Monday, November 17, 2008

Great Weekend, now I need a work week to recover...

This was a working weekend with a race thrown in for good measure. I rented another large U-Haul trailer to make one of the last trips to my old house/shop, near San Antonio. It's been almost a year, but the guy that bought the place is super cool and has more workshop space there than he has stuff to fill it.

I briefly visited Daniel and his family:


And I got to visit my buddy Jeff and his family:


Going to the inaugural Rock & Roll Marathon in San Antonio had me kinda miffed at first. We ran the half-marathon, not the whole. I woke up at 4:10 and made my way down there...major street closings everywhere. I rode my bike to the Alamodome a few miles away, locked it there (finish line), then saw the line of people waiting for shuttle buses. VERY long line and only ONE bus in sight! So I opted to run 2-3 miles to the starting line, fully clothed, many layers of clothing. Now the whole thing IS a major clusterf**k! Very much running out of time, I had to get to the clothing drop off (corral #30) from my corral (#2) and get back with very little time until the race. And to think I started at 4:10, hours earlier!

I called Sonya who said she was in line somewhere and couldn't get with me to run. I refused to accept that! I haven't seen or run with this girl in almost a year. At the last possible moment, she showed up. Seconds before the gun, I got a runner to snap our pic:


I REALLY couldn't believe that a year had passed, it REALLY only seemed like a few weeks! She also said, "it's been a year?" While driving to the race, I was sure that I had run with my group a few times this year, but knew it wasn't the case. Strange sorta time-warp, guaranteed. If this year went by that quickly, the rest of my life oughtta happen like anytime, now!

We were definitely running a conservative pace. And due to the fact that we had a year's worth of chit-chat to catch up on, it was good (we do actually talk on the tele every now and then, though). As is TYPICAL of Evan, I was already talking about "bolting" at 2.4 miles. Sonya just rolls her eyes, "what's new?". I said I thought it would be good to stomp on the pedal at mile 6. She said 8. I quietly responded, "7.5?". At about mile 7, I called my mom! I called her as we were screaming through downtown. Mom later said it was fun to get such a call! Mission accomplished!

As I always do, I just get so fired up at the races that I couldn't stand it and had to bolt. I dropped her at mile 8 and took off! All was good and I really enjoyed the venue after the maddening start. Good time! At mile 11, my toe exploded. Really sharp pain in ONE instant! I thought that either my toe had snapped into 2 pieces, or I popped a blood blister. Gazing down at my shoe revealed a white shoe, not a red one. The pain slowly subsided a bit so I reasoned it was a blister that was draining.

After the race I surveyed the damage. A tale of what was to follow?:


There was certainly one casualty:


Sonya wheeling in with a nice 1:53:



I was able to score a 1:49 which is really good considering I had ZERO training! I'm really not pleased with my lack of training. It's been a strange couple of months with no shortage of 'show stoppers'.

OK, you heard it first, right here. I'm going to TRAIN for the Houston half-marathon in January and WILL be running under 1:40! Yep. Then one year from yesterday, I'll be ready to run another full marathon, my first since 2002. San Antonio 2009 with a run under 3:30! Hey, man's gotta have goals, eh?

My buddy Joel (see a couple of topics below this one) had hoped for a 2:35-2:45, but only mustered a 3:08. He had a bad knee deal pop up....poor guy.

My friend Carolyn enjoyed a tasty PR (personal record, for those who aren't runners)of 3:55!! She thought the event sucked and had a bunch of hills! Hmmm, I thought it was really great and enjoyed the lack of hills! EXCEPT for that long-ass uphill ramp at the very end, leading UP to the Alamodome...WTF?? What genius came up with that? People see things differently, I suppose. GREAT JOB Carolyn!

THEN I had to load up several thousand pounds of stuff, drive it back to Houston, unload and return the trailer by 7am Monday morning. I had a great nap after lunch.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Race Evan! Sounds like ya'll had tons of fun. Ouch on the toe thingy - but it will get better soon. Are you running anytime this weekend with the Woodlands folks? We miss our Evan!

Anonymous said...

1:40 at Houston. I read it here first!

Great job on the run.

Evan Guy said...

RTW 5k on Saturday, and I'm sure there's something Sunday...let's go run.

26.2 Princess said...

I'm glad I didn't see that toe picture while I was eating lunch. I too suffered a couple of blisters, and I never get those. I blame all of the hills, for everything !!!! ;)

Seriously, I'm glad you had fun and turned in a great time. I'm sure SA will get those inaugural kinks out by next year...

Viv said...

Hey Evan thanks for stopping by, and a local runner even betta!

Congratulations on that awesome time in San Antonio, but even better itlooks like a blast but the blisters (uhhh I think I am going to be sick).

I saw you know Tiggs, she is so cool.

I am looking for a 5K before the end of the year leaning towards the 13th or the 27th one in The Woodlands.

Adrienne Langelier, MA said...

Work week to recover! Lol! Good job in SA! I heart that city!!

WalkSports.com said...

Kemah Bridge 10K on Sunday.

Montgomery County Triple Thanksgiving Day Weekend ... Run Thru The Woods 5M on Turkey Day, City of Conroe Turkey Trot 5K on Friday and Montgomery County Triple 5K on Saturday (RTW in reverse.)

dixie :o) said...

Hey Evan.... I'm a running bud of junie b, thus how I know of you. Your blog is as entertaining to read as hers ;o)
I did SA too (1/2)...15min PR (2:17)....shooting for 2:10 in Houston! Sorry abt the toe; I too have problems with shooting pains down my toes at around 10 mi :\
Great job on your run!!!
Elite has a lil' work to do before 2009 don't ya think.....

Evan Guy said...

Hey Dixie, great to meet you! Handshake. Wink.

A 15 minute PR, eh?!! Well isn't that just cooler than cool! I'll bet you're still on cloud nine!

Enjoying big successes makes those less-than-stellar outings seem totally OK, eh?!

Good job on the run....it's just such fun! See ya in Houston!

Joe said...

Hey Evan...Good job on the run....it's just such fun! I will see you in Sunmart!