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.

Around 6:20am, we met our police escort (Greg?) and his supervisor. Peter explained the race procedure - the lead car would clear a path for the race leaders, making sure the right lane stayed open, especially on the 2nd and 3rd loops when the crowds would be thick. And just before the end, the car would need to cut a path diagonally to the left, to direct the leaders to the finish line. Officer Greg wanted to practice driving the route, so Peter rode ahead in one car while I rode with our race escort behind them. Both cars turned on their lights, and we sped off. As we flew down Allen Parkway, Officer Greg pointed at the flashing policecar in front of us and said, “You know what it’s like to follow that while going over 100mph?” I asked if he had been in a lot of high speed chases. “Ooooh, yeah,” he smiled.

It was close to 7:00am, so we headed back to the starting line. Steeeve and the split timers were lined up in cars, waiting to synchronize their watches with the gun before going to their assigned mile markers. I found Peter, and we hopped back into the car just as the gun went off.

What an exciting race! A cluster of 5 runners immediately took the lead. It was too dark to read their bib numbers, so Peter tried to guess who they were. When we turned at Waugh, we saw two runners had pulled out in front. We recognized Luis, but couldn’t read the other runner’s bib. We thought he was a relayer, since he had a 4-digit bib (I think bibs 1-300 were reserved for top runners, 4000+ reserved for relay teams). Loren was leading on bike, so he got a good look at the bib then came up to the police car to give us the number: #2583, Alex Moore. Peter said he didn’t recognize the name, so maybe he was a relayer after all.

When we were turning onto Allen Parkway, there was a near-collision between the runners and a girl. She was on her cellphone, so she didn’t hear Peter announcing that the runners were just behind us because right after we passed, she stepped out on the street and came within inches of colliding with Luis.

On Allen Parkway, we could barely see anyone behind Luis and Alex. They were both going strong, and keeping a 5:00-5:10 pace. Amazing. It was really fun watching such fast runners from the lead car. And given my usual 11:00 pace, it’s one of the only ways I’ll ever be in front of anyone during a race.

As we approached the turnaround at Sheperd, we saw a problem. For some reason, orange cones were lined up along the road all the way to the barricade, with no opening for runners to turn. Peter stuck his head out asking, “How are runners supposed to make the turn??” We got shrugs and “I dunno…”. By that time, Alex and Luis were less than 20 feet behind us, so Officer Greg barreled right through the cones, creating an opening in the nick of time.

When Alex passed the relay point, we knew he was going for the full 13.1 miles. He had gained a 10 foot lead in front of Luis, and that lead would continue to grow during the 2nd loop. By now, the course was full of runners, so Peter was constantly on the loudspeaker asking everyone to move to the left. Overall, runners were very understanding, though a few runners with headphones didn’t hear Peter, or would step back into the right lane after we passed, right in front of Alex. Peter would crack everyone up with jokes like, “Please move to the left lane. I have a taser. Don’t make me use it.” Almost everyone was clapping and cheering for Alex as he ran by, which was really cool. Along the course, I spotted Jessica, Holden, Carrie, Jenny and Michelle.

Approaching Sheperd, another problem. We were in the far right lane, instructing everyone to move to the left….but, smack in the middle of the right lane was a crowded water stop. We lost Alex for a minute while we made it through the crowd, but got back in front of him after the turn.

We had lost Luis by this point, so it was clear Alex was going to win the race. He still looked strong and his pace was consistent (~5!!). I don’t even recall seeing him take water during the entire race - amazing. At one point, I heard a runner say, “He’s already on his last lap?? I’m just starting my 2nd!!” which made me laugh because that’s exactly what I say too. After the 20K mark, Peter told Alex to follow us towards the left lane, and in 1:09 he crossed the finish line.

For the rest of the race, I helped Matt announce runner’s names at the finish line (tho he was a better announcer - lively with funny commentary). There was a chip mat 50 feet before the finish, so whenever someone stepped on the mat, their name/age/hometown would pop up on the computer screen. It got a little crazy when big groups of runners would come in at the same time, but it was really fun - and hilarious. Despite our best efforts, Matt and I kept mangling people’s names. [Speaking of which, if Tom Crouch happens to read this - I’m sorry for calling you Tom ‘Crotch’.] Also, for relay teams, only one of the names would show up on the computer screen - creating particular confusion with co-ed relay teams.

When Vic approached the finish (looking strong!!!), Matt started to give an energetic, personalized, awesome announcement. “..and here he comes, the famous, the infamous, the awesome, the great….VIC KAISER!!” We were cheering and clapping, “YAY VIC!!!” Vic didn’t react, and I thought he might still be in a zone….then he reached up and pulled earphones out! He didn’t hear Matt at all! We were cracking up. But still, YAY VIC!!!!

Afterwards, I hung out with Randi at the post-race party for volunteers - got some bagels, my face painted on a rock, yummy fajitas, and a free fuel belt!

I’m definitely impressed at how much work it takes to put on a race, and all the Striders who were on the planning committee (and especially impressed by how calm Barb looked the whole day).

Click here for more photos of the Half Marathon…..