Sunday, October 31, 2010

Houston Striders Half Marathon and Relay

On October 24, I ran the Houston Striders Half Marathon. It is part of the warm-up series for the Chevron Houston Marathon in January. The warm-up series is a series of three races leading up to the marathon. It consists of the Houston Striders Half Marathon, the Houston Masters Sports Association 25K, and the Finish Line Sports 30K.

Back to the half marathon. First, the weather was too warm for comfort when running a half marathon. I knew I was going to be in trouble when I was covered in sweat after the first mile and a half. The first 9 miles or so went off as planned, maybe even a little better. I decided to try and push the pace with 5 miles left. I ran the last five miles all right around 8:00, and mile 12 was even 7:48. I was hoping to average about 7:30-7:40 for the last five miles, but the heat had drained me. I had nothing left in the tank. I finished with an official time of 1:49:11.

When I finished, I was a little disappointed with my time, but after talking with people over the last week, I feel pretty good about it. Everybody struggled it seems like. Even a couple of the elite runners I've spoken with had a rough time. Hopefully, the weather is cooler for the HMSA 25K on November 14.

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