Parkrun Houston 5K #1 Race Report

Today started my 17th year of running races – a welcome addition to the most recent one-third of my life here on Earth.

Sixteen years ago, I ran my first race – the 24-Hour Fitness 4 Miler - in conjunction with the then-hp Houston Marathon.

Earlier this morning, I ran my first parkrun 5K, which was held along the trails of Terry Hershey Park.

Parkrun got started on October 2, 2004 in Bushy Park, Teddington, UK and it took two years before the weekly, free and timed 5K ventured to another location.

Parkrun is now in 20 countries and came to the United States in June 2012 in Livonia, Michigan.

In the last six and a half years, there have been 2,413 races in 28 locations with 30,828 unique runners who have run a US-based parkrun 5K.

Even though I’ve run around 800 races in over 300 different north American cities, it is always good to see a familiar face and long-time Houston Strider John Yoder was there.

He said it was more for his two dogs as he will be pacing the 3:05 group at the Chevron Houston Marathon in the morning.

The Houston parkrun website is:  http://www.parkrun.us/terryhershey/

I was most curious how the personal bar code would be scanned, et. al. so I arrived early – 8:20 or so for a 9 a.m. start and volunteers began to make their way to the start area about 8:30 a.m.

In less than 30 minutes, there were about 50 runners gathered to run from near Eldridge Parkway all the way east to Dairy Ashford and back.

Paul, the lead volunteer, welcomed everyone in a very friendly manner and he was accompanied by a number of equally friendly and encouraging volunteers.

Knowing that parkrun got its started in the UK, I certainly wasn’t surprised to hear many British accents among the participants, but any good bloke that can put one foot in front of the other is equally welcome to participate.

The bar code.  What’s that all about?

Well, when you register at the parkrun website, you have a one-time registration and you are assigned a number which generates a personal bar code.

You print this bar code out and take it with you to the race site. 

I was wondering how you were going to keep a piece of paper from getting wet, etc. while you’re racing, but once I finished, I understood how things worked.

When you crossed the finish line, you’re given a “token”, but it is like your rewards card that fits on your key chain for CVS or Walgreen’s.  It indicates your place, which is married up to the time that is kept on another device.

Your place is scanned and then your barcode and that’s how you’ll be listed in the results.

No barcode, no time.  (Of course, if you’re like me, you have a watch that keeps your time – and if timing matches up, the timer’s had a great day!)

I was very pleased how everything went.

I spoke with Paul after the race and I pledged that if they certify the course, I will donate half of the funds to make that happen so people can come out – like Kelly Ramey’s Houston Wellness Project races – and know that they’re running an accurate distance every time they come out.

Regular for-profit, not-for-profit and charity races are great, but events like Run The Woodlands – Houston’s first 5K series that started in 2000, the Houston Wellness Project and now parkrun all fill a bill for runners when you want to go out and “race” – not just run – but don’t want to pay $35, $40 and $45 at the last minute for a 5K.

However, HWP and parkrun needs your financial support as there are permit fees, insurance, etc. so whenever you can donate either on a per race or ad hoc basis, you can help other people get out in a non-threatening environment – and help improve their quality of life.

That’s what Run The Woodlands did for me some almost 16 years ago.

And we have a responsibility to do that for others.

If you’re reading this and running the Chevron Houston Marathon or Aramco Houston Half Marathon, have a great race and I hope to see many of you running the marathon out on the course somewhere!