PORT ISABEL — Storm clouds hovered over Port Isabel as the last runners crossed the finish line yesterday morning.
Although some runners were concerned, the Chamber of Commerce did its best to monitor the weather up until the day of the second annual summer causeway walk/run, said Betty Wells, president of the Port Isabel Chamber of Commerce.
Kelsey Garcia and Tina Buford, runners from Harlingen, would have welcomed some rain, though, on the fourth mile running up the causeway.
“The causeway was more challenging than I anticipated because we didn’t do any hill drills and it was a shock to the system,” Garcia said. “Watching the water made it a little better.”
The two friends like to participate in runs together. They have worked out a system for themselves that keeps them running at the same pace up until the finish line.
To prepare for a 10K, they recommend speed drills to increase endurance.
“Really, this is a great run for first-timers. It’s one of the prettiest runs in the Valley,” Buford said.
The only time they stopped their run was for the 10 to 15 steps they used at the water stations, Garcia said.
Juan Zapata, a Los Fresnos resident, almost burned out at the start of the race but was able to make a recovery.
“I wanted to keep up and I realized I wasn’t running my race, I was running someone else’s race. I looked down, slowed my breathing and played a couple of songs in my head to recover,” Zapata said.
It was a tough run, but Zapata pushes himself to stay healthy.
“I would like to live long,” he said.
More than 1,600 people registered for the run, topping last year’s participation by about 500 runners, Wells said.
Each participant received a medal for completion of the run, and the top three runners in each age division received an additional medal.
Now that the run is over, the chamber can begin planning for next year’s two causeway runs. This one was a great success, said Gayle Hood, chairman of the board of the Chamber of Commerce.
“I talked to some of the runners that came in, and they were excited about the run and thought it went well. They loved going over the causeway in the morning because it was cooler and the beach was beautiful,” Hood said.
The next runs are planned for Jan. 14, 2017 and June 3, 2017.
