Let Them Eat Cake

The weather for Saturday's 10 mile HoustonFIT was a bit warmer than I had hoped, but for some reason, I found myself going after the first five miles of the Heights run pretty hard; 48:14 to that point. A two minute walk, and back I went, finishing that part in 50:23 for a total of 1:38:37. I was pleased with the effort, and my feet didn't object too much to being in my shoe's original insoles.

Saturday night was the Fall Marathon group's "Medal Ceremony" at the swank house of Assistant Coach Linda. As with everything Patty, our Fall head coach, has done for us, the party was top notch. Catered fajitas (even a portobello veggie option, for those so inclined), open bar with beer and wine, and a huge sheet cake complete with an icing running medal. Chicago was the medal most on display, but there were quite a few New Yorks, DCs, and Dublins (DCs was huge, but Dublins was the slickest of the three). There were quite a few others present (Jonestown, San Antonio, Indianapolis), but most shockingly, Coach Tony showed up with a Boston medal! People reacted to the Boston medal like they do when seeing Blue Group HoustonFIT runners; shock, awe, and with some limited groping. I didn't think Tony was fast enough to qualify Boston, but regardless of how it happened, good for him.

As I run for medals and the occasional bad-ass t-shirt (e.g., the Maui Tacos 5k shirt), seeing all the swag I could get by completing these marque runs was nothing short of inspiring. I was somewhat thinking my marathoning career might be coming to an end after Houston, but I have renewed energy to get my long term running health better, and be able to continue running, at least until I tick off some more big ones.

There's been some action on my "future runs" list, so here's an update on my future runs:

• December 2007 - Sunmart: The excitement of the medal ceremony had me orally committing, to running Sunmart. I haven't signed up, but barring some health set-backs, I think I'm in.
• January 2008 - Houston Marathon: #4 in H-Town!
• February 2008 - Austin Half Marathon: hopefully, as it's a nice end to the "Winter Running Season".
• March 2008 - Lucky Trails Half Marathon: a half on Saturday, one on Sunday, and you get three medals!
• May 2008 - Indianapolis Half Marathon: Largest in the country, and a lot of left turns.
• August 2008 - Hood to Coast: I found out last week that we're in! Now time to field a full team...
• Fall 2008 - Some Fall Marathon (thought the thought of training in Houston's Summertime is, admittedly, still a bit daunting).

Lot's of running, but as long as I get good swag, and the occasional cake, I think I can stick to it.