Houston FIT - Run #2

Topic: Seven Miles of Good Runnin'
Key Words: Negative Split, "The Plant", Walk The Plank
Word Count: 711 (My Birthday!!!)
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Father's Day

Week number two of Houston FIT Marathon training; seven miles. A little strange to be dropping down from eight miles, but I think that's a mental trick by our coach; give the runners an easy course, and let everyone taste success before the long runs. This is my last long run before Alaska, so I wanted to go after it a little bit. Here's the details...

Weather: High 70's; high humidity, but better than last week; partly cloudy; a fairly nice Houston Summer morning!
Route: Rose Garden, with a Twist -> http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/? r=1049335
Gear: I'm sold on the new shoe/sock combo; same as last week
Time: 7 miles in 1:08:30, 9:47 per mile pace
Narrative: I arrived to Lukes 10 minutes early and found the lot almost full; seven miles gets the whole crew out I guess! My plan was to run a negative split today; second half faster than the first. I figured if I started at the back of the pack and worked my way forward, I would be inclined to chug out faster miles as I went. I was talking to Yung and Larry (are they dating?) before we started, and that conversation continued as we left the lot ... uh oh ... Yung had dragged me to the front of the pack! I thought my back-to-front plans had been torpedoed until myself and about 20 runners mistakenly decided to cross Shepard by crossing Allen Parkway, crossing Shephard, and then crossing Kirby; everyone else just crossed Shepard! Suddenly, I was in the back of the pack!

About 30 minutes in I had passed the folks in the back and was chugging along, passing those strewn out behind the front pack, when I happened upon Tracy. We compared results from Houston, and as she's from Chicago and running that marathon, she shared how she thought the run would go. Apparently it is true that you have to weave in and out of the crowd near the end; I think I'm actually looking forward to that! Tracy and I parted ways and I happened upon water stop number two, with Larry, Yung, and Coach Kaytha (sp?) taking a walk a break. Kaytha "demoted herself" to Yellow due to a nasty case of the plantar fasciitis (aka, "the plant"). I decided to take a break to finish off my last Accelerade container, and Yung told me to wait for her and Larry; we ran together for about 15 minutes. I think Tracy, Larry, and Yung helped me to keep my pace up though the "middle miles", and I was feeling fairly plucky, so I pushed ahead, with my eyes locked on the front pack of the Yellow. I was about a block behind them when they finished, so I think I was fairly successful with my plan; no way to know for sure, but I think I did run a negative split. Good time, good route, good conversation ... a good morning.

Until core. I decided to try it this morning and I found some little oriental woman leading us through toe planks, side planks, wood planks, wall planks, walk-the-planks, and other sadistic yoga-from-hell like moves. I was grunting away with everyone else until the "side plank with silly ass leg lift". That made my right groin hurt; bad. That's one set of muscles that have been known to not appreciate my running hobby, so I'm very protective; my day of core was finished.

And this shouldn't be a surprise, but Atwell showed up. I was standing there, talking to Kaytha, and out of the blue, there was Atwell! He and the Knuckleheads ran the Rice Run, so they were passing through Lukes on the way back to Memorial. After greeting his masses (Atwell is certainly one of Houston FITs most well known), he and Mike ran off; Atwell's been running fast this Spring, so I think he's setting up for a good marathon this winter. I guess we're all chugging away, with one group or another, towards another 26.2.