Getting older is tough.
The mind is able, but the body is, well, I won't say it is completely weak, but figuring out where the 'want to' comes and goes from is a challenge in and of itself.
I had another weekend of baseball planned with a flight to and from St. Louis and three Frontier League - independent baseball - ballparks (two in Illinois and one in Missouri).
In the middle of the week, I realized that I was just a little bit still wore out from the past weekend, plus it looked as if weather might affect the game in Normal, Illinois Saturday night (and the race on Sunday morning in Bloomington).
So I started in looking at mixing things up and thought that I would run races on Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday morning, then go to a ballgame on Sunday night before flying home Monday morning.
Lots of combinations. Was going for a home run, which would have been a Friday night race (either in Findlay, IL or Champaign, IL) and another one - at 11:15 p.m. - in Terre Haute, IN.
The challenge there was that I lost an hour due to the time zone changing from Central to Eastern.
That would have put me into Indianapolis at about 1:30 a.m. with a goal to run 5Ks in Carmel and Fishers, which are less than five miles apart, at 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
The fun part, then, on Sunday morning was to take part in a four-miler in Evanston, Illinois that started outside of and then finished on the field at Northwestern Stadium.
I've finished on the fields of Notre Dame, Penn State and Illinois. As a Nittany Lion fan, that would have been great.
But I couldn't touch a hotel room for a Hilton or Marriott south of about $175.
The final straw was that I had a 5:45 a.m. flight out of Hobby.
I got home Thursday night at 11 p.m. from Bridgeport, where I work during the week. And I didn't even stop to run, just to eat in Huntsville.
So I would have had to have returned a car to IAH, got my car, come home, washed my running stuff (for multiple races) and then leave by 3:30 a.m. to get to HOU by 4:15 a.m.
You get the picture. Exhausting to even think about it.
Needless to say that before midnight I was on the phone with Southwest banking my money for another trip, another day.
So what to do for the weekend?
More wheels were in motion.
I saw the following: 1.) 5K double in Big Spring and Midland (Friday night at midnight and Saturday at 8 a.m.), 2.) Howl At The Moon 5K in Waco at 10 p.m. and 3.) the Mississippi Braves were at home at 5 p.m. on Sunday night.
Waverly was coming home from church camp in Sevierville, Tennessee early Friday morning, where she served as a camp counselor to a group of girls from her home church.
We traded texts early Friday morning as I offered to run her seven mile long run with her on Saturday morning, but she wasn't going to commit to anything until she got home and saw how she felt.
I kind of knew where that was going to go, so I kept my options open. I understood. She had a busy, exhausting week as one of the next last before she starts her first year of teaching.
Work took the Big Spring and Midland option off the board, plus Midland's website didn't indicate if there was race day registration and if the races were timed.
Right. I'm going to go that far for an untimed fun run. No way.
So I signed up for the Mosquito Chase 5K in Clute on Saturday morning. I had run it before, but therefore I was able to save Mom a trip from going to get Waverly as they made it back in from church camp at 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
I was up at 4:45 a.m., got a quick shower and was out the door at 5:05 a.m.
Saw that there was going to be some road work on Highway 288 so I took the Beltway, the Fort Bend Tollway and Highway 6 to get to 288 and was in Clute and at the race site at close to 6:40 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. start.
The guys from Houston Masters Sports Association - Mike Mangan and Michael Luna - were there to promote their 25K in November. They both ran as well as Clark Courtright and Larry Lindeen.
Galveston's Kelly Carmichael and his wife both ran. They've become good acquaintances, primarily through Robby Sabban's Texas Bridge Series races.
I had the opportunity to talk shop, as always, with Fit Tri Run's Kimberly Bachmeier. Her FTR Race Management entity was timing the race.
I actually ran pretty good.
Offset - 8:16
Mile 1 - 9:31.75
Mile 2 - 10:32.06
Mile 3 - 8:39.60
Last .1 - 1:36.48
Total = 30:19.89
Two years ago = 31:52.30
Just like two years ago, the mile markers were off. Although, I think the total distance was pretty much spot on. There was a different in the start location that might have made it a few feet long, but otherwise it is a solid race that was very, very humid.
Ran a minute and 33 seconds better than two years ago.
I held off a lady that tried to challenge me near the mile two marker as well as going into the last water stop a little while later, but I ended up beating by 25 seconds.
I made it back to Spring, slept some and then went and got a rental car as I planned to go run the race in Waco Saturday night and then venture to Dallas that evening.
The plan was to run the Carrollton Running Club 5K at 7:30 a.m. in McInnish Park on Sunday morning, go to church some place close to Lewisville where I was going to stay and then venture to Jackson, Mississippi for a minor league baseball game.
It was a little over six hours from Dallas to Jackson and the game's first pitch was at 5 p.m. Doable.
Back from picking up the rental car and getting packed, I was ready to leave by 5:15 p.m. and was in Huntsville a little later for dinner at McKenzie's BBQ.
However, it was there I realized that I left my laptop bag with my Bible in it at the house.
I could have gone on to Dallas, et. al. and done everything I needed to do from my phone, but I'm basically a bit naked without my laptop (actually have two, including an older one that I use for certain things).
I got to Waco at about 8:45 p.m., made it over to the race site which was Indian Springs Park and got my race packet, changed clothes and then waited for the 10 p.m. start time.
The course was across the Suspension Bridge to the north side of the Brazos River where we ran under Interstate 35, by McLane Stadium (on our left going out), over the footbridge, into Grant Teaff Plaza and then along University Parks a little bit until we got in front of the Mayborn Museum Complex where we turned around and returned.
I crossed the finish in 29:28, but I suspect that the turnaround might not have been in the right place and the course might have been short.
If not, I ran really, really well.
Offset - 6.98
Out - 14:33.36
Back - 14:54.20
Total = 29:27.56
My chiropractor, Dr. Dawn Schwab, made an adjustment to the front of my body in my upper pelvic area that seems to have unlocked the range of motion on my left leg where my hamstring wants to continually remain tightened.
Back in the car, I made it home at 1:45 a.m., as I projected, and was awake and out the door by 8 a.m. to get breakfast and make it to the Church Project at 9 a.m. for morning worship.
The message came out of Psalm 23, which is the Lord's Prayer, but it was really to relate to how we, as God's children need Him, like sheep need a shepherd.
It is something that I have heard preached similarly by Tony Evans on his radio program a couple of Mondays ago on the drive to Dallas for work.
I got home and pretty much rested off and on the entire day. I read three chapters from Michael Weinreb's "Season Of Saturdays: A History of College Football in 14 Games".
I went and got a bite to eat at Jason's Deli in The Woodlands at about 8 p.m.
I got some Chicken Alfredo, to give me a little fuel for our run that started about 9:45 a.m. on The Woodlands Waterway.
However, it turned out to cause a bit of an issue on the return trip of the first loop. We had two planned to get in between 7 and 7.5.
Waverly, at the same time, was having some issues as a result of not eating enough as she had been at a Bible Study from 6 to 8 p.m. before taking a young lady to her home before making it to The Woodlands to join me for a run.
We'll run out normal 3.66 miles tomorrow afternoon (Monday) and I'm already looking forward to it.
And on the table for next weekend, right now, is the final Outrigger's 5K on Saturday morning, August 4 and then the Run For Wellness - Heights 5K on Sunday morning and The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K that evening.
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