RUN, LEARN, EAT! That was the theme for today's novelty run.
A distinguished group of thirty runners took the 3.1 mile tour of Houston's most influential outside art sculptures.
The group was lead by tour guide Roger Boak. I knew the Striders had picked the right man for the job when Roger showed up in a tie-dye shirt and mix-matched socks (one yellow, one white). It didn't take long to realize that Roger not only loves art, but he knows a great deal about Texas artist and Houston sculptures.
Activity: Novelty Run
Mileage: 3.11
Time: 36:01 (actual run time)
Location: Houston, TX (near Sam Houston Park)
How I Felt: 10
The tour made numerous stops, 13 per Roger's pre-run speech. Roger provided us with the artist name, artist background, date of commission, how the City of Houston obtained the structure, and overall theme.
The tall downtown buildings provided ample shade and the morning temperatures were still far from today's projected high of 94 degrees. So, the weather did its part and the art tour was a complete success.
You can't help but love these Strider functions. There wasn't a runner there who wasn't talking, laughing, and having an overall Grand Time. As if the Art Tour wasn't enough, we were treated to a FREE "All You Can Eat" buffet of breakfast tacos and assorted beverages.
WOW, does it get any better than this? Have a good weekend, mine is off to a GREAT start.
6 comments:
The non-matching socks is something that fellow Terlingua member Stan Timmer, who works for Luke's up in The Woodlands, does as well as Roger.
(Actually, Saturday morning, when he worked Run The Woodlands, he said that he thought it might have been the first time he was at a running event in recent memory with matching socks.)
How fun!
Sounds like a blast. I think that was actually an event I could have participated in. It would have been my longest distance but it sounds like it was a super leisurely tour. I probably would have been ok. Well, hopefully after a couple of more months, I'll be able to get more involved. I definitely have the Christmas lights run on my calendar. I did that back in 2004 and it was a blast. Funny story about that run. I was running at the end of the pack. I think at that time, the 5 or so miles was a serious LSD for me so I was taking it pretty slow. Probably close to 14-15 min/mile pace. Well, there was a pack of a few runners running back with me. It was Lisa, Pam, and one other woman. I thanked Pam for hanging back with me and another guy. I told her it was so nice and thoughtful. I really felt like she was looking out for us back-of-the-packers. Well, she proceeded to tell me that this was a nice pace for her and Lisa since they just finished a 50K race a few days earlier. New to the running community, I was floored. Well, actually, I still am floored that someone could/would run a 50K race and then be out running the next week. Anyway, turns out they were being nice to run with us but it was also a bit of a recovery run, too.
What a great idea. Do you guys do running tours like that often?
Thanks for stopping by my blog. It's always fun to "meet" new people! :)
Bill, way to go on capturing the event in words and pictures, beautifully done. Downtown Houston is a really cool place from an art perspective.
Steeeve
RR, yes it was fun!
Vic, you missed a great run. Looking back, this run was tailor made for you. We understand the Katy FIT commitment.
Annette, Yes, the Houston Striders are ALWAYS thinking of new and innovative way's to combine running with more fun than should be legal.
Steeeve, It's easy to write when there's so much fun to write about. I choose to let the pictures do most of the talking.
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