Popping my blog cherry

I know it seems too good to be true, but I'm FINALLY going to start posting on BROTH. I didn't really have a choice, as my friend Richard threatened to remove the link to BROTH on his blog site. He also provided even more pressure at the end of his latest blog. Needless to say, I owe a BIG THANK YOU to Richard for blackmailing me into writing my first blog.

BLOG VIRGIN DISCLAIMER: I am still figuring out how to use the web-based tool, so bear with me. I also won't promise that I will have a blog written every day at this point, but I will be sure to write in it as much as I can. Oh , and this will primarily be a blog about my running, but as the name BROTH suggests, I will also discuss other things happening in my life.

Once I figure out how to add a bio to BROTH, I'll give you a summary of my running history. For today's daily BROTH though, I'm just going to recap this past weekend's treck to Dallas for The Half.

Thon convinced me a few weeks ago that I should go with him to Dallas to run The Half, which is a half-marathon course that basically runs around White Rock Lake in Dallas. He described it as a well-planned event with a really great "free" technical shirt. It didn't take much to convince me, especially since I needed a good gauge of my running shape.

We left Austin on Saturday at 11...it was me, Thon, and another Gazelle, Liliana Jackson who needed a ride (and the company of two really cool dudes). The ride up was pretty uneventful. Liliana, who I didn't really know, turned out to be a really sweet woman and lots of fun to have around. At Thon's request, we stopped at Starbuck's in Temple for a cup of Joe. We also stopped at Schlotzky's in Hillsboro for food and a driver change. Thon used to live in Dallas, so we figured we were best off with him in the driver's seat.

We got to Dallas around 3:30 or so and went straight to Run-On (running store and packet pick up location) to pick up our race packets. Somehow our race numbers were within one number of each other. Since we registered separately, the only thing we could think of is that they numbered everyone by their hometown. Oh-well, I'll try to solve that mystery sometime if I get really bored. As Thon promised, the "free" technical shirt was AWESOME. It is a soft top layer shirt that has pockets. Not really the best for running, but a great pre or post-run layer.

After Run-On, we went to Central Market to get some breakfast food and hydration. We got bananas, Vitamin Water, and even some dinner rolls. After that, we went straight to our hotel to relax a bit before dinner. Thon and I shared a room on the 19th floor and Liliana, a mother of two that never gets to relax much, got her own room on the 5th floor with a nice King size bed. She made it no secret that she was excited about this. And no, Thon and I did not share a King size bed, we had our own comfy Queens. While unpacking, I realized pretty quickly that I forgot running socks. DUH. After a few minutes of debating whether I could get away with wearing my normal white cotton socks, I finally gave in to the theory of my foot sweat being "wick'd" away with a polyester blend sock vs. the regular soaking action of a cotton sock.

Thon and I headed back to Run-On and whaddya know, our coach Gilbert and his cousin Bernard were there picking up their packets. It's always good to see Gilbert, but it was even better seeing him outside of Austin. Not sure exactly why, but it was. After talking to them for awhile and buying the cheapest pair of wicking socks I could find ($8.00!!!!!!), we finally left Run-On for the second time. Thon went ahead and drove to the race start to check it out, and then we headed back to the hotel.

After a little bit more relaxation in the hotel, we met Liliana in the lobby and headed out to dinner. The first place we went to had a 1 hour wait (at 6pm!!!), so we had to find an alternate site pretty quickly before it got too late to eat. Luckily, Thon had friends who were meeting us and they made reservations at a nice Italian restaurant for us. We got to the restuarant around 6:30 and had a nice meal. It was tough trying to find a meal that was compatible with an early morning race (no spices, little dairy, little butter), but we managed to find a couple of things on the menu. Just to be safe though, we ordered the sauce on the side. I think the waiter thought we were a bunch of freaks...which I guess is half true the night before a big race.

When we got back to the hotel, both the Texas/OSU game and the Texas A&M/OU game were on TV. The Texas game turned out to be a joke, but of course my Aggies kept things exciting until the end. Unfortunately, "the end" was 10:30PM. Thon managed to go to sleep before the end of the game, but I wouldn't dare. Unfortunately, the Aggies lost on some really crappy calls by Coach Fran..and now I was in the position of not only being up too late, but being extremely riled up from the last minute loss to OU. I didn't get to sleep until 11:00.

Thon gave me a head start as I woke up at 5:30 for my pre-race routine. I won't go into too many specifics, but it involved an opportunity to sit and ponder about the upcoming race for a few minutes. I was actually somewhat nervous about the race..the weather wasn't ideal for me (mid 60's and humid), I was tired, etc. etc. But I was still confident that I would do my best under the circumstances. My PR for a Half is 1:43:40, which to be honest is not that good considering my other race PR's. I hadn't done a half since joining Gazelles, so this was my first opportunity to use my enhanced Gazelle skills to PR.

We met up with Liliana downstairs around 6:30 and headed to the race. We found Gilbert and Bernard eventually once we got there and did a 2-mile warm-up with them. I normally either don't do a warm up or keep it to under 5 minutes, so this was new to me. It was really great running with Gilbert (not something you can do very often, he is too fast!), but after we finished the slow two miles, I was already very sweaty and felt a little dehydrated. This didn't make me feel very confident unfortunately.

I lost Thon and Liliana at the port-o-potties after the warm-up, so I made my way to the starting line by myself. They had markers for paces, so in theory you wouldn't have to start behind people that are slower than you (more on this in a sec). I decided to stand right in front of the 8-minute mile group. To beat my PR, I would have to run a sub 8-minute mile, so my lack in confidence was already showing a little. However, I ended up moving closer to the 7-minute mile marker because I found Thon and Liliana and decided to start with them.

The gun went off, and we started our journey. The first thing I noticed was that a bunch of the people in front of me weren't even running close to a 7 or 8 minute mile. I just don't understand what these people are thinking..can anyone explain this to me?????? Do these people enjoy getting run into? Or maybe is it a strategy to help them place better in their age group? Who knows..?? Anyway, Thon had a PR goal that involved running a 7-minute mile, so my run with him and Liliana ended after about 30-seconds when they both pulled ahead. I had already convinced myself that I wasn't going to have a great race (Carrie and Thon, I know what you are going to say), so I was ok with not trying to keep up. Oh, and on a funny note, we saw Gilbert going the wrong way when we started!! More on that later.

The course was flat the first 3 miles or so, I was feeling ok. I made sure to get water at every stop. Around the 3 mile mark, the course veered away from the lake for awhile and went through a pretty hilly neighborhood. I was managing to average around an 8-minute mile for the first 6 miles, so I actually was doing better than I thought. It crossed my mind that if I could have negative splits the rest of the way I could reach my PR. Unfortunately though, my energy gradually started to deplete around mile 7 or 8. I was getting hydrated and even took liquid crack (Enervitine), but my body just continued to feel weaker and weaker. After mile 8, the course went back to the lake and was pretty flat. Mentally it was tough, because you could see a mile or so ahead on the course and it seemed to take forever to get there. My mile average was getting closer to 8:15, so I was headed in the wrong direction. I was starting to feel like I do for the last 6 miles of a marathon. Not good.

I was determined to only walk through the water stops, so I pushed myself hard..I was even using the generic "one foot in front of the other" line on myself. My 11th mile was an 8:31, I was really dragging. With one mile to go though, I saw Gilbert running a cool-down with his friend Laura, and with his encouragement I was able to dig down deep and speed up. My last mile was a 7:44 pace, and I finished with a time of 1:45:40, two-minutes short of my PR. I saw Thon right away and even though he had a very respectable time of 1:38:54, it was short of his PR and even shorter of his goal to beat his PR. Liliana finished with Thon, and it was also well short of her PR.

I am disapointed in my performance, and I know Thon and Liliana were too..but I think there were many factors that we can attribute to it. Along with my own personal issues (tired from staying up to late with the Aggies, fatigued, oh and I ran 7 miles with Austin Fit on Saturday morning), there were other reasons it was tough. First off, the weather was not ideal, and even though Thon doesn't seem to think it is much of a factor, I think it definitely contributed. Also, even though I did like the course, it contained many long rolling hills. Liliana thought it was harder than Motive (a very hilly half-marathon in Austin) and even Gilbert said it was a very tough course. Lastly, none of us were in a taper and Thon and I had just completed a 21-miler the week before. These aren't excuses, but I don't think any of us were meant to PR that day.

Anyway, it turns out that even with having a crappy day, Lilian placed 2nd in her age group!! She is a 47-year old mother of 2 and she placed 2nd in her age group on a bad day. Not too shabby- and she got a trophy! Gilbert placed 5th overall and Bernard placed 3rd overall! They are badasses. Speaking of Gilbert, turns out he got to the starting line late because of some port-o-pottie related issues. He attributes the issues to a meal at La Madeline the night before..specifically a bowl of basil pesto soup. He had to run through the crowd to get his chip time started, and then weave through everyone to get to the front of the pack. He probably lost 2-3 minutes..which was very close to the difference between him and 1st place. Oh well..both he and Bernard got trophies and cash prizes.

We watched everyone get their trophies, and then made our way to my car. Gilbert was riding back with us to Austin, so we said our good-bye's to Bernard and drove to the hotel for quick showers. After our showers, Gilbert suggested we head to Chipotle. That sounded like an excellent plan, as I was starving. Gilbert treated all of us to lunch,which was very cool of him. We literally scarfed our meals and still didn't feel full.

On our way home, we had endless discussion about running and lots of gossip about fellow Gazelles that will not be repeated on this blog (it was all in good fun). Carrie text messaged us to see how we did and Richard called us as well. Richard talked with Thon and myself briefly and he even got to talk to Gilbert, which I think meant a lot to him (Richard has been struck with a mystery illness for over two months now).

We got to Runtex and I dropped Thon and Liliana off. Then I dropped Gilbert off at his house down south and had the opportunity to briefly visit with his wife and kids. His wife Trephine (sp??) is really sweet, and she gave me a few bananas (the big, plaintain kind) to fry at home.

Then I went home and hugged my beautiful wife Hava..it was great to see her after a whole 30 hours of being gone!! Yeah, I'm whipped. She ran a great 5k in the Race for the Cure, I am really proud of her. Gilbert and I are going to try to convince her to join Beginner Gazelles...we'll see!

That's it for my first blog! Don't worry, most will be much shorter than this one.Thanks again to Richard for the gentle blackmailing..and thanks to Thon, Liliana, and Gilbert for a great trip to Dallas. Regardless of the outcome of the race, I feel very lucky to have such good running companions in my life.