Another 10k

I just registered for the Blue Bell Fun Run 10k. This will be my 2nd 10k within a 7 week timeframe. Looks like a fun race; gotta love the Blue Bell ice cream at the finish!

TIR Weekend

I completed my 2nd ever relay race this past weekend running from Gonzales, TX to the San Jacinto Monument east of Houston. The biggest difference between this years and last years race for me was the fact that I was battling bursitis in my heel and/or lower achilles tendonitis during last years race. This year I was injury free.


Another difference between this year and last year is that I ran on an 8 member team last year versus an 11 member team this year. While I only ran 1 less leg in 2009 compared to 2008, a 2 van rotation was used in this years race enabling longer breaks between legs. Being able to sit down and eat pasta at lunch after completing our vans first rotation was a huge advantage to me over last year.

It was a great experience running and meeting new people during the course of the race. I'm continually amazed at the number of people that I saw at various stages of the race.


The biggest lesson I learned from the 2008 race was to change into fresh clothes after running every leg. I'm a heavy sweater, especially in warm and humid weather like we had TIRweekend. I brought enough running clothes to change every leg last year but opted to stay in the same clothes between a couple of legs. One of those lack of changes was between night legs and I wound up being cold and miserable trying to sleep in damp clothes.

Leg 3 - 8.78 miles 1:12:42

The first leg that I ran this year was the longest leg of the race; Leg 3 at 8.78 miles all on dirt/gravel road. The night before leaving for Gonzales, I mixed my Accelerade and filled 4 bottles on my fuel belt. I stuck the belt in the refrigerator like I have so many times for weekend morning training runs. Out of sight/out of mind I totally forgot to pack it when I left the house at 4 am Saturday morning. We had a supply of water and gatorade in the van so I just grabbed a bottle of gatorade and borrowed a fanny pack to carry it. I also jotted down the road numbers on the leg runner directions and slipped that into the fanny pack as well. Being on a gravel road, the roads weren't marked very well/at all. I made my first turn fine, noting the TIR orange cone and directional sign at the turn. My problem came at the second orange cone right around the 2nd intersection that I encountered. I first kept on running on the road that I was on but not long after I stopped and ran back to the cone. I could see the TIR sign across a fence in a nearby field blown off by a strong wind. The directions that I put in the fanny pack were nowhere to be found (I think they blew out in the wind earlier when I stopped for a gatorade break.) I reasoned that if they put a cone there they must've wanted us to turn so I took a right. Looking at the map of the leg now, I can clearly see that I was supposed to go straight. I missed the water stop on the course but rejoined the course within a mile of the exchange point.

Leg 15 - 4.13 miles 31:25

Leg 15 was a straight path following highway 90 the entire way. There was no chance of getting lost on this one! I ran this leg in a bright orange shirt, blinkie reflector lights, reflector vest and a headlamp. It was getting dark when I started the leg and I had to turn my headlight on for the 2nd half of the leg. After completing our 2nd rotation, our van headed to Katy to a hotel to catch a shower and an hour of sleep.

Leg 29 Cinco Ranch HS to HEB Katy - 2.3 miles 16:18

Leg 29 was a leg that I picked up when our team had to reshuffle legs going from a 12 person to 11 person rotation. I actually gave up a 6+ mile leg and picked up this 2+ mile leg and a 4+ mile leg. So the total mileage only increased a little and was spread over 2 legs. While leg 15 took me to darkness, this leg started at dawn. I had my reflector gear and headlamp on but ended up running without the headlamp as it got light right around the time my teammate arrived. This leg had a couple of turns that were both well marked. I should've stayed on the right hand side of the road on my last turn as I had to cross back over traffic for the exchange. I was able to fly on this leg and actually cut a minute into the 6 minute overage I had on leg 3 (stopping and running back when lost is not a good thing for your pace).

Leg 37 - 4.36 miles 34:19

Leg 37 was run in the afternoon in hot conditions. The leg began at Mason Park and ran through non scenic parts of Houston. I tried to start this leg out slower and just maintain a 7:45 pace; however, there was a huge downhill at the start that got be out the gate too fast yet again. I managed to hang on for a 7:54 pace but gave back the minute that I gained on leg 29.

This year's epilogue had our team walking up to the monument instead of running as we did last year. It was a great way to end a terrific running weekend.

TIR Number 2 is in the Books

TIR Battling Blogger van of teammates after completion of 3rd rotation awaiting start of 4th rotation.

Today's Horoscope

There is no reason for you to be in a hurry to get anywhere right now, no matter what someone else is telling you. So take all the time you need and make no apologies for it! You have the right to do the amount of research that makes you feel good about your decision. And the more you can map out your plan of action in detail, the better things will go for you. Tell all the people who are pushing you that they are wasting their time. Assert yourself and stand your ground.

I guess that means I'll be finishing my TIR legs when I finish them dammit......

Conoco Phillips Rodeo Run

Don't you hate it when blogger freezes up after you've typed up your post and you just lose it? That happened early Saturday afternoon after typing my rodeo run race report; so we'll have to go with a Monday morning quickie instead.....

Splits taken from my runners world training log:
Intervals (RodeoRun)
Type Distance Time Total Time Pace
Interval 1.04 Mi 7:04 7:04 6:48
Interval 1.01 Mi 7:08 14:12 7:04
Interval 0.97 Mi 7:23 21:35 7:37
Interval 1.05 Mi 7:58 29:33 7:36
Interval 1.00 Mi 7:29 37:02 7:29
Interval 1.00 Mi 7:09 44:11 7:09
Interval 0.22 Mi 1:28 45:39 6:40

I PR'd by over 2 minutes from my previous best 10k; chip time was 45:41. Pretty cool race with over 10,000 runners split between the 5 and 10k events. Saturday morning saw wind in the 20-30 mph range and we ran over the elevated viaduct. Going out we had more of a headwind and enjoyed more of a tailwind on the return which always makes it nice.

Next up is TIR this weekend; it looks like it'll be a repeat forcast of last year's inaugural TIR.... hot, hot, hot!!!!! with maybe a shower or two thrown in.

Whale Run Pics

In keeping with the small, low key race theme, the pictures taken at the Whale Run are in a shutterfly album. I did manage to locate a pic of myself along the race route; of course, they didn't catch me on the most scenic part of the course. Still, it's cool that I'm able to have a Hawaii addition to my work out room walls. The part of the course between the start and the lava field was really cool in that the road wound along the coast.

You Might Be A Runner If...

1 You know a singlet is not a small single person.

2 You are on this website.

3 You call all other sports cross-training.

4 You can convert kilometers to miles in your head.

5 You drive 100 miles to a 5K race.

6 You know how to spell "orthotics" correctly.

7 After finishing a 10K race, you fill out the time card, grab a banana and run the course again.

8 You know that lactate threshold isnt the amount of breast milk your wife can pump out in a 24 hour span.

9 You are no longer asked "What are you doing this weekend?".

10 You know more about stress fractures than most physicians.

11 You look forward to birthdays when your age changes to a number ending with a 0 or 5.

12 Your running shoes outnumber your other footwear.

13 You use your bib numbers to wallpaper your garage.

14 You are no longer asked for advice on matters requring sound judgement.

15 Your nightmare used to be about being naked in public, now it’s about missing the morning bus to the start line.

16 You know a marathon is 26.2 miles.

17 You always check the "no t-shirt" option.

18 When someone asks your age, you reply with a 5 year age range.

19 You log your mileage.

20 Your bumper sticker says "26.2".

21 You're a "few" pounds overweight and so you rationalize "I'll have to add a few miles to my weekly mileage".

22 People ask you every Monday how you did in your race.

23 You know the location of every public drinking fountain within 20 miles of your home.

24 You know who Hal Higdon is.

25 You can say fartlek without giggling.