HARRA Cross Country Relay and Our First Cold Front

No, the cold front didn't come in time for the relay, but it did make it all the way to the coast this morning. 66 degrees at 4AM! The first 60 degree day was a little late this year, but at least it's still September. And the cooler weather is just in time for starting the 18-week Houston Marathon training plan.

The HARRA Cross Country relay is always a challenging race, with steep uphills and downhills along the bayou. My team did quite well, 2nd place in the Veterans category, second to another Tornado's team. I guess being placed on the second team isn't bad if you beat all of the other clubs (especially when your time was in the lower half of the second team). Here are a few pictures:










I was dripping so much sweat, the camera wouldn't work after this picture, so I missed getting a picture of my team's third and fourth runners. Here's a picture of the sombrero plaque:



Here are a couple pictures taken by Bert:

"El Tigre" SimC tears it up for the first Veteran's Tornado team (the fast one). Runing in this age group isn't getting any easier.





Me

The End of Summer and the Beginning of Marathon Training

The sun says summer is over, but the weather hasn't agreed yet. But there is hope. A strong cold front is expected to come through late Sunday. From the NWS:
THE AREA IS STILL ON TRACK TO SEE A COLD FRONT MOVE THROUGH THE AREA SOME TIME SUNDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. EXPECT DECREASING RAIN CHANCES BEGINNING LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON UP NORTH...AND THEN AREA WIDE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH EARLY MONDAY MORNING. A NORTHERLY FLOW AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT IS ANTICIPATED FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK...AND THIS PATTERN WILL BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES (ESPECIALLY WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS) TO THE ENTIRE AREA. THE COMBINATION OF A REINFORCING FRONT OR TWO AND THE CIRCULATION AROUND NEWLY FORMED TROPICAL DEPRESSION FIFTEEN (LIKELY SOON TO BE BECOME TROPICAL STORM AND POTENTIALLY HURRICANE MATTHEW) COULD POSSIBLY KEEP A VERY DRY FLOW ACROSS SOUTHEAST
TEXAS THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK AND ON INTO NEXT WEEKEND. HELLO FALL!

It's supposed to be in the 60s Tuesday morning,, even down here along The Gulf!


Just as summer ends, marathon training begins. With the Houston Marathon on 30 January, the 18-week training period begins on Monday the 27th. The cool weather should arrive just in time. I think I'm ready to start some serious training. I've been running over 50 miles per week for about a month now. But it has all been very slow due to the hot and humid weather. I have no idea if I can pull off another fast marathon. I'm worried I will crash during the Space City 10-Miler. 10/10/10 is coming up so fast.

I Am NOT a Morning Person

I am not a morning person. But with a work schedule that requires me to leave the house at 0530 and return home around 1900, I have to run early in the morning. I set alarms on my phone and my watch to help me wake and then to help me know how long I can run and still leave for work on time. The first wake-up alarm is 0345 on the phone. Then my watch alarms at 0348 to really get me out of bed. The watch also has alarms at 0430, warning me I have about 20 minutes left to run, a ten minute warning at 0440, an alarm at 0450 tells me I need to get home, and finally an alarm at 0500 warns me I need to be making my lunch. I have a second back-up alarm on the phone at 0445 to ensure I get out of bed in time to get to work if I miss a run.

I woke up this morning to the 0348 watch alarm and the sound of heavy rain. Assuming I missed the phone alarm, I staggered out of bed and checked the weather radar on the computer. Despite being in the path of nothing but orange and yellow returns, I decided to suck it up and run through the downpour. My street was flooded from curb to curb in some areas, but I splashed along. I ran about two and a half miles when the 0430 watch alarm sounded, so I figured I could push the pace a little and complete 5.75 miles. The rain stopped for a little while and I was close to four miles when the 0440 alarm went off. I was surprised I hadn't seen a single car yet. I guessed I was the only one foolish enough to get out and brave the rain. The rain started up again and I made it home a little after the 0450 alarm. I was pushing the clock on a garbage day, but I was happy to finish a decent run.

I had to hurry to clean out the litter box and get all of the garbage bagged. I dragged the garabage bag out into the torrential downpour and set it on the curb just as the last 0500 watch alarm sounded. I hurried inside to start making my lunch and turned on the TV to check the news. The local station was running a decent world news story...very odd....something's wrong. I flipped the channel over to 2 to check Jennifer's traffic report. But channel 2 had a national news story...uh oh. I looked at the oven...the clock showed a little after 4AM.

I'd figured out a way to shift my watch over to Eastern Time Zone while sleeping and I'd just spent the last hour or so running in the rain at three in the morning. No wonder I didn't see any cars.
S-T-U-P-I-D!

35 Years Ago

Here's a picture from 1975 of the North High School Cross Country team in Riverside, California. Can you tell which one is me?



I'm still struggling through the heat and humidity. After a couple nice days at the end of August, even the 16-day forescast doesn't show anything below 70 through the end of September. At least the 18-week Houston Marathon training starts late this year.

Hope for September

August really was pretty bad. From the National Weather Service:

.CLIMATE...
THE PERSISTENT COMBINATION OF STRONG UPPER RIDGING AND DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE RESULTED IN A RECORD SETTING HOT AND HUMID MONTH ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS. AUGUST 2010 WILL RANK AS THE WARMEST OR SECOND WARMEST MONTH OF ANY MONTH ON RECORD FOR ALL THE MAJOR CLIMATE SITES. WHILE HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE ELEVATED...OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES WERE WELL ABOVE NORMAL DUE TO THE HIGH DEWPOINTS. HEAT INDICES WERE HIGHER THIS MONTH THAN SEEN IN RECENT SUMMERS...WHICH IS WHY THERE WERE SO MANY HEAT ADVISORIES.

ALL-TIME WARMEST MONTHS ON RECORD:

COLLEGE STATION (RECORDS SINCE 1901):
1. AUG 2010/JUL 2009 - 89.1 DEGREES
2. JUL 1998 - 88.6 DEGREES
3. AUG 1951 - 88.5 DEGREES
4. JUL 1996 - 87.9 DEGREES
5. AUG 1962/JUL 1925 - 87.7 DEGREES

HOUSTON (IAH) (RECORDS SINCE 1889):
1. AUG 2010 - 87.9 DEGREES
2. JUL 1980/AUG 1962 - 87.5 DEGREES
3. JUL 2009 - 87.4 DEGREES
4. AUG 1951 - 87.1 DEGREES
5. AUG 1999/AUG 1902 - 86.8 DEGREES

HOUSTON/HOBBY (RECORDS SINCE 1931):
1. AUG 2010 - 87.0 DEGREES
2. JUL 2009 - 86.7 DEGREES
3. JUL 1998 - 86.6 DEGREES
4. AUG 1999 - 86.4 DEGREES
5. AUG 2009/JUN 1998 - 86.2 DEGREES

GALVESTON (RECORDS SINCE 1871):
1. JUL 1875 - 87.4 DEGREES
2. AUG 2010 - 87.3 DEGREES
3. AUG 2005/JUL 1996 - 86.6 DEGREES
4. AUG 2009 - 86.5 DEGREES
5. JUL 1876 - 86.3 DEGREES

WARMEST MAY THROUGH AUGUST PERIODS FOR HOUSTON (SINCE 1889):
1. 2009 - 84.4 DEGREES
2. 1980 - 84.1 DEGREES
3. 2010 - 84.0 DEGREES
4. 1998 - 83.8 DEGREES
5. 1962 - 83.7 DEGREES

NUMBER OF DAILY RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES TIED OR BROKEN THIS MONTH:
COLLEGE STATION - 10 (HIGHEST - 81 DEGREES ON THE 11TH)
HOUSTON/IAH - 4 (HIGHEST - 83 DEGREES ON THE 12TH AND 18TH)
HOUSTON/HOBBY - 11 (HIGHEST - 81 DEGREES ON THE 18TH)
GALVESTON - 7 (HIGHEST - 85 DEGREES ON THE 30TH)

ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES TIED:
HOUSTON/IAH - 83 DEGREES ON THE 12TH AND 18TH (LAST SET JUL 30 2009)
GALVESTON - 85 DEGREES ON THE 30TH (LAST SET JUL 20 2005)

HEAT INDEX IN HOUSTON:
DAYS WITH HEAT INDEX 105 DEGREES OR HIGHER - 20 DAYS
DAYS WITH HEAT INDEX 108 DEGREES OR HIGHER - 8 DAYS
MAXIMUM HEAT INDEX - 114 DEGREES ON THE 14TH (HIGHEST SINCE AT LEAST 2000)

I hope September is better.