Busy weekend

Surprisingly, I will run no races this weekend. (The one race in the area is charging $30 raceday for a 5k.) Instead, some Brak Pak folks are meeting up for an 8 miler in the morning - hopefully along the much-awaited new stretch of the River Walk. It actually has locks for the little boats and everything. Eventually, we will be able to jump on the River Walk at Brackenridge Park and run the river all the way down through the Missions! The "museum reach" section officially opens with festivities beginning tomorrow at 9, so we are hoping to beat the public and check out the new digs.

Then, on Sunday, marathon training officially kicks off at Fleet Feet Sports. The first run is short, hence the Saturday longer run, but I guess it is time to get back on the training schedule.

PO Memorial Finish pics

Ah yes, #92. You feel that something is not quite right. You are not sure what it is, but you can feel that there is something. Right. Behind. You.

Bwhahahaha. It is an ugly race pic just waiting to be captured.

Thanks to Hill Country Rambling for the pics

A Run to Remember 5k

But it was really a run to forget for me. My speed is off and this 5k felt like a long run. That's pretty pathetic, especially considering that I kick off training for the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend. At least I found some not-so-ugly-just-weird pics from the BEGINNING of this race! Here they are, live-action style:

After the race, I cleaned the house, caught up on the yardwork, and then it was already Tuesday morning. And the dogs were tracking mud onto the freshly mopped floors.

Thanks to Hill Country Rambling for the pics

Next up

The Run to Remember/Police Officers' Memorial 5k. Nice little run from Sam's Burger Joint to Brackenridge Park and back - for beer and breakfast tacos. That's the breakfast of champions. Have a nice Memorial Day weekend.

Return of the Crazy Chicken - Beach to Bay Edition

Yes, I actually managed a crazy chicken ugly race pic just prior to the handoff at Beach to Bay - it is HERE. Okay, that's just if you want to pay $50 or so for an 8x10 of the crazy chicken pic. Instead, I will just do a little magic and put it HERE:
Pure crazy beach chicken. Is that an extra finger on my left hand, too? That is not film cut off at the top, either - I was running under the bridge, handing off to Carol, and then she got to run that beast. Here is a shot that is a little less chicken-like. Still ugly, but not avian:
All of our team's pictures are HERE. Carolyn will notice that there is no baton in any of them (she dropped it on the beach) and that she appears to be, in fact, goose stepping. Welcome to my world of ugly race pics.

Thanks (kind of) to (you guessed it) Brightroom.com for 'allowing' me screencap their pictures.

Beach to Bay Recap

By the numbers
Teams: 1,987
Runners:
In Corpus Christi: 11,922
In Iraq: 200
Youngest/Oldest: 10 to mid-70s
Volunteers: 3,100
Medical staff: 200
Runners taken to the hospital: 5
Runners treated for heat exhaustion: more than 50
Police: 30 with Corpus Christi Police Department and Nueces County constables
Parking trouble: None. No citations were written for dozens of vehicles parked along Ocean Drive medians near Cole Park because of the nature of the event, police said.
Portable toilets: 200
Ice: 14 tons
Barbecue sandwiches: 6,000
Pizzas: 500
Bananas: 800 pounds
Oranges: 1,200 pounds
Pepsi: 4,000 gallons
Beer: 90 kegs
Water: 10 truckloads
Total event cost: $350,000
Disbursement of proceeds from entries (about $50,000):
• One $10,000 track scholarship awarded for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi track program
• Half of the remainder goes to volunteer youth groups: Boy Scouts, Young Marines, Boys & Girls Club and school youth groups
• Other half goes to nonprofit organizations: divided between Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi Navy Relief Society and its Christmas/Thanksgiving basket fund and to Corpus Christi Police Department for needed equipment

Source: Beach to Bay organizers

Beach to Bay and back to reality

Well, another beach to bay marathon relay is in the books. And it was hot and a logistics problem as always. And I am now a crispy critter.

1st leg: Carloyn fell down the stairs when coming down to ensure I was awake on race morning. No major injuries, but major bruises and lumps. Then, she ran the 4 beach miles and dropped the baton. I'm sure there were many of those out there, since there were almost 2,000 teams.

High-five handoff to me (no baton) - No problems, but dang, it was hot

3rd leg handoff to Carol went well, but we still were not sure if the 4th leg running was positioned. In fact, she was. Maria worked until almost midnight the night before and changed in the car to make it to the exchange point about 10 minutes early.

Maria handed off to Janie, who had foot surgery a couple of months ago, but was back to run. She handed off to Bernice, who finished in the heat. We made it in about 4:52. Then drank beers and ate pizza in the park and headed back to the beach for bbq and party that got a bit rained out.

Now I'm home, retrieving critters (who are all doing fine), and heading back to real life.

This last picture was actually in the Corpus Christi newspaper - it's Jake (left) handing off to Joe (right) on our male masters team.

thanks to Carolyn and the Corpus Christi paper for the pics

Beach to Bay Marathon Relay

Tomorrow, at this time, I will almost be on the beach. Then, on Saturday, I will run leg #2 of the Beach to Bay Marathon Relay from North Padre Island to Corpus Christi. Then, it is back to the beach for a Brak Pak BBQ and beach party. I can't wait.

It's almost time

For the Beach to Bay Marathon Relay. I am heading down to the coast on Thursday for a fun weekend with a little running in the middle.

Here is part of the crew from last year-

ooh baby it's hot out there

I ran Jon's Run for SIDS/Any Baby Can on Saturday. While they had many amenities, there was nobody to capture the ugly race pics I was posing. My finish time, once again, was ugly, though. While I could blame it on the heat index lately, I really need to work on speed again. Maybe I'll start dragging the dogs the 6 blocks to the track, tie them off, and run track repeats.

Tonight, I also got to assist in the selection of scholarships for runners. There were some amazing kiddos in the bunch - reminded me of a time when I had potential!!

Anyway, here is what the dogs did to fight the heat (this pool is also my ice bath after long runs. It may be time to buy a new, bigger pool):

Gwen playing hippo - and blowing bubbles - her favorite!

Tired

Maybe it is the overtime or just the blazing hot weather - but I have been really tired. At least this time next week, I will be sitting on the beach on Padre Island. That should wake me up a bit! This weekend is preparation for Beach to Bay Marathon Relay time - wash the car, wash the cats, clean the house, clean the dogs, etc. And this little race I decided to run tomorrow:

Sun, soup, and swine flu

On Saturday, I ran the Run on the Sun 5k - better than last week's 5k, but my speed work still needs work. After the race was the Solar Fest - a great time to contribute clothing to Goodwill, shoes to Reuse-a-Shoe, and pick up free trees, CFL lightbulbs, faucet aerators, and other good stuff. Oh, and free Lone Star Light and no-meat breakfast tacos for runners, too!

Then, I hit the Pearl Brewery farmers' market, which is enjoying its soft opening until officially opening on May 16. There, I picked up a fridge-full of good stuff, including local tilapia and shrimp:

(Simba and Driver, the military foster cat, checking out the organic catnip I bought at the market)

Sunday, I attended the Empty Bowls event benefiting the SAMM Shelter. You buy a hand-made bowl (or three) and enjoy soup from local restaurants at the Southwest School of Art & Craft on the Riverwalk. I ate delicious poblano cream cheese soup there and brought home some asparagus marscapone soup to eat with my tilapia tonight. I gave my other soup ticket to a kid who was determined to try every variety of soup.

And, as was the case at the Solar Fest - signs of the Swine Flu times: