Location: Sealy, TX

Distance: 13.70 miles

Smart Sealy Run

(oops, got a lot of catching up to do)

The SMART Training for Saturday morning was a trip out to Sealy for what turned out to be good hillwork.  I was driver for the Memorial Park Posse - picked up Maureen around 5am, stopped by the 24hr Starbucks in the Galleria, picked up Randi, then made it to Terry Hershey around 5:50am to meet up with Hoang and the other Striders.   There were three cars in the Strider caravan.

Bad storms were in the forecast, and they hit dead on while we were on I-10.  The wind and rain were so strong, the rain was going sideways.  Visibility was almost nil - I could barely make out the taillights in front of us.   We also watched the temperature gauge drop from 71 to 59.   We started laughing - what the hell were we doing?   Fortunately, we were going against the direction of the storm, so by the time we got to Sealy, the skies were relatively clear.

We exited I-10 and Steeeve led us through some windy roads through the countryside.  After about 20 minutes, we made a pit stop at what looked like an abandoned barn.  The weather was cold and windy, so I put on gloves and another shirt.  We got back on the road and followed Steeve through more winding roads.  We wondered how Steeeve knew where to go.  Randi said ominously, “He’s taking us the long way so we can’t escape….”

Eventually, we made stops to drop off water bottles.  The route was 13 miles out and back, so we stopped every 2 miles to stash bottles.

We parked on the side of the road (next to some super tiny and very cute goats), and headed out.  It was still wet, but the sky was clearing the air was fresh.  I ran with Barb and Maureen.  The first few miles were good…..of course, going DOWN that huge hill at the start really helped.  The first half of the run was OK - the hills didn’t feel too bad, and the weather was perfect at that point.   But, after we made the turnaround, things started to go downhill (harhar).  Maybe it was because I only brought one bottle with sports drink in it, and I stupidly didn’t bring any gu/gel (Barb gave me one of hers).  But, the run back was so much harder, and somehow the hills felt taller and steeper than before.

By mile 10, I was pretty grumpy.   I even started contemplating switching from the Full Marathon to the Half.  I was arguing with myself in my head……I could just do the Half on Jan 13th, still receive a Half Marathon finisher’s shirt and mug but just no official time…..how important is an official time to me?….I’ve already done a Marathon this year…..will I regret it?…..won’t I be prouder of myself to say I’ve done three marathons instead of two?    By this time, Barb and Maureen were long gone and I was shuffling along, doing 5-1s and feeling pretty defeated.  Steeeve drove up in his car looking for me, and I knew that meant I was the last one.  ugh.   I said I wanted to walk it in - the idea of sagging it back to the start was too much.  I handed him my car keys for the Memorial Park Posse, and Steeve joked that I was slow because of the huge weight of my keys (it’s true - I have a zillion keys).   His comment made me laugh, which really helped with my gloominess, and I (slowly) jogged it back in.

At the end, everyone cheered and formed an archway for me to run through.   Striders rock!

Afterwards, we at breakfast at Tony’s.  The grits were so good, I wanted to cry.