Running in Galveston...

Last Sunday I ran White Rock Lake with Chandra and Becky. It was a terrible run... 88% humidity! I could barely breathe. You'd run, and as Becky would say, "it's like breathing water!" 9 miles and gallons of lost sweat later, I made it around the lake. Oddly enough, I wasn't that sore. Just very dehydrated...

On Monday, I drove down to Galveston with the hopes of running along the famous Sea Wall. For those that don't know the history of the sea wall, it was built after the 1900 hurricane. That hurricane killed thousands of people, and was called "The Great Storm." They built the sea wall 17 feet above the water, and raised the level of the island behind it. The sea wall is around 7 miles in length, and was designed to protect the homes and buildings near the southern part of the island.

So, along the sea wall is road and pedestrian walk way. Lots of people use it - and in May when I was there with my family, I was kicking myself for not bringing my running gear. That weekend we were there was perfect - the temperatures were in the 80s, the sun was constantly shining, and there were a lot of people along the sea wall.

Well, not so much on Tuesday when I hit the bricks. It was overcast, the temperature was about 80 (not bad), but there was a bit of a strong breeze blowing from the southwest. Anyway, I wanted to run 6.

Starting off, I felt pretty good. My pace was good against the wind, and I was actually brave enough to run without a shirt (I figured I wouldn't be seeing anyone I knew!) When I reached the 3-mile mark, I figured I could pull a 7. So I made my way up to the Convention Center and turned around after 3.5. After I made it down to 5, I was REALLY looking forward to finishing up at 7. Even though I now had the wind at my back, it was best to end it soon.

Anyway, I ran pretty good. I ran 7 in 1 hour, 12 minutes, at a pace of 10.18 and my max speed was 9 mph. Whoo Hoo! So, here is what running the sea wall looks like mapped out:

Link