The Seabrook Marathon

Back in the latter part of 2014, when I was planning what marathons to run in the early part of this year, I originally thought I would run the Houston Marathon in January and do one in Mississippi in March.  But when I looked at the website of the Houston Marathon, I realized I was very late in applying.  In fact it has a lottery, which was closed out months ago.  So I switched months, deciding to do the Mississippi Blue Marathon in Jackson in January. 

On the Running the USA website I found the Lucky Trail Marathon in Seabrook, Texas in March. It turns out Seabrook is a suburb of Houston and is only a couple miles from the Johnson Space Center.  In checking flights I found that Southwest went to the Hobby Airport, which is on the side of town closer to Seabrook.  When I say “side of town”, realize that Houston is a massive city of about 600 square miles.  The airport is still 20 miles from the destination.  Nevertheless the idea of running a lower keyed event on trail sounded more appealing than a big city marathon in the middle of Houston.

I flew out Saturday morning and arrived by mid-day.  I quickly found the motel where I had reserved a two-night stay.  I also quickly found that the wi-fi was problematic in my room.  Management had to reboot it a couple times and even then, at times, I would have to walk out into the hall in order to log on to the server. 

But once I had that squared away, I first drove to a drugstore to get a couple bottles of Gatorade and then headed to the park where the marathon would start the next day.  The race organization puts on a running festival over the weekend and earlier Saturday it had had a 5K and a half marathon.  The next day it would have the marathon, another half marathon and a marathon-relay.  I spoke to some of the people relaxing after having cooked all morning.  They were all involved in the shelters for abused women that the races support and said the races had raised over $100,000 for the shelters over the years.  Many of the hydration station volunteers were women from the shelters.  I felt good that I had inadvertently chosen to support such a worthy cause.  I was reminded of it the next day when I saw the various signs out on the course about the numbers of people caught up in domestic violence.

Heading back from the park, I wasn’t sure where was a place to eat.  But I lucked into finding a small place that was still serving brunch (it was nearly two p.m. and I had not had a solid meal all day, only snacks).  The two cranberry rolls with maple butter that were brought for appetizers were excellent and the meal was good also.  I talked to the owner who was transplanted by New Jersey through his work in the oil business.  He took his parrot out of its cage as we were in a patio area that had wire fencing all around and above. 

After going back to the motel, I decided to walk up and down NASA Blvd. to see what was close.  I walked over to a couple of restaurant/bars on the nearby bay.  The first looked like a dive.  Plus I noticed the smoke (apparently in this corner of Texas, smoking in restaurants has not yet been banned).  I walked over to the second place, which was also on the water and was up a flight of stairs.  It had an outdoor deck and, while people were smoking inside, all the doors to the deck were wide open, so the air moving kept the smoke from building up.  This place had possibilities.  Then I walked in the other direction and found some strip malls.  There was one Chinese restaurant, but I wasn’t about to tempt fate before a marathon.

Back at the motel, I eventually decided to try to go to a little town called Kemah a few miles away.  I had gotten a voucher from the motel for a free appetizer at one of the several restaurants there and it looked like an interesting touristy place to walk around.  So I got in my rental car, got out on NASA Blvd., drove a half-mile and then was stuck in traffic.  Up to a corner I went, turned and headed to the bridge that went over to Kemah.  Two lanes were moving as slow as molasses.  I was in the right one and it took 25 minutes from the motel to go 2 and ½ miles.  But suddenly the right lane was moving well down the other side of the bridge, while the left was still at a standstill.  Then I realized I had to take a left to go to Kemah.  Ahead I saw a shopping mall on the right and decided to scrub the Kemah visit and maybe find a restaurant in the mall.  Sure enough there was a Chili’s, which was fine by me.  The bartender ended up telling me that the reason so many cars were going to Kemah was because it was the start of spring break and that’s where all the kids went.  I’m glad I missed it.

Back at the motel, I got my stuff ready for the next morning and I was in bed by 8:15 (hour later than here).  I woke up by 3:30 and ate a granola bar and banana and had a cup of coffee.  By 5:30 I was in the car and on my way to the park.  The parking was close by in an athletic facility less than two blocks from the park.  It was in the upper 50s, warm enough to simply wear shorts.  I had a shirt and jacket over my singlet and kept those on until 20 minutes before the start.  I went to the pavilion, got my number, chip and bag and sat to put on the number and chip. 

I recognized the Boone couple – Steve and Paula.  They were the people who helped spur the Races2Run organization to start the Delaware Marathon by promising that a number of 50 state marathoners would attend the race.  In this event, Paula was among the earlier starters.  A bunch of them headed out at 6:15 a.m., one hour before the official start.  Many were wearing head-lamps as it was still dark.

A couple minutes before seven, having spent the last hour sipping a quart of Gatorade, I made my way to the portajohns.  Because the half marathon was going to start fifteen minutes after the marathon, there was a very short line.  Then I went to the road where the marathon would be run for the first mile.  By then I was chilling down and my teeth were chattering as I awaited the start.  But that was fine for I knew I would warm up soon enough and I was more worried about it being too warm later.  As it turned out, the morning was mostly cloudy with a breeze and it never got above the mid-60s. 

It had barely gotten light before the marathon field took off.  After a mile of road, which helped to spread everyone out, we went onto a dirt path with a slight amount of gravel.  I found it to be firm footing with no slippage, which occurs when there is a lot of gravel.  However, I think running on dirt, while easier on one’s legs, is more work because the surface is soft.  It’s doesn’t return any energy to the legs. 

The course ran by a small creek, then over a swampy area with a boardwalk, exiting to a small park where we eventually ran over some grass near the bay before returning.  On the way back we crossed a bridge on the creek and took a side trail for about 3/8s of a mile, before returning and running down the other side of the creek.  Eventually we worked our way into the park, looping around the nearby fire station, running next to the road before turning and running across the timing mat. 

Oh, I forgot to mention:  That was one lap of 6.55 miles.  Then we repeated the lap three more times.  All of the way there were people going in both directions, which made for some tight passes.  There were also a few places where there was standing water.  Actually the organization had sent an email warning us not to wear new shoes because of all the rain that had occurred in the days leading up to the race.  I’m glad I didn’t, but the puddles weren’t much.  I had expected to get my feet wet, but it didn’t happen and my orthotics stayed dry to the end. 

As I said, the dirt course was hard work for me.  Each successive completion of the loop was slower.  I ran a 2:07:26 first half, but achingly finished the second half in 2:25:41 for a total of 4:33:07.  I got my bag and went to the park restroom to change, but the area was very small and I would have to have been changing almost on top of guys trying to use the toilet.  So I took off my fuel belt and changed from my singlet and went out to get some fuel and some green colored Miller Lite beer.  I heard someone say the chicken sandwich was good, and I did not feel a hot dog or a burger would have been very good, so I grabbed one.  But it must have been flavored with jalapeno juice.  I took one bite and put the sandwich down and made do with chips and beer.

The only quibble I have about the race organization came with the awards.  When I got done, the board of results was only up to 50 years old.  Forty minutes later it still had not been updated and when the awards were done, they stopped at the first sixty year-old, saying other people were still out on the course.  So I had a second beer and talked to the sixty year-old winner, a Brit who is a 50-stater.  Eventually, I told the guy giving out the awards that I had been finished for over an hour and now everyone was gone, so how about my award so I can go get a shower?  After checking with a couple people, he eventually came back with a new results print-out.  One of the women, who had been helping with the awards, was dressed in an Irish sort of costume (Lucky Trail – St. Patrick’s Day theme), also came over.  The guy said I was indeed the winner of the 70-74 age-group.  The woman, thinking that with my name I must be Irish, bent down and gave me a peck on the cheek.  Only afterward did I mention that in fact McCorquodale is a Scottish name.  Then they presented me with the award – a 24-ounce beer stein.  Good thing I was first.  Those who finished second and third only got a pint mug.  I will be putting that award to good use.

Later I did go to that second story bar on the bay.  It was then that I had a burger – surely a much higher quality than the patties that were cooked at the park.  Getting back from that around five, I realized I had not yet checked in for my flight, which I then did.  Thus I ended up sitting pretty far in the back as a result of my forgetting that detail in the recovery from the marathon.  Nevertheless, the rest of Sunday and early Monday, getting to the airport and the flight home were uneventful.

Recommendation:  I highly recommend this race for a marathon to do in Texas.  It’s not a PR course, but it’s enjoyable.  If you have an extra day, then a trip to the Johnson Space Center would be really easy.  By the way, I found the air to be delightful, which would make sense being so close to Galveston Bay, as long as the temperature is relatively mild.  I noticed it got into the low 80s two days later, so you never know.  Avoid going to Kemah.