Texas City Run Fest

I got out to the Texas City Run Fest on 5/31. What a good way to end the month. Training wise I am "tapering", although I am not really sure what that means for me these days. It sort of seems like an excuse to not run as hard or as long as I should be and honestly that's not what I need to be doing right now. I have been "training" (another term I am not sure I know how to use right now) for the Coasting the Coast Half in Galveston 6/7 (which was just "postponed" but more on that in another post) and this race just happened to fit perfectly into a taper. One last good hard run, in the heat, under threat of severe thunderstorms. Running under impending doom is not really my strong point. It's been since March since I have logged any miles in the rain and I was kind of looking forward to it. As the summer heat and humidity hits the area this could just be the last semi-decent weather I get to run in.

I ran into these during my warm up. 

Texas City is a small town right along the Galveston Bay and the organizers took advantage of that. There is a hike/bike trail along the levee that just happens to run right along the coastline. On one side you have a field that leads directly to the water and on the other a buffer marsh land that the city keeps up as soccer field, volley ball courts, horseshoe pits and picnic areas dotted along it. It also has a crushed granite walk/jog path that leads to the many pavilions in the parks. I took advantage of these paths for my warm up run.

A Blue Heron, I think

As far as the race itself went. There were a couple hundred people for a combined 5k/10k start. There was a slight bottle neck exiting the parking lot start and getting on to the bike path but there were not enough people to have it make a real difference in the race. Then there was a little confusion where the path first turns around and has to you have to cross running traffic but again there aren't enough runners to make it a big issue. The bigger issue was the only real incline. One steady climb lead to the point where the 5k and 10k split. 10k to the left, 5k to the right, no confusion here as they manned it with a few really vocal girls doing there best to shout over the Disco buses' music. The disco bus I have to say was great, it was at a good point in the race, at top of the hill to get you rocking and then when you turned around and finally got back to it, it kept you rocking as you ran to mile 5. There were a number of water stops on top of the levee, most you got to hit coming and going, as well as port-a-potties that I am not sure were there just for the race.  In the last half mile there was a nice long downhill to give you some free power and a big crowd cheering at the finish where they handed me, not a medal but almost better, a cold towel. The finish was stocked with Blue Bell, 3 kinds of beer, water, gaterade, sodas, fruit and granola bars. You also had What-a-Burger giving out cookies and Walgreens handing out bags and water bottles (my collection now needs another shelf). It looked like most of the crowd also stayed to party afterwards and they were giving away tons of door prizes. This is one that if there is a hole in my calendar I would definitely do again.