Houston Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Houston, Texas
United States
Houston Marathon Committee
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 59m 54s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

I work up at 3:15am and drove to IKenOttSwim house. While driving there I ate a bagel with peanut butter and honey, had a bannana and sipped some gatorade. Met up with John, Justin, Ken, Eric, Betsy, Rachel, and Rachel's brother-in-law. At a power bar about an hour before the race and ran a short warm up.
Event warmup:

Ran for about 5 minutes about 20 minutes prior to start.
Run
  • 1h 59m 54s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 09s  min/mile
Comments:

I hadn't planned on running in the Half and my longest run to date was 7.14 miles, but a bib feel into my lap the Friday before the race and since I had a bike crash on Tuesday and had what could be considered a tapper prior to the race. I had no expectations going into the race and figured I would just treat it as a long training run. Miles 1 through 7 felt great, but after 7 miles I didn't know what to expect. I may have gone out a bit to hard, but felt very good until about mile 10-11. I actually thought about walking and told myself just to keep running. I felt no pain but I could tell my form was breaking down and I was slowing down. I than saw Merry and she gave me a bit of a boost and I kept telling myself to make it to the last mile and the crowds would get me to the finish line, which they did. I crossed in under than 2 hours and was very pleased considering I wasn't planning on running a half until April.
What would you do differently?:

Go out a little easier.
Post race
Warm down:

Stretched, ate and drank, and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was great seeing everybody.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Under trained, but no excuses from me. I was very pleased!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Event comments:

The atmosphere was great. I really enjoyed the live bands out on the course, and the crowds were great. The news had the numbers at over 33,000 runners, and 250,000 spectators. When I was running I was shedding my running gloves and threw them to the sidewalk and some little kid came running up and grabbed them. I felt like a star.




Last updated: 2010-01-18 12:00 AM
Running
01:59:54 | 13.1 miles | 09m 09s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: Course was through Houston, very flat with an occasional overpass, or slight incline.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4