Hi Y’all,
We are 13 weeks out from Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Half Marathon. Some of our members have the BCS Marathon in College Station, TX on December 9, 2018 as their “A” race and some of our half marathoners may be running their first half marathon at the Houston Half Marathon in two weeks.

What this means is the training will only go up in duration and mileage from this point. You should start focusing your training on experimenting with running your full or half marathon paces. This cooler weather will stick around for the next 10 days or so, so it will be more accommodating to hitting your racing paces. But as I’ve stated throughout the season, don’t push it if you’re nursing an injury. If you’re nursing injuries, then please take it easy or rest.

For this weekend, it sounds like we have several PARR teams running the Ragnar Relays in the Austin, TX area and it may be a wet and cold weekend for the runners. The area has received lots of rain and some flooding, so let’s hope all the runners stay safe, warm and dry.

Also, many of our members will be participating in the second part of the Bridge Series in the Galveston Toughest 10k on Sunday. And finally, we have several PARR members competing in the Kemah Triathlon this Sunday. For those who may be unaware, the Olympic distance of this race requires participants to jump off a boat, almost a mile away, and swim to shore.

Good luck to all the participants this weekend and there are lots of opportunities to cheer for our members at these races.

The end result of all of these races is the scheduled Saturday runs may be very sparse in attendance the next few weeks, so it’s especially important for you to contact/locate a running partner to knock out your scheduled run.

Saturday, October 20, 2018 Run Details – Start at Wild Pear
Wild Pear Running Store, 9330 Broadway, D-400, Pearland, TX 77584 is our starting point for this Saturday’s run.

FM – 5:00 AM –MARATHON PACE RUN: 14 Miles (4 miles easy with the option of running some miles at your FM pace). I’ll briefly share my own opinion on the topic of duration and intensity without getting too detailed. I believe, from reading and listening to lots of smarter folks, that veteran runners benefit more by running some miles at their marathon pace (higher intensity) since they have a long and established running base whereas new marathoners benefit more by putting more time on their feet (longer duration) by running at an easy pace for the entire distance. And for new marathoners, running easy may help avoid injuries. There’s no “wrong” option because an easy run or one with some higher intensity will both provide benefits so you should choose your workout based on where you think you fit.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/899775005/ – turn around at Magnolia Elementary unless you’re adding a mile or two to the run.

HM – 5:30 AM – EASY RUN: 9 Miles at 3 miles easy, (with option of 30 minutes at Half-marathon pace), finish with easy pace or 9 miles at easy, conversational pace.
https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/2252407303

Walking Group – 5:30 AM – 7 Miles and same start time and route as the HM’ers but shorter distance.
https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/2281025839

Water will be at SE corner of FM 1128 and Magnolia so every group will have access to it.
We didn’t have any volunteers to put out water this Saturday, so Amy Catching and David Rosenthal agreed to do it. There are still open slots so please volunteer for water. We appreciate your help.

No yoga or core this week.

Upcoming races on the schedule:
Houston Half Marathon & 10K, Sunday, October 28 – very good race to gauge your training at this point in the season.

3rd Annual Pearland Turkey Trot – Thursday, November 22, 2018
The next PARR sponsored race is the 3rd Annual Pearland Turkey Trot. It’s another popular event for our members and their families and it is only two months away on Thanksgiving Morning. There is a Kids K/1- mile walk/ 4-Mile Run/6-Mile Run. The proceeds benefit the Forever Parks Foundation of Pearland.
Register at: https://raceroster.com/events/2018/15234/2018-pearland-turkey-trotin and enter “PARR18” for a 15% discount.

Laurence