Monday, November 12, 2007

Veterans' Day 25K

As I'm sure you're all aware, Sunday was Veterans' Day. Although we were trying to make it a tradition to throw a Veterans' Day partay, we were not able to do it this year for a few reasons. So instead I (Charlie) ran my first 25K (~15.5 miles) run in the Theatre District in downtown Houston on Sunday morning.

Jaime and I were at a friend's birthday partay the night before, so I was only able to get a little more than three and a half hours of sleep the night before. Considering this, I was able to impress myself three times over:

1. I made it out of bed and to the race!

2. I finished the race (and earned a superfly microfiber pullover by doing so)!

3. I came out with a respectable time (in my mind at least)!

Here is the video of me crossing the finish line- I'm the topless guy with the beefy build:

It turns out that this is currently one of the top ten downloaded videos on the net right now. Good ol' net...

It's hard to pick up, but the crowd is actually going crazy when my name is announced- I think the were having problems with the mic or something. I've heard rumors that there were even riots after my performance- 2003 UofM hockey championship style.

Anyway, my chip time* was 1:57:54.2, which is 7:36 per mile. ~7:15 per mile is kind of my marathon goal pace, but I'm more than 20 seconds higher than that at the moment, so it's a long shot. But if I do it in the Houston Marathon (which I am currently registered and training for), then I would qualify for the Boston Marathon. How cool would that be? My time was good enough to get 9th of 59 in my age-gender group and 137th of 1600+ overall, so I'm pretty happy with it.

No pics yet, as they won't be posted for another couple days. But when they are, I'm sure I will have some unflattering snapshots to share.

Until then...

*If you're not familiar with chip time: in many races, you tie a little chip to your shoe that registers your time when you run past mats placed in various places throughout the course. Not only is this able to ensure that nobody cheats by skipping laps, but it gives you a more accurate race time since not everybody can be at the front of the pack when the race starts; your time doesn't start until you cross the start line.

2 comments:

Kathy said...

Congrats on your race performance!

I could here the crowd chanting...Charlie, Charlie, Charlie! after you crossed the finish line!!!!!

All kidding aside, what a great accomplishment. When is the Houston Marathon?

Josh & Molly said...

Way to go Charlie! Awesome.