25th anniversary Chevron Jingle Bell Run Race Report

The one person that I knew I would see there was retired 30-year Chevron employee - and TWRC member - Mike Mendeck. Mike didn't disappoint and ran well.

It is always, but delightfully so, interesting to account for who I saw out there while running or milling around before hand. The roll call went like this:

+ Finish Line Sports' Walt Yarrow
+ Al Lawrence Running Club's Lisa Tilton-McCarthy
(Second Sunday in a row that I've seen the two of them)
+ James Spencer of the Seven Hills Running Club
+ Chevron Houston Marathon race director Brant Kotch
+ Houston Dynamo president Oliver Luck (who I remember more for the Oilers and West Virginia University)
+ One of Kim Hager's triatheltes, Chris Gause and her husband.
+ All of the Bayou City Road Runners who were volunteering for the event.
+ Talked to Knox Junior High speedster Emily Jensen, who was second at Ten For Texas. She'll run at College Park HS next year. Wow!
+ TWRC member Kristin Collins and her McCullough Junior High girls cross country team.
+ Cheered on Peggy Yetman as she was kicking all of the women's rear end - and a lot of the guys too.
+ Lea Carruthers and Stacy Holden - two excellent female runners in the greater Houston area. I'd probably put Lea in the top 5 with Heidy (because of her long distance work), Yetman and Andrea Bookout.

Now on to the race, which I was given a heads-up early this morning that the course was probably going to be short. BCRR president Eddie Rodriguez told me that they had to move the course over one street and that it would probably affect the distance. He said, at a minimum, that the mile markers were probably going to be off. Yep, they were.

The Jingle Bell Run is one of those races where people run for the only time all year and put their tennis shoes away. Therefore, lining up according to your pace isn't a novel concept. I moved up farther than I normally do and ended up being just fine.

So how much do I think the course was off? Maybe a quarter of a mile.

Here's what I mapped out on MapMyRun.com:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/tx/houston/731513497636

I came up with 4.76 miles, but I really kind of ran this one for fun anyway. I really had hoped Waverly had gotten herself in a position to have done this race so I could have done it with her.

Even though my time wasn't so hot, 48:28.60, I was OK with things (but I would have been happier if that had been a 5-mile time.)

My weekend went like this:
1.) Friday night treadmill for an hour.
2.) Drive from Spring to Willis for Willis Wildkat 5K.
3.) Drive from Willis back to Spring to shower.
4.) Drive from Spring to Livingston for the City of Livingston Jingle Bell Run.
5.) Drive from Livingston - after putting on two new tires there on the back of my truck - to Finish Strong Sports to register for the downtown Houston JBR.
6.) Drive from Finish Strong Sports home.
7.) Drive Sunday morning from Spring to Sugar Land.
8.) Work the 30K by riding my bike on the course for two hours.
9.) Stopped and had lunch at 12:15 p.m. at Double Dave's Pizza across Highway 59 from Lakewood Church (didn't seem to affect me much).
10.) Ran the Jingle Bell Run downtown and drove home.

My mile splits were like this:

Mile 1 -- 9:41.98
Mile 2 -- 9:57.94
Mile 3 -- 7:59.30
Mile 4 -- 10:52.51
Mile 5 -- 9:56.97
Overall -- 48:20.60

My cadence has improved, but it is pushing me a little bit and tiring me out on the short stuff. All in all, it was a good run for me.

My third Chevron Jingle Bell Run is in the books. :)