign in the potted plant was at one spot for mile 12 and the painted number on the road was in another. If the mile was really at the painted spot in the road, then the second time applies for the mile split. I also know that during this stretch I was still able to pass quite a few runners. I'm actually guessing about 12 or 13.

They were just withering away in the headwind. One gentleman, who I saw after crossing the finish line, thanked me for giving him a target after I passed him in mile 12. He had an Operation Freedom Iraq t-shirt on and I made sure that I thanked him for his service to our country.

Last 1.1 -- 12:18.62 (or 12:02.65) (2:25:08.46)

Well, the last mile or so was interesting. I'm running along and thinking about how I'm going to give Bill a little bit of a razzing that the Bloggers got one of his Road Warriors - who should had finished 20-30 minutes ahead of me!

Lo and behold, at about the mile 12.8 spot, here came John. He's about 6'5" and he's got a long stride. I made a tactical error. If I had let him go by me and perhaps not pushed as hard, I could have quietly held on and then mounted a later push. I did speed up at the Ramp Romp on Saturday to keep a guy of similar proportions behind me. I didn't have it today, but I challenged him too early.

I sped up and so did he, and I just couldn't hold it. I had nothing in the tank.

John ended up beating me by 48 seconds (2:25:09 to 2:25:57; gun time) although I still had him in sight as I turned off of Highway 30 into Veterans Park. He told me after we finished that he ran into an issue where his bladder was full - and never saw a port-a-pottie that the race organizers said would be on the course! He said at the water stop before the mile 9 marker he talked to a homeowner who let him "go" in the bathroom in his house.

We walked over to the post-race where I talked with the winner Juancarlos Vielma, saw Troy Grimes from Bryan-College Station (and forgot to mention that I saw that he was starting to work with Galloway their in the Aggieland area) and then he was sitting next to somebody that was from the greater Philadelphia area that was surprised to see a "Happy Valley" t-shirt.

After the race, Waverly and I walked around what is known as the American History Mile Trail. Every twenty feet, there were bricks for every year from 1776 to (we got to) the 1950s and it featured significant American, Texan and Brazos Valley history. It was actually pretty neat and it gave me an opportunity to quiz Waverly a little bit on things - even though she hasn't studied American History yet.

All in all, it was a good trip, but I didn't run as well as I might have hoped to.