By the Way: H A P S

On Sunday, January 18, 2015, while family in Ohio and along the East Coast hunkered down under record snowfall, I celebrated this painfully beautiful Texas day as a spectator at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Bright blue skies and 50-something degrees were a perfect backdrop for my sister-in-law Iris, my brother Doug, and me to stand at the 8-mile mark of this 13.1 mile course and track my son Steve's endeavor. Hopefully we would connect with him, and cheer as my Momma's heart swelled with love for my first-born. (Y'all know--this still happens, even after more than 3 decades!)

Our spot for marathon watching on this beautiful January day--
the middle of Main Street at Binz
with the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in the background.

Organized runs these days attract participants who "Run for a Cause," and raise awareness along with funds for various worthy organizations. Steve Jr. had been training for months leading up to the run; then in November, 2014, his Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Steve Jr. contacted the Houston Area Parkinson's Society, joined their team, and began to ask for donations through a Facebook link. He and his generous friends raised over $2,000. And he got some cool race goods.

This is Steve Sr.'s t-shirt.

Here's the website for Houston Area Parkinson's Society:
www.hapsonline.org

How about a hero's cape?!

Doug, Iris, and I were all about the cape.

We claimed our standing room right next to the barrier flags, and began the wait for our man to show.

This part of the course took half-marathoners around the Houston Museum of Fine Arts,
passing the Mecom Fountain (center left, background) on the way.
We knew the approximate time Steve would be at this mark and
this is where we agreed to meet our guy for his pat on the back.

Doug used a tracking app on his phone to check our hero's location via a GPS chip implanted in Steve's race badge. We waited. He checked. We waited. He checked.

Time for a selfie, since we were waiting.

More runners made their way by while we waited for Steve Jr.

Iris, purple pom-pom in hand, crossed the course for a better view.

While waiting, I decided to film a little video lead with narration. "Here we are at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon . . . January, 2015 . . . at the corner of Main Street and Binz . . . a beautiful morning . . . waiting for Steve Jr. to come down the street . . .." You know, a little intro to the fabulous footage to come with our guy running by in slow-mo, all Chariots of Fire.

In the actual film audio, one can hear Iris repeating above the cheering crowd from across Main Street, "SANDY! I SAW HIM! HE'S ALREADY PASSED." Then a tiny disappointed voice, "Doug, did she say he's already passed by? Did we miss him?" And Doug's reply, "That's what she said."

Well, since I captured Iris' revelation, maybe I caught Steve Jr. too. I raced back through the clips on my preview screen with a little prayer on my lips. If we didn't actually see him to cheer him on and get a brief sweaty hug, please! Could I actually have accidentally captured him on film? Please?!

Sure 'nuff--as we say in Texas. Translated, that means yes! By absolute randomness, I had filmed Steve coming up the street and around the corner right in front of me. These are still photos I extracted from the video, so apologies are in order for the very poor quality.

White baseball cap, yellow T-shirt
(left center)

Steve ran next to his buddy Trey
(white T-shirt, right of
Steve)

The tall guy in the white baseball cap
--that's my hero!

Steve and Trey (behind)
in the zone.

My consolation was that Iris spotted her nephew and ran with him for a half block! So glad he knew we were all there.

After watching more half-marathoners striving for their personal bests, we noticed a guy with a sign that quite a few runners were swerving to touch.

What does that pink sign say?

Touch Here For Power

Also in the sign man's repertoire--
a runner's joke.

We wore our capes in front so the runners could see them.

While we visited with the sign man, one woman caught our attention. With coiffed hair, makeup, and hot pink lips in perfect order, she was decked out in running shorts, pink running shoes, and a black bustier. She slowed down long enough to stare at us over her Armani shades and declare, "If my thighs are still touching when I finish this race, I'm gonna' be pissed!" Off she ran, leaving me to wonder if I, too, should be more concerned about my thigh gaps--or lack thereof. I got over that before her Chanel #5 evaporated in the cool breeze.

At that point, we left for Iris and Doug's house, where we were meeting both Steves Sr. and Jr. for a celebration lunch. Since both Iris and Doug had marathons scratched off their bucket lists, they knew what every runner needs, and had our lunch table decorated with all manner of useful items; bananas, Bag Balm, citrus, sports drinks, Icy Hot analgesic, bottled water, band-aids, Advil--you name it. Cute!

Table Decorations

Everything a runner needs

There was also a sign. (BTW--I debated briefly about including this next picture, because it has a back story that's a source of embarrassment to Steve Jr. But, I'll tell all.) Back in the '90's, when Steve walked the stage at his Lamar High School graduation, the name announced was

"Stephanie Michelle Bingham."

What?? Imagine an 18 year-old male standing on stage in front of 2-3,000 fellow students and onlookers, wishing a trap door would mercifully open and swallow him up. Alas! All these years later, that moniker pops up occasionally like a fresh shoot of nut grass in the well-manicured garden of his life. Someone--ususally his younger brother or his Uncle Tom--delights in 'sharing the memory.' This time it was Aunt Iris and Uncle Doug.

Well, we were proud of him. Yes, him.

It was a great day, all around. Steve Jr. poured his depleted self into a chair and told us stories about his experience between mouthfuls of food and gigantic amounts of fluids. And, yes, my Momma's heart did indeed swell with love and pride for my first-born.

A couple more pix from the day: