Houston Marathon - RunMarathon

Really pleased with today's results. Goal was to break 3:30, with 3:25 being reasonable and 3:22 (~7;45/mi pace) being a stretch.

Start was a little slow, just due to the crowds. I started just behind the 3:30 group, caught them, and paced with them for a several miles.

Still feeling good at the halfway point, and pace was on track for a better than 3:30, possibly even a 3:25. Glad to see I had made up a little time from the slower start.

Started to feel some fatigue in miles 16~17 as we were heading up Post Oak and the light rain picked up a bit. Focused on steady pace off the girl in front of me, avoiding puddles, and appreciating the crowd support. Continued to hydrate and take Gatorade. Possibly should have taken a Gu, but was worried it wouldn't settle well with the Gatorade.

Margo saw me between around mile 19.5 and called out. Wasn't expecting her, so that was a nice surprise. Started into some mile rollers the last 10k. Pace started to slip a little

Ramped up the pace with 2 miles to go. A little too much actually, and I backed down a bit after 1/2 mile of that. Still faster than before, though. But at mile 25, I picked it back up and kept up the effort until the end. Passed 25+ people in the last mile.

Switch form conservative start (3:30 group) to aggressive start (3:25 group). It was the correct choice this time, I think, but next time I'll try to improve.

Crossed finish line and noticed blister on bottom of right foot. Don't know if it had been there a while or just caused by the stopping after the finish. That put an end to any thoughts of making my way back out the course to find Beth and pace her in the last part. (I didn't feel too bad about that, b/c I was pretty spent anyway.)

Quick finisher photo, then made my way into the convention center. Unfortunately, couldn't find a space blanket, and I was pretty chilly.

Some quick light stretching, but my first stop, when available, is always the massage tent. Massage was free for the full marathoners, and there were lots of tables there, so minimal wait at the time I arrived. It's luck-of-the-draw who works on you, and it was an okay massage. I could certainly still tell the difference before and after.

Picked up finisher gear (tech shirt and a glass mug). Headed over to medial, where they took a look at my feet. They bandaged the blister on bottom which made it a little easier to walk.

Stayed on my feet and kept moving, which always seems to result in better recovery than just sitting down. (In my experience.) Spent a long time trying to locate Beth (or a phone I could use to try and call her, as she was listening to music on her iPhone during her race.) I finally just walked outside and was lucky enough to see her cross the finish, though it still took us a long time to meet up inside.

We walked 6 or 7 blocks back to the hotel. Certainly not quickly, but again, the walking was beneficial to flush out the legs. Cleaned up and returned to my parent's house for a hamburger lunch with kids and relatives before heading back to Dallas later in the afternoon.


Warmer temps than I have been training in. Race temp was low-60s (still not bad, really), but I've been running in 30s and 40s for the past month. The light rain actually probably counteracted some of that, though, as I never felt like I was hot. I'm glad it was light rain and not just super-high humidity.

If I could consistently add an extra 10 miles to mid-week effort, it would probably help with that late-race falloff of my pace.


This was an excellent event. Very well organized. The crowd support was fantastic. Even given the rain, I heard estimates of 250k spectators on the course.

The predominately-flat course is fast, with the mild rollers the last 10-k adding some texture and a little test of grit late in the race.

Plenty of length to water stations, and always with water at first set of tables and Gatorade and second set. This consistency and layout was very nice and flowed well. No other on-course nutrition other than occasional bananas, so carry your own GUs if you want them.

I didn't try the post-race food, but heard that it was pretty good. Breakfast food, I believe - eggs, pancakes, sausage (?). Muscle Milk and chocolate milk samples. Plus Blue Bell ice cream.

Expo was good. Packet pickup was quick; both large and small vendors; several decent sales on shoes and gear. Only disappointment was the limited official race merchandise - both limited types and minimal inventory.