Aramco Houston Half Marathon - If You Can Take It, You Can Make It

“You train, you fight harder than the other guys, you win. If you can take it, you can make it.” From the Unbroken movie. Louis Zamperini liked to run. Was he ready to join the track team? It seems so. At least after listening and following his brother's advice.

It was May 29^th, almost midnight and end of my 41^st birthday. Time to go to bed, just one facebook break more when I saw running friend Joshua Thompson post about Houston Marathon's official sign closing up that night. Without giving a second of thought, I signed in.

Six months after “Now I am on your hands, ” I told Universal Runners Coach, Francisco Pulido. “13.1 miles? Should I run with music?” I asked.

“No ‘cerebrito’. No iPod. Connect to yourself and enjoy it, ” directed coach. 

Big race, big mission. Getting out of my ‘cerebrito’ a.k.a. little over-thinking brain, calculating everything.

All set, on my drive way to Houston.  Four hours, that Friday evening traffic extended to almost five. Oh well, more than enough time to relax and catch up on my Audible books. “Do not hurry, but do not rest,” A great advice from Annie Dillard to writers, that can be transferred to long distance runners. Just what I needed to hear! Stamped it on my brain to repeat it for 13.1 miles.

Saturday morning. Time to go to the expo, pick up package and get Meb’s autograph. Wait! Eugenia’s apartment, sweetest girl friend hosting me, was located a couple blocks from Kirby Dr. and Bissonet St. Almost the exact Half’s half point. Just the perfect location to set a game plan. I planned to scan cool spots on while driving, and then try to see how many of them I was able to remember and find during the run. That game would keep little brain too busy to calculate, or only calculate numbers.

On my way to the expo, driving the second half of the Half started with that big red shoe. Pic! A shoe hospital! located at the corner of Kirby Dr. & Bissonet St. Keeping on Bissonet, lot of trees. Turning on Main, Pic!  Museum of fine arts, no time to visit now. Keep going Roxy, and Pic! a beautiful water fountain before turning on Montrose.

 

 

 “I am close to Rice University” I thought, “Nicholas, my son, might study and live here.” Keeping on Montrose, just looking at the huge trees almost covering the sky. Pic! Approaching a white metallic bridge with red balls on the side. Running under this kind of structures is not an everyday thing where I live.

Crossing Westheimer and Pic! Aladdin Mediterranean cuisine, “Maybe we should come for dinner with Eugenia”. On the other side of the road a Valero Gas station. That gas station brand caused the Cheetah Chicks to miss the running course at the Dallas Marathon Relay. Oh! another Pic! What is that “Little Big” sign? Fun, a little guy holding big pancakes! I do not eat pancakes but I will bring my guys some day.

 

On the way to the Buffalo Bayou park, Pic! big artistic colorful snails under the trees, and a yellow K.

 

I must have missed a turn. I didn’t know how to keep on the course, but I am pretty close to the end. Hopefully at this point I will be on fire without any need of more Pics. Time to go to the expo to pick bib and get Meb’s autograph.

Waiting on a long line. I didn’t have anything to get signed. The t-shirt? Too dark. The book? I wasn’t going to spend $25.00 on a book I have at home. Wait the bib! “I will get my bib signed” I thought, afterwards I collect interesting race bibs plus running with Meb’s signed bib was going to make it more special. “Best wish. Run to win, Meb,” is what Meb wrote on my ROXYIN A 21437 bib.

 

After the expo and couple hours at the University of Houston watching the relays at the Carl Lewis invitational, it was time to start my first half of the Half scanning drive. Thanks to the GPS technology for always, well, almost always, making it possible to drive to places we want to go but we don’t know.

On Congress, around the start line. Very downtown area. Pic! the aquarium. Lucas, my younger son, loves aquariums. Keep going and Pic! on the right a clock tower. Crossing and keeping to what ends to be Washington street. Oh! Pic! Social junkie place. I wonder what it is. Crossing Studemont and I can see a tower. 

 

Turning on Heights, to cross a bridge and Pic! Allen pkwy. Then turning on Gray and Pic! Coffee Ginger. I love coffee and ginger. In fact I drink tea with ginger but have never tried coffee with ginger. Should I try? I kept going and Pic! River Oaks movie theater. 

Then Inwood is in the woods. Nice neighborhood with fine houses and lot of trees. Turning on Kirby Dr. and Pic! a blue metal tree before I get to the shoe hospital, end of Half’s first half and start of Half’s second half.

 

Time to come get back for dinner and go to bed.

Race day. Of course I didn’t read the instructions and after I parked, dropped my running gear, went potty and jogged to the Corral A, it was already closed. I had to go and jump the fence to Corral B, then moved to Corral A and located myself in the middle of 3:20 and 3:30 marathon pace teams, around 7:38 and 8:00 paces which sounded as pretty safe spots to try to keep on.

On your mark, get ready, set and go! Way up on Congress. Downtown, Pic! Aquarium, Pic! crossing to Washington, Pic!. Social junkies, Pic! Still no idea what it is for. Crossing Allen pkwy. Pic! Coffee Ginger, Pic! “Hi, Roxy!” said Magaly Soto with a big smile while flying by. Then I heard more “Go Roxy!” and I waved. I thought that was probably somebody from Dallas.

On Kirby Dr., almost getting to the metallic blue tree, Pic! another “Go Roxyin!” That is when I realized cheering people didn’t know me. They were reading my ROXYIN A 21437 printed bib. I wonder if they could see Meb’s autograph.

“Keep going Roxy. Almost there,” and finally got to cross that magic Half’s half point with the big red shoe. Second half of any race, even physically can be more demanding, mentally it feels like a relief for me.

Way down on Bissonet. New Pic! A running kid, 11 to 12 years old. He stopped and started crying. I almost stopped to help him but a guy, maybe his dad, turned back to make him keep going. “Same as Son & Mom running, my running project with Nicholas,” I thought. “With the discipline and energy he’s been training, it might be the opposite, son helping his mom, me, to keep going.”

I was getting a little bit tired, however even legs were not necessarily moving faster, heart rate was still behaving. Pic! the big water fountain and Pic!  enjoy the trees on Montrose. Pic! The cocolorful snails under the tree and time to stop 15 seconds for a drink. Was I thirsty? Not really, but I needed to reset and keep strong to the end. I got to Allen pkwy. That was the turn I had missed while driving. As I didn’t have any more Pics! I had to play with living pics. All people cheering around, crossing under the bridges and getting into the downtown jungle. I knew the end was close, so I started running faster and faster. Where is the finish line? Oh! there!

1:44:some. I knew I had started just around minute and a half after. Not a 1:25 but n worries. This time I took the race to finish it, and I made it. I could say I kind of connected to myself and absolutely enjoyed the race. Thanks Universal Coach Pulido for the great advice. Mission almost accomplished!

You train, you set the right goals, you finish happy and unbroken. If you can take, you can make it!  
Let’s repeat and I have already signed for Aramco Houston Half on 2016.

Behringer 5-Person relay - Cheetahs in the Ocean

Every breaking wave on the shore

Tells the next one "there'll be one more"

Every gambler knows when to lose

It's what you're really there for

Sunday, December 14, 2014. Omni hotel, Downtown Dallas. “Are you running the Full Marathon?” a runner asked me. “Yes! I’ll be leg #4,” I replied, “We are running the full marathon as a team.”

Each relay team consists of 5 members who each run 4.25-6.25 miles. The course, same as the Full and Half Marathon begins in Downtown Dallas. Along the way, the Full marathon course splits from the Half, goes around the White Rock Lake and joins back, both ending in Downtown.

Geographically mixed Dallas-Austin, Cheetah Team wearing pink and bright silver cheetah tops and headbands uniforms. Simple pieces of fabric clipped and tied on.

The Plan

We kept it simple. With each leg, 5 to 6 miles distance to cover at 7 to 7:30 minutes pace, it was supposed to take runners between 35 to 45 minutes, keeping the team around the 3:15 to 3:30 marathon paces groups.

Even the race provided a complimentary bus service to each relay exchange point, we, The Cheetah Chicks, decided to use own transportation. Edward, our driver, was going to drive around the race course and drop legs #2, #3, #4 and #5 to our respective relay exchange points.

Runner	Starts At	Approx. Relay Leg Distance	Total Miles
Leg #1 Dallas-Angela	Mile 0	4.25 miles and to keep in the course to complete Half Marathon.	4.25
Leg #2 Austin-Lisa	Mile 4.25	6.25 miles and decide on the course if to keep running or not.	10.5
Leg #3 Austin-Stacy	Mile 10.5	4.75 miles to complete the marathon course after her leg.	15.25
Leg #4 Dallas-Roxy	Mile 15.25	5.25 miles, just run her leg.	20.5
Leg #5 Dallas-Colleen	Mile 20.5	5.7 miles, To complete her run, pick finisher medals and meet all at the “C” letter Reunion area.	26.2

The Process

Almost 8:00 am. Leg #1 shook legs and said bye! Rest of team all aboard on the dark grey Volkswagen Jetta. We arrived the exchange point #1 around 20 minutes before top runners started to get close. We got to see Meb, followed by Sara with Ryan Hall and our leg #1 kicking at a pretty good pace.

We had around 40 minutes to get to the exchange point #2, where leg 2 passes chip to leg #3. Wait! that is not so much! Especially when driving around cut streets and when we decided to make a logistic stop at that Tony's Valero Gas station. Ready to go, we dropped leg #3, Cheetah-Stacey by the race course. By two miles from relay exchange point #2, good to warm up.

On our way to relay exchange point #3 we realized about the full/half marathon split. We had dropped Cheetah-Stacy little bit after the split. Coming from Austin, was she going to realized about that? We didn't know what to do, we just crossed fingers and hoped Cheetah-Stacey was going to figure this out.

By mile 15.25, at the exchange point #3, where leg #3 passes chip to leg #4. Time to turn on our devices for the mobile app update. We could see Leg #2 had passed the 15k at 9:12 a.m, 1:07 from the start. All doing good, leg #3 should pass 13.1 mile mark (21K) by 9:40 a.m., reaching the exchange point #3, between 9:50 to 10:00 a.m.

Leg #4 Cheetah-Roxy, me, was at the exchange point. I could see people around shivering and tiny drops falling into my face. Was it cold? I didn't feel it.  

My only focus was to spot the cheetah dressed runner coming and hear “Bib number 30073 coming!”. 

“30083 coming!” I could hear from the speaker. 
"OMG! almost! but water!” I thought while I started singing the “Every breaking wave” song from U2. 

“Every breaking on the shore, tells the next one ‘there'll be one more’…”

“30093!” the speaker announced.

“Wave,” I replied. "30063 wave came, followed by 30013 and 30173. “Getting closer!" I yelled. They say it is in our minds, if we really want something to happen we need to focus on it.

An oriental guy with a cell phone came to me. “That cheetah was waiting at the previous exchange point,” he told me. Then we checked bib #30073 at the mobile app on his cell phone. “Yes!” I yelled with I saw the 13.1 mile mark (21K) had already been crossed.

Few minutes after “Alelluia!” I hear bib number 30073 from the speaker as I saw the magic bright pink cheetah uniform coming. It was 10:24 a.m., after 34 minutes of breaking waves, I got the chip from Cheetah-Lisa, leg #2. She tried to explain me that Stacy never showed up. She had to wait until an official at the exchange point told her to keep going.

“I know, I know,” I yelled and took off!

Last pacing group I had seen was 3:45. With over 15 miles on these runners were a little bit tired so even almost without warming up, I was able to follow and start passing them. Spectators were cheering “You look good,” “Nice uniform!” “Love those colors!” made the run very fun, even on that windy hill up. Second alleluia appeared when I got to the big blue relay exchange point #4 and passed chip to leg #5, Cheetah-Colleen.

Cheetah-Colleen crossed the finish line at 11:43 am. Team got together for a big hug. Rather than discussing any issue or trying to blame on someone’s fault, we shared big smiles and started talking about upcoming relay races for the “Cheetah Chicks”.

The Result

Week after the race I got to check the results. Cheetah-Colleen got to finish around the relay at 11:43 am, with a total of time of 3:38:02 that placed the Cheetah chicks in the 15 position as Mixed/Odds & Ends--Mixed 0-99, Division/Class, which doesn't receive any award.

“Did we get signed to a wrong Division/Class?” I asked Marcus Grunewald, MetroPCS Dallas Marathon, Executive Race Director. “We were supposed to be Female Masters--Female Masters, a Division/Class we would have won, even our logistic issue.”

“I checked with our timer to help resolve the division issue… Although your team could face a potential disqualification, it was felt that moving the team into the Odds & Ends category would be more fair.” Marcus replied to me.

We really appreciate the MetroPC race officials decision to keep the Cheetah Chicks team qualified. Not only we had a lot of fun at the race and we already have plans to sign for the 2015 race, but also we learned a big lesson as relay team:

• Review course carefully,
• Set strategy as a team,
• Plan times accordingly, including extra,
• Use race services and potty!
• Keep mobile apps ON!
• and... Plan what if scenarios!

Again as my favorite song from U2 says:

Every breaking wave on the shore

Tells the next one "there'll be one more"

Every gambler knows when to lose

It's what you're really there for

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Course Maps*

·     Course Map (includes relay exchange points) – Click here to view the the Behringer Relay course map.

Cheetah Chicks results

3:38:07  3:38:02  30073    Lisa         Ansin     Austin   TX           Mixed / Odds & Ends Mixed 0-99              15

Female Masters results

Chip Time            Bib          Division Class

4:44:53  30436    Female Masters Female Masters              1

4:45:51  30209    Female Masters Female Masters              2

5:03:14  30335    Female Masters Female Masters              3

 

FAQ’s

Learn more about the Behringer 5-Person relay: 

https://www.dallasmarathon.com/relay-faq/

If you are prepared to run your leg, but your runner hasn’t shown up at the exchange zone, it’s best to wait instead of continuing on, which could disqualify your team. Circumstances may have prevented your runner from starting as predicted. After an adequate waiting period you may decide it’s not worth the wait and continue on.

North Dallas Turkey Trot Frisco - What are you training for?

Couple days before, Why don’t we run the Turkey Trot?

Fast W team set up:

• Lucas, bib #1000 for the miracle mile. Goal-reward: just for running 1 hour xbox. Anything within 7’ another hour and every 15” under to win extra hours.
• Nicholas, bib #4271 for the 5k. Goal-reward: anything within 22’ for 1 hour xbox. Any minute under to win extra hours.
• Mom, bib#4273 for the 10k. Goal-reward: ???

“Oh, it’s a training race” I, the running mom said. “Bum mom, if every race is a training race, then what are you training for?” Nick asked, that kept me thinking for the whole run…

Starting line for the miracle mile. Lucas in the front, getting ready mimicking Usain Bolt. Mom wished she could have ran with him or waited for him at the finish line, but in a crowded race with over 6000 runners, we had to divide and conquer. Everybody was going to race his race and we all were going to find results and celebrate at the end.

5k & 10k starting line. Mom & Son were going to start and try to keep together for the first loop, however Nick decided to go by himself. I never got to cross or pass him that made me think he was behind and at over 22’ 5k pace I was, he could barely win one hour of xbox if he was close to me. First loop completed, one more to go. Full or walkers. Focus became to skip them and move forward, rather than pace, form, rhythm and so on.

Finish line. Boys cheering mom there!
Lucas and pure Bolt's talent, completed his miracle mile in around 7:30. Hour xbox IN.

With a 21:11 on his watch, that made me really happy, Nick set his 5k PR, actually 21:08! He was ahead of me all the time! First time faster than mom and maybe never back? Now reading on his notes "Fun, talked with friends, beat friends!, PR, Xbox, and I when I run I kept an eye on my watch because I didn't want to fall behind. I felt I could keep that pace for maybe 6 miles. I felt great". 

Coming back to the questions:

• What am I training for? At least for now, I am training to be able to keep training, to be able to go to races. Some races to enjoy the event, watch people, smile, dance, cheer other runners, and of course some other “target races” to challenge numbers.

• Should I go to this X-random race? I could go to X-random race if expected result and required effort to run it are going to be enough to keep me mentally and physiologically on the good track to achieve peak performance for targeted races. 

As in The Champion's Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive, Jim Afremow says “Race with your best, that is the best you have at that moment and in that place”.

Goal-reward: ??? ENJOY IT!

Spooktacular 5k & 10k – 24 Hours and a minute

Another weekend with a race for Son & Mom. StephenvilleLions Spooktacular 5K & 10K. Almost 120 miles away from home, a good reason to plan a full day trip and adventure spending night in a hotel. 

There were also other couple special facts. Even previous Son & Mom races could be included on the book, this particular race was going to be first one with the fiction running book on mind; and last one before mom’s surgery week after.

Departing time: Friday, Oct 24, 2014 at 5:24 pm. Mom knew they were going to catch peak hours but important tasks such as checking out and printing hotel information, race schedule, race location, race courses, places to visit, eat and activities to do after race as a way to reward son for his effort and company. Additionally, as running fiction book will be based on Greek mythology stories, something running mom is totally ignorant about, driving time was wisely be invested on listening and learning about Greek Gods and Goddesses. So extra minutes added to get audio book into mom’s phone.

All set up. Time to leave home. Car engine turned on. It took only few miles for Greek crew to fill the car.  Gaia and Uranus followed by the Titans. Cronus with his five brothers and six sisters, followed by one-eyed Cyclopes. Gaia convincing son Cronus to do something terrible to his father. Too much! After a couple chapters mom decided to lock Greek Gods inside mom’s phone and switch to music. Since he has already learn everything about Greek mythology in school, instead of listening the audio book with mom, Nick was reading his 39 Clues book.

“Nick, would you mind if I put back the Calculating God audio book you listened part with me the other day?”, asked mom that didn't want to bother son on his reading.

“No. please put that back” said Nick. “I want to listen what is happening with those aliens”. “Great!” replied mom “I am glad we like we can enjoy the same audio book.”

It was already time to leave aliens and paleontologist in the car and go grab something for dinner. We had been driving under the stars for a while. We stopped in Granbury for some delicious Asian food after which we drove for almost an hour more until our final destination, Stephenville. Time was moving fast so son and mom went to bed. No TV.

Wake up call at 6:00 am. Son and mom had breakfast. Hotel was only few blocks from race “We have time to drive the course” said mom. 15 minutes after they arrived at race’s start & finish location with a view of 5k and 10k courses. Lot of hills up with few hills down. Several turns but perfectly marked with blue for 5k, white for 10k and yellow for the half. “After driving it, this 10k course felt like never ending” thought mom, “anyways, last three green miles (surrounded by trees and country land) end with a sweet downhill mile and only few yards up hill to cross finish line are going to be the ‘this is what you are here for, mom!’.”

Packages picked up. Cute lion bibs immediately clipped in and rest of items dropped in the car that was parked next to the start/finish line. Special feeling from smaller running races. No rush with logistics, well almost no rush.

“Come on, mom! Hurry up! Let’s start warming up!” yelled Nick.

“Ok! Let me finish getting ready” replied mom.  And in few seconds son and mom were jogging together. Just mile and a half plus few drills, but Nick with some “Achilles issues” decided to do it by his own rather than keeping with mom.

Starting line. Half marathoners departed at 8:00 am, 10k runners 8:10 am and 5k runners 8:20 am, what gave son the chance to relax and watch mom depart, then race, recover and wait for mom at the finish line. 

“It’s going to be a full 6.25 miles, mom. Relax, and no matter the pace, find yourself” mom thought. Starting line with a voice counting “7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 go!”. One man and two ladies in front of mom. “Patience, pace should (or might) come”. One lady less in front. Now it was mom and a cute blond lady. “Can I keep with her?” mom was wondering for like mile and a half until she realized and told herself “No, you have another gear. Time to apply it without fear” and took over the lead hoping to keep it to the end. And she did it! Second mile, third mile and last three miles “this is what you are here for, mom!”. Then last mile and “run without fear”. Final last quarter mile and “run with fire!”. Mom crossed finish line with son there, cheering with a bottle of water and a big hug for his mom.

“Good job, mom” said Nick.

“How did you do?” mom asked.

“I started in front but then a couple guys passed me. I couldn't keep up because of the hills and my Achilles and …”.

Mom didn't let him continue. “It’s OK. Nick” she said. “Did you try your best? Are you happy with your own performance?”

“Yes, mom.”

And mom’s wishes of Nick placing touched the sky. Son & Mom victory. An overall female lion trophy for mom and a first for his age group lion paw medal for son completed another awesome Son & Mom running event.

Back to the hotel. Hot tube that was actually cold but fun. Packing and checking out took only few minutes, then we were in Granbury square, enjoying a delicious lunch, doing some shopping and going to the Jail (Museum). Nick wanted to tell his classmates “I went to jail last weekend.”

Arrival time: Saturday, Oct 25, 2014 at 5:25 pm. 24 hours and a minute from departure. Not even a wasted minute of high quality time for son & mom together making mom feel strong before her scheduled “hardware removal” surgery few days after.

 

note: mom made the chart with record time for her age.

MK5K 2014 - His Medal Offer, THE Biggest Prize

I'm a truly believer "Things happen for a reason. We might not understand at the moment but in time it will make sense to us".

Beautiful morning. Team W, Running Mom & Son driving to the Mary Kay 5K race. Nick in silence reading Paladin Prophecy while mom yelling and singing “Can you hear me?” together with Enrique Iglesias on her iPod.

They parked. Several runners warming up around. Nick couldn't resist and joined friend O’Neil already on his 6^th warming up mile. Even mom had already registered, she still needed to pickup bibs. Registration sign. That is where I’m supposed to go, thought mom. Volunteer asked mom to fill a registration form which running mom only filled with her name.

Relaxed warming up, checking running course. 2x (2x (hill down & up)) take it or take it.

Starting line. Mom & Son next to each other. All ready to get set & go. Mom chasing Son. Nick flew away! Mom turned on her “Keep CALM and find YOUR ZONE” button, got the first hill down and up, reached Nick and they ran together the second hill down and up while taking about Ashli & Judah, 11 and 9 years old speedy friends, taking a good lead. After the 2^nd hill up, Mom started catching rhythm and got little bit ahead.

Race course with repeated 180 degree turns was great for faster runners to see how far ahead from competitors they were, as well as for slower runners to enjoy the live show of top runners speeding on the other side of the road.

Running mom got little bit mesmerized watching James Jackson and Vesko Rajovic after their first flat turn. With their very light running form barely touching the ground, they looked like flying! Second flat turn. Mom was wondering about Nick. She wasn't able to spot him after the turns. Was he too far, or too close? I’ll find later, she thought. Still one more 2x (hill down & up) ahead. Hill down, and way up when she got to see Laura Nelson coming down on her way to the finish line. She looked really strong! Turn around and last hill down and that delightful burning experience after that last hill up.

Finish line! Catch your breath mom! And cheer for Nick. He was really close and finished very strong. Go Nick! She screamed leaving everybody around her deaf.

Mom didn't have the slightest idea about results and times. Her Garmin got on strike again during warm up. Race awards was going to be a surprise. Mom’s biggest desire was for Nick to be called, and he was! Mom couldn't stop screaming when she heard his name called for the 3^rd place medal on his age group.

Mom loves races’ hardware and this Mary Kay 5k black & pink medal for the race's 10th year looked really good. So, when they announced her age group winners without calling her, she expressed her sadness to Nick who immediately pulled his own medal and offered it to her. That filled mom's heart.  No need of any black & pink medal. Big prize was just that moment.

Anyways, before heading back home mom checked results and found she had placed and they gave her a black & pink  medal.  Volunteer at the registration table had registered Mom & Son again from paper form rather than pulling their data from the system missing mom’s age.

Problem solved, with 2x (2x (hill down & up)) under the hat, 2 medals one for Mom & one for Son, PLUS the biggest prize ever. Son pulling his own medal and offering it to his mom.

TDF 10k – Coins For the Mental and Physical Buckets

Beautiful morning, the last one of this summer. Tomorrow it will be fall, for 2, maybe 3 weeks and then it will start feeling like winter in TX. As the book Champion’s Mind I am reading tells, “Performance is result of training, 90% mental and 50% physical”. TDF one of the “Classic” races in Dallas and great opportunity to have fun while adding coins to the mental and physical buckets.

I am finally feeling healthier! Toes getting fixed [thanks to Dr. Allan Sherman] & muscles feeling good [thanks to listen to your body]. Cardio is another subject these days :-)

Got at the Arboredum just on time to watch the 20kers depart. Then I started warming up, greeting friends, even Doc and amazing runner, Logan Sherman whose strides show before race were a perfect inspiration. 

Starting line for a “whole 10k” around 6.25 miles. No way were they going to miss the course this year as it happened previous year. So we started. I needed to focus on getting in the 10k zone, no matter my pace, no matter other runner’s pace. Couple miles on, I got to pass few runners and amazing kid, Jorge Mejia's. Turning back on the trail side for a while, then little turn and I ended up on the paved trail facing coming 10k runners. Something wasn’t right… 

Where were 10k runners going? Oh! They were up there! I missed a turn. So I had to keep calm, even take a couple walking breaks and find way back to 10k course. Once there, I passed few runners again including amazing Jorge Mesias' runner and got to cross finish line very out of breath, which means I wasn't taking really easy.

Once I recovered breath, I went for a little cool down against 20k finishers. I didn't want to check results, however I took a little look and surprisingly I found I got 3^rd Master, and then another surprise, they called me for the awards and they are sending me a check! 

Exceeding expectations race, not only Coins for the Mental and Physical Buckets, but also for family (husband taking care of finances these daysJ)

Running, 90% mental and 50% physical! 
RUN HAPPY OR DO SOMETHING ELSE

ps: Thanks Francisco Pullido for the chat, great pictures and support at the finish line

Dog Days Relay 3K x 3 relay - Team Work, So you better Run

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father

Run for your children, for your sisters and your brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run

Are them? Not yet in TX! So, you better divide and conquer.
Step by step, still getting adjusted to North Hemisphere's summer after month hiding in the sweetest South Hemisphere's winter, plus back to school. Plano Pacers Dog Days Relay 3K x 3 relay, shorter distance race with all the fun!

Mom invited son to race. His mission, either to pace her running the 3rd leg or to provide a fast young legs to any team in need of. We got to the park. Mom checked with her running team and a couple gentlemen, 75 and a 50 years old, looking for a 3rd leg. So Nick's important running mission for the day was set as part of a three generations, 138 points team (Mom's was 164).

Starting line. Nick was 1st leg of his team. He started very strong. Not so sure what exact time, since Plano Pacers new clock had a little issue, Mom's first leg mate, Tellie arrived, and second leg, Angela started. Short time after Nick completed his first leg in 14:07. WELL DONE NICK! And when Angela arrived mom departed.

The dog days are not over, or done yet in TX. However you are part of a horses' team, so you better run. I started just behind a great runner, Joshua Thompson and even he was getting further and further it really motivated me to be patient and keep going under control. Just 3km, however no matter the distance, my little runner's experience has tough me to be patient. All comes :-)

 

And it came! Almost getting the finish line and got Nicholas next to me cheering me and running next to me while recording a video. 

What awesome experience!!! I felt and feel so blessed! It is just my RUNNING MOM DREAM COME TRUE! THANK YOU Nicholas for your company and support. I LOVE YOU! And THANK YOU Angela & Tellie for making me part of your victorious team!