Crazy Kemah Bridge Runners

Bob Linza started the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon. And it seems to have taken off pretty well.

Then, do you remember when Bob ran 14 loops for more than a full marathon distance on the Kemah Bridge? All by himself, before work on a Thursday morning. (I always wondered why that idea didn't take off like the Seabrook Marathon. - probably because it's crazy)

But now, two people have broken the record for most laps on the bridge. On Saturday, March 24th, Buddy Brown, of the CLFC ran 17 laps on the Kemah bridge! And then on Sunday, March 25th, Mark Henderson, of BARC also ran 17 laps on the bridge! So now it's tied at 17 laps on the bridge, and there's talk of trying to run 20.

FYI, a loop or a lap on the bridge is defined as the entire round trip, back and forth run the safe way, meaning looping around under the overpasses on both ends, always on the left side of the road of course. like this.

I understand the challenge to run farther and farther and more and more loops of the bridge, but it's already too much to be an active participant for a two-bit chump like me. How about 7 loops? that seems hard enough. Or 10, maybe that should be the standard challenge. Yeah! There should be a standard challenge for the only moderately crazy people. Okay, I'll define a standard challenge, and I'll even back it up with some hardware! If you, my loyal reader, run 10 consecutive laps on the Kemah bridge, I'll make you a custom award with my own little hands to commemorate you mental instability.

Rock on,
Keith.

Are you following me?

There's a lot to catch up on. A lot I haven't blogged. I've been busy with the Seabrook Marathon website, which should be less active for a while now that all the results are up, and all the pictures are up, and the feedback form is up.

But that's not all I've been up to. Here are just a few of the things I've done and not blogged about.

Ran the Seabrook Marathon Relay with my pals Yong, Heather, and Claudia.

Ran 8.25 miles with the club on the 24th, and even some with my long lost training partner.

Went ice skating on Sunday evening - 1 fall, getting better, less scared.

Ran 5 miles Monday morning.

Can you believe that? I even ran a race and didn't blog it!

Anyway, I brought my running clothes and ran after work this evening. There's a route around campus and down the bayou that is about 10K.

It was just about sunset time, and I got to see some bats flying around down by the bayou, which I thought was cool. I keep meaning to check out the bats around the Waugh Street Bridge. Has anybody seen them? Is it cool?

Anywho, I was running along, on the return trip along the bayou, and by this time it was already dark. Now, the bayou has some nice houses alongside it, and it looks like a nice area, but if you're running in that area at dusk, it will occur to you that only that one row of houses that border the bayou are nice, and the rest... is somewhat less nice. The bars on the doors and windows are a good clue to that.

Well, I'm running along and the first wierd thing I see is the silhouette of a man that apparently had just been laying on the ground. There's a grassy area between the road and the bayou trail, and he had been laying there for some time. As he started walking around it was quite clear that he was completely intoxicated. He was stumbling and stomping around, and it was strange because he was dressed in what looked like a sportscoat and nice pants. How he got there, and how he got so intoxicated so early in the day is a question I had too. He was fairly young, maybe early 20s, and much too drunk to be a real threat to a strapping vibrant young man like myself, but I ran softly anyway until I passed him.

But then there was this other guy, walking on the trail ahead, and he yells out, "Hey white boy!" This other guy was a very large black man, who could have been a threat to me if he wanted to be, but it was clear he was addressing the drunk. "Are you following me?! Are you following me!?" he yells at the drunk man. On and on he yelled, "I saw you over there, when I was there, and now you're here! Are you following me?!" The drunk guy looked completely terrified. There was only yelling though, and I don't think there was ever any real threat to anybody. I think he was just having some fun, messing with the drunk guy. It's fun to mess with drunk people. I understand that.

But anyway, I covered the 6+ miles, and now, with 8 on Saturday, 5 on Monday, and 6 on Wednesday, it's almost starting to look like I'm an actual runner. It feels good to get back into it. I've been running lately, but mostly just the group runs on the weekends. It has been hard to get myself out the door for more miles all by myself. I'm getting over that though.

Rock on.
Keith.

I like this picture

Strength training in rats. There are bundles of dried spaghetti the rats can reach for and break. They can break more and more after several weeks of training. No other reason to post it, but I like the picture.

While I'm posting random things, I like this picture too.



He's pissed off because there was no reward in the dish.

Anyway. Still running. Posting later.
Keith.

Pictures from the Seabrook Marathon

This was 10 minutes or so before the start of the Half Marathon on Saturday. Can you tell who will win?


JD and Jaclyn finishing the half marathon.


"That medal better be as big as my head!" -- Sarah


I thought you looked familiar! If I was thinking clearly I'd have said "Hello." Sorry Christy! It was nice almost meeting you.


Bob and Tonia catching up.


Bob and Ginger, Ginger and Bob. Bob is about an hour or so away from finishing his own TMC when this picture was taken.


If you look at the high resolution version, you can see Brenda has even pierced her navel. And Lori has a lower back tattoo.

My two favorite pictures of all time. Hi Joe. Actually, this was the only minute where Joe was resting. He was very enthusiastic the whole weekend, but they're still my favorite pictures.

Marathon! This Weekend!

Run, Walk, Cheer, Volunteer.

Follow the rabbit for all the info.

Update.

Ankle's okay. 9.25 miles on Saturday. Got to run with my long lost running partner who's been out with some injuries. All is well. Hope this post wasn't too unsatisfying. But aren't you glad to hear that I'm doing okay? No time. Gotta go.

Rolled my ankle.

Gosh, this week has flown by without much posting.
I ran on Monday night, one lap around Memorial.

Then I ran again on Wednesday, but only one mile before I stepped on a rock and rolled my ankle. It was really bad for a couple of minutes but faded as I walked for a while. The next day it was sore all the way up the side of my calf and it hurts if I bend it too far. I don't think I did any major damage, just strained lots of little things.

I still intend to run with the club tomorrow morning. I'll take it easy and decide after a couple miles if I'm doing more damage than good.

I hope I'll be back to 100% for the Seabrook Marathon Relay next weekend. I'm running the first leg and some friends from work, Yong, Heather, and Claudia will run the others. I think it will be the first road race for all of them. It should be tons of fun.

Mor elater.
Keith.

FYI: Seabrook Marathon almost full...

FYI: The Seabrook Marathon is 95% full for Sunday's races, and 78% full for the Half Marathon on Saturday. 48 people are running both days, including our very own JD, Christy, and Sarah.

If your on the fence, you might just get kicked off it in the next few days (at least for Sunday's race).

Keith.

Dietary Analysis

In an effort to improve my running performance through an improvement in my overall health, I made an effort to first analyze the current state of my diet. As you can see from the flowchart below, it is already pretty good, consisting almost entirely of foods that are, or are decended directly or indirectly from, vegetables.

But seriously though, I don't eat too poorly. Breakfast is usually very good, maybe I'll have some fruit and toast, or maybe I'll have a protein shake. Occasionally an omlette. Lunch has been more difficult, since I haven't been preparing anything and I have to find something here at work. The choices are slim and are mostly at fast-food type places here on campus. Wendy's has some nice chicken salads, but one of those with a drink is about 6$, which is too much for everyday, and it gets boring after a while. You should know, I've stayed away from the ice cream for 18 days already.

So, how can I improve? I guess I should bring my lunches from home. I can make it the day before and not even try to do it in the morning when I'll undoubtedly be running late. Do you eat a healthy lunch? Do you have any suggestions for me?

Keith.

keithrselassie.com "Rewind"
Remember this post? I argued that your cancer risk is related to the viability of your normal cells, rather than just the increased efficiency of the cancerous cells. So, try to avoid carcinogens for sure, but make yourself strong enough to fight it off when it comes.