Houston half marathon summary !!!

- October 24, 2010

This was left in the "drafts" section for so long that I am not even sure if this should be published. But, anyways.

Prelude:

The weather was not ideal for most of the people for racing. At the start of the race, temperatures were around 75+ degrees. I knew that I had done my homework for the race. Good training was done and my only concern was getting dehydrated in the race and facing cramps towards the end of the race. I made a mental note of drinking as much Gatorade during the race as I can. I also used a Gu Gel pack 15 minutes before the race and stored another one in my pocket in case I feel like running low on fuel.

Warmup:

I did around 2 mile warm up with Jay Hendrickson, Mark Conran, Simon Brabo and Carolyn Burum. This was the first time I spoke to Carolyn though I see her name among top women runners all the time. At the start line Jay tried to find Ed Fry but we couldn't find him and the race started at sharp 7 am. Since Scott Bounds was not running this race, I knew that I will need to pace myself and possibly run alone for most part. My garmin was not working correctly for first mile possibly because of tall buildings. During first mile, I tried to get a feel of the weather which seemed quite humid and warm. I hit first mile in 6:40 and can clearly see that I have to be very careful about not going out too fast in first half of the race so I don't become a roadkill later.

Mile 2: 6:38
Mile 3: 6:45
Mile 4: 6:51

At this point, I discovered that mile markers for the race are not placed correctly. I deliberately slowed myself during mile 3 and 4 and couple of people passed me. I noticed that they were already breathing hard while passing me so I knew if I ran a smart race I will get them back. I also made a mental note about not running slower than 6:50 for as much as I can.

Mile 5: I am feeling good and legs are warmed up. 6:45. Feels good
Mile 6: I passed John from BARC without any resistance on his part. He was breathing hard and I suspected he will slow down further. 6:47. Right On !

Mile 7: I passed Jeff Eisele and can tell he is not having his best day. He makes some comment about me passing him but I am in no mood to talk. I see Jack Tonge running ahead of me. I run by Jack and he speeds up and hangs in with me for about half a mile or so. But, before the turn around at 610, I have dropped Jack. 6:48.

Mile 8: This was the hard mile to run. I stopped just after turn around and drank two cups of Gatorade to make sure those cramps are in check. I didn't like the uphill part after the turn around. My legs felt heavy on the uphill. 6:52. This was the slowest mile of the race. I know that more than half of the race is over and right now it is just hang onto dear life and speed up.

Mile 9: 6:44. Nothing much to report other than the fact that a spectator told me I was 60th in the race. I liked him telling me that.

Mile 10: 6:42. I am liking the pace but mile marker is no where to be seen. I trust in GPS and keep moving. Now, only 3.1 miles to go and if I maintain 6:40 pace, I will easily break 1:30. Can I break 1:29?

Mile 11: I speed up little more and hit this as the fastest mile of race. 6:36

Mile 12: Again, it is becoming a battle of nerves. Just hang onto the pace even though I can feel discomfort in my right lung. 6:52. This is slower than I would have wanted. But, less than 10 minutes of running left. I cajole myself to keep it up.

Mile 13: Ah, the end is almost here. 6:39. But, I can't see the mile marker and looks like there is more than 0.1 mile left in the race.

0.2 miles: I try to pass 2 more people but one of them almost sneaks on me just before finish line. 5:42 pace.

Overall: I ran it in 1:28:51. Last year, for 3 loop course I had run 1:32:56 and so I had a nice 4 minute PR in not so good weather. I believe on a good day I would have liked to get under 1:28 but today I will take 1:28:51.

Lauren Wilder also had a nice PR in warm weather. That girl is a running machine and she is very focused on her running with a good training base. I predict that she will be fastest BCRR female in almost no time. Some of my other friends suffered in warm weather and were may be little disappointed. I just hope for 25K weather is cool so we all can have a good race and run together for most part.

Cheers,
Neeraj