Goal B: to compare ease or difficulty of running on a level route in suburban Houston vs. hilly routes in Atlanta
Goal A: challenging my PR of 54:33
We visited my mother and family in Houston for the Thanksgiving holiday break. She recently moved to Clear Lake City, a planned community on the southeast side of Houston that was built about 50 years ago for NASA employees at the Johnson Space Center. My aunt and uncle have lived in Clear Lake since the mid-1960's, and my uncle is a retired engineer who formerly worked at Lockheed. He contributed to several NASA projects, from the Apollo moon landings to the first space shuttles and the space station. I grew up about 100 miles to the east, near the Louisiana border. This region is on the coastal plain of Texas, near the Gulf of Mexico. In short, this area is flat, flat, flat. We decided that it would be fun to run a Thanksgiving race in my mother's town, as we would be away for the Atlanta Half-Marathon and its associated races. We found a race that started just a couple of miles from her house, with a 5K and 10K along with a 1K kids race.
This was the first race that we had run outside of metro Atlanta, and was also the first race on a completely flat course. YAY, NO HILLS! Although it was tempting to think that a flat route would be much easier than the hilly routes of Atlanta, I also knew that one advantage of hills, especially a gently rolling hilly course, were that different groups of muscles were used for uphill vs. level vs. downhill running, meaning that the other groups were rested at stages of hilly races. So this would be a learning experience. Nonetheless I was hoping that I might be able to set a PR on a flat course, and plotted out a race strategy along those lines from studying the course map.
We drove the route the day before the race, although I didn't measure distances on the 'reconaissance' drive. A small bridge over a stream was the only noticeable 'hill', and after I had run the race, the elevation map showed a narrow range from 17 to 24 feet, not surprisingly. The evening before the race, we went to the Houston Zoo to see the holiday lights (very nicely done, highly recommended if you're in Houston in the coming weeks). We had enjoyed a big lunch and so skipped dinner before heading to the zoo, but on the way home, we just had to stop at Taqueria Arandas near Hobby Airport (also highly recommended, if you like authentic Mexican cuisine - not Tex-Mex). Against all advice to avoid eating spicy foods the night before the race, I enjoyed hot salsa and jalapeño peppers with la torta barbacoa. Fortunately I have a fairly strong stomach and I didn't think that it would cause me problems in the race, although I did have difficulty falling asleep until after midnight.
On the morning of the race, the weather was sunny and pleasantly cool but not cold, 52 deg F shortly before the start. There was a bit of marine breeze at times, and most people were wearing jackets and even gloves, whereas I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and a cap, although I didn't feel too cold. I had stretched at home and warmed up in the parking lot near the start of the race, but my right calf was 'tight'. I tried stretching it out a bit more while waiting for the start, but it was still sore. I was hoping that it would loosen up in the first mile or two of the run. The morning's events began with a children's 1K race, starting promptly at 7:30. That was a lot of fun to watch, ranging from some very fast winners, to reluctant participants bringing the rear with parents encouraging them forward. One little girl tripped over a speed bump in the parking lot, although fortunately didn't seem to be injured as she resumed running to the finish line after she was helped to her feet. Although the speed bump was small, I knew that I would need to watch out for it at the end of my race, when I might be tired.
Then it was our turn to line up. I estimated that there were several hundred participants altogether, and took quick photos of the crowd about a minute before the start.
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| In front of me and behind me |
We were given the signal to begin around 7:43 am, and I crossed the start line after about 20 seconds. Although there were a lot of people in my area, we were mostly moving at the same speed and so it was not difficult to get off to a good start. Out of the parking lot, left at Moonrock Drive, another left onto Falcon Pass, and then right onto Space Center Boulevard. We only had one protected lane although there was very little automobile traffic, but a car did pass every minute or two. I had hoped to reach the turn-off point for the 5K at Village Brook Street before the 5-minute mark, but that estimate was way off. At least half of the runners in my area continued forward on Space Center Blvd. I reached the one-mile marker at 8:17, which faster than the planned 8:45 pace to match my PR. I did reach the 10-minute and 15-minute marks, perhaps due to the faster pace. Unfortunately my right calf was still feeling 'tight' but it didn't seem to be affecting my running to this point. I resolved to walk through water stations to give my legs and lungs a short break, and the first water station was right after we turned into the neighborhood on Pineloch Drive. I reached the two-mile marker in 8:40 (16:57 elapsed).
The neighborhood featured nice upper-middle-class houses, mostly 2-story houses with medium-sized lawns. There were very few people watching our race. I did reach the 20-minute mark as planned, although that would be the last mark that I made for the rest of the race. As we worked our way to the golf course of the Bay Oaks Country Club, I noticed that I was being passed on a regular basis. I was slowing down a bit, but I felt in a comfortable-enough groove. I definitely wanted to save some energy for a strong finish, so I let them go, hoping that I could catch up to some of them in the final mile. I reached the three-mile marker in 9:13 (26:10 elapsed), which I thought was similar to my time at this stage in the Cartersville 10K in early October, where I had set my sub-55 minute PR. Turning left onto Clear Lake Boulevard, we turned left again onto Lofty Mountain Trail. Despite the name of the street, this stretch was absolutely flat. I was disappointed to reach the four-mile marker in 9:34 (35:44 elapsed) but my overall time seemed to be the same to this stage in the Cartersville 10K. Turning back onto Pineloch Drive, I slowed to a walk at the water station, dropping my cup into a garbage can as I turned left onto Space Center Blvd for the return trip.
I picked up my pace a bit while turning the corner. The tightness in my calf finally seemed to abate a bit, more than four miles in, and I was just going to put the pain out of my mind. I was keeping up with the runners around me and felt that I could maintain this pace to the end. Upon reaching the 5-mile marker, I had not yet heard the 45-minute marker, so I was starting to feel encouraged; 9:05 (44:49 elapsed). I estimated that I was about one minute behind my desired pace, and wasn't sure that I could make up the time, but it was just a bit more than one mile to go. Then we passed by the one-mile marker, indicating one mile to the start-finish line. It was only at this stage that I realized that at 47 minutes, not only going was I going to miss a PR, but I would have to hustle to avoid exceeding 56 minutes. I was less concerned that I wasn't setting a PR, but was annoyed that I had not even realized that I was that far off the desired pace before this late stage of the race. I realized later that this was a consequence of not having mapped distances by driving the route with the tracker. I don't know if I could have run any faster, but at least I would not have had some false confidence that I was closer to the finish than I actually was.
Nonetheless I was able to move into a higher gear - although not as strong as I felt in the last mile of the Cartersville 10K. I very gradually caught up to and passed a couple of runners ahead of me, although I hardly blew past them. Then the walkers in the 5K race rejoined us, sharing a common route to the finish. The runners were passing them to the left, as we turned left onto Falcon Pass. I managed to pass one more runner shortly before turning right onto Moonrock. Then I heard footsteps coming up behind me, and sped up a bit more. As I turned right into the parking lot, the other runner on my right was able to pull up even with me. I kicked forward strongly, determined that he wasn't going to pass me without working hard for it, and felt him gradually drop back.
As I got close enough to the finish line to read the clock, I saw the time at 55:40. I wasn't going to let that clock show 56 minutes to my face if I could help it! I sped up even more, but taking care not to get tripped up by the speed bumps! The seconds ticked by quickly but so did the yards. The last reading on the clock that I saw was 55:58, then I crossed the timing mats. After it was over I saw my official 'gun' time was 55:59.9! Chip time was 55:38.6, which was my fourth-best time in the 10K distance and probably right around my average time.
Mile splits: 8:12, 8:40, 9:13, 9:34, 9:05, 9:05, and 1:44 for the final 0.22 miles, just under an 8 minute per mile pace.
Kilometer splits: 5:08, 5:13, 5:17, 5:44, 5:45, 5:53, 5:58, 5:35, 5:41, 5:22.
I was initially disappointed with my time, but I think that the question about hills or flat was now been answered: the difference is probably not significant. In fact I might even be better trained for hill running, as long as the route isn't net uphill.
Goal B: to compare ease or difficulty of running on a level route in suburban Houston vs. hilly routes in Atlanta: for me the difference must not be significant.
Goal A: challenging my PR of 54:33: not achieved, but 55:38 will be my baseline for future years.
Bonnie achieved a PR in the 5K distance, so I'm sure that she will also want to run this one again. She was delighted (and I was happy for her) that I didn't lap her in my 10K quest, and I was rewarded by her speed with her capture of my finish-line photo, above.
Next: the Eastside Atlanta Beltline 10K, December 6
