Veni, Vidi, Curcurri, Vici

I came, I saw, I ran, I conquered.

I almost forgot how much I enjoy running. Yesterday's relay brought it all back in spades. It was with great apprehension that I arrived at Buffalo Bayou Park with running shoes on. After all, I had run faster than 13 minutes/mile once since May 10. My legs were tired and my left hamstring was a little sore from my 44 mile bike ride completed 7 hours earlier. Visions of torn Achilles tendons danced in my head. How did I let Veronica talk me into running this relay?

Then it got worse. I warmed up on the course with a teammate who is new to BARC and HARRA runs. The course was harder than I remembered it. The sweat was pouring down. Warm up indeed. I told my teammate not to expect me before 16 minutes, but it could be 17 or 18 minutes. My only goal was to complete this race without a serious injury setback.

Veronica was also running the B leg of the relay. We figured we might get a chance to race, since our A leg runners might finish close to each other. Well her A leg runner, finished in 15:30, one minute ahead of our A leg runner. So with a one minute head start, I did not expect to see Veronica again. After taking the baton, I ran up the initial hill nice and easily. A wise choice. Things felt pretty good, so I stepped on the gas some and started to pick off a number of runners in the first mile, including two BARC people.

I had no idea how fast I was running. At the one mile turn I saw Veronica about 100 yards ahead of me and my watch said 7:30. This was much faster than expected. But I was starting to hurt, not an injury hurt, just a normal runners hurt. Very slowly I closed the gap with Veronica but could not catch her until the finish line, where I passed the baton off to our C leg runner. My watch said 15:30! Not bad for a cyclist.

And now for the best parts. My leg was feeling fine and still is today. Free St Arnolds beer until the kegs were all gone. A chance to talk to many Houston running friends. A stop at the Carlos Beer Garden with my best running buddies. Two aspirin and no hangover.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I love running.