While I am not a long distance runner, I am always willing to keep trying. And with a 70.3 planned for 2020, I need to get there quickly… So when Catapult offered an opportunity to run the Houston Half/Full Marathon as part of their team, I jumped at the chance.
The weekend in Houston included their gala Friday night, a 5K Saturday and then the Half/Full on Sunday. After an amazingly fun night at the gala, it was time to run.
We met as a large group early Saturday morning at Starbucks. After packet pickup and a large group photo, we headed out to the front of the starting grid. It was a warm day, but I felt good through the first 2 1/4 miles. After that point, the humidity started to take its effect on me. So the last mile was more of a run/walk until we got to the chute. Even with the humidity-related struggles, the time was right on par with most of my 5Ks.
Shortly after we had finished, it started raining. While running in the rain adds an additional hazard, I would have really enjoyed that during the last mile. Oh well, at least it should be nicer for the Half, I thought.
During the break between the 5K and packet pickup for the Half, Nicole and I had a chance to go through the Expo. One of the items that I picked up was a running cape from Texas Children’s Hospital. I had intended to run down the chute with it. But plans changed — as I’ll discuss shortly.
On Sunday morning, I was debating on what to wear. While it was cold (40s), I know that you heat up when you run. So I was torn between the singlet and shorts and an Under Armour top plus my running pants in addition. In the end, I went with the colder weather gear — and I’m glad I did.
When I race, I typically do not have jewelry on. Simply because I’m concerned about these small items falling off or getting lost in general. But this weekend, I decided to do so rather than leave them at the AirBNB. Because of that, one of the thoughts that went through my mind as we (Nicole, Sam and I) tried to hide from the wind was ‘I wish Gramps had been able to see me race’. Sadly, both he and his second wife perished in/because of a fire in 2012. As my first races weren’t until 2014, he never did…
As we started running, things felt really good. So much so that I didn’t realize that we were already at almost 2 miles before we hit the first aid station. And while there was some slow down between 2 and 7 at times, things still felt good.
Then at about 7, my calves started to seize. Since we were less than a half mile away from a medical tent, I thought I’d be just fine. As with every race, the waiver includes ‘you will allow us to provide medical attention’. Therefore I believed it would be an easy ask for some Advil or something similar. So I was extremely surprised when I was told that they couldn’t give me anything on the course. When I asked post-race for an explanation, I was given reasoning that I don’t believe to be correct. It was along the lines of ‘too much can cause kidney issues, and race volunteers don’t know how much you’ve taken. So they can’t give you anything unless it’s an emergency.’.
So I was faced with two options. One was to tap out; the other was to gut out the last 5.5+ miles in pain. I chose the latter, and it was a struggle for the remainder of the race. We had to stop multiple times, with it becomming more frequent the further we got into the race. During a couple of the stops as Sam worked out the knots, I was groaning in pain. Even when the race volunteers saw this, they still wouldn’t offer any pain relief. The most I got was some salt at about 9 3/4 or 10.
Even though I was in tremendous pain at 13, I made the decision that I was still going to try and run through the chute. No matter how bad a race has gone, I always want to run through the chute. Not just for pride, but also for the finishing photos.
While I didn’t get a chance to use the Texas CHildren’s Hospital cape this year, I will have it for 2021. I am also going to try and find one for Lurie Children’s Hospital for my longer runs in the Chicago area.
I am grateful to Catapult for all of their help and support throughout the entire weekend. If you’d like to learn more about the organization and/or support their mission, please visit their web site.
