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RunGirl - RunHalf Marathon


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Houston, Texas
United States
Total Time = 2h 17m
Overall Rank = 136/~260
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 29/48
Pre-race routine:

It was about an 1hr 15 min drive up to Lake Houston from out in the Katy area, so we were up around 5am, left the house with my husband and daughter all bundled up for the weather at 6am, arrived to the race site about 7:15. Ate my usual pre-race breakfast of steel cut oats, FRS, drank a water.
Event warmup:

"Warm" is the key word here! It was COLD (for Texas) - it was in the low 40's but it was very windy and with the wind chill brought it down into the 30's. Before the race I was wearing thermal running tights, warm up pants, a base layer, a thermal running top, AND my North Face snow jacket, plus gloves and head band and was still so cold I wanted to cry. I somehow managed to peel off the warm up pants and heavy jacket before the start, but it was hard to let them go!
Run
  • 2h 17m
  • 13.1 miles
  • 10m 28s  min/mile
Comments:

This is the most beautiful run course I've done in Texas. Usually races around here involve running through the ghettos of downtown Houston, or the so NOT aesthetically pleasing freeway over passes. This run was at Lake Houston, through two park areas. The main loop was just beautiful, so peaceful, wooded, gorgeous fall colors. It had to be the happiest I have ever been running.

This was my first 1/2 mary and I had an injury (concussion) a month ago and my training wasn't up to where I wanted it. I had serious doubts going into this about even finishing. The first mile I was literally crying thinking this had to be the craziest and stupidest thing I had ever done.

But when that first mile was done and I wasn't even warmed up, didn't even feel like I had DONE anything yet, I started laughing - I remembered a day about 2 years ago when I couldn't even run a mile. Then mile 2 came and went like it was nothing, and mile 3. Again, I remembered my first 5K effort and now I had done almost a 5K and wasn't even breathing hard at all yet! Those first 3 miles just flew by and I started thinking maybe I could do it!

Mile 3-7 is kind of a blur. I honestly don't know where they went, I was just enjoying running. There was a runner haunched over on the side of the road around mile 4ish, I stopped to see if she was okay, she said she thought she might throw up. I stayed with her a bit, she said maybe she over hydrated or went out too hard. She seemed okay though, and she told me she was fine and just to go, so I did, but I lost about 1:30-2:00 min there. Its okay, I'm glad I stopped, that's what its all about to me.

I knew around mile 7ish we'd pass back by the start and I'd see my husband and daughter, so I was really looking forward to that! Sure enough there they were! After passing them and the other spectators we headed back out for a second (smaller loop) and I realized I was over half done! I wasn't cold anymore, just comfortable and feeling really good. 6-8 miles is usually when my runner's "high" kicks in and it sure did! I picked up my pace just a tad, and 8-10 flew by. When I saw the mile 10, I thought, hey, all you have left is a 5k...why not "race" it? I wasn't tired at all, my legs felt good, etc. So I picked up the pack A LOT and RAN the last 3 miles. It went really well...around mile 11 I even started thinking, "hey, maybe I should do a full next year?" I passed a ton of people those last 3 and that felt good!
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really. Based on my watch I would have almost met my time goal of around 2:15 with about 2:15:45 if I hadn't stopped for the other runner, but that's okay, I know I did the right thing and I still feel like technically I met my goal despite the race clock.
Post race
Warm down:

A big hug from my daughter and walked around a bit.

Event comments:

This was the first year for this race. Its the only all women's 1/2 marathon in Houston area. It was small this year, less than 300 I think, but it was a very well run event. The venue is awesome, I wish more runs in Houston got OUT of the city and to places like this. I really hate running in downtown through the bad neighborhoods and on the freeways, not sure why they do that. This was great to be out in a beautiful environment! We got a great long sleeve tee, RunGirl hats, drink koozies, and an awesome medal with a removable charm. Pizza, drinks, burritos, muscle milk, etc. after the race. This wasn't a big race with tons of spectators, music, fanfare, etc. But I didn't miss that at all. It was great to participate in a women's race, the atmosphere was really amazing. I really hope this event sticks around and grows!


Profile Album


Last updated: 2010-11-17 12:00 AM
Running
02:17:00 | 13.1 miles | 10m 28s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/48
Overall: 0/~260
Performance:
Course: BEAUTIFUL!
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2010-12-13 9:05 AM

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Veteran
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Houston, TX
Subject: RunGirl


2010-12-13 1:44 PM
in reply to: #3246513

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Master
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Toronto
Bronze member
Subject: RE: RunGirl
Congrats on your first HM - haha! I had laugh to myself when you started thinking about the full - it's that slippery slope where everything is possible.  Glad you had such a great experience and great job!!

Nice medal too!
2010-12-17 4:08 PM
in reply to: #3246513

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Veteran
439
10010010010025
Denver area
Subject: RE: RunGirl
I did the race too and I agree, its the BEST course in Houston.  So pretty   Congrats on a great run!
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