30th annual Lunar Rendezvous Run 5K Race Report

I do races for a multitude of reasons, but primarily for the social aspect. I enjoy seeing and being around my friends.

I've run three races south of FM 1960 this year. They have been the Chevron Houston Marathon, the Resurrection Run 5K and today's 30th annual Lunar Rendezvous Run 5K. (Two of the other three have been to watch two of my TIR teammates do their first triathlon in Galveston and Pearland, respectively, while the third and final other non-running appearance was at the Bayou City Classic 10K.)

Why might that be, other than the price of gas?

Those two races are put on by Jay Lee and are greatly supported by On The Run and the Bay Area Running Club. It makes the drive worth it.

Before the race, I saw Jill Boston, hung out with John DiMarco and his son, Ryan, talked to Erin Foley and Gerardo Mora, and said hello to Brett Riley and On The Run store manager Chris Bittinger.

When I picked up my chip, there was Mr. "Triple Bypass" himself, Joe Carey, and soon on the scene was Ms. Sweden herself, Veronica Hoge. (She said she'd have my Mountain Dew for my third straight appearance at BARC Pub Crawl. I also owe Joe two beers for stealing BARCs eNewsletter technology. It's a good deal. Really.)

Right after I registered and got my chip from last year's most senior member of our TIR team, I turned to my right and who was there -- The Woodlands High School boys track and cross country coach Dan Green. Wow! There was a story. The 1972 Houston Marathon winner returning to competitive road racing at the age of 60! He showed up with Ben Harvie and Ben's son and he told me that he and Ben ran together at the University of Houston. (I learned something today that I didn't know.) Actually, Ben told me that his Dad, who passed away earlier this year, competed athletically for SMU.

Before I got to the starting area, I recognized Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon race director Robby Sabban and spoke with him about the situation that he had with a 50-and-older runner who basically cheated on the second loop of his marathon and used the time to qualify for Boston.

As I got to the starting area, I sought out Sarah. I knew she would be there as she is aiming to complete the BARC Challenge. That is, if her alarm clock didn't fail her as it did in 2005 when I ran the race. She was there talking to her friend, Debbie. (I think I've met her before.)

I joked with Sarah that I was going to stay away from her because we normally end up pushing each other too much. She responded and said that I could run with her as she wasn't going to be running all that fast.

Some days it is more important to stop and run with a friend than it is to try and run a top time and be disappointed with the effort.

So like on the Fourth of July, I ran with Sarah and we carried on a good conversation most of the way. That is, until the last half of a mile and then I kind of pulled Sarah into a strong finish.

I was hoping to get us in under 33 minutes chip time, but I had 33:03.44. [Correction: I forgot to take the 27 or so seconds between the gun and when I hit the line! Sarah pointed this out and I corrected it!] I had 52.56 for the last tenth of a mile. Sarah might have been just a bit longer, but not more than a second or two, which would translate to a 9-minute mile pace down the stretch.

I had our splits as this:

Mile 1 -- 10:14.65
Mile 2 -- 10:42.46 (20:57.11)
Mile 3 -- 10:46.16 (31:43.27)
Last .1 -- 52.56 (32:35.83)

As we were running in the first mile, I recalled about that being the race that I met Jessica Alexander for the first time ever in 2005.

I think I've gotten the most joy over the past four calendar years and very strongly remember running races with my friends.

I did the News and Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia two years ago with Cassie.

Edwin ran the last many miles with me at the 2006 Surfside Beach Marathon.

I ran the first 9.3 miles with Bill in the 2007 AT&T Austin Half Marathon.

I did 20 miles - 19 together - at the Rocky Raccoon 100-Miler with Rick. (By the way, Happy Birthday today to Mr. Dirtrunner!)

So today was one of those days to be thankful for my health, my friends and being able to get back in time to meet Waverly at the church as she made it home for church youth camp today.