2009 Houston Rodeo Run

Yesterday, several of us ran the ConocoPhillips Houston Rodeo Run. Earlier in the week the temperatures were in the low 80s. During the run, the temparature was in the low 60s...with a nasty biting wind. Effectively, the running partner and i improved our times (of course we only ran slightly less than 1/2 of a 1/2 marathon). It was expected that our times would improve.

10k
chip time: 59:47 (mm:ss)
pace: 9:37 min/mile

You can seem my information here.

And the video of us crossing the finish line here.

I didn't think this run was as fun as the Houston 1/2 marathon. Supposedly there were 10000 runners between the 5k and the 10k race. We spent most of the time dodging slow(er) runners/walkers. It was like a mad game of Frogger.

Official Results

Here are the official results of the half marathon.

* Chip Time: 2:14:17
* Gun Time: 2:14:32
* Split Times

- 10K: 1:03:29
- 9Mile: 1:30:30
- Finish: 2:14:17
- Pace: 10:15

* Division: Males 30-34
* Place within division: 263 out of 465
* Place within gender: 1944 out of 3582
* Place overall: 3255 out of 8425

Here are some graphical results.

And below are some pictures from the event:



The next run will be the ConocoPhillips Rodeo 10K Run.

2009 Aramco Houston Half Marathon Recap

Now, that i've had some sleep and am a bit rested, i'll recap the events of yesterday.

The morning started at 4:30am with the alarms screaming to wake up. Of course, i was in the paranoid light sleep mode (cause i didn't want to be late). That means i really didn't get much sleep. I picked up my running partner and we were off to downtown at by about 5:10am. I think i was more concerned with the logistics of getting there and finding parking than i was the actual run. But it turns out that traffic was not that bad and parking was easy to find. After all, there were approximately 25000 runners converging on one location.

We made our way into the runners staging area, checked in a goodie bag and had a bite to eat. Then it was time to start heading out to the corral location. We started lining up around 6:15am or so. We would not start the race until 7:10am. While the temperatures were mild by some standards, it was a little chilly just standing around. However, with thousands of people huddling around, it was tolerable. But, boy, do i hate crowds!

At 7:10am, the gun went bang and we were off. Luckily we near the front of the line, so we started moving pretty fast. I had heard horror stories of a lot of people dodging at the beginning...and there was some of that, but not nearly as much as i had anticipated. So that was good.

I was a bit concerned when my shins started barking early on...before we even hit the 1 mile mark. I immediately started wondering if i was going to make it the whole way...as i had never had any shin pain in all of my training runs. We kept pressing and somewhere around mile 3 or 4, the shin pain subsided.

I will say that the experience was one that i probably won't forget. The marathon spectators that lined the streets of Houston were just awesome. They were the ones that made the whole experience less painful. It was also great to see some of our friends on the sidelines. Every once in a while, you'd get someone calling your name with words of encouragement. And every time it brought a smile to your face. My running partner definitely got more attention than i did, but that's because she's pretty.

And, I must say that my running partner is awesome! She came down with an illness around mid-week. She wasn't even sure if she'd be able to make it. But somehow she found a way to not only finish the race, but finish with a rather good pace. That's my 'Iron Goddess'. We ran a faster pace than we have done in all of our training.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to enjoy our finish as much as we would've liked. As we came down the home stretch the crowd got really loud. Little did we know that coming up behind us was the finisher of the women's marathon. As we neared our finish line, we turned our heads to watch the woman break the Houston women's marathon record. And by the time that was all over, we had crossed our finish line. But it was a good feeling to finish. And honestly, i could've kept going. I still had gas in the tank.

At the finish we were able given our medals for our 13.1 miles of hard work. We then got our finisher t-shirts (which are a good quality shirt). We collected our things and met some of our friends in the reunion area (thanks for being there, Melissa G., Melissa W., Lisa, and Josh.)

Also a big congratulations goes out to the other participants of the 5K, half marathon, and marathon. Some of my friends and co-workers participated. Congrats to Nujoud for completing her first marathon. Congrats to Charlie, Nat, Tarik, and Erin S. for running the half marathon. And congrats to Melissa G., Josh, and Kevin for running the 5K. I'm sure there are others that i may have forgotten or didn't know about...but you all did great!

Here are my stats (unofficial):

Overall rank: 2391 (out of ??)
Male rank: 1632
M30-34: 255
Time: 02:14:16
10:15min/mile pace.

Here is the video of our finish. We come into view as early as 8 seconds into the clip, but we don't cross until about the 14 second mark.

Here is the source i used for the info. Here is an additional source.



Here is my race bib.



Here I am...full on deliriousness.



Here I am...still delirious.



Posing with my hard earned medal.

So, there you have it. The epic story of the first Half Marathon. I suppose when i say first that that implies there must be a second or a third. Um...possibly. As long as my running partner wants to run, then i'll be running.

2009 Aramco Houston Half Marathon

This morning, my running partner and I completed the 2009 Aramco Houston Half Marathon. I finished in 2:14:16. I'm quite tired and will follow up with more words later.

Hurricane Run

This morning i went for a run. I needed to calibrate my new Nike+ Sports band. Although the Nike+ Sports band is quite a nifty gadget, they are poorly constructed. The display went out on my old one. Evidently they aren't as waterproof as once thought. Nike is aware of this...but i'm not sure they'll do anything about it. The good news is that it is an easy return to the store.

Anyway, i went for a run this morning. I went to the local school track to calibrate with known distances. It's been a just over a week since my last run and this one was a little tough. My knee was giving me problems again.

So, it appears that the eye of Ike will be going right up the I45 corridor...peachy. I guess I'll know how much damage there is on Sunday or Monday.

Hope all are doing well...where ever you are.

Nike+ Human Race

All across the world people are running...not running from anything in particular, but running, for fitness, for charity, and for the fun of it...bleh, i think i threw up a little there on that last part of the comment.

We didn't run in Austin as previously planned. We ran here in Friendswood. There were a lot fewer people than there would've been in Austin. Although i think the Austin run would've been fun...not necessarily the running part, but the atmosphere.

So, i guess i'm nearly a quarter-marathoner...ick. i must stop. this is getting ridiculous.



Here we are...post run. Six+ miles later. I noticed some error in the distance so we ran a little bit extra to ensure we made the 6.2 miles.
My time was 1:06:03 for a distance of 6.3 miles.
Carla ran 6.51 miles with the last two miles with an unknown flying insect sting. what a trooper.

Not terrible for my first 6-miler.

We missed Lisa, who was going to run with us. She is supporting the US space program from Huntsville, AL (due to Gustav).

Barrier No More

I finally knocked down that 4 mile barrier. Today's run took me a new personal best...4.17 miles. I guess a new barrier has been built. I'm sure i'll knock that one down too. But I don't see me knocking down too many barriers in the running world.

On another note...There is something so wrong about having 33 hours (of a 40 hour work week) on Monday. I am completely exhausted. A few more days of work to go though...i'm not quite done for the week.

4 Mile Barrier

I can't seem to break the 4 mile mark in one continuous run. I seem to run out of gas right around that time. I think part of it may be that i've been running on a 1/2 mile trail...and after 8 times around it's all a little boring. Maybe i'll go back to the ~1 mile trail that carla and i ran on last. I think i need my running partner to help me through that barrier. The good news is that Carla will be back soon and she wants to run 5 miles on our next run. We'll see how that goes...

It seems that the new sensor pouch is yielding consistent results. I need to go on another short calibration run as i cleared the sensor inadvertently today.

wait...i've been running...no...this must be some elaborate dream...certainly.

Missing Distance

I went for another run today. I did a short 1/2 mile for a calibration run. I stopped only long enough to reset the Nike+ device. Then i kept going. About a mile and a half in, i noticed that the distance just wasn't tickin' off like it had been. I thought to myself, "i know i've run further than that." I started thinking about possible issues and then it donned on me. The sensor is askew.

So i stopped to check it out...and sure enough the sensor was sideways. You see, Nike had this grand scheme to get you to buy their shoes. We'll put a little pocket in the bottom of the shoe for the sensor...that way you'll have to buy our shoe if you want to use our nifty sportband or iPod nano device. Well, you don't have to buy their shoe, but you must understand that the sensor must be a certain way for the unit to work correctly. I was aware of this and tried to keep the sensor in the right orientation. But without a little pocket in my shoe, i just had to wedge the sensor between my shoe and foot. I have ordered a special pouch that goes on top of the shoe which will fix this sideways sensor issue...but in the meantime, i have to improvise.

My improvisation cost me about 1/2 mile of distance. The sideways sensor is probably also the cause for a loss of about 1/10 of a mile per mile ran on my first run. So, my first few runs will be slightly off in distance, which sucks, cause i actually ran more than what the sensor picked up. Such is life i guess.

Today i made 5 miles. However, i won't lie, it wasn't in one continuous stretch. After mile number 3, i walked a 1/2 mile. My legs were hurtin'. I wanted to get to that 5 mile mark, so i put in two additional miles. The Nike+ sports band only got 3.86 (+0.49 ran on the calibration run). The other 1/2 mile or so was due to a sideways sensor. The good news is that on the calibration run, the Nike+ was only 1/100 off. Not too far off.

I borrowed Carla's pedometer to do a comparison between the Nike+ and the marked trail. Turns out that the pedometer was further off than the Nike+. But in the end, I ran 5 miles, and walked a mile.

And, if that weren't enough, i came home to mow the backyard. Since i was working all weekend, i didn't get a chance to mow my lawn on its regularly scheduled day. That wasn't fun.

I paid some bills and loaded the dishwasher. Now, i'm gonna relax the last 2 hours or so before bed.

Other things i need to do this week include: take clothes to the cleaners, hit the gym to lift and swim, HIT THE STUDIO, do some laundry, get a haircut, do some general house chores, go grocery shopping...i'm sure there are more things for me to do...it's a busy week.

First Solo Run

Ugh...that was not fun. I miss my running partner. Right now she's on her way to Spain. In hopes of making the running a bit more tolerable, i bought the Nike + Sports band. I'm a fan of tech gadgets. I took it out for a run today. Since it was the first run with it, i though i would use the run i did today as the calibration run.

I went to a park here in Friendswood that had a marked jogging trail...2 laps = 1 mile. Easy enough. I'll just do my usual 4 mile run then take the gadget home and stick it in the laptop to download the data. Well, following the run (4 miles by the trails markings) i only went 3.65 miles according to Nike+. Hmmm...i should be able to adjust that when i get back to the house. Wrong. Evidently, my pace varied too much and that run didn't count as a calibration run. I wasn't able to update the run data that was captured. So, Nike+ thinks i only ran 3.65 miles (and maybe i did...maybe the trail is off). Perhaps tomorrow after work i'll put in a short 1/2 mile calibration run?

"You are Doing WHAT?"

The title of the blog is what you'll be saying once i let you in on some things that i've been doing lately.
First it started with a little weight lifting. Then i started swimming. And for crying out loud, i'm actually running now. No, not running from the police, like in my younger days, but running. I won't say running for fun...cause that would just suck the "fun" out of it.
Actually, the reason i'm doing all these things is that i get to spend time with Carla. This morning we had a 4 mile run. Four miles is the farthest i have ever run continuously. I guess i'm trying to see if i have the stamina to complete a 6.2 mile run. Next month is the Nike Human Race. Carla and Lisa have signed up for it...and today's test was to determine if i could possibly make it. I think i can...with a bit more training...i think i can make 6.2 miles.
So, yes, i have been lifting weights, swimming, and running. I'm pretty sure it's the company that keeps me going... ;)

Career Comes to a Close

Craig Biggio closed out his 20 year career today with the Houston Astros. What a career it was too. There are too many accolades for me to list here, but you can see his career stats here. Craig Biggio will make it to Cooperstown. Craig will continue to make an impact to the Houston community. Biggio was the complete package. He played with heart, devotion, and energy. He always gave it his all, even when there was no chance of winning. If any kids out there are looking for a role model, Biggio is it.
I didn't get to see his last game today, but i did get to see him play in the Astrodome as a catcher. My parents once told me the Astrodome was like a big house, in which you could play baseball in. I think that's where i got the idea to play 'baseball' in our house as a kid. Yes, mom and dad, you planted that idea in my head...which inevitably led to the hole in the wall at 3rd base. hehe
Anyway, congratulations Craig on an awesome career! It doesn't get much better than that...

L minus 7

Well...7 days remain before Endeavour lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on an 11 day mission to the International Space Station. Chances are that this will turn into a 14 day mission. The ISS will provide power to the shuttle which will allow the shuttle to stay a few extra days. So, we're all preparing for the long haul. Shuttle missions are exhausting; more so for those that have to sleep shift. My shift is essentially the "rockstar" shift. I'll try to do what i did the last mission i worked and give you a day by day account of the activities.

Over the past couple of days, i've knocked out a lot of work that i had on my list of things to do. Most of the hard work is done and now it is just doing some polishing. I'm just hoping that we launch on time...otherwise a lot of work gets to be done all over again...that's probably the most frustrating thing about planning a flight...along with flight rules. I HATE flight rules...

In other news, Morgan Ensberg was traded to the San Diego Padres today. I like San Diego...so i'm satisfied with where he ended up. He's back home in california, so i'm sure he'll be happy there. Good Luck Morgan. Interestingly enough, San Diego is the only other Major League stadium that i've been in. I watched the Astros play the Padres back in 98. Astros won that game! San Diego is an awesome town...

The Loss of Two

Houston loses two.

1) Marvin Zindler. If you've been in the Houston area for any amount of time, you've undoubtedly heard the famed line, "Slime in the ice machine." Marvin Zindler has been a iconic figure in the Houston area for longer than i can remember. My parents always watched Channel 13 Eyewitness News (simply cause we never had cable and channel 13 always came in the best.) I don't watch channel 13 news any more, but that does bring me back to my childhood years. Wikipedia has a page on Marvin. Yes, you've made it when you have your own Wikipedia page.

2) The Astros let 3rd baseman Morgan Ensberg go. In the baseball business, it is not uncommon that players move from organization to organization throughout their career. Craig Biggio is a rare case...spending his entire career with the Astros. Morgan has been slumping this season and wasn't getting much playing time. I'm not totally surprised, but it saddening. Morgan is/was one of my favorite Astros players. I'm sure i will follow his progress to which ever team picks him up. Here's Morgan's wikipedia page.

Biggio's 3000th!!

Tonight, in front of the home crowd, Craig Biggio got his 3000th hit of his career. Only 26 other ball players can say they've joined the 3000 hit club. That is a tremendous accomplishment! The game was halted for about 10 minutes or so while Biggio and his family and team mates celebrated his accomplishment. I am proud to say that I saw Biggio play in the Astrodome as a catcher (the first position he played in his early career).

Unfortunately, the Astros have not been doing very well this season. Perhaps they will turn it up for the second half of the season?

Congratulations Craig!!!

Go Astros!

Season Over...

Houston Aeros hockey is over for the season. And the Aeros ended the season with a loss. I attended tonight's games with Erin, Nel, Nick, and Andrew. Thanks for the tickets Nel. Thanks for remembering Erin...this kinda slipped my mind. We'll go to more games next season...

Tonight's game was just a blah performance by the Aeros. It seemed they were preoccupied with making passes instead of taking shots. You can't score if you don't shoot. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

The weekend is just not long enough.
I think i'll try to go to bed early tonight...
Have a good week.

BLAH...

A cold front pushes through today and brings rain. Gilruth sports (softball and football) cancelled. Sorry Erin. Sorry Moose. I thought football was an all-weather sport?

The Astros somehow get swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, you read that right...the Pirates. Not a good start to the season. Perhaps they are getting their typical end-of-season-slump over with early this year?

Had to dig deeper into my pocket to pay the lawyer. I hope this thorn in my side is over with soon. i have things i want to do...

I'm losing sleep for some reason...

Ok, i guess i'm done whining now...

Game Nite!

Tonight was a very nice and relaxing way to end the otherwise exciting weekend! It was game night at Erin, Justin, and Branelle's place. Game nite is a great way to have a good time without spending any money!

Earlier in the day i got in some rockstar practice. For some reason, i've been a little lazy on that front. But all was good as i could remember how to play the two songs in our catalog. I have been working on some new music and unfortunately it sounds too much like another band...oh, well, i'll keep working on it. And Finding Reason my be going on a "retreat" in the near future. Greg suggested we just lock ourselves in the studio for a weekend and work on music, music, music. No TV, no women, no distractions. Hopefully we can come up with some music to expand our catalog!

I started out the day by going grocery shopping (a chore i most hate...and hate even more doing it alone...you'd think i'd be used to it after 8 months) Anyway, the iPod made it a little more tolerable. But i'm stocked up on lots of food and such.

And on the NCAA front, Texas A&M has advanced to the Sweet 16. They play Memphis (#2 seed in the South). I'm not sure how that will turn out, but it should be a good game. I have a feeling A&M might pull it off. Guess we'll see...

Hopefully this week, work will be less painful than last week. I, unfortunately, have a lot to get done in one week. April 20th is not going to come soon enough. What is significant about April 20th, you ask? Well, it's the day that my Increment ends...with the crew (LA and Misha) safetly back on the Earth. I can then concentrate on 13A.1 planning.

Well, i think that is enough randomness for one night...Enjoy your week!

Pittsburgh Penguins to become a Houston Team??

HOLY CRAP!!! That would be awesome!!!
I didn't make this up...check it out here

Well, if this comes to fruition, i might be buying season tickets...maybe...but it would be nice to have an NHL team in town.

But for now, the Aeros are my hockey team. Speaking of that...anyone want to go watch some Aeros Hockey?

Chicago Bears vs Indianapolis Colts

...in Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4th (also Lisa's Birthday). I've been hoping da Bears would make it this year. I think Josh and I had a conversation at the beginning of the season and i mentioned that i'd like to see da Bears go all the way. Well, they made it to the big game...Now they just need to finish it off.

This will be a special Super Bowl for it will be the first time in history that the teams will be coached by an African American, two in fact. Tony Dungee of the Colts and Lovie Smith of the Bears will share the history making event.

At any rate, it should be a good game...i look forward to it!

But, I'm pulling for da Bears. And speaking of da Bears, this is what i'm reminded of from the '90s timeframe of Saturday Night Live.