Houston Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Houston, Texas
United States
Houston Marathon Committee
45F / 7C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 2h 30m 25s
Overall Rank = 4939/10000
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 367/464
Pre-race routine:

Carbo meal on Friday at lunch. After that, I ate pretty clean all day Saturday. Pancakes, lots of Gatorade, bananas, etc. More of a two day pre race routine. Morning of race, ate a granola bar, part of a banana and Gatorade. Was never hungry during the race and felt plenty hydrated.
Event warmup:

A friend and I stayed downtown at the Hilton, so we just had to wake up and walk to the George R Brown convention Center. Basically, just sat in the floor and stretched. Started moving to our start corrals at about 6:30 for the 7:00 start. It was nice and cool, but I was never cold.
Run
  • 2h 30m 25s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 29s  min/mile
Comments:

I felt really good almost the whole way. I had a good pace (for me) early, probably due to adrenaline, and I was able to stay with some people that had a comfortable pace for me. I built up a 1.5 minute cushion on the pace I wanted to keep. I had periods where I started to lose my pace, but fought back to regain it. Finished exactly where I wanted for my first running race ever. I really didn't think I could finish at my goal, based on my last long training run, but everything came together today and I did.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I had a great run for me, enjoyed it, and pushed myself enough to reach my goal time. Of course, over time, I would like to get faster and try this again to beat my time.
Post race
Warm down:

I went in the Convention Center and found my family. Got my finishers shirt and medal, had some Gatorade and tea, took pictures, then went out to wait from my friend Brian, who was running the full Marathon. He finished in 3:30 and qualified for Boston.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Still building that run base and it is just going to take time to get faster.

Event comments:

Great race and great volunteers. There were over 17,000 runners, so it takes a great organization to pull this off. Overall, it was a great experience.




Last updated: 2008-01-14 12:00 AM
Running
02:30:25 | 13.1 miles | 11m 29s  min/mile
Age Group: 367/464
Overall: 4939/10000
Performance: Good
Course: Downtown Houston. This was a great experience. The crowd lined the streets throughout the whole race. Several bands, people acting crazy, blasting music, etc. Just a great experience. The finishing mile was awesome.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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] 5