Saturday Stationery / Sunday Treadmill

A few funnies to end the weekend ....

An applicant was being interviewed for admission to a prominent medical school. "Tell me," inquired the interviewer, "Where do you expect to be ten years from now?"

"Well, let's see," replied the student. "It's Wednesday afternoon. I guess I'll be on the golf course by now."
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Doctor: "It's no good. I can't find anything wrong with you. It must just be the effects of drinking."

Patient: "I'll come back when you're sober then!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How long a minute is depends on what side of the bath-room door you're on.
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Adolescence is a period of rapid changes.

Between the ages of 12 and 17, for example, a parent ages as much as 20 years.
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Q: What do you do when a blonde throws a hand grenade at you?
A: Pull the pin and throw it back.
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Welcome back. Sorry, but I couldn't resist. I hoped you enjoy them.

Saturday night, I made it to the gym late in the evening to crank out 40 minutes on the stationery bike (after the 5K earlier in the morning).

Today, I didn't get to my original goal; however, I made it to Bally's to register 51 minutes on the treadmill. Yes, another odd number. There's a logical explanation though.

10 minutes - 4.5 mph
10 minutes - 4.9 mph
10 minutes - 5.0 mph
10 minutes - 5.1 mph
10 minutes - 5.2 mph
1 minute - 6.2 mph
Crapped out in the 6.1 mph

Yes, I should have built up .1 mph per minute to close it. But I thought I'd try something different, and it hurt in a hurry. What was interesting though is that when I hit 6.2 mph it showed a 9:40 mile. If I had run as fast on the ground Saturday morning as I had in the last minute, there's no way I would have only run in the 30-minute range.

And it is still bumming me out that I can't slip back under the 30-minute barrier in the 5K.

And we know that Centerville isn't going to be an accurate measure of that on Friday.

I head back to Jackson, Mississippi in the morning for work. Home on Thursday night.

Run The Woodlands 5K #203 Race Report

Not too much to report here. It is warm. It was humid. Mile 1 was OK. The next two weren't. But unlike my business partner and TIR competitor, I ran it this morning. :)

I'm relentless in my pursuit of getting Bill to run these things. On the second loop of the Barbara Bush Elementary parking lot, I bellowed out to Bill, "I hope you've picked out a good trail shoes for Rocky in February."

On the first loop, it was just a simple, "Bill, you should be running this today."

Even Kim Hager agreed as I exited the parking lots for the pathways. I think I faintly heard a remark that Bill's uncoachable. Very true. :)

My effort today wasn't anything to write home about. However, since it is my job to write about, regardless of how painful it was, here it is -- 30:53.16.

Mile 1 -- 9:18.48
Mile 2 -- 10:12.17
Mile 3 -- 10:29.54
Last .1 -- 53.97

As long as it beat Ken Johnson's time at the Polish Pickle 5K Run in Bremond this morning, I'm good.

Mile 1 felt pretty good, including the downhill to the bridge. The worst part of the race came before we turned on to Alden Bridge though. I had to quit following the female runner who had some of the best looking calves that I've seen (and she was running on the forefront of her feet too.)

I thought mile 2 would have been the worse of the two as I stopped a little bit more than in the third mile. I caught Kim Driver's youngest daughter and asked her if Kim had dragged her out this morning. She confirmed my theory. (Kim graduated a year behind me at Spring High School and her family lives out in Montgomery.)

I was about ready to take another quick breather before the turn back into the parking lot, but darn ... there was Kim Hager cheering runners on in. I couldn't stop now!

What's fun about the $1 Run The Woodlands 5K race is the social opportunities that abound. Here's who I remember talking to or with a little bit:

+ Rick Cook
+ Vincent Attanucci
+ Paul "Skip" Moschell
+ Tim Vibrock
+ Donna Ryals
+ Karen Felicidario
+ Barry Blanton said "Hello"
+ William Banes

I saw the usuals - Mick Long, Stephen Smith, Kim Hager - but didn't get a chance to visit with any of them this morning.

Yes, the list is typically longer.

I'll write about our day on Friday a little bit later, but basically Waverly and I ran from the hotel to the gates of the Rose Bowl and back. About 3.2 miles roughly, and then I added another 30 minutes on the treadmill while she went to the room to shower for breakfast.

This was before a 6-hour drive to San Francisco, a 3-hour wait for our flight, the flight home and then not getting to bed until 2:30 a.m. this morning. (I just cranked out a yawn while typing the last sentence.) If we couldn't be in Squaw Valley, California this morning, it is just as good to be home.

San Antonio Boasts

Those of you who are registered for the San Antonio Rock 'N' Roll Marathon and Half Marathon should have received your monthly e-Newsletter.

In it, the following sentences appeared on the far left-hand corner:

Not a runner or walker? You can still be a part of the race! With over 20,000 marathon and half marathon participants, we need your help with every aspect of the event.

Team up with your friends or family and make it an experience you won’t forget.

Did you catch the number? 20,000.

That's right. Just a pair of thousand more than Houston.

I'll believe the number of finishers from both races when I see them, but that's a heck of a boast.

I had one gentleman on the plane to Kansas City last Wednesday night (with a bag with an El Paso Corporation tag on it ... i.e. biased) ask me if I was running Houston this year. I was wearing my 2008 t-shirt. I was thinking a little bit like, "Doh. We're in Houston. Might as well run it."

I told him that I didn't think that it would sell out. He assuredly said that it would.

72% as of tonight equals 12,960 with 5,040 spots left to sell.

I think that the economy is going to cause it to fall short, but I could be wrong. We'll see. I've been wrong before.

Heading Home Early from California

We had structured our vacation to be heading north on Friday morning to go to Sacramento and then Auburn to meet Rick.

However, having done everything that was on Waverly's list to see and do and neither one of really wanting to do an amusement park or go down to San Diego (which would really make for a kick butt drive back to San Francisco), I bit the financial bullet and paid to change our flight to come home tomorrow evening.

It was going to be $300 (or more) to somebody if we had stayed two more nights somewhere. (In fact it would have been that plus two days worth of meals, which have been running in the $70-80 range.) Granted I would have spent it if the race - Western States 100 - was on and would have been glad to; however, with the change because of the weather conditions then and what is expected to come this weekend, I felt like it was best to come home.

I just hated giving Continental $300 more. (Yes, I didn't use my reward travel for this because it would have been at the 50,000-mile per ticket level.)

It'll give Waverly some time to spend with her Mom (since she'll be out of town for two weekends in July), me some time to get ready for going back out of town on Monday and a chance to do a couple of things close to home. (Meaning I might do Run The Woodlands 5K on Saturday.)

Today was pretty tame. She took an extended nap after we had breakfast at Marston's on Walnut (if you're ever in the area.) I had never made it there when I worked here because I always arranged to get up right before I needed to be in the office. We went to the Griffith Observatory this afternoon, drove by all of the studios in Burbank (NBC, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon and ABC/Disney) and then came back to the hotel.

I'll probably run a little later this evening (as it is 10 p.m. Pacific right now).

Then we'll do a morning run to the Rose Bowl and back together, get showered, get something to eat and begin the drive north to SFO.

Stu's Country Mile 5K Car Pool: Fourth of July

Here's the deal: My truck can comfortably seat five. I'm planning on going to Centerville to run the event for the second time ever.

Mr. Cook has grabbed seat No. 2 and has, in fact, called "shot gun". (Well, Waverly will probably sit in the middle of the front seat, come to think of it.)

If you want to go run the event on the Fourth of July, have breakfast in town afterwards, and then drive back, please let me know ASAP. First come, first served. I promise you that the Stu's Country Mile experience will be one that you'll never forget.

I think Kim Hager should go with us. I'm not sure that they've ever seen a woman run that fast in that town.

Bill should too. It might give him a chance to put one on the "Jon vs. Bill" scorecard on his blog. If he goes and runs it, perhaps I'll announce the San Antonio option that I've presented him.

If he doesn't, well, it might be off the table. :)

Isn't a great to be in a position to hold a few of the cards!

Waverly at Three of the Hollywood Stars

Waverly at the star of Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen. This was taken for my niece, Haylee.

Waverly at the star of country singer Tim McGraw. This was taken for my sister, Holly.

Waverly at the star of Snow White. This was taken for my niece, Hunter, who's 4.

Wednesday's Physical Activities

Even though we've put a lot of miles on our feet this trip, I felt kind of guilty yesterday of not having run. Mind you, I can't do what Ken Johnson or Vincent Attanucci do - and that's run at least a mile every day.

If you really think about it, it really isn't that hard to do. (Gentleman, that isn't to take anything away from your accomplishment at all. I think it is absolutely incredible.) Go to the track every day, run four laps and go home. Pretty simple in theory, but much, much harder to stick to and put into practice. (I've talked about my "have to go for about an hour to make it worthwhile" theory before.)

Wednesday morning, while Waverly got a little extra sleep, I put in an hour on the treadmill here at the Marriott Courtyard in Pasadena from about 9 to 10 a.m. I kept it easy. Different treadmill model. 4.3 mph for 40 minutes and 4.5 mph for 20 minutes.

After going out to Simi Valley to go to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, we drove down the 405 to Santa Monica. We drove over to the beach, saw the famed Santa Monica Pier and then rented a pair of bikes for an hour - and got in nine casual, leisure miles.

We rode down to part of Venice Beach and then back up north of the Santa Monica Pier.

On the weekends, it's been said that it is one of the many places to see and be seen at.

Western States 100 Cancelled

The fires in Northern California have claimed its latest victim: the Western States Endurance Run. For the first time in its 35-year history, the race will be cancelled.

I've talked to Rick quite a bit over the last day and obviously he's pretty bummed. He has busted his ass to put himself into a position to finish the granddaddy of trail running.

Waverly and I were both very excited about the prospects of this weekend. Our plan was to meet Rick in Auburn so he could drop his rental car there at the finish and then we were going to stay in a condo that he rented for Thursday and Friday.

We have with us the Houston Running Bloggers banner (yes, it fit in the suitcase) as well as The Woodlands Running Club banner.

They were going to be used for pre- and post-race pictures.

I specifically had also not written about the event in my Courier column so that I wouldn't jinx Rick's finish (not that it really mattered, but why let things to chance?) I also have the same type of deal with Kim Hager.

We're as disappointed about not being able to spectate and cheer Rick on as he is about not being able to run in the event.

Waverly and I both looked at each other last night at dinner wondering what we were going to do. We don't have hotel rooms planned now as our flight home isn't until Sunday evening.

The race will be making some decisions about the 2009 race as soon as possible. Personally, I think that the 2008 entrants should get to run the 2009 race since it is clear that race officials never had a backup plan in place. It is one thing that the Chevron Houston Marathon can't simply shut down one week and do it over the following week, but I can't imagine that a race of this magnitude hadn't thought this whole thing through.

The race did the right thing from a safety standpoint, but its response over the coming days is how they'll be judged.

California Vacation Day 3 Picture Highlights

I got really, really lucky in the picture above. I wanted to try out the new Nikon D60 camera on seeing how well it would pick up something that moved really fast -- like a roller coaster! Guess who that is on the third row of The Giant Dipper? Waverly! (She's just to the left of the top of the white that protrudes up the middle of the care.) Like I said, lucky picture! I didn't even know which car coming through that she was going to be on.

Somewhere along the 17-Mile Drive in Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, we came upon some sea lions who were simply stretched out and relaxing. Hey, isn't that what vacation is supposed to be all about?

The 18th green of the highest rated Public Golf Course in America: Pebble Beach. Enough said.


This picture scares Dad. Why? It is really a very good picture of a beautiful young woman. Once again, enough said.

Western States 100

One of the objectives of this week's vacation is to be at the start and finish line when Rick Cook competes in the granddaddy of all ultramarathons - the Western States Endurance Run.

The 50 or so of you who have access to this blog are in for a treat. I've asked Jim Braden, who has two Western States finishes to his credit, to share some of his thoughts and memories as a prelude to Rick's run this weekend. (I think Bill is planning on including this along with Rick's race report in a future issue of Deer Tracks.)

Here's what Jim had to share:

Wow, the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Great memories. My best to Rick, hope he does well. I will send him telepathic energy during the event.

I did it in 1990, age 55, and I think the second time was in '96. The first time was difficult, so I went back after a couple Leadville Trail 100's (28:04 best finish), thinking I could do better. Didn't happen. I finished both WS100's just under the 30 hr cut off times. Note: 60+% of starters don't finish.

WS begins with a run/hike up the Squaw Valley ski slope. Over the top, it's a very long and steep descent to the first aid station. I'm pretty sure that my problem the first time was over-extending my legs on that fast, long downhill, creating pain behind both knees. (I ALWAYS go out too fast!!) From then on, it was fairly painful, knees and, increasingly, quads, fighting the cutoff times to the finish. The course is net downhill, running up and down canyons, finishing in Auburn, CA. The canyons are very hot and dry. I recall traversing up one canyon wall when a runner ahead of me had passed out in the heat. Medics on horseback came to assist him.

Since the 1990 event was my first time going twice as far as the longest ultra distance I had ever run, and this would be my first ultra in the mountains, so I spent a lot of time, in the day before the start, questioning the gnarly vets for advice on keys to a successful run. Later, Karen overheard some of them wondering how far the Texas flatlander would make it before dropping. Learning this, I redoubled my focus to finish.

Unlike Leadville, where the primary issue is altitude, the WS primary issue is heat. Also, WS is more difficult than Leadville for crew access. It's more important to select and have enough of the right fluids and calories in your drop bags at the aid stations. Best to have too much, and a wide selection, taking only what you feel like at the time, leaving the rest. (My favorites: vanilla Ensure, and P&J's).

Forest Hill is a major aid station, at about mile 65, with crew access, weigh-in stations, full support services (I had a painful black big toenail punctured by a podiatrist to relieve pressure. Then I cut off the top of my running shoe over the toe to remove irritation.) That's where runners pick up their pacers.

I never plan on a pacer, depending on myself to get me through. However, on my second WS100 there was a retired runner who lived in Auburn looking for someone to pace. Karen put him on to me. What a lovely guy. He had retired from the Merchant Marine. He knew celestial navigation, and gave me a wonderful astronomy lesson as we ran through the beautiful starlit night. Eventually, he couldn't stay with me, and I couldn't stay with him because of the cutoff times.

After the last aid station, you cross a stream then head up a slope onto the streets of Auburn, finishing with a jaunt around the school's track. It was morning, I was filthy from the slog across the Sierra's, so I waded into the shallow stream to wash off before the finish. I bent forward to scoop up some water, but my legs wouldn't support the weight shift and I fell face down into the stream. Up I got, then hit the trail to the finish.

As I emerged onto the streets of Auburn, there was Karen. I thought she would be glad to see me. Instead, her face was ashen. I didn't know that when I fell in the stream I had cut my eyebrow on a rock. So there was blood running down my face and body, looking a lot worse that it was. We got through that, and her upset that the race officials hadn't logged me through the last two aid stations, and I hobbled to the finish.

After returning home, I suddenly got a sharp pain in my abdomen. The ER doc asked all the right questions about what I had been doing, and made a quick, correct diagnosis: I had chemically burned the lining of my stomach, taking so much, too much, Advil during the event. He gave me a tablet, which they give to ulcer patients, which produces a neutralizing foam in the stomach. Instant relief. (Postscript: it's since been proven that large doses of ibuprofen during endurance events can cause kidney damage. Take 8Hr Tylenol instead.)

I have lots more memories, and Karen, my crew chief, has many too, but let's leave this here. . . . . . .

Wow! Thanks Jim! Consider this an exclusive ... :)

Lots of concern though as the fires in California, some very close to the event, will test all of the runners this weekend. Here's a current Runner's World thread on the fire!

California Vacation Synopsis: Day 3-4

Monday, we got off to a little bit of a late start out of San Francisco. (Honestly, we were pretty worn out from the first two days.) We left the hotel at 10:15 a.m. and started down State Route 1 or Highway 1.

We got into Santa Cruz around noon, got a quick bite to eat at Taco Bell and stopped off at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the only major seaside amusement park on the West Coast. We walked the boardwalk, and then Waverly got on the sixth oldest roller coaster in America, The Giant Dipper. Admission to the park is free, but the Giant Dipper cost $4.50 to ride one time. (A gallon of gas goes longer than that!)

We left Santa Cruz and drove down to Monterey, but we didn't have time to stop at the Monterey Bay Aquariam. We did do the 17 Mile Drive, which is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, California. One of the stops was the Pebble Beach Golf Links - the No. 1 Public Course in America.

After leaving the area and getting back on to Highway 1, with plans to go past Big Sur before finding a place to head east to cut over to Interstate 5, there was a portable flashing sign that said that Highway 1 was closed 30 miles south. (The permanent mileage sign said 'Big Sur 27'.) What I should have done was look at the map, but I didn't.

We drove south and stopped a place or two to take some pictures. But once we started to roll into Big Sur (not reaching the very large scenic bridge that runners cross during the Big Sur International Marathon, we were soon turned back by the California Highway Patrol.

Well ... looks are certainly deceiving. Checking the course information on the Big Sur web site, we really did cross the bridge that is in all of the pictures. And it is much smaller than what I expected. Don't get me wrong, the entire course is very scenic. However, the bridge that you see in pictures isn't as big as some others that you might run across.

Anyway, we had to drive 30 miles north back to Monterey.

We went east to Salinas and went south on Highway 101. Down Highway 101 around San Lucas, we went east again on Highway 198 for nearly 50 miles to Coalinga. At that point, we got on Interstate 5 to Interstate 210 and then on in to Pasadena.

It was a very long day, and we got into bed at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning Pacific time.

This morning, we ate breakfast at Russell's on N. Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena before heading out to Hollywood.

Let me say this, Hollywood and Beverly Hills are overrated.

They're nice to say that you went and visited once, but beyond that Waverly and I weren't overly impressed by either.

Hollywood has the Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards. We took a tour of the Kodak Theatre and Waverly sat in the same seat that Miley Cyrus set in - as a presenter for the Academy Awards (left section, row C, seat 3.)

Later, we drove over and down to Beverly Hills and walked around Rodeo Drive and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, but there wasn't really anything that made us stop and say "Wow!"

We came back to the hotel after fighting a little afternoon traffic, ate dinner at Manny's Pizzeria on N. Fair Oaks Avenue and then walked for about an hour and a half seeing Pasadena City Hall (with a great architechtural feel), a memorial for Mack and Jackie Robinson (the latter broke baseball's color line and both were from Pasadena), and then the Tournament House -- the headquarters of the Tournament of Roses Association on Orange Grove Drive.

More From Day 2 in San Francisco

This is a picture looking up at the Coit Tower. Before we went to it (even with reading the tourist material), I thought that it was a building like the Transamerica Pyramid (seen below), which resides in the Financial District.

From the Coit Tower, looking south, this is the Transamerica Pyramid. Even in the late morning, the upper reaches of the 98th tallest building in the world still had fog near the top. It was a cool and blustery day all day yesterday. I really had expected this building to be more physically imposing than what it was.

This will have to be a little bit of a lesson in photography for me. The goal was to get the street sign about the upcoming San Francisco Marathon to be more prominent while still catching the street sign, "Greenwich". Nonetheless, I took this picture with the Attanuccis in mind! (For any of you Yankees fans, I snagged a picture of a sign to the Joe DiMaggio North Beach Playground and Park.)

At Pier 45 of the Fisherman's Wharf is a submarine named the USS Pampanito (SS-383) and a liberty ship named the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. We ended up going on and around the SS Jeremiah O'Brien and found out that the liberty ships mainly were built during World War II and were heavily used during the storming of the beaches of Normandy (where my grandfather went aground on D-Day plus 2).

This may be the best picture that I was able to get of perhaps the biggest "attraction" that we didn't get a chance to do -- Alcatraz Island. Since you really need to reserve tickets for the cruises about two days in advance, we were on the outside looking in on this; however, I don't know that the world is going to stop for either one of us over it.

All in all, we've had a good time here. There's certainly a lot more to do in and around San Francisco, but we hit the high points. One fun, free thing to do in and around Pier 45 was the Musee Mecanique, a collection of old-time penny arcade games and related artifacts. This was a lot of fun to play some of the old games that I had never even seen before!

We rode the Cable Cars again late last night on the California line.

Today's a travel day down to Los Angeles. It is approaching 7:50 a.m. on Monday morning as I write this. I still have my Courier column to finish and send in, and then we'll be on the road.

I had a call from Rick Cook late in the evening last night wanting to see if I've heard of any local information regarding fires taking place on or near the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run course. (I saw this article on an Auburn, California web site, but it doesn't give a lot of current information.)

Part of Day 2 in San Francisco

Our initial plan for the day was to try and get on one of the San Francisco Cable Cars at the lower end of the Powell-Hyde Line, which is the line that travels along the steepest route. However, the lower part of the line was out of service. Therefore, we simply decided to walk the steep hill up Powell to keep our plan in place. After going up the hill on Powell, we walked through Chinatown - where the above picture of the "Red Headed Siren" - was taken.

We headed east on Filbert to get to the Coit Tower. To get to the Coit Tower, we had to walk up this hill - the Filbert Street Steps which has a gradient of 31.5%! As you can see the cars are parked at a 90 degree angle. Most other streets in San Francisco that have hills of any sort require you to, of course, engage your parking break and turn your wheels toward the curb on a downhill and toward the street on an uphill to prevent runaway vehicles.

As we were waiting to board the Cable Car to head south, this is a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge still partially enshrouded by fog -- at 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

Yes indeed, we made it to Ghirardelli's for a peanut butter hot fudge sundae (me) and a hot fudge sundae (Waverly) that set Dad back about $17. I guess you can say, "When in San Francisco, do what the San Franciscans do." Well, almost all of them.

As we were walking up Powell, we saw a long line outside of this restaraunt - Sears' Fine Food - for breakfast. (We had eaten the buffet at Jasmine's in the Marriott Courtyard.) Later this evening, after an afternoon nap, of course, we came back here after one place we went to we sat there invisible for about 10 minutes or more. It turned out to be a very good mood as the food here for dinner was excellent. I had Aunt Mary's Italian Sausage and it was very good.

Our waiter was named Eddie. I was wearing my long sleeved Texas Marathon shirt (the red one from this year.) He asked if I was from Texas and I responded generically, "The greater Houston area." He said that he moved permanently to San Francisco in 1988 and that he had worked for the Spring ISD at Bammel Elementary and Wunsche Middle School. Small world.

Earlier in the day, as we were walking up Powell, we met a couple who said that they were from the Highway 6/Westheimer area and that she had graduated from Conroe High School.

Sunday AM San Francisco Run

I didn't get too much sleep Saturday night even though it was a very long day and a lot of activity. Another hotel, another bed perhaps.

I really didn't want to go out and run, but what better way to see some of the city that Waverly and I hadn't already. I woke Waverly up at about 6:30 a.m. to let her know that I would be out from 45 minutes to an hour on a run. I didn't really have a plan in mind; however, I quickly put a little plan in to place.

The Marriott Courtyard is on Second Street in the south part of downtown about seven blocks west of the Bay (on the map) and a few blocks south of Market Street (for those that know the area well.) If you keep going south on Second Street here, you'll run smack into AT&T Park where the San Francisco Giants play baseball.

In honor of the city of San Francisco and its terrain, it was only natural to wear my new Seven Hills Running Club shirt.

I ran southwest down Folsom Street, right through the heart of what is known as SoMa (South of Market). It was mostly a quiet run all the way down to 14th Street. The temperature was cool (easily down in the 50s) and fog could be seen off in the northwestern part of the city.

Folsom Street is one of the hearts of the gay community in San Francisco. There was one bar - at 7 a.m. - that was still going strong. :) But I could have run naked during this run and nobody would have noticed (as most were asleep.) And there's probably a good chance that not too many people would have cared either.

At 14th Street, I was now heading due west to Dolores St. where I took a right up to Market Street. (Had I known that one of the oldest structures in San Francisco was two blocks south on 16th Street - Mission Dolores, close to the Castro section of the city - I would have altered my route a bit.) I crossed Market, took a good hill on Buchanan all the way to Haight Street.

Certainly, anyone who is familiar with the hippie movement of the late 1960s has heard of the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco. I only went west to Pierce Street before I had passed about 30 minutes on my watch -- a definite sign to turn it back around. As a result, I was only in what is known as Lower Haight. The distinction between it and Upper Haight? Literally, elevation. One I wasn't quite in the mood to climb.

I did run into a pretty fair downhill to get back to Market Street, which I took all the way back to Second Street before making a right hand turn and heading south back to the Courtyard. Earlier in the run, between mile marker 2 and 3, there was a climb of approximately 150 feet - but not all at one shot!

Especially on Market Street, where the city had started to wake up a bit, I saw a lot of people looking at my Seven Hills shirt. If the web site activity picks up today, with referrals from California, Ken will know why!

MapMyRun.com put the run (link) this morning at 5.8 miles. The time on my watch was 56:34.01 for a pace of 9:45 per mile?! I'm pretty certain that at one point I forgot to restart my watch, as my legs felt a little heavy after all the mileage from the day before.

California Vacation 2008 Flickr Photostream

I'll probably be taking a lot of pictures this week. And I won't be able to share all of them here.

Therefore, I added down-sized versions to my Flickr account. You can find the photostream at this link! (Enjoy and add comments if you'd like!)

If you want a high-res version of any picture that I took, e-mail me and let me know!

Downtown Evening Tour of San Francisco

A picture of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge which goes east over to the city of Oakland. This picture was taken from the behind the Ferry Building on Embarcadaro Drive - where the start and finish of the San Francisco Marathon will occur later next month. Vincent and Michael Attanucci of The Woodlands Running Club will be running it.

This is a picture of Lombard Street, which has earned it the designation of "the crookedest [most winding] street in the world." Reading this Wikipedia entry, it was designed out of necessity to help vehicles navigate the 27% grade. We walked up the stairs from Leavenworth to Hyde Street.

After we both took a little bit of a nap this afternoon, we ventured out at about 8 p.m. and made our way east over to Embarcadaro. Then we ventured north all the way to Fisherman's Wharf - a reputed tourist trap. And, yes, everyone was out in force on a Saturday evening!

Instead of taking in a chain restaraunt for dinner, we decided on a local eating establishment. We went to Cioppino's On The Wharf. Waverly had the three cheese tortellini and I had the market lasagna. The food was very good and the service was excellent. Our bill with a 20% tip came to just under $50, which included a 3.5% assessment "to help fund the San Francisco Health Care Initiative." (Vincent, this could be an option for you guys when you come out here next month - depending on where you're staying.)

Waverly and I walked 5.78 miles this evening. This after a 3.4-mile round trip on the Golden Gate Bridge. 9.18 miles in total. Think I'll be OK skipping a run on Saturday?

I think it is a great way to show Waverly the city as well as getting her acclimated to this type of environment. She said that she didn't think that she could like living in the city like many people do, but I really think it is what makes a city so vibrant.

Even though it took me away from home and that I didn't get "out and about", so to speak, with the party crowd, it was fun living in the city in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2006 and 2007 when I worked on a project there.

Where to tomorrow? I have no idea. We really make it up as we go. Makes it more memorable this way!

We're Here in San Francsico / Golden Gate Bridge

Ms. Waverly gets a welcome at SFO

Its been a good day so far here in San Francisco. It is currently 4 p.m. and we've already been to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked it over and back. We've checked in to our hotel in downtown, the Marriott Courtyard on Second Street.

When I didn't have my frequent flyer number on my account, I made sure at the gate that it was in the system. The gate agent asked how many I had traveling and I told her just the two of us. We were both upgraded to first class. We watched the first part of my Father's Day gift -- Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The weather is incredibly wonderful and as you can tell from the second picture, the sun is out and the sky is high with just a few clouds.

New Half Marathon Blog - From The Woodlands!

I'll have to chide Patrick a little bit the next time that I see him as I didn't know that he had a blog!

"Geaux Half" is the blog of half2run.com "completer" Patrick Morein of Woodlands Fit and The Woodlands Running Club. (Yes, I got the purple LSU colors in the link there!)

Patrick has done a half marathon in 32 states. I'm just a slight bit jealous as I'm at 22 states and 1 Canadian province.

There are 11 "completers" of the half2run.com competition. Patrick right now is no. 5! Here are the overall standings:

1. 48 - Ira Gardner, New York, NY
2. 45 - Eileen Fannon, Atlanta, GA
3. 36 - Amelia Kushneruk, Schererville, IN
4. 34 - Carol Goslin, Kansas City, MO
5. 32 - Patrick Morein, The Woodlands, TX
6. 27 - Mike Ligett, Raleigh, NC
7. 26 - Pat Neff, Georgetown, TX
7. 26 - Laura Donnelley, Portland, OR
7. 26 - Douglas Bradley, Dearborn, MI
10. 25 - Rob Slocum, Danville, KY
10. 25 - Chris Harvey, Cartersville, GA

Listed as "leaders" of those who haven't competed the "run half the states" challenge are:

1. 24 - Mary Betn Fournier, Chicago, IL; Maggie Mount, Rockwall, TX; Susan Meehan, Lawrenceville, GA
2. 23 - Diane Himebaugh, Chandler, AZ; Jon Walk, Spring, TX
3. 22 - Ed Walsh, Brookfield, WI
4. 21 - Doug Fisher, Flushing, MI; Robert Stange, Fredericksburg, TX
5. 19 - John Hebert, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Paula Berntsen, Brownsburg, IN; Kevin Forner, Stamford, CT

I need to find another back-to-back half weekend to get my name in the "completers" list, and it needs to be a "back-to-back" with the cost that it is to fly anymore.

Waverly's All Smiles About California

What you can't see in her hands is Frommer's Guide to California!

Friday PM Workout

I'm sure you might have been wondering what was up with the Friday AM workout from the last post. Indeed. I wasn't completely happy with it, even though I put in an hour overall workout.

Not having run in three days, I found it just slightly taxing to hit the mph - still albeit slow - for the second half of the hour run. The 41-minutes and change included 30 minutes at 4.8 mph and then 11-plus at 4.9 mph.

So, I went back for more this evening. I did a basic step-ladder or progressive run with 10 minutes each - 60 minutes in all - at 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and finishing nice and strong at 5.0 mph.

I saw Bill at Best Buy in Spring this evening as I stepped into the SLR world of digital photography by buying a Nikon D60. (I've already determined that I need a longer lens!)

Can't wait to fly to San Francisco in the AM. Since we can't check in the hotel for a little bit, we're going straight to the Golden Gate Bridge tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have some great photography for you this week - and a few surprises along the way.

Thursday's Travel Woes, Post No. 1,700 and Friday's AM Workout

Yesterday was another fun travel day. (Yes, you can hear the sarcasm wring from the word "fun" in that sentence I'm sure.)

I was scheduled for a 4 p.m. flight from Kansas City (MCI) to George Bush Intercontinental (I added the GB for all the Democrats in the crowd). I got there in time, but just barely for the 2:30 p.m.; however, when I went to check in and saw that there were four seats left, I tried to grab one. The system didn't respond in giving me one of them!

The gate agent helped me and she said that somebody else got the last one. I said, "Wait, there were four of them!" She explained that they had pulled three of them back for weight and balance issues. Well, I must admit I'd like to have made a flight that got off the ground safely!

So, then the fun began. (Again, all of you must think that I live a charmed life with all of the traveling that I do. If I could make the same kind of money and have the same type of job fulfillment with a local position, I'd seriously consider it; however, I get bored pretty easily. Yes, I need lots of stimulation.)

As the time for the 4 p.m. departure approached, there was no incoming plane. At some point (I didn't keep track of the time), they told us that because of thunderstorms in the greater Houston area that the plane coming to us hadn't even left yet. Lovely!

We didn't leave until about 7 p.m. and I didn't get home until about 9:45 p.m. No Bally's workout last night for me -- as it closes at 10! (The one in Pasadena, California next week close to where I used to work closes at midnight. I only ride the stationery bikes there. The hotel has a pretty good treadmill.)

You're reading post no. 1,700 since December 2004. And, yes, I'm happy that the blog is private and this one will never come public again. :)

So, I made it to Bally's this morning and got in 41 minutes and change on the treadmill and 25 minutes on the stationery bike. (Waverly put in an hour on the recumbent bike, but I chided her a little bit for not working up much of a sweat.)

We went to The Egg & I for breakfast in The Woodlands afterwards, and while I was waiting, I called Kim Hager and left a message on her cell phone to congratulate her for her age group winning effort at Ironman 70.3 Kansas in Lawrence on Sunday.

An update to my July 12-13 Austin weekend, Jessica Alexander said that she might go out to run the Toughest 10K in Texas with me in Lampasas. She said that "if I asked nicely". Hmmm ... when have I done anything but that? :)

Now If I Could Only Run That Fast ...

I didn't have enough time to blog about it then; however, I think I pulled off the craziest feat - safely, albeit - that I have in awhile.

Our plane from Jackson didn't back away from the gate until about 5:20 p.m. and while I'm not even sure what time we landed, all I know is that I had to wait for two pieces of luggage before I exited the parking garage at Hobby Airport at 7:00 p.m. even.

Thirty-nine (39) minutes later, I was at gate E10, which is where the flight for Kansas City was scheduled to depart 12 minutes from its original 8:05 p.m. departure.

In fact, I had enough time to walk down to the Food Court area, get something to eat and finish it before we started to board the flight.

I would have made it in less time if there weren't lots of people that wanted to go anywhere from 45 to 55 mph on Interstate 45 going towards downtown Houston and then on the off ramp to Interstate 59 North. Thank goodness for the Hardy Toll Road and the fact that the Precinct 1 Constable's Office wasn't out patrolling this evening.

I still don't believe that I'm sitting in seat 2F of Continental 684 to Kansas City writing this.

I had a co-worker picking me up at KCI after a bag came in and then it is an early morning 7 a.m. planning session prior to our 9 a.m. meeting.

Then I get home, have a day to get ready for our trip to California!

Wednesday Travel: Fun, Fun, Fun

This was going to be a long two days anyway, but I got thrown just a slight curve when I got here to the Jackson-Evers International Airport about 15 minutes ago.

For starters, I have a 4:35 p.m. flight from Jackson to Houston Hobby that lands at 5:55 p.m. I have two bags that I have checked that I have to wait for.

I also have an 8:05 p.m. flight from Houston to Kansas City (MCI) this evening for a meeting in the morning with another client. The problem? Well, it is out of George Bush Intercontinental.

There was a 6:35 p.m. flight on Southwest, but I figured that was just cutting it too close. So I booked the Continental flight. I mean I know how fast I can go up Interstate 45 to downtown and then up the Hardy Toll Road. (And dangnabbit, I have a first class seat on the Kansas City flight.)

Well, the 4:35 p.m. flight is now delayed to 5:10 p.m. So ... I called Continental. It seems that the 8:05 p.m. is already delayed ten (10) minutes because of a crew rest issue (which could go longer.) The 9:20-something flight is sold out.

Yeah. Fun with a capital "F". :)

I've been traveling for 14 years, since April 1994, and this gets more interesting as I get older. I'm glad that I'm in pretty good shape, for my body type, that is, to be able to do this.

Stay tuned and see how this all turns out!

Perhaps it was a premonition that the song that I heard on the radio coming to the airport was "I've Been Everywhere".

Chevron Houston Marathon Prediction

At Run The Woodlands 5K #202 on Saturday, I told 29-year Chevron Houston Marathon veteran Wayne Rutledge that I didn't think that the event would sell out this year.

As of today, the Chevron Houston Marathon website states that they are 62% full.

This means that against their 18,000-runner cap, they've sold approximately 11,160 entries.

From the event's March 20, 2008 press release:

"Online registration re-opens April 1 for the marathon, half marathon and 5K. Early registration was open from race weekend until Jan. 31, with more than 3,000 participants taking advantage of the early sign-up."

January 13 to January 31 -- More than 3,000
April 1 to June 16 -- 8,000 to be in the ballpark

So that's 77 calendar days, which means they've been selling just under 110 a day at the current prices. Another 14 days at that rate (and perhaps a pick up towards the deadline) may add another 2,000. (That's being generous past the 110 times 14, which equals 1,540.)

Let's just say that they sell 2,000 more entries before July 1 and that it gets them over the 13,000 benchmark.

I just honestly don't see another 5,000 paying the highest prices when both gas and airfare prices have increased dramatically since April 1 - when registration re-opened.

Does it mean that the event is any less worthy? No, not at all. It is just that even a sport which has been in an incredible growth mode is going to be tempered a bit by the recession.

The ones that won't will be Boston and New York City.

Thoughts?

Recent Runs (Thur/Sat/Monday)

Last Thursday, I put in 33 minutes on the treadmill at Bally's in the mid-to-late afternoon. I had plans to run another 40 minutes on the road, but that was short circuited due to a tragic accident to a friend. (Half was done at 4.7 mph and the back half at 4.8 mph)

After being totally beat and exhausted from Friday and working Run The Woodlands 5K in The Woodlands on Saturday morning, I put in 50 minutes on the treadmill Saturday evening (from 7:10 to 8 p.m.) and this was the same type of run -- 25 minutes at 4.8 mph and 25 minutes at 4.9 mph.

I traveled to Jackson, Mississippi yesterday and had designs on an evening treadmill run; however, that didn't happen. So while I was up making out my road racing/social schedule for the month of July, I figured I might as well get my rear end in gear.

So at 5:40 a.m., it was out the door for a planned 40-minute run. Since there isn't a nice, straight out-and-back to run, I ended up going almost 46 minutes on a cloverleaf route that crossed between Ridgeland and north Jackson.

The route looked like this and I covered 4.4 miles in 45:59.59 for a pace of 10:27 per mile. This run was done started out at an 80-85% level and ended up feeling about 85-90%.

Filing In The Summer Dance Card

I have plans to go and do Stu's Country Mile 5K (and a few extra feet) in Centerville on Friday, July 4. If you're interested in going up and running this race, let's fill up my pickup truck (with people and gas) and make a great morning of it!

My next two weekends will be hanging out in Austin the weekend of July 12-13 and then in Clear Lake/La Marque the weekend of July 19-20.

I'm going to do the Toughest 10K in Texas in Lampasas on Saturday, July 12 (will have to drop Jessica Alexander a note on this one as she's done this event before) and then probably the 3rd annual Bat Run 5K on Sunday evening, July 13 before driving back to Houston. (Maybe I'll go out and cheer Jessica on that morning of the 13th as I see she is competing in the Couples Triathlon.)

The following weekend, I'll do the 30th annual Honeywell Lunar Rendezvous Run 5K in Clear Lake (only to see if Sarah Graybeal can make it up in time for the race) on Saturday, July 19 and then take on the Webster Bicycle Duathlon #2 in La Marque the following morning on Sunday, July 20 for a great racing double! These would be great TIR reunion events!

Let me know if and what races of these that you may be interested in tagging along for!

Pre-Start Run The Woodlands 5K Picture

Incredibly, another picture of myself that I can't complain too much about. (Now if I could just grow all of the hair back on the top of the head ...)

Photo courtesy of Rick Cook

I do have to share a funny story from not too happy of a setting on last Thursday afternoon. When I arrived at Ben Taub General Hospital to visit a friend whose husband was very seriously injured in an accident, I got off on the fourth floor from the elevators looking for unit 4C.

As I got myself turned around trying to find it, an employee asked me if I needed some help. As I was doing this, an older African American woman (I'd guess in her 60s) said to me, "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you have very nice looking legs." I chuckled. I said, "I guess it is from all of that running."

Montgomery County Endurance Athlete of the Year Awards

Bill Dwyer and myself holding court on Saturday at Run The Woodlands 5K.

Photo courtesy of Rick Cook

Here's what will appear in Tuesday's running column in The Courier:

Spring’s Jacob Mazone made a charge in the last tenth of a mile of Saturday’s Run The Woodlands 5K, but it wasn’t enough to catch recent The Woodlands High School graduate Michael Golden as the 18-year-old raced to a two-second winning time of 16 minutes and 51 seconds.

Mazone notched his sixth sub 17-minute 5K of the year with a runner-up finish of 16:53.

Huntsville’s Adrienne Langelier, 25, easily won the women’s race over The Woodlands Running Club treasurer Pam Meaux, 47, and College Park High School harrier Emily Jensen, by throwing down a personal best 19:17. Meaux and Jensen came in 25 seconds apart with respective times of 20:51 and 21:16.

Despite The Woodlands Running Club capturing the Saw Trophy back from Huntsville’s Seven Hills Running Club in friendly interclub competition at Saturday’s race, there was a fair bit of excitement regarding the post-race announcement of the Montgomery County Endurance Athlete of the Year Awards.

For the sake of full disclosure though, I might be a bit biased.

Late last year, Woodlands Fit half marathon coach Bill Dwyer and myself created a legal entity, Friends of the Running Community, as we attempted to bring one of America’s all-time marathon greats Bill Rodgers to The Woodlands to race Jeff Wells in a pre-Nike South road race – 30 years after their famous battle at the Boston Marathon.

Although multiple logistical issues kept us from bringing that to fruition, we’ve long been convinced that Montgomery County has some of the best athletes in the state of Texas in all of our sports’ various disciplines.

Therefore, we’ve created the Montgomery County Endurance Athlete of the Year Awards to begin to recognize on an annual basis the best male and female in road racing, multisports, ultra and trail running as well as the top high school track and field and cross country athletes.

Additional recognition will be given to the top non-high school coach and volunteer plus a pair of rookie athletes of the year.

A nomination process, to be announced, will commence November 1 and continue through the weekend of the Sunmart Trail Endurance Runs in Huntsville. Semifinalists in each category will be delivered to a regional media panel who will vote on the winners.

Honorees will be recognized at a season-ending awards ceremony tentatively scheduled to be held at Conroe’s Town Hall Texas on Saturday, January 10, 2009 where Chevron Houston Marathon race director Brant Kotch has agreed to be the guest speaker.

The Saw Trophy Goes Back to TWRC

Seven Hills Running Club president Niki Bellnoski (on the far right) is seen handing back the Saw Trophy to The Woodlands Running Club and three of its officers -- running coach Dan Green (who ran an age-graded 17:20 on Saturday), treasurer Pam Meaux and vice president Bill Dwyer -- at Run The Woodlands 5K #202. [I'll guarantee you that it is the last picture that you'll see a Battling Blogger handing over an award to a Road Warrior!]

Photo courtesy of Rick Cook

Run The Woodlands 5K #202 Race Results

1. Michael Golden - 16:51 (TWHS)
2. Jacob Mazone - 16:53 (TWRC; 6th sub 17-minute 5K of '08 at 45)
3. Adam Jackson - 17:20 (SHRC; Tornados)
4. Juan Flores - 17:48 (TWRC)
5. Lee Harlicker - 17:58 (TWRC)
6. Andrew O'Brien - 18:27
7. Brian Frazier - 18:30
8. Joseph Mazone - 18:31 (TWRC)
9. Jason Eagleson - 18:34
10. Brian Brown - 18:36
11. Dustin Harris - 18:47
12. Alex Nelson - 18:57 (TWRC)
13. Jose Garcia - 19:06
14. John Golden - 19:09 (TWRC)
15. Cole Pilgrim - 19:13
16. Adrienne Langelier* - 19:17 (SHRC; First female)
17. J.C. Guzman - 19:18 (SHRC)
18. Bruin Bourgeois - 19:19
19. Joe Killeen - 19:25 (TWRC)
20. Jason Farr - 19:34 (SHRC)
21. Ian MacDougall - 19:37 (TWRC)
22. Wayne Hudson - 19:41 (TWRC)
23. Brian Zemlicka - 20:23 (Willis ISD superintendent)
24. Carlos Ortegon - 20:37 (TWRC)
25. Skip Moschell - 20:42 (TWRC)
26. Pam Meaux* - 20:51 (TWRC treasurer)
27. Kevin Golden - 21:02 (TWRC)
28. Katie Jensen* - 21:16
29. Dan Green - 21:33 (TWRC running coach; Chevron Houston Marathon veteran)
30. Mitch Hall - 21:40 (TWRC)
31. Sheridan Grant - 21:43 (SHRC)
32. Vincent Attanucci - 21:48 (TWRC)
33. Niki Bellnoski* - 21:55 (SHRC president)
34. Nick Bellnoski - 21:56 (SHRC)
35. Johanne Skorve* - 22:02 (TWRC)
36. Jacob Jones - 22:05
37. Jose Garcia - 22:12
38. Steve Rosene - 22:14 (TWRC)
39. Kerry Gordon - 22:23
40. John Slate - 22:27 (SHRC)
41. James Law - 22:32
42. Liz McHale* - 22:35 (TWRC)
43. Patrick Morein - 22:40 (TWRC)
44. Scott Farrand - 22:43 (TWRC)
45. Gary Van Kuiken - 22:47 (TWRC)
46. Connor Meaux - 23:06 (TWRC)
47. George Diaz - 23:11
48. Norman Langwell - 23:12 (SHRC; 2008 Fit Texan Award winner)
49. Luis Espinosa - 23;16 (TWRC)
50. Aren Caley - 23:25
51. Darren Grant - 23:30 (SHRC)
52. Tom Sherwood - 23:40 (TWRC; CHM veteran)
53. Shawn Hamilton - 23:47
54. Paula Stiles* - 23:50 (TWRC)
55. Kelly Barbalias* - 23:55
56. Evan Guy - 23:57 (TWRC)
57. John Laskowski - 23:58 (TWRC)
58. Chris Kunkel - 24:01 (SHRC; Started a little late)
59. Kellee Hefner* - 24:05 (TWRC)
60. David Wadsworth - 24:12 (TWRC past president)
61. Maria Esselborn* - 24:19 (TWRC)
62. Carrie Davies* - 24:29 (TWRC)
63. Mark Whittemore - 24:30 (TWRC)
64. Rich Cooper - 24:34 (WoodlandsFit)
65. Bariana Valdez* - 24:45
66. Wayne Rutledge - 24:48 (CHM veteran)
67. Ann Leoni* - 25:02 (TWRC; Most RTWs completed of any runner)
68. Bill Adam - 25:03 (TWRC)
69. Tom McHale - 25:06 (TWRC)
70. Joe Hahn - 25:10
71. Bernard Skarpeid - 25:12 (TWRC)
72. Maria Arna* - 25:13
73. Colin Lue King - 25:30
74. Denise Van Kuiken* - 25:42 (TWRC)
75. Julian Diaz - 25:51
76. Michael Pilgrim - 26:24
77. John Jensen - 26:35
78. Karen Felicidario* - 26:55 (SHRC/TWRC)
79. William Banes - 27:15 (TWRC)
80. Mike Mendeck - 27:17 (TWRC)
81. Roger Williams - 27:18
82. Phillip Leonard - 27:23
83. Richard McQuaide - 27:29 (TWRC)
84. Jerry Flanagan - 27:53 (SHRC)
85. Ben Johnson - 28:30 (SHRC)
86. Jim Klein - 29:09 (TWRC)
87. Randy Bradley - 29:10 (TWRC)
88. Gena Alvarez* - 29:12 (TWRC - New PR!)
89. Chad Carrow - 29:13
90. Jacob Martinez - 29:15
91. Robert Martinez - 29:53
92. Beatrice Roger* - 30:17
93. Geri Henry* - 30:43 (TWRC)
94. Lee Bourgeois - 31:49
95. David Betcher - 32:03
96. Vicky Gordon* - 33:59
97. Debbie Tripp* - 34:08 (TWRC)
98. Tina Adkins* - 34:40 (First race ever!)
99. Ken Johnson - 34:56 (SHRC vice president; CHM veteran)
100. David Dancsak - 39:07
101. Becky Sharp - 39:30 (Tom Sherwood's sister)
102. Judy Marshall - 43:02

Friend in Need of Prayers

I've spent more than the last 12 hours at Ben Taub General Hospital with a friend whose husband was hit by another car yesterday afternoon in the northbound HOV lane of the North Freeway.

Their car had overheated and started to catch on fire. He got out of the car to put it out while she called AAA -- all as cars and buses flew by. (They had gone past the Shepherd exit off of the HOV.) At about 4:17 p.m., a car clipped the back left hand corner of their Lexus propelling their car into him - as he was in the front of the car (facing north).

It's thought that he was trying to get out of the way and was straddling the concrete barrier because of injuries that he sustained on the insides of his legs.

However, he suffered major brain trauma when his head either slammed on the concrete barrier or the ground on the North Freeway side of the interstate.

They attempted to do some surgery, taking off a piece of his skull to relieve some pressure. But they had to sew him back up because he was bleeding too much and losing blood pressure.

They've given him over 5 gallons of blood. He's 54 and a very tall and well built man.

They can't do any further surgery until they get the swelling down, yet keep his blood pressure high enough. It is a very delicate balance.

The neurosurgeon, who is on the most compassionate and intellectual doctors I've ever seen, stated that the normal pressure on a person's brain is a "15". Agitated, maybe 20. He said that the man's is over 30.

The prognosis is not good. He stated that 90% of patients with this type of head and brain trauma don't survive and it is very, very rare that those that do return to any type of normal routine.

This couple, not in the running community, are good people, and had enjoyed the day together in downtown Houston and the Galleria and where returning home.

Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Not Much To Report: Wednesday Night Stationery Bike

It's Wednesday evening and I'm back in the metropolis of Spring.

Waverly and I went to Bally's tonight and I know I got to an hour on the stationery bike - and I think she got in 58 minutes on the recumbent bike. (She started on the elliptical machine, but was soon on the bike.) I went at it pretty hard (level 7, random) and tried to push the rpm to 100 the last 10 minutes.

She flies to Pennsylvania with my parents and my two nieces as they go to see my grandparents. It has become an annual summer trip for them. With my grandparents being 85 and 83, unfortunately, you never know when it might be a last trip for the girls to be able to see them. It is something that my Dad also looks forward too.

I really worry more about my parents, who are 61 and 59, then I do my grandparents. They've lived a full and complete life. They have three children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. I wish I could have provided them more of the latter; however, two have to play that game to make that happen.

Both of my parents are very overweight. My Mom's mother died when she was in the tenth grade as basically a vegetable. Jessie was her name. She was much more overweight than what my Mom is. I'm really concerned about this trip for my Mom because of her youngest sister.

My Mom is one of 10 brothers and sisters. Mom is No. 9 and Joy is No. 10. When I was in Minnesota, I could tell that my Mom was a little distraught. I soon learned the reason why.

She had just learned that Joy has leukemia, but what really hurt her was the fact that my aunt has known since January but hadn't let her know. (There have been periods that Joy has gone without contacting my Mom even though my Mom has given her phone cards, etc. to call her. There are two of my Mom's brothers -- Bobby and Junior -- that they don't know where they are at or whether or not they're even alive.)

Then she hadn't heard from me, knowing that I was in Rochester, Minnesota to run a marathon, after news that tornados were in the Minneapolis area and had killed people. When I landed in Houston, she got me after I turned my phone back on when we were taxiing in to the gate and I could hear the emotion in her voice.

Two Sundays ago in church, my Mom was taking it all pretty hard.

My Dad, in the meantime, has been struggling getting work for the consulting firm that he and two others have. He's facing a little age discrimination in his job-seeking, but he's also getting people that hold his lack of a degree against him. He's one of the best in his field. He's probably clinically depressed, and what do you say to somebody who flags their faith flag but doesn't believe it enough to truly place it all in God's hands.

I don't have the answers. I wish I had them, and that I could provide them to everyone I come in contact with. However, that isn't my burden in life to carry.

Life alone many days is a struggle for me. They say that those with big hearts get hurt pretty big too. I think that fits me to a "T". :)

Yet there are many things that I have to live for and the first one of those people is my daughter, Waverly. I'm really looking forward to vacation on Saturday, June 21. I know that the summer trips with Waverly will draw to a close one day so everyone of them I'll cherish.

Although I don't know if I'm going to cherish leaving here at 4 a.m. to take them to the airport!

Saturday is going to be exciting, though, as Bill and I make our Montgomery County Endurance Athlete of the Year Awards announcement. (And this is in the midst of the The Woodlands Running Club vs. Seven Hills Running Club competition. I think TWRC has this one in the bag this time.)

For the awards, we've had a huge banner made that I'm picking up tomorrow. I'm sure somebody there will have a camera! At a minimum, Bill! And if not, Debbie Tripp!

On a closing note, please keep Holden Choi and his family in your prayers. Here's an e-mail that I sent out to our TIR team -- and former HRBers -- on Monday:

"While driving to and from Temple this weekend, I happened to think about Holden and his Dad, who is battling a terminal illness. (When Holden originally told me late in the fall and asked me not to say anything, I then remembered specifically what it was.)

"Holden originally told me Monday morning that they had moved his father to a hospice over the past weekend, and that he only had about two weeks to live. He said that he was planning on going up this weekend and that his family would be keeping travel luggage ready for a quick departure.

"Later Monday evening, Holden's brother had called to tell him that the doctors thought that he might only have three days left. He e-mailed me, told me that he was going up on Tuesday morning and asked for me to e-mail our TIR team and fellow HRBers.

"He mentioned, "It is pretty sad watching my mom go through this ordeal. They've been married since December of 1962 and have been very close to each other through out the years."

Please keep Holden and his family in your thoughts and prayers this week.

As I receive updates from Holden, I'll be sure to pass them along.

I spoke with Holden Tuesday morning on the phone as I had called him and told him that if any of us needed to do something for he and his family that we'd do our best to help. He told me that his Dad had defeated prostrate cancer about six years ago. Every six months, he had cancer check and in September of last year they found a growth in his liver.

They did a biopsy and found that it was a cancerous growth. It had spread to his lungs and he was classified with stage 4 cancer and given 6-to-9 months to live. He said in the spring that the oncologist gave him three months.

Fifty Wasn't Nifty at Scott and White Half Marathon

In fact, half marathon no. 50 was just plain hot and humid. 80 at the start and at least 85 at the finish!

My heat and humidity training right now is at 10 miles. A long way to go to face a late fall, hot marathon, but I'm thinking of discussing a strategy with my coach. He might have to help and log some miles on his .. Ok, I'll call it magenta .. Dave Scott bike.

Cover your eyes folks as this was definitely NOT "Lou Wilson" weather today.

2:49:04. Yikes! [I walked most of 10 to 12.5 in. I was starting to lose a lot of salt. I could see it pooling on my legs at the bottom of the front of my shorts. And just not too long ago here in the hotel room, I started to cramp really, really bad.]

The Scott and White Community Wellness Half Marathon is really a nice event. Even though Jeff Galloway was in attendance to celebrate the completion of their training group's efforts in Temple, this was really a no-frills event ... but with one of the nicest medals I've ever received.

At a minimum, it is continued field research for my half marathon feature coming up in the September issue of Inside Texas Running - which is where my column will switch to. (I go from being in the same publication with Jon Warren and Greg Lautenslager to Scott Eppelman and Dick Beardsley.) Nice company to share either way.

More later, but here's the damage report:

Mile 1 -- 10:24.90
Mile 2 -- 10:46.86 (21:11.76)
Mile 3 -- 10:45.72 (31:57.48)
First leg -- 3:10.44 (35:07.92)
Mile 4 -- 8:12.97; 11:23.41 (43:20.89)
Mile 5 -- 12:03.93 (55:24.82)
Mile 6 -- 12:09.05 (1:07:33.87)
Second leg -- 6:27.55 (1:14:01.42)
Mile 7 -- 7:16.47; 13:44.02 (1:21:17.89) *Burned some time talking to Galloway
Mile 8 -- 12:37.09 (1:33:54.98)
Mile 9 -- 12:51.50 (1:46:46.48)
Third leg -- 11:27.33 (1:58:13.81)
Mile 10 -- 3:34.45; 15:01.78 (2:01:48.26)
Mile 11 -- 15:56.42 (2:17:44.68)
Mile 12 -- 16:19.63 (2:34:04.31) *Talked with a guy for a good bit of these two miles
Mile 13 -- 13:53.17 (2:47:57.48) *Half way through decided to shuffle it in
Last .1 -- 1:06.65 (2:49:04.13)

The course was a double out-and-back. Primarily flat; one small hill. Three aid stations. Roads not closed, but low volume and pretty well controlled. Volunteers were excellent. Some places not a lot of shade from the sun and the heat.

Although I carried a water bottle, I couldn't offset the loss of salt with the small cups of Gatorade to prevent slosh in the stomach either. It just goes to tell me that I have more work to do in these types of conditions.

It makes you wonder how I ran 2:23 in Parkersburg, West Virginia on a hilly course with no sleep after a delayed flight and only do 2:49 on a basically flat course in Temple on 3 hours sleep after a 3-hour drive.

This is a crazy sport that we're in.

The best line would be a Rick Cook one: "Hey, it wasn't the time that you wanted, but you finished."

Late Saturday Morning Treadmill

Another day, another hour. 60 minutes. 36-and-so at 4.6 mph and the rest at 4.8 mph.

Despite not getting up to drive down to the Heights and hang out at the Heights Fun Run 5K, I really had a wonderful morning. I'm so blessed to be a part of our sports and the people that I know it who are a part of.

After dropping Waverly off for her last day of volleyball camp at close to 9 a.m., I stopped to fill up with gas, went to Barnes and Noble in The Woodlands to get some reading material for the treadmill (SI and one of the Big 12 college football magazines) and then I headed towards Luke's Locker on Market Street. This is where I found the individual that I had been trying to call for the last day and a half -- Bill Dwyer!

Missy Baugh, Debbie Tripp, Bill and Kim Hager were sharing with me the opening day success of the Fall Marathon/Half Marathon Woodlands Fit training program. 70 runners kicked off the program with their main target being the San Antonio Marathon (however, a couple of their runners are doing the Chicago or the New York City Marathon).

We all walked over to Berryhill's on Market Street for a bit of late breakfast. (Since I hadn't run yet, and had something light from when I filled up with gas, I just had some water.)

We then worked our way back towards Luke's Locker where I conversed the usual entourage of Luke's employees, which today included Dave Smart, Rick Cook, Mary Kerschbuam, Cathy Steele, Andrea Kaylor (College Park High School girls cross country coach) and Allison Cravey.

Bill and I arranged with store manager Mick Long and Rick Cook about how we want to stage Run The Woodlands 5K next Saturday. Basically, after the finish, we'll have our Friends of the Running Community announcement, the awarding of the Saw Trophy and then the post-race goodies giveaways from Luke's. (Bill and I will set up, work the chutes, and do the results next Saturday.)

Then I went to Bally's, worked on the treadmill, and set up my first Personal Trainer visit for Friday morning at 9 a.m. My goal is to get stronger in my arms, legs and core.

Today, I feel very empowered in the goals that I'm setting for myself.

Marathons for Manna Worldwide

At Sunday's The Woodlands Running Club general membership meeting, half marathon state chaser Patrick Morein noted that I had been doing a few more marathons recently.

I explained that I had and there was a reason for doing so, and now is as good of time as ever to reveal the reason for trying to run more than a few marathons!

I'm going to attempt to run all - or a majority of - Texas' 16 road marathons during the 2008-2009 marathon cycle to raise money for Manna Worldwide - a ministry that the church in which I attend is affiliated with. (In fact, our Pastor and a team of about 9-10 left on Sunday for a missions trip to Kenya and Tanzania.)

Basically, this ministry goes in and builds feeding centers to feed children - and to spread the Gospel. As a nation, despite all of our real and perceived problems, we're pretty blessed. I can't imagine what it is like to go for any length of time without eating.

I don't know what the fundraising structure will be (dollars per marathon, etc.), but we'll work those details soon. What I will ask of those of you (or to share with people that you may know) is to run one of these 16 marathons with me - i.e. at my pace (not just travel with me)!

Some of you have the resources to be able to travel with me to more of the remote marathons (El Paso, Hidalgo, Alpine and Lamesa), and if you can that would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the schedule that I'm aware of:

Saturday, October 18 - Marathon 2 Marathon, Alpine
Sunday, October 26 - Miracle Match Marathon, Waco
November 11 ('07) - Fort Worth Marathon, Fort Worth
Sunday, November 16 - Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, San Antonio
Sunday, December 7 - Fiesta Marathon, Hidalgo
Sunday, December 14 - White Rock Marathon, Dallas
Thursday, January 1 - Texas Marathon, Kingwood
Sunday, January 18 - Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston
Saturday, February 14 - Surfside Marathon, Surfside Beach
Sunday, February 15 - AT&T Austin Marathon, Austin
Saturday, February 28 - Cowtown Marathon, Fort Worth
March 2 ('07) - El Paso Marathon, El Paso
March 16 ('07) - Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon, Seabrook
March 29 ('07) - Great H.O.G.G. Race, Lamesa
Sunday, April 5 - Big-D Texas Marathon, Dallas
Saturday, April 11 - Davy Crockett Bear Chase, Groveton

My biggest concerns are the costs associated with getting to Hidalgo, El Paso and Lamesa -- and running Surfside and Austin on back-to-back days. (I may need some serious help in Austin!)

I sent an e-mail to Steve and Paula Boone about people running Texas marathons in a particular marathon season and I didn't hear anything back from them; however, I did touch base with The Woodlands' Lou Wilson, who made a shot at running them all a couple of years ago.

"Between 10/04 and 4/05, I ran 9 marathons in Texas," he said. "From 10/05 to 4/06, with the addition of Waco, I ran 10 marathons in the state and got two jackets from Roger Soler for doubling the TMC."

"That gave me 28 marathons in Texas. All 36 since then have been out-of-state."

For the record, Lou will reach, I think, career marathon no. 100 at the Chevron Houston Marathon is what I think his wife, Nora, told me the other day.

With this effort, I plan on deferring my plan to complete my first 100-miler at Rocky Raccoon until 2010. (Maybe there'll be a few of you who will be ready to run it with me. Right?)

I'm going to give this my best shot. I hope that you'll join me at one of the stops on the journey.