Finally, my full 25K race report.

By the way, thanks for all the encouraging comments on my quickie race report. I ::heart:: Houston runners. And Laredo Taqueria.

Chip Time: 3:20:58
[Average] Pace: 12:58
Heart Rate: 170 - 193
Mile Splits: Let’s just say they were an excellent example of positive splits. heh.

Race Report:

• Woke up at 4:30am, had breakfast (oatmeal and raisin bread), stretched, removed the 4 SalonPas patches I had been wearing all weekend, and then smeared a gallon of Icy Hot on my thigh and knees. Woo, that definitely woke me up….and my sinuses.
• Arrived at Wortham Center around 6:30am. The weather was already uncomfortably warm and humid. Based on the groups of people wearing identical colored tshirts, it looked like all the Houston running groups were out in full force….Fort Bend Fit (white), Houston Masters (blue?), a Luke’s Locker club (yellow?), Houston Striders (grey) and the club t-shirt I was wearing, HoustonFit (red). There were more I couldn’t identify. Anyways, I headed straight to the Houston Strider’s tent (but didn’t recognize anyone), braved the porta-potties and then headed over to the starting line. Ah, the crowd. Just like at the 20K, I love soaking up the energy of a huge crowd of runners in those last few minutes before a race.
• After a few stretches, I wandered towards the front of the crowd and ran into Holden. He asked about my IT band. I told him about the SalonPas and IcyHot and he confirmed that I smelled like menthol. hee. He also said he had printed a map of the Houston Marathon course and hung it up in his office to help psych him up for January. Great idea! I’m doing that too. We chatted a few more minutes until the gun went off at 7:00am, headed towards the starting mat, set our watches and wished each other a good race.
• My running started off alright. Not bad, but also not great. Despite the copious amounts of IcyHot all over my right leg, my legs felt a little stiff. They did loosen up by mile 4, but by then I was too busy trying to swim through the humidity that I barely noticed. The race was hot and humid. And hot. Did I mention it was humid, too? Lots of people were talking about it. Not fun. Because it was so hot. And humid.
• Because of my IT band worries, I stopped at every water station to stretch. I think this really helped a lot. My knee did start tightening up between miles 8 to 10, but it was nothing like the problems I had the week before. What helped the most were doing kimchi squats (basically, a version of a low squat) along with the other stretches. Those kimchi squats really stretched out my knees.
• I ended up walking quite a bit in this race. It was pretty discouraging, but a good opportunity to practice some positive thinking skills. That helped a little, but seeing my mile split times steadily increasing made it pretty hard to stay upbeat. My first three miles were about 11:00 min each, but by the second loop of the course I was seeing 14 and 15 minute miles. Ugh. My initial race goal was to finish under 3 hours…..but in the end, I just wanted to finish before the race course closed at 10:30am. I barely made it. Coming down that bridge for the last time towards the finish line was pure relief. I was exhausted, dizzy and generally feeling out of it. At one point I saw Felix cheering and telling me to keep my eyes up and look towards the finish line. That gave me a boost of energy, and I started speeding up towards the finish. My calves started cramping up (like I was about to get a charley horse), but I crossed the finish mat fairly strong. A race volunteer offered to help remove my chip, and I think I said something to him about not being able to handle complex tasks at the moment. heh. Finally, after 3 hours and 20 minutes, it was over. It was my hardest - and longest - race so far.
• I hobbled over to the Strider’s Tent and saw Holden talking to Yong Collins. I’d always seen Yong’s amazing race results in the Strider newsletters (usually placing 1st or 2nd in her age group), so it was really great to meet her. Plus, she’s Korean!!! That was a bonus. Yong said she was 52 and started running just 6 years ago - and now she’s one of Houston’s top female runners. Amazing. Pride for my peeps, yo.
• Also saw Jessica (who placed in her age group!!!) and Steve, who said not to worry too much about the race results since the heat/humidity threw everyone off. Yong had said the same thing, pretty much. Hearing it from two experienced runner made me feel better about my performance.
• I couldn’t shake the dizzy, foggy, out-of-it feeling for the rest of the day on Sunday. Tried eating different things - rice, steamed fish, chicken, hard candy, orange juice - but what ended up helping the most was getting a good night’s sleep. Monday morning I was feeling normal again, other than some really sore thighs.

Additional things I saw/heard during the race:

• Mile 3, one guy telling another guy: “….the thing about hanging out with Mormons is that you always have to wonder if they secretly want your wife…”
• Mile 5: (Angry Guy runner) “It’s too damn hot! They should do this race in November when it’s actually good running weather.” (Girl runner) “This is November.” (Guy runner) “Oh yeah. Nevermind.”
• Watching a woman sprint down Memorial with what looked like blood running down her legs.
• From miles 12 to 14, trying to put lots of distance between me and the lone female runner shouting the lyrics to “Watershed” by the Indigo Girls.
• What is it with Beatles songs and races?? Sure, the Beatles were a great band but listening to the same 4 or 5 songs OVER AND OVER again gets pretty annoying. My suggestion - if you HAVE to play Beatles, at least get a 5-disc changer so that we don’t have to listen to the same songs everytime we pass.

The next/final race of the Houston Marathon Warmup Series:

The Houstonian 30K
December 11
Sugarland