Houston Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was a great race! Not only was it well run, but the weather was perfect and I just had a great day. I only had some slight cramping in my left side between Miles 8 to 9 so I took a few more sips of my drink. I carried my own bottle of GU2O as that's what I train with (not Gatorade) and I really hate stopping or slowing down for water stops in a race that I think I can run hard (for the full marathon I think I can stop and grab some). So, I'm really glad I carried my own, and the bottle is in a pouch (Nathan water bottle holder), so my gels were in there too. I took at gel at mile 5 and mile 9. For training I would've waited till 10, but with this being only 13.1 and not longer and as hard as I was pushing it, I felt it necessary to take those two Gu's (Vanilla Bean, Tri-Berry) and I didn't need more than that. Adrenaline truly is my drug of choice and when I went through big support area or where someone was playing music it totally boosted my spirits. I love having my name on the bib because when I heard someone say "Go Brittany" or "Brittany you're doing great, keep it up" it really made me smile and encouraged me. I loved the little kids that had their hands out for high fives and made it point to give them some skin--maybe someday they will be healthy and run too. I did run by some donut place that smelled of donuts, and not being a donut fan (probably haven't eaten once since High School) it was gross. I often looked at my pace and had thoughts of, slow down you're going to fast, but I felt right, I felt in the groove, so I kept going. The last two miles it was pretty sparse people wise as I wasn't of course with the elites or really really fast age groupers, but I was with the fast age groupers. I found myself near a few high school cross country guys and a few women that appeared my age. I spotted some of the women ahead and made it a point to think, I can pass them, and eventually I did. The last .3 miles was great, people everywhere, and in that last 200 meters or so it became a full out sprint and with all the spectators lining the road and cheering, and as I was really kind of all by myself, I felt like an "elite" athlete and gave it my all through the finish (but made sure to smile, I want a good picture!!) and didn't look at the watch till afterwards. Mom and Dad were cheering for me, even though I didn't catch them at the finish--too many folks--and while I missed it cause I was focused, because there weren't a slew of people running in when I did, they did announce my name. I think that made my parents really proud. I got the finisher photo and headed inside. GREAT RUN, incredible PR of over 17 minutes off my last 1/2 Mary (granted, that one was in May and in Iraq), but at faster pace than I did the Army 10 Miler just in October. Totally thrilled with this race.

Wear my under-armour spandex...I left these in the dryer at home. Woops. The shorts I wore were fine, I just felt more "cold air" than usual and kind of felt naked (I know some of you like that feeling, me- not so much).
Start my clock on time. I thought I heard it beep, but everyone else did. Didn't really impact my race though.
Bring a bag. I didn't expect bag check to be so efficient and organized, so my folks had my stuff. Again, no limiter.

I stretched a little, kept on walking, downed two cups of water, got my t-shirt, picked up some food, and then headed out to meet up with my folks. Then I ate a banana, yogurt, and half of a multi-grain bagel with some cream cheese. Looked for instant results, but all their sites were down.


I don't think anything did...maybe the slight cramping between mile 8-9, but water fixed that. Maybe not wearing spandex as the running shorts were slightly annoying at times, but really probably not. Also, I wore a race belt, but the bib number actually came out of the little d-ring on one side, so I need to look at that and see if I did something wrong, cause I had to keep messing with the belt, in general, throughout the race cause of it slipping. Maybe pinning the number is a better idea for running races.


This was my first organized stateside race (in other words, not Army run in Iraq) since I did a 1-miler when I was in the 4th grade (and couldn't run to save my life--just wanted extra credit) and it went so smoothly in every aspect. I thought it was great, fun, lots of support, perfect weather, good course, and truly a smooth race. This was a GREAT morale booster, huge PR, and if I am in Houston this time next year or my folks are still here, I may have to run it again!