Houston Half Marathon Weekend

This past weekend was pretty full… although it would’ve undoubtedly been better with Joy, I had a great time.

Joy’s Depravity

Where was Joy? Joy was up north in Michigan visiting family (with new baby Hope) and taking in the Fall colors. She’s come a long ways since her Michigan days… sometimes even seeming more Texan than me (It’s true!). Yet, every so often she regresses and wants to visit Michigan, which is where she was born and raised, bless her heart. No one’s perfect, and well… her family… I think her family will likely remain lost up there forever. So, who am I to keep her from trying to reach out to these poor souls every once in a while?

Mr. Mom... psht..whatever!

Anyway, this meant that I would be home for 5 days with the 4 older children… ALL ALONE! (Well, I did get a good amount of help from Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend, but still…). Giant-sized Slurpees (my new recovery drink of choice) and a lot of pizza kept the children well-behaved for the most part. Except for the incredibly trying moments when I wondered how Joy keeps her wits about her during the days, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be (smile)!

Open House Party

On Saturday afternoon and into the evening, Mike and Sarah Burton, good friends of ours who we run with the most these days had a big party at their new home. They live on some land that’s about 10 minutes out of Georgetown, TX… it’s rural country, but not so far out. Anyway, besides running the practice TIR with us, Mike and Sarah were on the team Kramerica Industries for the inaugural TIR. They’re also signed up for next March. It turned out that 3 other people from their team were at the party as well! It’s very cool for us to have our vocation be wrapped tightly with the social aspect of our lives. Anyway, Mike and Sarah certainly through a great house-warming party – so much so that their home must be rather hot now!

Pre-Houston Half

I don’t regret it for a second, but I did feel that Sunday may prove to be challenging as I was leaving the Burton’s at about midnight. The plan was to go to the Houston Half Marathon, put up a pop-up tent to advertise a little, and to run the race, but I had not yet gotten around to getting all my running stuff together. Plus, things weren’t going to let up much after returning back home from the event as I had a fair amount of cleaning to do before Joy arrived back home (as far as cleanliness goes, the kids are exposed to a slightly different style when Joy is away, but that’s how I roll). Anyway, I got to bed around 1am with the plan to wake up and leave for Houston at about 2:15-2:30… Decent training for the TIR, I felt!

Arriving to the starting area with all my race stuff before 6am was a small victory. A older gentleman (whose name I did not get) was extremely helpful in getting my pop-up tent set up. With 2 people, it is a one-minute exercise, while it takes 1 person about 5 minutes with a good amount of effort. This assistance was a very nice touch by the Striders. Jon Walk (Team Captain of the Battling Bloggers of the Texas Republic) was also a HUGE help in getting me squared away with getting into the race. Thanks Jon! It was also fun to see friends, like Bill Dwyer (Team Captain of the Texian Road Warriors), who I hadn’t seen in a while. I love the pre-race atmosphere that has all the eager anticipation of the race, and this scene was definitely a good one! People busily warming up all over, having fun talking about race plans and expectations… Very awake and enthusiastically anxious before the sun is up… what’s not to like?!

With all the set-up and stuff, I did not get around to my normal pre-race routine. Things went so smoothly, that I might’ve been able to. But, partly because I was prepared… perhaps too ready… to not be able to warm-up, etc. I found myself getting the new-fangled timing strip on my shoe and my shoes very shortly before the race. This was cool with me, though, because my plan was to have the first loop be very measured so that I would run the race intelligently and have a better time on the last 2 loops (The course was a 3-loop affair, primarily on Allen Pkwy, which Joy and I know because we may have driven on it at a speed that may have exceeded the posted limit last March.). I mean, after running for almost 20 years, I should know a thing or two about racing, no?

Setting off on a race is the best! You’re excited, you’re hopeful, you know you’re going to get to see very objectively the results of your training… and you’ve got all these people around both with and against you in the best of ways. In this case, I got to catch up just for a bit with Alex Moore, and old friend from Austin, and we were going to get to see the sun rise as we ran. It’s all awesome… In my opinion, there’s a very short list of things that make one feel more alive!

The Race

The gun was off and the group I was initially running with took out very conservatively, which was great for me, you would think. However, I knew that this would only last so long before they really would start rolling (at a pace that I should most definitely not attempt). And, that began to happen at about a half-mile into the race. Of course, since I coach and have a fair amount of experience, I knew to lay off that pace and to stick to the plan and run my own “warm-up” pace, right? Ha! Heck no, to think that would be to forget that I’m very much an idiot more times than I’d like to admit – like this time!

The very first mile split (after an easy first half mile) was a little faster than I was fairly sure that I couldn’t maintain for the race, and I ALREADY was getting the bio-feedback that was hinting that this was indeed the case. But, did I back off like any reasonable person would do - I mean seeing how there was only 12 more miles to go? NOPE! I continued to press on like an absolute dreamer who was unable to accept reality. The second mile passed, and now I definitely had the internal warnings going off in red alert mode. But, “hey, let’s just continue off this cliff,” I evidently must have thought. Somewhere amongst this time, I learned after the fact that I had been running alongside Gabe Rodriguez (except he was running intelligently). Gabe and I had run together once or twice about a decade ago, and I hear he and his wife are now having babies, too (Congrats, Gabe!). I would have liked to have chatted... and I am sure at this junction of the race he could have done so. My hyperventilory efforts would have been majorly uncomfortable for the both of us, though, so all things considering, it was probably for the best that neither one of us realized who our “competitor” was.

By 4 miles… only 9+ miles to go… and near the end of the first loop which I planned to run at a nice sensible pace, I was already being forced somewhat by the physical-me to slow down. If the physical-me had a brain, I am sure it would have said to the mental-me at this moment, “You Dilweed – we need to switch places!” ANYWAY, in case you’ve never had the experience, let me tell you that it is always BETTER and MORE FUN to run evenly or with negative splits! When you don’t, not only will you run more slowly overall, but it is more difficult and uncomfortable to hang on.

Near mile 5, Bill Dwyer was cheering people on and taking pictures. I had a rather severe moment of wussiness at this time. Immediately after he took my picture (to the right - wow, what a poser I am), I thought, “ There you go, you’ll have proof that you were in the race. You can stop now.” What?!? What is this?!? You see, if you go out too fast, you get worse, and go from being an idiot to being certifiably insane and irrational. Fortunately, that moment passed and cooler heads prevailed… or something like that.

Besides the self-imposed near-torture, miles 6-10 were somewhat uneventful. Obviously, I continued to slow, which sucks. At least when I was going up the underpass hills, I felt pretty confident because of all the training I’ve been doing pushing Trek and Hope (our two youngest) in the double-jogger. While a lot of miles pushing the jogger may not be ideal, it has been a very fun season because they are such good riders! They NEVER fuss/complain when going for a run – in fact, they like it a lot, so that’s been fun for everyone in the household I think. Anywhoo, pushing the jogger is a little like perpetually running up a slight incline. So, while the hills in the half obviously required more effort from everyone, I felt ok with them.

Another cool aspect about 6-10 is that we were starting to see a lot of runners across the way. Since I was wearing my TIR shirt, and since I’ve met quite a few people and quite a few team captains at the expos and whatnot, I was the recipient of several shout outs of encouragement. I know I saw Mark Staudt (Team Captain of Slick Your Hair Back and Run), Mark Berman (from Fort Bend Fit and last year’s Tight Butts and Sweaty Nuts and this year he is a Team Captain), and of course, Jon Walk who was all over. There were others who I unfortunately missed. Nonetheless, it was MUCH appreciated – Thanks! While the TIR is for runners from all over Texas, I must say that the Houston community is undoubtedly exceptional.

In every race, even if you’ve run tactically poor, you get to the “Only moment”, which in itself a victory. The “Only” moment is when you shift from saying to yourself something like “6 miles to go!” or “5 miles to go” as you pass the mile markers to “ONLY 5k to go!!” The “only” part makes a big difference, and it is here when you know you’re going to at least make it. I did finally reach this point at the 10mile mark. Mind you, it wasn’t like I was going to resume a good pace, but at least I was starting to smell the finish and anticipate about what my finishing time would be. Obviously, I wasn’t thrilled with the way I executed, or with how I was feeling, but the “Only Moment” is/was still a beautiful thing.

I was passed by a couple in the last few miles, which I do like very much. I was also asked by a concerned competitor if I was feeling ok. Grrrrr. Again, the fault was all mine for perfectly sacrificing myself as easy chum in the water. However, I look forward to improving and returning the passing favor! (smile)

Needless to say, the 13th mile marker was a welcomed sight! I did have enough left to pick up the pace a little, and as poorly as some aspects of the race went, I was satisfied that at least I gave it a good effort. Racing NEVER gets old (at least to me, it doesn’t). I have yet to run the perfect race and I always look forward to what the next one will bring. The good thing about a race like this one is that it should be pretty easy to learn from and to improve upon. And, it was MUCH better to go out to quickly (and pay for it) in a half marathon than it would be to do so in a marathon (and I’m planning on running San Antonio (couple of weeks) and Houston (mid-Jan)).

Twilight Zone Time

Now… for the Twilight Zone episode of the race! This part FREAKED me out for about an hour! For some quick background, I have been fortunate (I guess) in that I have never really needed water that much during most events. Obviously, I run better when I remain hydrated day-to-day. But, in 5 and 10Ks, I never consider drinking water or some other sports drink. If it is very hot, I may pour some on my head. This all changes, though, in the marathon… a good bit of water (and glycogen) becomes necessary to make it through one of those well. So, while not needing these in the shorter races has been nice, it has resulted in that I don’t get much good practice for doing so in the marathon. I don’t really need these in a half, but what better opportunity am I going to get to practice this skill? So, before the race, taking and drinking some water while running was a goal. However, as you might guess, since I was tired, I decided to forego this experience, but not before some heavy-duty internal battling. At one point, I recall specifically thinking to myself, “You know you’re going to have to learn to drink water sometime!” And, now for the twilight zone part… IMMEDIATELY after finishing, this woman volunteer (I would venture to guess that she was in her early-60s) says to me, “You need to learn how drink water!” What’s this?! How in the WORLD did she know what I was thinking? Was she spectator who was nearby when I actually said what I was thinking (PLEASE , I hope I have not taken to talking to myself outloud!)? And, even if she did hear me, how would she know that I didn’t drink any water later? Was this like some sort of angel and some sort of special message in which I am going to land in some hospital in San Antonio unless I heed this way-too-specific advice? Suffice to say, I was amused, baffled, and as I said, FREAKED. Five seconds after that, I saw Mike Lucas of Luke’s Locker (Thanks, Luke’s for your generous contributions to the running community!) and I really should’ve talked a bit with Mike, but I was still bewildered by the water-prophet.

A good while later, after I had changed clothes (having more than one TIR shirt), I was putting all of my stuff into my bag, and the plastic bag (compliments of Russell Meyer, Team Captain of The Road Killers, champions of the inaugural TIR… thanks for the bag, Russ!) that contained my sweaty clothing that I had already wrung out was pretty heavy. It was then that I realized that I was so sweaty (I can perspire a little (quite the understatement)) that the mystery water-woman thought that I was drenched from pouring water all over myself from drinking attempts, and THAT is why she said that I needed to learn to drink water. At least I think so…. Maybe if I do have serious issues at San Antonio (and I probably shouldn’t even be saying this), then it will be twilight zone revisited.

By the way, do people under 25 years know what the Twilight Zone is?

Race Organization Backing and Post Race Wrap-up

Well, this race report has kind of gotten out of hand, so I will unfortunately be cruising here to the finish of this blog post. I must give serious props to the new race directors of the Houston Half Marathon, Stacy Brock Stepler and Lisa Ruthven! They clearly did a great job. The same goes for of all the Striders, the President Whitney La Rocca, and all the volunteers they had down there. Being in the place I am at now, I think I have a pretty good eye from both a runner’s and an RD’s perspective. There were a lot of aspects in which they went above and beyond and a lot of potential issues that they gracefully negated. They made for a fantastic team!

I hate to gloss over this next part as it is one of my favorite parts of being involved with the TIR… and that is getting to know many of you! When you see us at an expo or event, please come by… we thoroughly enjoy it. The TIR makes for a easy ice breaker and I do enjoy talking about it (except for a little while after Mid-March (smile)), but we don’t have to talk about that… let’s talk about running, racing, or whatever you’re up to! I know I will be leaving off many who I either did not learn their names, or who just stopped for a very short visit, but this past weekend, I got to talk to Soren Hvidbjerg from the Energy Solutions International team who was wearing his TIR shirt (thanks Soren!), Adam Johnson (Team 1), Anna Helm (President of Harra), Veronica Hoge (Texas Tenderloins), Alicia (who’s going to be a new Team Captain on a new team from Baytown – Awesome!), Paige Krekeler (Texas Tenderloins), Joe Castenada (Houston Striders on a Mission), Andreia Spencer (RunningAHEAD.com – a new team), Paul Cooley (Team Captain of Houston Masters), Super-TIR Volunteers and Striders Julie and Bill Rutledge, as well as several mentioned earlier in this post. I had a great time! Thanks for your friendliness.

Well, I was able to successfully tidy things up again (at least on the surface level) before picking up Joy (who was certainly a sight for sore eyes, and not just because she was going to save me from the little crazies we’ve been given) from the airport. It was like a TIR epilogue – lite … a great weekend all the way through.