Galveston run: Too much alcohol to enjoy the view

Early on July 4, like 6:30 a.m. early, I snuck out of the hotel room in Galveston for a run along the shore, or the street overlooking the shore. It was Seawall Boulevard. The view was, as you can see by the map of the run I posted, beautiful. The only problem was that the route was on concrete.

My old ass Brooks GTS8s, with nearly 300 miles on them, were no match for the concrete "trail" on Seawall Blvd. I guess I should also mention that on July 3, I filled my belly with more beer, more Bloody Marys and fried seafood from the Rainforest Cafe, than I'd had beer, bloody marys, and fried seafood all year. Combined.

(I must say, the Galveston Bloody Marys I drank were almost as good as the ones I've had at a place I ate at on Pier 39 in Fishermen's Wharf in San Francisco years ago)

Even though I felt like shit when I woke up on the 4th of July, I knew I had to do this run. I would up doing 7 miles in 1 hour, 33 seconds, for a pace of 8:38 minutes per mile. Weather was 78 degrees and humidity had to be 100 percent.

Here are the splits: (As you can see the alcohol and fried seafood from the night before started taking a toll on Mile 5)

1 - 8:51
2 - 8:26
3 - 8:14
4 - 8:17
5 - 8:47
6 - 9:02
7 - 8:54

Here is the run on Google Earth via motionbased.com




View Larger Map

Breathtaking marathons

ForbesTraveler.com did a recent piece on the Most Breathtaking Marathons in the world. (At left is a picture the Great Wall Marathon, China. May 17.) The scenery of the marathons make them notable, the magazine articles states. I've never run Boston or New York, but I'm sure the scenery at those races is breathtaking.

I've run Dallas' White Rock Marathon twice and running through Highland Park is nothing to write home about. But White Rock Lake has its own charm - if you like dodging bicyclists.