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Comments: This race was a total blast for me. Everything felt great the whole way. As it turns out, the bird poop and the other omens were just false alarms! My coach gave me a plan for HR and for nutrition, and following it worked extremely well. I did let the HR creep a little higher than planned, but not much. This was my first half-mary, so I spent the whole run enjoying myself and checking out all the funny signs (one of my favorites said "Run you crazy b@tch!"). Mile 1 was the slowest, because the crowd was so thick it just took a lot of weaving and waiting to get through and find an open spot to pick up the pace. Between miles 2 and 3 there were two dogs on the side of the road procreating...it cracked me up, and as we passed, I yelled out "Well, at least SOMEONE is having a good morning." Myself and those around me had a good laugh. One of the fun parts for me was listening to the people calling out the pace at each mile...fun because the number was getting LOWER at certain points throughout the run, which meant I was getting faster. Miles 11 and 12 were my two fastest miles. At mile 11, I saw a pickup truck racing by on the left of us (the road was seperated by a median). There was another truck behind it with a big TV camera mounted in the bed...then behind that truck were two Kenyans, running REALLY fast. Yep, you guessed it...the two race leaders passed me when I was at mile 11, and they were at mile 24 of the marathon...he he he. Someday, maybe I'll be fast, but not THAT fast. Mile 11 was the only time I strayed from the nutrition plan, because they were passing out beer, so I grabbed a cup...to be honest, it tasted like crap mixed with my apple cinnamon carb boom gel that I was to take at the same time. Trust me when I tell you that you do not want to mix beer and flavored snot...just nothing positive comes out of that combination. At about mile 12.5, I saw my wife and another friend who came to cheer me on. That was a great feeling! Kicked in to high gear, and cruised to the finish...felt GREAT as I crossed the line. What would you do differently?: Nothing except skip the beer/gel combo....blech! I will NEVER do that again.  Post race
Warm down: Walked carefully around a girl vomiting on the finish line timing mat, got my finishers photo taken, and headed inside where I got my finishers medal, finishers shirt, a bagel and a banana. What limited your ability to perform faster: This was the first one for me...I ain't gonna complain one bit! Event comments: What a blast! I don't know where I "should be" as far as performance is concerned, but I'm really happy with this effort. This was the perfect way to enter this season! And to top off a great race, Celeste had a super party for all us BTers at her house, and it was fun to visit, trade war stories, and just hang out. Thanks for that Celeste...you are first class! Last updated: 2005-12-16 12:00 AM
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United States
Houston Marathon
Overall Rank = 3975/7351
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 393/514
Woke up at 2:20 a.m. Because I had the pre-race jitters, and because my wife was SNORING like a broken chainsaw, I was unable to go back to sleep. Laid in my bed at the hotel, stared at the dark ceiling for 2.5 hours, and visualized the race over and over and over.
Got out of bed around 5, had a Clif bar and a liter of gatorade endurance, and got dressed. Gathered my things and walked the 10 blocks to the convention center. Got pooped on by a bird on the way...was hoping this was not an omen of how my day would go!
Stretched out, walked around the convention center looking for other BTers..no luck. Figured I would find Aaron (JeepFleeb) by looking for his flag. After about 20 minutes, I spotted a big flag across the room, so I hustled over, only to find that it was the only other guy who had a flag that day...ugh, another omen??