Silo District Marathon Observations

Grab a cup of coffee.  This could be a long post.

Probably should bring some background information to the table before talking about what transpired today in Waco at the inaugural Silo District Marathon.

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that when the race was announced I seemed pretty critical.

First, the race announced entry fees of $150 for the marathon and $135 for the half marathon.  They are the second highest in Texas behind Houston - for a brand-new race.  (However, I now have a theory why this is/was.)

That raised my eyebrows a bit.

Yes, I understood/understand what the cause was/is all about.

However, the race made its announcement two days before a marathon in Waco - the seventh oldest in the Lone Star state - put on by a good friend and an incredible contributor to Texas' running and triathlon scene for more than 10 years, without an approved course, was not timely releasing posts on its Facebook event page and hadn't engaged a race production company at that time.

I did an Open Records request with the City of Waco to see what was on the Special Events application permit.  There wasn't a lot on it, and it was such that they originally wanted to do the race on Mother's Day Saturday.

Even though they went out and got Logan Burgess to measure and certify their course (one of the best!) and hired Racing Systems out of Dallas as its race production company, I was generally concerned about the number of first-timers at the longer distances who were running or racing with three months of preparation -- for what could be some old-fashioned Texas heat.

So attending the race today has always been on the calendar.

I was already pretty beat from being up early and announcing yesterday's 14th annual Impact A Hero 5K at Constellation Field in Sugar Land and getting a bit of afternoon rest.

After dinner and reading a little, I went to sleep at about 9:30 a.m. with a 1:45 a.m. wake-up call to begin driving to Waco by 2 a.m., which would put feet on the ground by 5 a.m.

After studying the maps, I parked at a place that I could leave whenever I chose to.

I made my way to what turned out to be the 5K start.  It was a pretty understated setup.

Since I had never really been to the Silos, I could see them off in the distance with all of the lights.

I saw where the finish line was.  They had a similar setup that The Woodlands Marathon uses at its finish on The Woodlands Waterway.

When there, Your Sporting Image's Karen Thibodeaux pulled up.  I helped her get one thing out of her mini-SUV and we chatted for about 5-10 minutes as she got situated.

Announcements began at about 6 a.m.  I didn't initially recognize the voice as it was a bit of a rough opening - something I experience often (like to get the first one out of the way to get into a rhythm), but soon learned it was Austin's Adam Reiser.

Former Rice Owl, an excellent masters runner (just barely though - 41, I think) and a really good announcer.  He does the bulk of the heavy lifting for all of the Run Houston Race Series, Bayou City Half Marathon Series and the Bayou City Tri Series races.

Our styles are different, but definitely respect each other as fellow professionals.

As I saw some of the foreign athletes milling around – and a couple running around scattered trying to get their bib, I also saw former McNeese State athlete Jarrett Le Blanc and his girlfriend.

We had a great conversation and I just kept moving around to get a layout of the start line corral, which was setup in front of the First Baptist Church of Waco.

I had tweeted that the start line setup for both races (marathon/half marathon and the 5K) were pretty minimalist.  However, later thinking about writing this, it made perfect sense because the fencing could be taken down quickly after the half marathoners started to re-open the street so First Baptist could start their church services on time this morning.

I visited with Adam a little bit.  I shared with him who I knew was running and that I had just kept pinging the confirmation question on the getmeregistered.com site to see if I could figure out who was running.

In Sunday morning’s article in the Waco Tribune Herald written by John Werner (and which appeared online early Saturday evening), the Magnolia spokeperson said that he couldn’t speak to individual races.

I call “baloney” on that.  At that point in time, if you’ve shut down registration and you’re not giving any comps (as I was told by a couple of guys who paid the $150 entry fee), then you pretty well know who’s in the field – unless you’re squeezing in a foreign runner at the last minute.

I saw Steve Maliszewski and Tim and Vicki Nolan.  Tim and Vicki were pacing the 3:40 marathon group for Beast Pacing.  Steve?  Just out for another hot race – to counterbalance Boston, of course.

He’s a two-time Badwater 135 finisher.

I snapped a picture of the two and shortly thereafter, Chip Gaines made his appearance.  This was at about 6:40 – 20 minutes before the start of the race.

Again, I’m aware of how everybody is a big fan of the couple, their location, their show and now their restaurant.  So I was interested to hear him speak to everybody before the race.

I was impressed.  He handled it all very, very well.  And you have to know that anybody that’s in front of the camera is generally going to be pretty comfortable speaking easily in public.

I snapped a picture or two and I turned around and there had to have been at least 200-300 people with their phones out hanging on every word he said.

After he got done – and with an inadvertent mic drop, Adam announced that the marathon would start at 7:10 a.m.  I learned shortly thereafter that the reason was because not all of the roads had been barricaded off, according to some individuals who were out riding the course.

So once the gun went off, and the 12-15 elites came running down the street before the rest of the marathoners and then Chip with a TV crew in a cart in front of him.

So my plan was to run to Herring and MLK, which was about two and a half miles away, and tweet some updates from just before mile seven.

I figured I would take about 25 minutes or so and the elite athletes would get there shortly thereafter.  They did, at 35:04.

There was a pack of five African athletes, followed by Jarrett Le Blanc and Ryan Miller, who both spent time in our The Woodlands running community.

The women’s leader came through about four minutes later.

I also stayed at that location until Dallas Baptist University assistant cross country coach Kelsey Bruce came through.  I was tweeting back and forth were her former coach and now employer Jacob Phillips.

I had volunteered to Kelsey that she was running fourth and how far back she was of the leader.

I then ran back across the bridge over the Brazos River and down to street level to see the half marathon leaders pass the mile nine split mat.

Again, passed along the same information, but in that short period of time, the gap between third place – which was taken by the young lady from Austin who won the Cap 10K last month – and Kelsey grew.

I cheered her on, then went back up the hill and started running west on Herring and then south on 18th Street to put myself in the vicinity of mile 20.

The police officer at that intersection said that there was law enforcement there today from a lot of central Texas towns, which showed the breadth of the setup for the race.

I saw the men’s leaders come through, but most importantly Jarrett LeBlanc was seventh at that point and looking pretty solid.

I didn’t end up seeing Ryan Miller and I would learn later on that he has dropped at mile 18.

LeBlanc ended up finishing fourth in 2:22:12 in his first marathon since the United State Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles in February 2016.  That marathon was his first.

The first female marathoner passed just before mile 20 in 2:10 and change – and there was just three seconds that passed between the two of them.

In third two minutes down was former All-American runner at Minnesota, Ladia Albertson-Junkans.

She has been vacillating between roads and the ultras.  (Think Camille Herron.)

At that point, I ran east down 18th Street to Austin where runners were coming from the north to the turnaround on 17th Street.

Afterwards, I ran north on Austin to find my good friend, Nancy Goodnight, and her triathlon group from there in Waco.

Many of them also help Nancy produce her Miracle Match Marathon in late January.

So we stood there for more than two and a half hours cheering both half marathoners and marathoners on waiting for Chip Gaines to come through.

My only criticism is that he had an entourage around him that was completely unheard of.

There were two pairs of motorcycle police officers leading the group and they cleared everybody off the street.

C’mon, nobody is going to jeopardize their well-being to run in to do something to Chip.

He was in genuinely good spirits as he passed us, less than a mile and a half to his goal.

A great job by him – seriously.

To run a marathon, with that tool belt on him and maybe sweatpants of some kind in that heat by that time with cameras in front of him the entire time, he did something that most would not have withstood the pressure of doing.

All in all, a good job was done to produce this race.

I was nowhere near the finish line; therefore, I can’t comment on things in event production that can trip up good race management companies.

I was disappointed that the race didn’t vet its “elite” athletes appropriately and allowed two runners – one male and one female – that had served doping suspensions to run.

The male, Alene Reta, who won the men’s half marathon, was about 16-17 years ago by Ethiopia’s athletic body and the female, Mary Akor, five years ago by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Reta:  http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/zz/20100821/NEWS/100828062

Akor:  https://www.runnersworld.com/newswire/prolific-marathoner-mary-akor-gets-2-year-doping-ban

My theory on the price, as I mentioned earlier?

Other than the charity aspect and knowing that people would pay to participate in an event WITH Chip Gaines, given he and his wife’s popularity, it was also a price that many close to home may shy away from – and that people would be able to justify finally making a trip to visit the Silos.

I think it is the same strategy that Houston is using with raising its price even more for 2019, making it the most expensive marathon in Texas.

They seem to be aiming to satisfy real or perceived targets from Houston’s Convention & Visitors Bureau for the numbers of heads in beds.

Price out the local folks and make it more of a destination race, like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles – two of the three who are Marathon Majors.

Do I think there will be a second race?  Based on something I was told, yes.

When will it be?  I wouldn’t be surprised if it moved back to April, but I don’t have any read on that at all.

Only time will tell I suppose.