Talk about a hot run! WOW! This is the race I have been spending the past month, running in the heat of the day, to prepare for. When they say "if you are not use to the heat..." they mean it. Nowhere else in Houston are you going to get sausage on a stick, ice cold beer, watermelon, a costume and a sausage eating contest, after a not 5k but 5 MILE 4th of July run! The wildly popular running group Runners Alliance Sport really puts together a GREAT race and this one is no exception to that rule. Yes rule, their races are the standard that I measure other local races against. Everything from swag, to race course energy is top notch!
I came out an ran it two years ago just as it was starting back up after a few year hiatus and man has it grown! Where to start, how about parking. Since you can either park at the finish and walk to the start or vise versa parking is not difficult. Not too many races where you can park 2 cars away from the start. Even after I got lost on my way to the Lee College start line I still managed 2nd row parking. But having to park at the finish wouldn't have been bad either, the little over 1/2 mile walk to the start makes a good warm up for any runner. Just as the walk back after the finish is a great cool down. Not many races also have this organized of a race day packet pick up/race day registration going on right there in the starting corral. The race announcer keeps the vibe up beat and light, even under threat of a bit of rain you would not know it.
The race announcements are timely and informative, often with a little local trivia and some blurb about local runners doing good. And that is right up to the 10...9...8...7 am on the dot air horned start! The first mile takes you out to the festival that is Baytown's 4th of July celebration, make a left out to Market St. where you run behind more vendor booths, the funnel cake smell took me back to the Alameda County Fair, ah how I miss my hometown but for today Baytown is a close second. At the first mile maker you are greeted by the first water/Gatorade station. You keep going to mile 2 you hit another water stop along the now tree framed road. The road loops back around so at about 2 1/2 you come back there to the volunteers cheering you on hand you a towel freshly pulled from a bucket of ice water. Did I mention how hot it is, 77 with 100% humidity. Running makes it feel like it's 90+ out. Just before mile 3 you hit the first aid station again also freshly stocked with cold towels. Trucking on towards mile 4, to avoid more redundancy you turn right and make another loop around towards the start line, but before you can get there you have to pass another cold towel station and yet another, full aid station. As you turn this corner you are looking down the road to where the start was, yes was there are no longer any signs that this was where all this heated madness began, well other than the fact that if you parked here you are now running past your car, 1/2 mile to the finish. The finish is one street over and as you run towards it you can hear the cheering and music and smell the sausage cooking. A quick right, down a block and another quick right and the finish balloon is dead ahead. You only have to run thru the crowd lined streets where kids are proudly handing runners small American flags to wave as they cross the finish line while the announcer shouts out their name.
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| Bud Time |
What a HIGH to finish on. What a better place to finish than at the Wismer Budwiser distribution center. At the end of the finish shoot, just off to the left a bit are cold as cold can be outdoor showers, with a small line of runners waiting to cool off in them. Such a fantastic time!
Last time I thought I was ready and I ran it in 1:04:58, this year I finally knew what being ready was and clocked in at 56:18.
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