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Our CLFC Houston Marathon and Half-Marathon Training Program started already! Have you signup yet?

Annual Membership Dues (June 2010-June 2011): New Members $60/Returning Member $40/Extra Family Member (after 2 members pay full) $15
CLFC annual membership includes the Houston Marathon and Half-Marathon Training Program, our Spring Program, technical club shirt, and club parties throughout the year.  

Where: Clear Lake Park, 5002 NASA Parkway - Seabrook

To sginup, there are three ways you can do it:
(1) Signup in person at Clear Lake Park after our Saturday club run
(2) Signup by mail. Fill out a membership form and mail it to: Clear Lake Fitness Club, PO Box 890714, Houston, TX 77289-0714
(3) Signup online
 

Remember to pickup your club shirt, training schedules, and SmartID after our Saturday club run. If you are not receiving the club weekly newsletter, contact any of the club officers. 

The complete training schedule is available at signup or email one of the board members for an electronic copy. Start times for the Saturday group run/walk are listed in the Upcoming Event. Click on the link to see the start time and route for each training group. Remember, get there 15 minutes before your start time to stretch and listen to any announcement.

The course really is beautiful for the first 18 miles, and I recommend those who run with iPods leave them off until then and really enjoy the sights and sounds.  You run in forests and past rivers and it is gorgeous (okay, I am prejudiced because I grew up here).  At mile 13, the route almost goes vertical, so training on the Hartman Bridge is really the way to prepare.  My heart rate went way up after that and it caused me to slow down for most of the rest of the race, but still made a respectable time (5:20).  A word of warning, the course is not closed.  You run along two lane country roads, so you must always be prepared for cars passing.  The race was well organized despite the fact that the marathon had tripled in size (from 500 runners to 1500 running the full) after the Runner's World vote it as the best marathon.  The city is very friendly, with sprinklers on for the runners (yes, it was warm) and my hotel was great with rides to the course and a late checkout (3 pm).   This is a higher altitude than we are accustomed to.  The recommendation is come in the day before and run it or come in a week in advance and to get acclimated.  I did the former and it worked fairly well.

Going into the swim was quite a show....it was obvious that many people reported some bogus times. As I entered the water it was more like bumper boats than a 300 meter swim. There were actually people in front of me who could not swim a stroke....their arms and legs were moving, but they were not going anywhere. I managed to pass a few of them with only one head on collision and trotted off to my bike. My T1 was about 5 minutes. After I mounted my bike and got out onto the course, it became very apparent that those folks in front of me not only could not swim, but I doubt they even trained for the sprint. The first three miles I must have passed about 30 riders and I was only doing 18mph!! Unfortunately, some of those folks went off in ambulances due to either heat exhaustion or turning too sharply at the u-turn on the course. After 42 minutes on the bike, I pulled in to put on my running shoes and head out for the three mile run. The course was great and the folks in the neighborhood put their sprinklers on the streets for us to run thru....it was great!! I got my 3 miles in about 32 minutes and came in a happy camper!! All-in-all, it was a very satisfying event and it reinforced something very important....always train properly for your races.