B
Brian Baresch
Guest
A pretty good run, but I. Just. Didn't. Have it. Today. My excuses: It was cold and windy, the
course was hilly, I worked late (past midnight) last night, and thanks to moving last week I've
hardly trained in a fortnight. Even so ...
The course goes up a fairly steep hill, down the other side, turns around, and then along a parklike
boulevard and back (missing the big hill on the return). The wind was in our faces for the last mile
or so, which was also mainly uphill (though not steep). I set out at what felt like 6:50 pace, but I
missed the first mile marker (I think I was looking at the leaders coming back -- three guys real
close together), so I didn't know it was more like 7:15, which is actually my 10K pace. Drat! I
figured it out at 2 miles, but even then I didn't have the horses to pick it up much, and I came in
at 22:17, about 17 seconds slower than I ran the first half of a 10K two weeks ago. (A 12-year-old
outkicked me at the end.) My first off-day race of the year. They happen. I was 20th out of 128 in
my age group, 145th
It was cool getting to see the leaders twice -- the second time two of them had pulled away from
third place a bit but were still fighting it out themselves. At the awards ceremony they said it was
virtually a photo finish.
The trophies were pretty cool, carved-wood parrots. (The "mascot" of the race is a parrot, the
symbol of Joe T. Garcia's, the eponymous restaurant where the race begins and ends.)Two guys in
parrot suits were cheering the runners on, one of them from the back of the pace vehicle. There
was also a big cat running around, the mascot of the local baseball team. Two separate water
stations on the course. Food was bagels, mini muffins, small danishes, oranges, bananas, jalapeno
poppers(!) and beer.
Three stars. Brian Bob says check it out.
--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading
If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill
course was hilly, I worked late (past midnight) last night, and thanks to moving last week I've
hardly trained in a fortnight. Even so ...
The course goes up a fairly steep hill, down the other side, turns around, and then along a parklike
boulevard and back (missing the big hill on the return). The wind was in our faces for the last mile
or so, which was also mainly uphill (though not steep). I set out at what felt like 6:50 pace, but I
missed the first mile marker (I think I was looking at the leaders coming back -- three guys real
close together), so I didn't know it was more like 7:15, which is actually my 10K pace. Drat! I
figured it out at 2 miles, but even then I didn't have the horses to pick it up much, and I came in
at 22:17, about 17 seconds slower than I ran the first half of a 10K two weeks ago. (A 12-year-old
outkicked me at the end.) My first off-day race of the year. They happen. I was 20th out of 128 in
my age group, 145th
It was cool getting to see the leaders twice -- the second time two of them had pulled away from
third place a bit but were still fighting it out themselves. At the awards ceremony they said it was
virtually a photo finish.
The trophies were pretty cool, carved-wood parrots. (The "mascot" of the race is a parrot, the
symbol of Joe T. Garcia's, the eponymous restaurant where the race begins and ends.)Two guys in
parrot suits were cheering the runners on, one of them from the back of the pace vehicle. There
was also a big cat running around, the mascot of the local baseball team. Two separate water
stations on the course. Food was bagels, mini muffins, small danishes, oranges, bananas, jalapeno
poppers(!) and beer.
Three stars. Brian Bob says check it out.
--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading
If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill
The event sounds like a lot of fun (getting to see the leaders, hills, food). Nice awards. Susan