Today I went downtown the George R. Brown (GRB to us Houstonians) to pick up my race number and packet at the Expo. Until today I didn't realize that the GRB was celebrating its 20th Annivesary. I remember the first time I saw the building I thought it looked like a landlocked ship.
The marathon will bring $30 million to the city. Not bad for a weekend event.

The expo has all kinds of stuff! Free stuff and stuff you can buy. There are people from other marathons there promoting their events. Hummer, Best Buy (The Geek Squad), Michelob Ultra were just a few of the major exhibitors. The Roger Clemens Institute at Memorial Hermann was the major sponsor.

This is where they divide the show offs from the slackers. Us slackers had to go to the right to get out packets. The show offs went to the left.
After I got my packet I had to get my chip activated. This chip will track our splits and also make sure that people don't cheat...like Rosie Ruiz.So after the chip was activated, it was time to hunt down my shirt.
I walked to the other side of the exhibit hall in search of my participant shirt and this is what I see! They're only going to give me half a shirt because I'm only running 13.1 miles? How rude.

As you can see, there's all kinds of stuff going on at the expo. I tried a new energy bar...well it's new to me. LÄRABAR According to their website:

LÄRABAR is a delicious blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts and spices - energy in its purest form. Made from 100% whole food, each flavor contains no more than six ingredients. Pure and simple, just as nature intended. 1 SERVING OF FRUIT * NO ADDED SUGAR * UNPROCESSEDRAW * NON- GMO * GLUTEN FREE * DAIRY FREE * SOY FREEVEGAN * KOSHER

The other cool thing that I found is a towel for The Cal Mobile. Well the driver's seat. It is an oversized white towel with an adjustable elastic band to keep it secure so that the towel isn't sliding down the seat while you drive. You can see a picture of it here.

It was time to mosey back to NoRO. The weather was really nice again and I would like to have enjoyed some time outside but I have some out of town visitors arriving tomorrow so I had to str8en things up back at the house.

Oh...I wondered about my 1/2 shirt. I opened up my blue bag that they gave me at the expo and it is a full shirt...not a midrif.

Some Thoughts "Running" Through My Mind

I have mentioned that I sorta got off track with my running the past week or so. I did get out to Memorial Park yesterday around lunch time and did a good 3 mile jaunt. This morning I met RunnerOne at 545A and we had a great 3 mile run.

There are several things that have happened in the past week or so that have been on my mind in regard to running so, let's start with:

Roberto Madrazo. Mr. Madrazo is a former candidate for president in Mexico. If I remember correctly, he came in third when he ran for President. Well, it seems that he went to Berlin to run the Berlin Marathon.

The Berlin Marathon is supposed to be a fast course. And like most marathons, they have the runners wear a chip so that splits can be timed along the course and it monitors who really ran the race. I guess you can thank Rosie Ruiz for that.

You may recall that Rosie was the first woman to cross the finish line in the 1980 Boston Marathon. However, they can't prove that she actually ran the race and there was doubt about her qualifying time from the NYC Marathon.

So back to Mr. Madrazo...he bested his PR by almost an hour. And he crossed the finish line in a sweatsuit; not very runneresque I would say. Well no one really thought anything about it until the Mexican press started asking questions. Then it was ascertained that some of his splits are missing on the course.

I found out today that he will not be listed as a finisher. The well-known cheater got caught. However, I guess he can't be that good of a cheater because he came in third in the election. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...

Marion Jones. "Thou doth protest too much." Marion. Marion. Marion. I wanted to believe that you didn't take steroids. I was SO happy for you during the Sydney Olympics.

You have not set a good example for young athletes, female or male.

At least you have finally admitted that you did take the steroids, you apologized for lying and you have returned your medals.

There's not much else to say other than D-I-S-A-P-P-O-I-N-T-E-D.

Next on my list, 2007 Chicago Marathon. WTF went wrong? Yes, everyone knew that the temperatures were going to be unseasonably warm. Even I knew that and I wasn't even running.

The marathon had a record no-show rate but had upped the servings of water from 1.6M to 1.8M. The increase was based on expected warm temperatures and everyone showing up. Obviously the formula was wrong.

I heard the Race Director say that if people had only taken one cup of water instead of several to cool themselves off then they would have had plenty of water. It also turns out that for a 26.2 mile course they only had 15 stations and most of those were toward the end. That leaves 11 miles of no water so no wonder people were hoarding water! And I have heard that some runners were told to keep going another mile or 2 to find some water.

I guess I'm spoiled. If I remember correctly, the Houston Marathon starts their water stations at mile 2 and then every mile or every other mile after that until you get to mile 9 or so and then it definitely is every mile.

I guess I'm also spoiled because if I can run in Houston heat and humidity I guess I can run in just about anything. This weather prepares you for being well hydrated.

There was a record number of 911 calls during the marathon. Spectators were trying to do what they could to help runners who were passing out.

As one columnist in Chicago stated (quite sarcastically): "No one made you show up to run." Well true but unless you have given up six months of your life to train for a long distance run I guess you just don't understand the determination to finish.

I don't know. I just don't know. I've done Rock 'n Roll in San Diego in June when it has been hot but they didn't have people dropping like flies. Something really went wrong.

EDIT @ 827P: If you want an account of what it was like, read Running My Mass Off.

Komen Race For The Cure/Houston. Saturday morning when I was beginning my Krewe tasks I made the mistake of going down Waugh Drive. Uh...that was a good bad decision. Let me digress.

Up until several years ago, Race For The Cure/Houston did not allow men to participate. I placed an inquiry to the office and was told that it was to encourage women to participate AND breast cancer affects women. EXCUSE ME?

So I sent back a reply that while the majority of people who have battled breast cancer are women there is a small percent who are men. PLUS, the women are mothers, wives, sisters and friends of men so in a different fashion it does affect men.

Well I was told I could do the 1 mile family walk.

I was pissed but based on the comment from a local running authority who told me to take up another cause and leave them alone I did. It was a few years after that when they opened it up to men. It is now the largest run/walk in Houston. They had 23K+ participants this year.

While I was stuck in traffic (that's the bad part) listening to It's Raining Men I sort of got a little teary eyed. There were people of all ages, shapes and sizes out there Saturday morning raising money for a good cause.

I would like to think that my email exchange a few years ago had something to do with opening it up to everyone.

I also was thinking about a friend of mine who battled breast cancer and won. We have lost touch over the years but she is one of those people that I know is always there for me and likewise. One of these years I will run Race For The Cure/Houston in her honor.

2008 Houston Marathon. The early bird gets the worm. I previously mentioned that the marathon is already sold out. That is a record.

The downside is that there are people who started training programs who did not register and have now been shut out. Too bad I can't sell my registration on ebay! :-)