February Recap

On 2-16 I ran the Run the Line Half-Marathon in Texarakana TX and AR. The hook for the race is that the state line dividing the 2 states run down center of Texarakana. The race starts in Texas and after a few minutes you are running in Arkansas for 6 miles and then you cross back into Texas and as the route loops around it takes you to the finish line in Arkansas. I LOVED IT!! Only...well for you small race lovers this is perfect. For you semi-trail runners this is for you. For you 'I love to run hills' this is for you. BUT for you back of packers it may be a bit of a head game. First off this year only 619 people ran it but that did not make it a small race. No aspect of what a runner needed was left out. Water stops were every 2 miles, which is a bit further than most races but not a issues for those who bring there own. There were also porta potties at most stations up to I want to say mile 8 but I could be wrong, I stopped looking for them once I hit the one at the half way mark. Which was great and well stocked with things other than water, I couldn't help but grab an orange, fresh orange while running is a big bonus. Just before 8 was also a GU stop. They even had an official chocolate stop stocked with Hershey's miniatures. The course in Arkansas was a paved path along a bayou until mile 4 and then out into a neighborhood. As is wound into Texas there came the biggest hill in the race but not the last hill. After mile 6.5 it felt to me as if the race was now being run in a camp ground, only it's not, this is a beautiful well planned neighborhood with lots of trails and open space. My only true problem was that I have been running in Houston and have not had a true hill workout in some time, so the up and down of this little neighborhood was really hard on my pace. The course does come to this point where you can see it seems like the rest of the run is all down hill. At mile 12 it turns out on the Stateline where you get to run around a post office that is literally in the middle of the road. Once you round the post office you can see the Justice Building that was at the starting line, just a few blocks and your done. The volunteers were absolutely GREAT! The last half of the course was winding thru, left turn, right turn, left turn and there were no less than 3 people at each turn making sure no one goes off course, I have been in bigger races that would have just left you to figure out the signage on your own. Ok, now for the back of the pack issues. This is a 3 wave start race, any one 3+ hour finish time can opt for a 30 minute early start, and then there is the usual faster runners who start when the double shot guns sound and then a 3rd wave for everyone else. So for me what happened was about 200 yards into the race I was the last woman and there was a gentle man about 50ish running about 10 feet behind me and behind him, the sag wagon. He said something to me that help calmed my nerves,  "they are already out there, you get to pass them on your way in". Which was really kind of an odd feeling. By mile one a lady from BGR dropped back to chug her 5 hour energy, she was #1 at mile 2 the first water stop, a couple stopped to use the porta potties, #2 & #3, so slowly I passed after about 8 people I stopped counted and just started going. I guess that was a better mental game than the opposite, starting early and then having all these people pass you. I really enjoyed this race and will keep it in mind as a will do again in a few years. It will be interesting to see how this one grows.

I also ran the Buffalo Wallow - 6k - Spotts Park Houston. First off it wasn't a 6k but it was more than a 5k and they let us know that at the start. There was no start timing, only when you finished but with only 36 runners it wasn't like your time was compromised. It was 3 loops of the park with a water stop at the start so you passed it twice. Very HILLY, equal ups and down with 2 good climbs each loop.
Pros: You get your hill workout and for $16 bucks I got a pretty decent hat (that wasn't white, I'm afraid to wear the white ones). No t-shirt
Cons: Parking, this has to be where all the inner loopers get their hill workout and there were tons of groups not just running in the park but running the clover leaf's on Memorial and cross-fit groups too which made parking hard but the streets around the park seemed accommodating. I did end up walking about 1/2 mile.
 It was the first in the HARRA Spring series and this year I am scheduled to do all but one, I think, the Law Week 8k would be tough to fit in but I know what I am missing from having run it last year so not too disappointed about it, not to say it's not a good race, only it does violate my "No race from the previous year" rule.

The weather has kept me pretty much in doors only logging in 75.95 mile for the month. Look ahead in March I have the Bayou City Classic, which I am anxiously wanting to run having missed it last year and it rained the year before so I have something to prove this year. Also coming up is the Seabrook Marathon weekend in which I will being running the half both days.