Tour d'Houston (medium long run)

This weekend, we were in Houston to catch Cirque du Soleil with the extended family unit. It was a fun trip, and we all had a good time catching up on stories and seeing the usual fabulous Cirque show. As a result, though, I had to arrange a run on Saturday to cover the scheduled 14 miler that my Gazelles comrades would be doing to Mt. Bonnell. After checking the Houston Road Runners website, I found a nice route that came close to our hotel's location. It was a 10 mile route, but it looked to be about 1.5 miles from the hotel, so if I added that, it would be close. Armed with that map and a city map section copy for the streets I would encounter, I was ready to go. The weather was supposed to be in the mid-50's, so I brought what I thought was appropriate clothing. Just for emergencies, I had my throwaway Tyvek jacket purchased so long ago at the NYC marathon expo, but I left gloves, long pants, and a warm hat at home. I was a good boy at dinner on Friday night, gobbling down a pizza from the Cheesecake Factory. I laid out all my gear that evening, and crashed before midnight.

Saturday morning, I intended to start running at 7:00am. I got ready faster than I had thought, though, so I headed out the door of the hotel at 6:45. I had the Tyvek jacket on because it had seemed pretty cool the night before. My running cap on and a Camelbak full of Accelerade, I was ready to go. After the GPS finished finding itself, following a short walk to limber up, I was off. 6:52 am.

First couple of miles were uneventful, on fairly busy streets and across a couple of roadway construction sites. After that, I turned into the River Oaks subdivision in Houston, a very ritzy neighborhood. The houses were pretty amazing, with giant yards, fences, gates, and towering trees. With all its rainfall, Houston is home to a veritable rain forest level of greenery in the residential areas, and that's very different than here in Austin. It was a nice change. As I tooled along during the first 5 miles or so, I passed a ton of Houston runners doing their last runs before next week's Houston marathon, and exchanged greetings as we passed by each other. Although I was alone on this run, for the first time in a long while for a long run, the various groups of runners on the roads kept me company in a small way. Following my map, I finally made a wrong turn, where I outsmarted myself at a specific intersection. I figured out my mistake after a bit, and aimed myself correctly towards a large cross street ahead of me, but I added some mileage there. Stopping for my first GU, I took the opportunity to check the more detailed map, and got back on the actual route with little problem after that short stop. I was about 6 miles in, and feeling good. The weather remained cooler than it looked, and I kept the Tyvek jacket on for the whole run. There was a steady breeze that kept things cooled down as well.

I passed some truly monstrous mansions on Inwood as it got closer to Kirby, including one sprawling thing that had a 6 car garage, two other houses (guest house and pool house?) and giant main house that looked like an Ivy League university building. Just giant. The owners called it "Adagio." Okey dokey.

Up Kirby, cross the Bayou on Shepherd, and then back towards Memorial Park. I think the Memorial Drive part was on the Houston marathon course, but it was a few years ago. A little more dancing around up and down sidewalks, and I was finally at Memorial Park. It is a nice park, with a golf course, tennis courts, and all that sort of stuff. The running trail, though is only about 3 miles. That means that it is very crowded. I stopped briefly for my second GU, and to check my map to figure out if I needed to add an extra Memorial Park loop to get my mileage up around 14-15 miles. I was on track without the extra distance, so I took off on the final part of my journey. At the end of the park, I was at about 10 miles. I made one last navigational error coming out of the park, and had to get some assistance from some helpful Houston runners to find my way back where I needed to be. That required a cross-country run, including two major streets, but I was on track.

For the next 3.5 miles, I picked it up considerably, for the traditional "fast finish" that Gilbert prescribes for us, and finished that faster bit as I reached San Felipe for the last time. The high speed miles were at about 8:20 average pace, a nice pickup from the miles before.

After the high speed section, I finished off my Accelerade, and did an easier mile over to S. Post Oak road. Once there, I picked it up again for the last half mile or so, just to get finished.

It was a very nice run, 14.3 miles, average pace 9:10/mile. I was a little faster than usual on this run, but until the fast finish part, I was pretty much in good long run HR range, so I was pleased. It was a lot of fun to get out and see the city like this.