we spent the weekend in galveston, and in spite of my initial, sleep deprived, sweaty, tired and bitter impressions of the place, i find myself dreaming fondly of it now as i do war in the battle that is a working man’s life.
getting there from toronto was really not that big a deal, but with two kids in tow, any drive, fly, drive day that involves travelling a thousand miles can leave one slightly drained. and that traffic jam in and around houston didn’t help much.
so, my first impression was that this is an economically depressed place, a place that once was, but then again, maybe never really. i felt let down. underwhelmed. disappointed. there was nothing much to uplift the soul, to pamper the eyes or the senses. the seawall is austere and the wind can be violent. the buildings all have that windblown, seaside type of dilapidation. nothing is very new or pretty…low rise shopping plazas and fast food joints everywhere. sort of the worst of america on a platter.
a short ride out of town had me developing different impressions. the countryside is beautiful, flat and has an edgy, end of the world kind of feeling about it. the roads are nice, smooth as glass. there are pretty houses on stilts perched all across the landscape. cows grazing in fields. it gets nice.
similarly, a little away from town, closer to moody gardens, there is quite a nice series of houses on man made waterways. this part of galveston is quite beautiful. maybe more so than the “strip” on the seawall.
the race runs as well as any large scale race i have ever been to. check in was a breeze. they had thoughtful touches, like a coloring station for kids, where my 5 year old made a poster for me to cheer me on in the race. we really had fun being there together when she came with me to check in, and that speaks volumes about the atmosphere; it was a fun father/daughter outing, not a hassle at all. the expo was a little bit small compared to some other races, but that was no big deal.
logistically this race just works really well. moody gardens is a beautiful complex, and is very well set up to host the race. there is ample parking very close to the race. i had no problem getting back to my car to drop my pump and bag there after getting set up in transition. this is just not possible everywhere. getting in and out of the race site was easy with only minimal traffic congestion. our condo was 5 minutes from the race site. nothing felt crowded.
the swim course is quite nice. the water was murky for ocean water, but calm. fairly warm yet wetsuit legal. the waves were well spread out so it was never too crowded. the water was pretty calm. it was a pretty swim.
one thing to be aware of is that the ocean is quite rough; so much so, that looking at it, i just thought i would get thrown around and swallow sea water but not really swim too much. it was verging on dangerous at times. you can’t swim in moody gardens except on race day, and there is no lap pool that i am aware of. i was lucky that my condo complex had a nice, 30 meter long pool where i did some warm up laps, (no, i am not telling). otherwise, getting in a decent swim warm up could be a challenge in galveston.
the bike course is flat but tough. the wind was relentless. there were strong cross-winds, and diagonal headwinds on the way out. interestingly the wind direction was totally different on race day than the two leading up to it. i could never stop concentrating for a second for fear of getting blown over. at one point, near the turn around, my front wheel was wobbling back and forth as though i was doing 100 k down a mountain. this is a course where you need to be able to stay aero the whole time. there is no rest, no coasting, no opportunities to sit up. in spite of all of this, i found it an enjoyable bike ride, and i was lucky to have one of the best splits in my AG. it is a fast course if you ride it right, but not an easy one.
at one point on the bike a police man rode by on his police chopper with ZZ top blaring “she’s got legs”….it was fun. “this IS texas” i thought.
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| an unusually handsome age grouper in action… |
the run is one of the more beautiful courses i’ve been on. it meanders all over the gardens and parks that surround the moody hotel. there is a mixture of paths, pavement, even gravel road and a couple tiny bumps that i wouldn’t call hills. it was never boring,it was extremely spectator friendly and had plenty of aid stations and crowd support around. there were tons of pros on the course and it was fun to run with many of them for a few seconds before they sped off.
i screamed my head off at lionel something about being a canadian and from hamilton. i was delirious with the suffer-fest that my run had become. he ran away quite fast. i think he was scared.
of course there were all the usual things you expect at a race: music, good and frequent aid stations, lots of helpful volunteers. nothing was lacking in any way. a beer tent would have been nice….
after the race, we found cajun greek to be a family friendly place, rich in atmosphere, with great seafood (especially the ceviche and blackened fish), good service, and a surprisingly decent wine and beer list.
so, in sum, i had a surprisingly good time in galveston. it is not the sexiest or most posh place in the world. if your spouse loves high end shopping and spas, this might not be your destination. the beach on the seawall is a bit harsh and will just not be to everyone’s taste. but it is beautiful to look at.
the weather in april is also quite nice. it is warm, but not steaming hot. there is enough wind to make it challenging, but that also keeps it cool. there is humidity and your sweat rate may be deceptively high, so be careful. but it is quite pleasant at this time of year (as compared to the inferno that i experienced on race day in the woodlands one year ago, and 4 weeks later on the calendar).
the race itself just runs really smoothly and i enjoyed it very much. i would race here again for sure.
