Runner Triathlete News [ return ] From Message Runner 1/22/2004 22:14:47 Subject: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: I wanted to thank all the volunteers who made it a wonderful race. Now for the bad news. In regard to the 5K, the only person who ran the correct distance was the winner. For some reason everyone else was misdirected and ran a longer course. Thanks to Jon Warren for pointing that out. Also,if it is a chip race then why was the start not on the start mat? And finally, I wanted to thank the spectator who blew an airhorn that everyone mistook as the official starting gun. I am not whining, I thought people should know the truth. Gabriel Rodriguez 1/24/2004 19:34:27 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: I won the 5K and it was a wondeful event. However, I also ran a long course. As a matter of fact, here are my splits- 4:59, 5:22, 4:52, :28. From everyone I have spoken with from the race, most everyone had a long 2nd mile. The course that I ran (I am not sure about those who ran behind me what course they ran) was re-measured to be approximately 3.26 miles (I needed an accurate course b/c the race was a measuring stick so I had to have it measured afterwards). And I thank Jeff for re-measuring the course for my coach and I. Just thought I should clarify the truth. I was speaking to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers (Carlo Deason and Andrew Stover) after the race and they voiced similar opinions about the course being long. Congrats to all who ran. Gabriel Rodriguez 1/24/2004 20:22:00 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: I also provide the following e-mail that I received. Hope this helps clarify any misconceptions. Thanks to everyone else who volunteered to measure the course: Gabe, My measurement of that "5k" course you ran Sunday was about 3.26 miles long. Then the average pace was 15:45/3.26 = 4:50 per mile, and the equivalent 5k is 15:00. I do not know the course the runners behind you ran, I only measured the course run by you and whoever followed you. Glad to help. Jeff Jugs 1/25/2004 07:11:35 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: of course Carlo and Andrew thought the course was long because they were directed the wrong way. You didn't run the same course they did, although in your post here and at other sites you keep using them to justify your claim. If Jeff measured the course and you told him it was the same one they ran then he measured the wrong course. His measurement would seem to fit with what they ran. But thank you for your efforts to not only simply say "the course was wrong" but to let us know how fast you are as well. tgarr 1/25/2004 08:04:49 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: Ok, the course was long!!!! Ok, Gabe you're in 15 min. shape!!!! Now we can move on to more important discussion, the future of the marathon downtown. Gabriel Rodriguez 1/25/2004 16:29:08 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: Who cares what shape I'm in, tgarr? (And by the way, you stated you know me on letsrun, and you are???). I'm just trying to clarify the situation. I ran a long course and I'm sure the runners behind me ran an even longer course for some reason. Plain and simple. There are no conspiracy theories out there. And come to think about it, how can a 16:30 guy lose sight of someone in a 5K? Now, what's this deal with the future of the marathon downtown? Is there something you know that we don't? Do you not like the marathon downtown? Where else do you think the venue should be? I'm looking forward to running it on the course, as is, but let me know your thoughts. tgarr 1/25/2004 19:25:24 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: Well gabe on a course with as many turns on it as the 5k course if you were running sub 15 then of course they would be far enough behind you to loose site of you as a minute and a half would be at least a 1/4 mile. If they weren't then they would have seen you turn and known where to turn as well. As far as the who cares what kind of shape you are in question I agree who cares? Yet everytime you post you spend as much time talking about how you are in shape to run sub 15 as you do about how long the course was. It seems that some people got off track of the course being long and got into the discussion of whether or not you could run 15 flat. I never doubted you could run sub15, My point was that the more important issue was the course length not how good you were. I was trying to take the attention off of one issue and put it on the issue of course length. I in affect was trying to defend you without defending you. Now as far as the marathon downtown, article in paper this week about the problems the marathon had in getting metro to shut down the train, this would seem to be problematic for future downtown events thus the speculation. Finally, I stick to what I said on letsrun, you are a good local runner and seem like a nice guy but the attention of the event should be on the 2:17 marathoners and the 1:03 and close half runners not on a 15 min. local runner. That is no disrepect to you as I said on the other site, simply perspective about which races rated higher performance wise in the grand scheme. Dave 1/25/2004 19:37:31 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: Why is Gabriel being asked to defend himself here? If "everyone else was misdirected, and ran a longer course" (but they were so far behind Gabriel and didn't realize what was going on) we're they really going to catch him anyway??? oncearunner 1/25/2004 20:08:07 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: The point is clear the 5k is nothing more than a fun run. Ask the majority of the marathoners who the f Gabriel Rodriguez is and they will have a unanimous uhhhh who???????? Then everything becomes very clear to everyone the marathon is a gallowwalkers / hughsoton fat dream and a competition it is not. Maybe next year the official finish time for the 5k will get extended to 1:30:00 and the 1/2 marathon to 4:00:00 marathon 12:00:00 so as to leave no poor fat F. out. If there is trouble to shut the Metro down for such a period of time that is a problem. It threatens the event and will cause numerous problems in the future. The future of our sport is at a point where there is no focus on competition but completion. This is a problem and until we get rid of the so called elite attitude versus the beyond mid packer there is going to be issue. Gabriel Rodriguez 1/25/2004 21:15:41 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: Thanks for the clarification, tgarr. I think HP and Metro will be able to work things out before next year's marathon. Anyhow, at the rate at how little the new rail system is being used, it may be shut down by next year. Who knows. Other possible course venues? Not many. Perhaps with Bill White as the mayor (a former marathoner I hear), he will perhaps get the city to back the race financially, as do most other major marathon cities. However, we will have to wait and see. On a final note, elites and mid-packers will and should continue to co-exist. Don't you realize that the most famous and most popular marathons are the marathons that cater mostly to the elite and provide the most prize money? Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Rotterdam, Berlin... Is it any coincidence that Houston and Dallas both saw tremendous participation increases on years they increased the prize money? Bring in the stars and you bring in the fans. Watching the Halliburton Half Marathon was one of the greatest sporting events since I have moved to Houston. Yeah, we've got Yao Ming and now Pettite and Clemens, Biggio and Bagwell, David Carr and the Texans, but this past weekend we had several of America's best distance runners in our own backyards. It was awesome to watch the likes of Dan Browne, Teddy Mitchell, Scott Strand, and the Kenyans racing down the streets of downtown H-town. Press on, Houston, and keep it going. Maybe one year we'll bring in the likes of Tergat and Gebrselassie as we did in the 80's with Rodgers and Beardsley, etc. Lance Collins   1/27/2004 18:01:15 RE: HPMarathon-5K IP: Logged Message: Gabriel, as someone who finished several minutes behind you I tip my hat to you. The top 5K runners in Houston (Lara, Armenteros, etc.) put in mid to high 15s. If your time equates to a 15 flat that's one of the best 5K times in Houston in the past year and something to be proud of. Not trying to fill your head, just giving credit where credit's due. Overall though, I'd say this was the worst 5K I've ever participated in. Course was long, start was messed up, and no timing mat at the start without even letting people know that? Can you imagine if you're a 19 or 20 minute female who doesn't like to crowd in up front and settles in oh, 1000 people back from the start, expecting your chip to take care of that discrepancy? And why couldn't they simply have a volunteer with a sign at each turn showing you which way to go? I did a small 10K in Conroe back in November that must have had 40 turns (I'm not kidding) and there was a damned volunteer with a sign at every single turn on the course. P 1 Next Page>>