I didn't know what to expect going into the first leg of today's Tour de Bayou. Throughout the day, I really didn't feel like running it tonight. But finally decided to at least go check it out. The Tour de Bayou is a 5-leg series of cross country races with distances ranging from 5K to 8K. The races are held Tuesdays at 6 pm at various locations around Houston. Tonight's leg ended up being 2.77 miles at Spotts Park. The course was an "out-and-back out-and-back", went up and down 5 hills, and was all on grass. The recent rains created a heavy bog in one area and I noticed people losing their shoes in it on my first pass. Not knowing exactly what to expect and "not feeling it", I started slow. I decided to just run this one on "feel". I didn't have my Garmin and I wasn't up to "racing" so it was just going to be a cruise around the course. I ended up with 22:43 (self-timed) and 20th place. Jonathan Bennett, who I met up with before the race, ran well and finished in 10th. I suppose the plan is to catch the next 4 legs of this event. Cumulative standings are kept so maybe I can move up before it's all over. | 