Finish Line Sports 30K

The final race of the three race marathon warm-up series was this past Sunday. The Finish Line Sports 30K is hosted every year out in Sugar Land. The 18.6 mile course starts in Sugar Land Town Center, and it is what I would call a modified triple loop course. I call it modified because you run a little over 3 miles before you get to the 4.2 mile loop, and you run approximately 2.5 miles back to Sugar Land Town Center.

Race morning was a started out kind of cool, but it was a great temperature for a longer race. The only problem with the weather was that it was a tad on the windy side. It made for a rough last 4 miles of the race since they were all pretty much into the wind. It really made it tough to make up any time coming down the home stretch.

I can't say that I was dissatisfied with my performance, but I was hoping I would have done a little better. I finished with a time of 2:28:48, and I had an average pace of 7:59 per mile. The good news is my second 15K (7:56/mile) was faster than my first 15K (8:03/mile). I had planned to run right at an 8:00 pace for the first third to half of the race. I planned to pick up the pace for the second half and test myself to see what kind of shape I was in. I wanted my average pace to be closer to 7:50 than to 8:00. If my average pace was a little lower, I would feel more confident in my ability to run a 3:30:00 marathon come January 30. Overall, I think it was a pretty good Sunday morning run.