who's running Houston?

I'm curious by nature (or as my wife would say, nosy) and I want to know which elite runners are gonna be in H-town for the marathon and the half. The half is home to the US Half Marathon Championships so there should be a good group for that.
But how do I find out? There's nothing on the website for the marathon. Not like the NYC Marathon where the elite runners are listed and have some biographical info. Geesshhh...
And apparently you can't search the confirmation page for elite runners. Sean Wade's blog says he's running the half, but you can't put in his name to get confirmation to find out.
It'd be nice on the confirmation page if you could just put Texas in the box and get all the runners from the city or you could put initials in for names, but I digress.
Anyway, I read on Jon's site about Brian Sell (the 2006 winner of the Half Marathon championships in Houston), who was sixth in Chicago this year with a personal best of 2:10:47 and 4th in Boston in 2:10:55, and I wanted to know for sure if he was running here. I couldn't really find out anything. I went to his teams' website and decided to contact someone.
I sent out an email, referencing that I do some writing for Inside Texas Running and was curious as to which runners would be here for the half marathon.
I got a reply with the following names:

Edwin,
Thanks for inquiring. We have a very large group of Hansons-Brooks Distance Project runners participating in this years event. A total of 15 male athletes as follows.
1- Brian Sell
2- Clint Verran
3- Luke Humphrey
4- Chad Johnson
5- Kyle O'Brien
6- Mike Morgan
7- Marty Rosendahl
8- Trent Briney
9- Dave Ernsberger
10- Pat Rizzo
11- Josh Moen
12- Ryan Sheehan
13- Jeff Gaudette
14- Josh Eberly
15- Travis Laird

You can find their running resumes at www.hansons-running.com
This is a very solid group. We are excited about this years event.
Sincerely,
Keith Hanson
Hansons-Brooks Distance Project
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I assume they are all running the half (though I haven't received confirmation of that), and 5 of those are running a 30K in early Feb. in Japan.
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Well, I decided since I was so fortunate in getting that info, that I'd try some more.
I got the following from Patricia Goodwin with Team Minnesota:
The runners from Team USA Minnesota include:
. Annie Bersagel - she is the defending USA Women's Half Marathon champion, a title she won in June 2006 running her first half marathon; Annie is training in Norway this fall where she is studying at the University of Oslo on a Fulbright Scholarship; she has been running around 110 miles per week
. Andrew Carlson - he was 5th at in the USA Men's Half Marathon championship in 2006, running his first half marathon in a time of 1:03:20; he was also 2nd in the USA Men's 10 Mile championship in 2006, and 3rd in the USA Men's 20k championship
. Jason Lehmkuhle - he was 3rd at the USA Men's Half Marathon championship in 2005; he was 3rd in the USA Men's 10 Mile championship in 2006; 5th at the USA 10,000 meters in 2006; and 5th at the USA 20k championship
. Chris Lundstrom - he just finished 4th in the USA Men's Marathon Championship in October 2006
You can find out more about each of these athletes on the www.teamusaminnesota.org web site under the "Athletes" section - each athlete has a profile and photo page. In addition, if you go to the New York Road Runners web sites at www.fast-women.com or www.mensracing.com you can read these athletes' journals for more information about them.
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I also checked with another contact. I checked with Will Lindgren of Team Nebraska Brooks. Will is a former BARRA (Brazosport Area Road Runners Association) officer (president or vice-president, maybe both, but I can't remember).
Will sent me the following info:
Ed,
Thanks for touching base. I've got five Team Nebraska athletes that will be
coming to Houston for the Half, one for the full. James McGown is a 2 time Oly Trials Marathon qualifier, most recently qualifying this past Oct at the Twin Cities Marathon. He has run the Houston Half a couple of times before in the 1:07 range. Paul Wilson will be racing as well. He was selected to participate in USATF's Athlete Development Program after winning our Nebraska state 10K championships this fall.
Suzanne Weeder-Einspahr will be representing the Team Nebraska women having won our state half marathon championships in '06. Michelle Paxton will also be participating via the Athlete Development Program. Linda Barnhart will be joining Suzanne and Michelle in representing the team. Linda is one of the top masters runners in the midwest and is also a vice president of Team Nebraska. This will be only her second half marathon, we are very excited as I am also her coach.
Only 5 men & 5 women from around the country qualify for the Development program so Team Nebraska is very pleased to have 2 athletes involved. Paul Braunschweiler will return to run the marathon. Paul is in the 50-54 age group and has won that division previously at the Houston Marathon. He will likely be in the high 2:50s once again.
I will be coming to the race in a dual capacity, primarily as the Women's LDR National Championships Chair, secondarily as President of Team Nebraska Brooks.
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Thanks to the people that responded. I got quick responses from all three. Very nice of them to share the info.
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One thing I noticed in looking for info on certain runners is that I couldn't find any with their own website. Makes me appreciate someone like Sean Wade, who puts his training info out there, along with what races he plans on running.
Too bad there aren't more elite runners like that.
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more runs

I doubled up on Tuesday, running 6 miles early and 4.5 miles in the evening. Just had to get out of the house Tuesday night.
Played two hours of basketball yesterday morning and got a fairly fast 5 miles in yesterday afternoon. My legs feel like I played too much basketball, but you know what, I like it and I'm gonna get back to playing on a more regular basis.
Ran 50 minutes with our hoops coach this morning. Got me fired up to see some basketball today.
Going here tonight to watch Kingwood, the top 5A team in the state play against Christ the King from NY.
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I love this holiday schedule of getting in an early workout, coming home and taking a 2-hour nap. It may be tough next week when I have to go back to work.

Christmas Day run

Running has been sporadic the past two months. Numerous reasons for that, but I haven't given up.
Not near as many miles logged as I need to, but I'll get back on track.
Weird to be blogging on Christmas Day, but it's just the four of us at home today. Kinda nice.
After being stuck inside most all yesterday and today, I got out this afternoon for a run.
I asked Donna if she was okay with me going for a run and she said, "Sure."
Ashton heard me ask and she said, "Dad, just go running."
So I did.
Got in about 7 miles, which felt really good except for the last 1 1/2 which was against a 20mph wind from the northwest. Ughhhhh...
It does feel good to get in a run after all I've eaten the past few days.
Hmmmm...think I'll go have some leftovers. Yummy.

Lisa, not the TV lady

Tonight was Lisa Foronda's last night on Channel 11. Sad for the viewers. Good for her.
More here:

selling bib numbers

Read the Running Notebook in the Chronicle this morning about the buying and selling of bib numbers and the debate going on about it.
My first thought was what if someone run swith your bib number and chip and qualifies for Boston when there's no chance that you could do so yourself. Second thought was a selfish one.
I like to look up people I know and see how they did in the race. I like to see others' stats. How do I know if it's accurate? In Houston this year, I may not know if I'm really looking up your time or someone who ran as you. Arrggghhh...
I don't think it's right.
I guess people want to get an official race time, but even so, it's not really their race time if the name listed in the results is somebody else's. I couldn't do that.
I like to save the results, print them out or clip them from the newspaper. I couldn't do that if I didn't run under my own name.
It's wrong. Unethical.
I love the spirit that runners have. The way we support each other during a race, especially those of longer distances. I love the encouragement we give each other.
But I don't like knowing some of us are okay with selling and buying their race numbers. I don't think it would matter even if the buyer didn't get a chip and get an official time.
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At last year's expo I was walking near the booths where you pick up your number and a guy was walking around. I noticed he was going up to random people and talking. He approached me and asked, "do you have a race number for sell?" He told me that he did that a lot, you know, travel to the site of the marathon and register at the expo. Said he'd done it at Houston plenty of times.
I told him no.
I never knew that kind of stuff went on. At the time I thought it was interesting that people did that and also a shame that he wasn't going to be able to run.
Sure, there are people that just want to run the race and want a number and they don't really want to misrepresent anyone. Guess they just want to look official, even though they won't get an official time listed under their name.
Still don't think it's right.
Some races have info such as the following:
Refunds, name transfers or deferments are not permitted. (Name of race here) does not endorse the selling or trading of Bib Numbers and will take action to prevent any such transaction. If Event Officials become aware of an individual involved with the selling or buying of a Registered Bib Number, the individuals involved may be banned from participating in future events.
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An interesting article here:
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With a cap of 15,000 runners for the half and full marathons, a lot of people got caught waiting (for whatever reasons) to register and now they are left out. Some may be bitter about not getting in and will do anything to get a bib number. Not really the right spirit in which to run a marathon.
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At White Rock the marathon and half marathon had different start times. I wonder if that's something that Houston could do. I guess the reason for the cap in Houston is the ungodly amount of runners going over the Elysian Viaduct at the beginning, moreso than the number of people on the course nearing the turnaround point for the half.
Maybe a later start would alleviate the need for the 15,000 cap. Maybe it could be raised a little.
I wonder what the final numbers will be for the half and full. Wonder if it's 50-50. I doubt it. Seems like there's more that are running the half.
Now that the 20K has morphed into a half marathon, is there really a need for another to go along with the full? I know, the half brings in the money and since the course is basically the same that helps with the expense.
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Discuss.

a little speed work

Went to the track today.
Ran a warm-up mile in 6:54.
Then ran 4 400s in 93, 88, 89 and 88 seconds with 200m walk in between each. Not much rest. That translated into a 5:58 mile.
Ran the stadium steps for 5 minutes.
Went home and met up with the hoops coach for 30 minutes of running.
Almost 6 miles total.

Bill Collins in SI

Masters runner Bill Collins, of Houston, made the Leading Off section of SI's special Faces in the Crowd issue.

catching up

Had a good week of running after White Rock.
Tuesday - Ran for almost an hour and felt much better after breaking a sweat. My back had bothered me after the marathon. Felt pain in the lower back and it moved up to between my shoulder blades by Tuesday. It was gone, along with a slight fever I had Monday night, after my Tuesday run.
Wednesday - Short run of about 40 minutes.
Thursday - Ran a little over 7 miles.
Friday - Ran a little over 5 miles. Slow.
Saturday - Off. Slept from midnight to noon. It felt great.
Sunday - Ran slow for an hour and 40 minutes. Ran with our hoops coach, who was finishing up a 3 1/2 hour run. My job today was to make sure he finished his run.

White Rock 4:05:30

White Rock was tough. Hilly, windy. Tough.
I don't know if I was really where I needed to be mentally to run a marathon. I really didn't get excited about it until I was on my way to Dallas.
I had a restful Saturday evening at the hotel by myself. I really don't mind going on my own.
I set my cell phone alarm, had a wake-up call scheduled, set my watch and the clock radio all for 5:30 Sunday morning. I didn't need that. I was wide awake at 5 a.m.
I got to the American Airlines Center about 6:20 or so for the 8 a.m. start.
I'd gotten in contact with Runner Susan on Saturday and met up with her, Karrie, Richard and Rich. It's always cool meeting new people and Susan was just as nice as she seems on her blog. It was fun.
Tommy, who picked up my packet and chip for me, walked by and we visited for a few minutes.
Pretty cool to be 4 hours from home and have people to talk with before a race.
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The weather was good for running with the temps in the 40s at the start. Also got to hear sprinter Michael Johnson give some words of encouragement before the start and the F-16 flyover was cool.
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One day I want to qualify for Boston, but Sunday wasn't the day. I never gave myself a chance.
I never got my pace right.
The first mile was slow and I was barely at 7:40 pace through the first few miles.
Steve Schroeder caught up with me around mile 4 or 5 (I think). He stayed with the 3:20 pace group longer than I did. It was nice seeing him there. I feel behind in mile 6 going up a hill, but fought my way to the back of the group only to fall off pace again.
I was running okay through the halfway point. BARRA member Melissa Hurta passed me right after I crossed the timing mat for halfway.
I struggled around White Rock Lake and definitely struggled through the hills after that.
I was done.
I gutted it out somehow. I walked a little and I didn't care. I kept moving. I kept going.
I thought about my mom and how she's suffering right now. How my suffering on that course was nothing like what she's going through.
I kept going. Kept moving. It was painful. I never cramped up. I guess I hydrated well.
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I was glad to cross the finish line. I wanted to sit down, but there wasn't room. There wasn't much of a medical tent either. Not a big place where you could pretend you wanted a massage so you could just lay down for a while.
So I pretended to need something for my back. My back did hurt, which has never happened before. So I went to the medical tent and asked for some Advil or ibuprofen. I sat down while the lady found some. I only sat for 30 seconds, but it helped.
I got my finisher photo taken, which is the most horrible thing I've ever seen.
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I picked up my bag, slowly made my way to the car and headed home. It wasn't bad having to drive the 4-plus hours back home. It was bad getting out to get gas. ugh...
It was also not much fun having to make calls to my dad and wife and tell them how much I sucked.
Also, Tommy called and my friend Jennifer called and I had to tell them how bad it was. Geez...
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I can't thank Tommy enough for picking up my stuff. It's great to have friends like that. I'm sure I caused them to wait longer than they wanted to head out to eat Saturday night and I appreciate him waiting on me.
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Nope, ain't talking about my splits or anything like that. My finish time is in the title.

made it to dallas

About to go to bed. Had a good trip. Went to see my mom, who was very alert and chatty today.
I'm glad I went. It was good. She said some funny stuff.
They were both okay with me running tomorrow. Dad kept telling me I better get on the road. hmmm...think he was trying to get rid of me....geez.
Thanks to Tommy Stunz, who picked up my race packet for me. That lifted a huge burden off of me. It's great to have friends like that.
Thanks to Jennifer and Jon for the phone calls today.
Oh, and thanks to my wife Donna for the encouraging email.
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2 1/2 hours to Lufkin, 2 hour visit, 3 1/2 hours to Dallas...Got to the hotel at 6:15.
Weather is good for running. Temps are supposed to be around 43-45 at 8 a.m. and up to 54 at noon. Sounds good.

here's the deal

A couple weeks ago, I got it in my mind that I'm not doing White Rock. No way. Just can't. Not with my mom in the condition she's in.
If she's still hanging on, my thought was that I'd spend this weekend with her. Didn't feel right going to do something fun, something for myself like that.
But....
Thursday we called and cancelled our hotel rooms for Friday and Saturday night. Friday morning I talked to dad. He said, "Why aren't you going? There's no reason not to. You should go run."
geez...
I thought about it for a few minutes. Then I went and asked some advice.
Bottom line is that dad wouldn't have said that unless he meant it. No way. He doesn't do that.
I relate it to how mom and dad have always encouraged me to keep things as normal as possible for our kids no matter what's going on. That's comforting in a way. I assume dad wants me to keep things as normal as possible in my life. That's comforting to him, I guess.
It's hard. Nothing in this whole 2-plus years of mom dealing with cancer has been easy. Nothing's easy now as the end draws near. Nothing can be scheduled. Sure, there are things there that we may or may not do. It all seems so irrelevant.
While others are hanging on to life, should we embrace life? Does that make sense?
Why would I go do something fun, while my mom is suffering? Because she would want me to.
And now, I guess, dad wants me to as well.
This ain't easy.
I surely don't think my effort in the marathon tomorrow is going to be that good. In fact, I'm sure I'm gonna struggle.
At best...who knows how I can do. At worst...it's a great training run for Houston next month.
Say a prayer for my mom. Send some positive thoughts my way. I need 'em.

catching up

Sunday - 7 miles
Monday - 6 miles
Wednesday - 6.2 miles
Thursday - 90 minutes - woke up at 4:30. what the crap is wrong with me?
Friday - basketball

On again, off again with White Rock cause of my mom's condition until Friday morning when my dad asked me why I wasn't going to run. geez... I guess I'm going, but I have no idea how I'll do.

jingle jog 10 miler

2nd place 40-44 age group in 1:14:41.
3 minutes or so behind the first place male masters runner.
I signed up yesterday afternoon. I didn't know if I'd get the chance to run this race, but I did.
I was a little disappointed in my time but happy that I ran some negative splits the last two miles.
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Splits were:
mile 1 - 7:08
mile 2 - 7:06
mile 3 - 7:24
mile 4 - 7:39
mile 5 - 7:38
miles 6 - 8 - 23:01 - 7:40 pace
miles 9-10 - 14:44 - 7:22 pace
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I felt a little sick during mile 7. Slowed down at one water station to hydrate.
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The back half was pretty windy. Took a lot of turns and curves in the last five miles.
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Pretty much ran alone the whole race.
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This is from the race registration site:
Headphones, strollers, bandits, dogs, skates and bikes are prohibited on the 30K, 10-mile, 3-mile courses. They are encouraged on the 1-mie fun run.
I read what someone wrote on their blog about headphones. I use them in training. Either listening to my MP3 player or sports talk on the radio. I can't run without it. I usually run on sidewalks and if I get on the edge of a street, I take one headphone out. I've never done a race with them.
But today I did. I said, "screw it." If I want to listen to music during a race, I will. I'm a rebel like that.
I stay aware of my surroundings in a race and make sure I don't slow down faster runners. I don't know if I'd be like that if I'd started out racing with headphones. I may have been oblivious. The headphones didn't bother me. My fear has always been that my headphones would fall out of my ears or my radio/MP3 batteries would die and it would have been pointless.
I enjoyed it, though it never did shuffle to "Fergalicious."