Tour de Bayou Series Begins

Matt Nicol gets Lei'ed on the Ho Chi Minh Trail (photo: TRex)

The Tour de Bayou Series of cross country races begins on April 1st. This HARRA sponsored series is organized by Roger Boak (nboka.xc@gmail.com) and consists of 5 races held on consecutive Tuesdays in April. The distances vary between 5 and 8K. Open and Master (age-graded) winners receive a lei and are determined for each stage as well as for cumulative stages. The races are absolutely free- all you have to do is show up and promise to "be careful".

If you haven't raced these before, they are very low key and a lot of fun! BCRR members Anna Sumrall Helm and Matt Nicol have won women and men's masters divisions respectively for at least the last two years. Let's see if they can keep their streaks going!

Apr. 1, Tuesday, 6PM: Stage 1: Spotts Park

Apr. 8, Tuesday, 6PM: Stage 2: Shepherd Bridge (at Memorial)

Apr. 15, Tuesday, 6PM: Stage 3: White Oak Bayou (at Thelma)

Apr. 22, Tuesday, 6PM: Stage 4: Ho Chi Minh (Mem. Park Rugby Field)

Apr. 29, Tuesday, 6PM: Stage 5: Ho Chi Minh (Mem. Park Rugby Field)

When having a good time trumps getting a good time….

Paris, Adnan, K-Fed and Lindsay chill after the race

We had a blast this last Saturday running as a “centipede” in the Bayou City Classic 10K. Our theme was “Hollywood Divas Gone Bad: Running for (to/from) Rehab”. Our “segments” included Lara Allen as Lindsay Lohan, Donna Whitney as Paris Hilton, Kathi Mahon as Britney Spears, Jeff Tabourne as Brit’s paparazzo boyfriend Adnan Ghalib, Eric Faria as a paparazzo, and Rosie Schmandt as a rehab health care professional. We all had our costumes and props (for example, Lindsay with her vodka bottle and Paris with her purse Chihuahua). However, new BCRR member Clayton Smith was the real crowd pleaser as Britney’s ex K-Fed, complete with wife-beater T-shirt, tattoos, and baby strapped to his chest. He looked so convincing that many people mistakenly thought he was running with an actual live baby!

Our run went smoothly in spite of a few stops for “costume readjustments”. Those of us with wigs had special challenges and some of the men wearing suit coats got a little hot towards the end of the race. We weren’t the fastest, but we weren’t the slowest either. There was no chance of catching the BARC Yodelers or the Tornado Wild Animals, so we made it our informal goal to beat the centipede of Cows-with-floppy-ears (which we later found out were supposed to be “Dalmatians”), but after K-Fed taunted the “Team on Steroids” for being slow, we HAD to finish before them!! As we approached the finish line, the Blues Brothers-like Band was singing the George Thorogood classic, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”. How perfect – they were playing our song!!!

In the end, we won an award for “Best Hair”, but we know in our hearts that we were the best from heads to toe!!