It’s here y’all… 2020 RACE WEEKEND

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Hi Y’all,
It’s Aimee Galley one last time! You’ve almost made it, the end is in sight….you’ve reached the last of the official weekly emails! I was so happy that the girls asked me to write the final email, as it’s my absolute favorite to write…and I’ve gotten to every year! While some of it will feel oddly familiar, I always add things from the season, things I’ve stolen from other people’s posts ? and anything else I can come up with! I hope that it gets you little more excited about Sunday!
Along with all the emails and words, you also happened to run tons and tons of miles. Congrats, friends. Sunday is your VICTORY LAP…your day to SHINE. It’s the goal we’ve been slowly grinding away at for 26 weeks. It seemed so far away in July, really hard to wrap our head around…that it’s now it’s just a few days away. For some, this is one of many or maybe it just wasn’t your year and you’re just hoping to finish or maybe it’s THE DAY to crush that goal you set a few months ago when you realized it was possible…but for some in our group, it’s THEIR FIRST RACE. And every one of us that have done this before are SO EXCITED FOR YOU. This Houston race is something special.
THE PARRty Recap
If you happened to miss one of the gazillion FB posts, let me just give you a little rundown of what you missed at the PARRty on Friday night! It was nothing short of TOP-NOTCH. Kaylin, Andrea, Caroline and I knew we had to do things differently this year. We scooped up some volunteers to split out all the things we needed to get done and then we tricked them into meeting for four months! And OH MY GOSH. They knocked our socks off…new, beautiful venue, awesome seated dinner, A FREAKING DJ Y’ALL…our very own, creator of “the Padilla pose,” Steven Padilla, a tricked out raffle and word on the street, the best part of the whole night….an outstanding guest speaker!  We fancy. THANK YOU PARRty Planners. You have outdone yourself. And probably secured a job for next year ? We also had record attendance, which makes it so,so fun!
I wanted to give a little recap of our speaker, Dr. Lennie Waite, a Sports Psychology Consultant who’s street cred just happens to include a PhD, Olympic Athlete and Certified Mental Performance Consultant. Ok, ok we’re listening. She gave us her whole story and pushing through her self-imposed limits and then devoting her life to understanding how “mindset” can affect an athlete’s performance. How the words that we use when talking ourselves through a run affect the outcome. She said we all have what she calls “the chimps” in our head that talk negative to us and try to bring us down at some point. Sometimes it’s mile 1, sometimes it’s mile 8 and sometimes it’s mile 21. But she talked about simply changing the actual words….like “don’t let your pace slow down” or “don’t drop behind the group”…and changing them to a positive mantra of “hold onto your pace” and “stay with the group”…and removing the negative. Simple as that. And besides having positive mantras, she said to expect that at some point you WILL have negative thoughts (the chimps), but to have your positive responses ready In advance for them. When the chimps say “slow down”, our response “AH-HA! There you are! I’ve been waiting for you and I’m holding my pace! This is what I trained for.” Another one that she cited…and I’ve loved seeing people saying they tried it this morning…SMILE. I’m hoping that PARR not only paints Houston orange with our shirts, but also paints it with our smiles! The crowds will think we’re amazing…and crazy. Seriously, the timeliness of her talk…a week out, was perfect. She wasn’t telling us to change our food, our routine, our gait…just how we talk to ourselves during the race. What do we have to lose?!?
THE WEATHER
MY GOSH Y’ALL, the weather is looking pretty dreamy for the start on Sunday. But a cool front coming in on the Saturday before a race makes me as nervous as Amazon Prime packages that are supposed to arrive on Christmas Eve ? I’ve gone to bed on the Saturday before race day thinking it’s going to be 47 and woke up to 68 degrees. It’s Houston and race day is no different. Just like Forest Gump said, “It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know whatcha gonna get.” So be prepared for all scenarios!
THE PICTURE
Our race day pic is EPIC and we hope that you make it a priority to BE IN IT. The corals start to close at 6:45AM and they are a bit of a walk, so to make sure those A coral folks get where they need to be…but we also want to include our people that attend Mass at GRB, sooooo…they are going to do their warm up run straight from Mass to us where we will meet in the George R Brown across from bag check to collect ourselves FOR A PICTURE THAT WILL BE JUST AFTER 6:00, like 6:03 specifically, because BY 6:05…WE GONE. We’ll be the group in ORANGE 🙂 Then everyone can head out to their corals with plenty of time to get settled. Please, please, please try to make it…you don’t want to miss out! You don’t want to look at that Facebook cover page for a year and not be in it! Give yourself plenty of time to get up there, fight traffic, find a parking spot, navigate your way into the GRB, go potty and find the group! There were folks who showed up at 6:05 last year, and guess what? We were done and headed to the corals.
THE IMPORTANT STUFF
Here is a compilation of my pre-race emails from the past and a few new thoughts…because I’m never at a loss for words.
  • Get your packet, for crying out loud…no race day pick up. Details here: http://www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/race-weekend/expo-packet-pick-up/
  • Focus on sleep Thursday and Friday night… The sleep you get two and three nights before is more important than the night before a run. You can power through with a jittery night of little sleep the night before, IF you’ve had a good night the previous night. But will be harder if you’re going on two nights of no sleep. So, if you think you’ll be nervous and not sleep Saturday night…do everything you can to get that good night’s sleep on Thursday and Friday.
  • ABH this week. Always be hydrating. You can’t cram on this one. As great as the weather looks for Sunday, you still need to be hydrated. So before read the next bullet point, go grab a bottle of water.
  • Like I said, the weather is looking quite fabulous…It will be a little chilly at the start, so layer in something you’re good with donating! I love a good WalMart run for their cheap Hanes oversized sweatshirts that I know will be scooped up and donated to local shelters. Or big old sweatshirts with the necks cut for easy on/off. Blankets to keep your legs warm, especially if you’re like me and wearing shorts! TONS of folks shed their clothes within that first mile. But the excitement and the sun are two new beasts that we haven’t practiced a lot, so be thinking about dropping items as you go and what the temp at the finish line will be.
  • HAVE A PLAN…don’t just go out and give it all you got right out of the gates. You’ve run a specific plan for 26 weeks, don’t blow it and try to wing it this weekend wondering what’s going to happen!
  • Make sure your plan has you running out of gas at the end and not 3 miles earlier.
  • Force yourself to follow that plan…even if you feel like a rock star when you start, which you will. The first 3 miles can play tricks on you, STICK TO YOUR PLAN and don’t go any faster. It’ll take focus and discipline…but your legs will thank you later. Win the first half with YOUR HEAD, and the second half with YOUR LEGS and YOUR HEART and anything else you got!
  • USE A SHARPIE – isn’t that what they’re for? Running math is extremely difficult during a race. Write your plan or stats on your arm so you don’t get mixed up during the race.
  • If they’re handing out the free big ol’ gloves at the EXPO….TAKE THEM. The temps probably won’t call for gloves the whole time, so these are a great option to just toss and not worry about having to carry or give to someone!
  • If you are going to LAYER UP, put your bib on your bottom layer or on your shorts/pants/skirt. Whatever you think you’ll be wearing at the finish line temps. Ain’t nobody got time to MOVE a bib.
  • Wear your PARR shirt on SUNDAY…whether you’re running or cheering! Makes it so easy to spot our giant PARR family! And I’m not kidding here…that PARR orange will be a beacon to you. And GREAT friendships have been made ON RACE DAY because they met while wearing the shirt. You just never know what’s going to happen…but knowing “that’s one of my people” can make all the difference!
  • Enjoy ALL the people along the way…it’s amazing how many people come out to cheer everyone on
  • Give high fives to the little kids who are out there just waiting for you to do so
  • Smile at the people yelling your name, rather than trying to figure out how they knew you 🙂
  • Cheer on your PARR people that are passing you or that you are passing…you’re both TOTALLY KICKING ASPHALT
  • If you’re doing the half…give a little nanny-nanny boo-boo as you split off, you are on your way home!
  • If you’re doing the full…as the half marathon folks split off, remember that feeling…and pull up your boot straps, because YOU ARE DOING IT!
  • Thank all the police officers and volunteers that make it all possible and keep you safe. Look for our own Hal Bohn out there.
  • Read all the signs…try to remember them so you can share them later. You won’t, but it keeps you busy trying.
  • Kiss your family when you see them
  • Cry if you need to
  • SOAK UP the last ¼ mile…raise your arms up, cheer, scream, cry, whatever…SMILE! YOU DID IT! (And it makes for great finish photos!)
  • Lastly, BE SURE TO TAKE THE TIME TO TAKE IT ALL IN. Have fun. Enjoy every minute of it…it’s what you’ve worked so very hard for. This is really important if it’s your first half or full marathon…nothing will EVER compare! Although you will chase that high…FOREVER!
And most importantly: Registration for 2021 Houston Half/Full Marathon opens at 3:00PM on Sunday. Set an alarm.
Now give us a week, or so, to get through the race. We do plan to open up for off season again, which is free (and everyone already a member is by default already signed up for off season, so you don’t need to do a thing). Off season isn’t all fancy with organized runs, weekly emails and PARRties (hence, FREE), but it can get someone connected to the largest and “bestest“ running group in Pearland, and onto our sacred Facebook page. We’ll send out a link that everyone can share with friends who wanna come see what the magic is all about. ?
And lastly, another quick thank you for all of the support this season. Thank you for being so patient and kind as we’ve continued to grow and face new challenges! Every year, we are amazed at the new folks that continue to join us. It’s so exciting when we see you plugged in and showing up. We try to create the opportunities and encourage everyone to be there to help make it all happen! We are looking forward to what’s next and we’ll keep you posted on all that good stuff…later. Like at least not til Tuesday.
Now we have a RACE TO RUN and CHIMPS TO FIGHT. I hope you all have THE BEST RUNNING DAY EVER!
But of course…let us know if you have any questions!
Aimee
281-728-4848 cell | aimee.galley2@gmail.com