Houston Half Relay Race Report

Sunday morning was the Houston Half Relay, my second race of the weekend, and my ex (only because he left me) gay work boyfriend B's VERY FIRST RACE!!!  6.6 miles.  Dude is ballsy.  Hell, I was scared for my first race and it was less than half of that. ;-)

Hit the road early that morning, parked in the Theater District parking, which was totally convenient and under-utilized (note for next year).  Walked over to the start where they had the speakers turned the wrong direction, boo.  B was running late, so I left his packet with P and lined up.  Oh, also it was cold as all get-out, this weekend was actually the first fall weather sort of weekend in H-town.  It was about 40, so I wore my capri running pants and a long sleeved top.  While I waited for the start I topped that with a running jacket and sweatshirt which I removed and tossed to P right before I ran off.  We brought blankets for him and Z and bundled her as best we could, but I know they were cold, my amazing sherpas.

The first 3 miles looped through downtown, and when I ran back by P and Z there was also a B there. :-)  I high fived the boys and gave my baby a kiss, then ran off.

I think relays are interesting because up until the turn-off, I was running with a huge crowd, but after the turn-off, I was on the "bleeding edge" of the race.  I was actually passed by the top 3 finishers for the full half as I was on the lonely road in.  And I know for B the experience was exactly the opposite - he was lonely for his first half, but finished with everyone else.

And oh, Allen Parkway, how I HATE running on you.  Seriously, the camber of the road is hell on my knees.  I hate that the HHM has medals and great singlets, otherwise I'd never run a race on AP again.  Ever.  I'm literally taking injury into my hands every time I do it.

Though all the famous AP hills, I did 9/1s, and was really proud of myself.  My hill race/training has really come in handy this year.  I do not mentally feel scared of hills, and really am able to hold my own.

Finally I saw the relay hand-off.  I came in at 1:12:33.  This is slower than I wanted, but honestly pretty good since I ran 5.5 the day before then walked goodness-know-how-much at Ren Fest that afternoon.  I saw a chick from work, said hi, then grabbed B's jacket and sent him off, then got my medal from chick-from-work's hubby.

Then I grabbed P and Z and loaded up on goodies and beer and found a nice wall on which to sit and eat the spoils, with a baby in my lap and a blanket around us.  Life is good.

Oh, and B is FAST.  He CLAIMS he hasn't been training, but he ran sub-60!  Punk. :-)