On Sunday, the (fabulous) Striders hosted the first of the 2008 Houston Marathon Warmup Series, the Houston Half Marathon & Relay. Since the Half was 7 days before the New York Marathon (auugh!!), I thought I’d start tapering that weekend - so, I decided to volunteer instead of run. As it turns out, though, I may have been one of the only NYCers who didn’t do the Half as a last training run. Oops! But it was alright, because volunteering at the Half was a lot of fun.

I had great volunteer assignments: ride in the lead police car, and help announce names at the finish line. Sweet! Race day morning, I got to Sam Houston Park at 5:50am. It was chilly and dark, but I could already see the crowds gathering. Almost immediately, I ran into Peter, my partner for the lead police car. Peter had done police car duties for several races already, so he knew the full drill. We headed to the Strider Tent where Steeeeve was debriefing fellow volunteers, and picked up the list of registered runners organized by bib number (with Strider names highlighted in yellow). The purpose of the list was to help us identify the race leaders and call out encouragements to runners (especially fellow Striders)….as it turns out, that list was VERY useful during the race.

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Location: Memorial Park loop

Distance: 6 mi

Pace: ~10:30

Met Minh at Memorial to get in a run.  We originally planned to do one loop, but ended up doing two.  Not much else to report, other than the weather was excellent.  Afterwards, we went for beignets and coffee with another friend.  mmmm

Location: Memorial –> Sabine
Distance: 8 mi
Avg Pace: 11:15
Avg HR: 170 
Temp: 59

This was a hard run.  I think the work week, and possibly Wednesday night's run, had caught up with me.  Even before the halfway mark, I felt like I was done - but once you're past the catacombs, you might as well finish the whole loop.  Though, I'm glad Maureen wanted to do the full 8 miles - even though I felt like I was dragging (I stayed about 20 feet behind Maureen most of the time), I'm glad I put in the miles. 

The air was pretty chilly - almost too chilly - especially along the Bayou.  I think the wind made the temperature feel about 5 degrees colder than it did in the Park.   We also noticed that the ripe guano smell of the Waugh Bridge bat colony was particularly strong, even long after we'd passed the Bridge.   Again, probably the wind.

On the way back, my hands started to feel numb from the cold, with that pins-and-needles feeling you get when your foot falls asleep.  I tend to clench my hands when I run, especially when I'm tried, and I become most aware of it in cold weather.  I have to remember to relax my hands!  But it's good because the chilliness reminded me to take some cheap, disposable cotton gloves to NYC.  If my hands are cold on a Houston evening, I'm sure they'll be even more cold at 5:30am in New York. :) 

Location: Memorial –> Waugh Bridge
Distance: 5.5
Avg Pace: 10:14
Temp: 66

Another night of great running weather.  Temps were in the high 60s, and at that perfect place between too chilly and too warm.  Maureen was at the packet stuffing for the Houston Half this Sunday, so I ran with Michelle, Loren and Richard.  Half the group did the Sabine 8-mile route, and the others did the Waugh Bridge 6 miler.  I stayed with the Waugh Bridge crowd, since the Sabiners were all really fast and I would have had to run the route alone.  Plus, my hatlamp thingy was still broken, and running along the Bayou in the dark is creepy enough, even with a working lamp and a running partner.  

But it was a really good workout, and I kept a pace a little faster than my usual.  I started out running with Michelle, who is really fast.   Then, I heard Loren and Richard talking about the NY marathon behind us, so we started talking about the course, etc.  The whole time, though, I'm trying to keep up, thinking, "if I don't keep up with these folks, I'll have to run the bayou alone…"   I was actually doing better than I expected, thanks to the weather.   

We did have a minute of sheer panic trying to cross Shepherd back to Memorial.  Runners familiar with the Memorial/Shepherd/Allen Parkway routes know that intersection isn't the typical 4-way setup.  Lots of streets feed into that one block area, from all different angles, making crossing at any point a little hairy.  Anyways, I think someone miscalculated there timing of the traffic lights, and within seconds of reaching the middle of the street, cars were coming at us from all directions.  Someone yelled, "stay in the center lane!"….which might have been OK, except that the center lane was actually the left-turn only lane.  So, a few times, cars wanting to turn left started driving towards us in the lane before realizing we were in the road.  Cars were whizzing past, and there aren't any lights where we were (except for car headlights) so cars wouldn't spot us until they were close.  Not good.  Finally there was a break in traffic, we sprinted over to the sidewalk and it was over.  The whole thing probably lasted only 60 seconds max, but it felt longer.   "I just saw my life flashing before my eyes," I said.

We got back to the Park, and I pretended that I didn't want to collapse after keeping up that faster pace.   Later, Loren said "You guys were killing me" because it was a fast pace for him too.  I told him I was SO happy he said that, because I was totally dying too.  

Aftewards, Loren and Judith shared their past NYC Marathon experience, including tips: take it easy on the Verazano, expect a pick-up in energy on 2nd ave and Central Park because of the huge crowds.   

Luna sent this picture from the Clinton-Washington subway station in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn (my old 'hood, woo).   

(click to view full size) 

Location: Rose Garden Run (with loops)
Distance: 6.0
Pace: 10:23
Avg HR: 172
Temp: 65 (wonderful)

Chip's route was the regular Rose Garden, with a few tweaks.  We'd stay on the north side of Kirby, and add tempo at several points along the way.  (The start/finish markers in the map are different because my Garmin took a while to locate a satellite).  

Before the run started, I was talking with Maureen and Matt and one of the clips for my headlamp-thingy snapped off.  Oops!  Fortunately, I carried it in my hand on the run, and it worked just fine. 

The weather was excellent - cool, with very little humidity.  No more of that suffocating feeling during 90 degree workouts. Maureen and I made our way along the route, and got passed by the super-fast runners as they were heading back to the Park.  Matt turned around to join us for a few miles to make sure we took the right route.  When we crossed back over Memorial, Matt took off and then Bessie arrived to be our final shepherd for the evening.   After finishing, I was hardly sweating and didn't feel thirsty at all.   I love this weather. 

Shoe Update:

On Saturday's TLT run, I wore the Adrenaline 5s (versus the current 7 model) - no blisters at all on my left foot, but I did get some irritation (not quite a blister) on my right toe.   So, I decided to experiment.   I wore an Adrenaline 5 on my left foot, and an Adrenaline 7 on my right…..and my feet were very happy.  I figured if one strategy was mixing insoles, why not try mixing shoes?  hee hee      I probably won't mix shoes for the Marathon, though - I've decided to run in the Adrenaline 5s.   I'm pretty sure they have at least 26.2 miles left in them.  

A woman named Linda from Allied Waste Services called, saying she had found my wallet.   She was cleaning around some port-a-cans next to the golf course, and saw the wallet in a ditch.   She found one of my business cards, and called me at work.  

The wallet was damp, probably from rain or dew - it didn't smell, but I was still grossed out.  The only thing missing was $60 cash.  All my credit cards, debit card, gift cards, driver's license, etc were where I left them.  Even the loose change was still there.  I destroyed the credit cards though, since they've been canceled. 

I gave Linda a box of Ghiradelli chocolates and some cash in appreciation.  

So as of this afternoon, I have my ID back, a new car window, a new bank account and replacement credit cards in the mail.  Things are back to normal (hopefully).