Pooped, pleased penguin

So today Nathalie and I went down to Seabrook so I could run the route of the Seabrook (1/2) Marathon (relay). It was tough, but I did it. It took a LONG time and I took a nice rest break in the middle to look at the waves crashing and the sailboats in the bay and the pretty, pretty sky.

I did the first 1/2 (3.01 miles) in 44:49, which is 14:53 min/miles. My HR was 143 ave, 208 max. I should have been pumping it out harder, but it was just really, really hard to get motivated. I walked quite a bit. I probably would have walked more, but Nathalie was behind me walking & that kept me motivated. I kept thinking of her coming out to cheer for me at the Houston 1/2 marathon & wanted to make her proud of me. (I'm REALLY PROUD of her -- she's doing the Avon Breast Cancer walk - 40 (FORTY) miles in two consecutive days. Yikes that's a lot. Plus, she's raised ~$1700!! MAN!! -- If you'd like to donate to her walk, you can do so at http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2008/Houston?px=3856907&pg=personal&fr_id=1420

The course (Seabrook trails) is a rather narrow path - I wonder how it will work in a marathon setting. Hopefully there will be lots of start times! It starts out at a little park with skateboarding ramps and basketball hoops. Then down a gully and to Toddville road, past houses. Then into a wooded area and finally over to Pine Gully Park, a really nice park on Galveston Bay (although the restroom was out of toilet paper, I was just happy to see a restroom at that point!). And then back the same route.

As I was waddling along, I came to a realization -- I'm going to get lapped next week. Fast fast people finish a 1/2 marathon in right over an hour. I'll finish my 1/2 of the 1/2 in an hour an a half (or more). So some people will be done before Viv ever even starts (We haven't discussed it, but I think I should go first....Not even sure how this whole relay thing will work) I think this is the first time they're doing a relay for the 1/2. Since it's all on one trail, I bet people will be coming back before I'm even 2 miles in. What a depressing thought. That won't stop me though -- I'll keep waddling along. I'm still going faster than all those people that don't even have the courage to start!!

And so because of this realization, I came home and ordered a shirt from John Bingham. On the back is this logo:

I doubt I'll get it this week, but it would be really nice to wear it next weekend.

The return trip of the trail went better, time wise was about the same. I ran around extra at the end to make it be 3.1 (5K) since I thought that's the distance I did the on the out (it was 3.01 - duh). Time for this was 44:47, 14:24 min/miles.

SO....my 1/2 marathon relay time will be about 1 1/2 hours. But I can make it, and that's the important thing. No matter when we finish, we'll get medals & it's all about the medals!!

(Now I'm wondering if we do both get a medal -- surely we do! We're only paying $30 each, so maybe we'll just get a tech shirt?? I'm in it for the medals!!)