Chevron Houston Marathon: Full Race Report

Well, I've had five days to analyze my race. I've thought about what went wrong, where I made mistakes, and what actually went right. It was a tough day for a marathon. The warm, humid weather just magnified the mistakes that you made. Race officials said the medical people had to help more than double the people they did last year.

Race morning started out smoothly. I woke up, ate breakfast, got dressed, and picked up Tanner without incident. We went downtown to the George R. Brown and went inside to meet up with Andrew. We used the port-a-potties, grabbed some water, and went to check my bag. The bag check line was really long so we decided just to go put it back in the car. From the parking garage, we made our way over to the starting line. While we were waiting for the start of the race, it started to mist/drizzle, and I could tell the temperature was kind of warm. My stomach was also feeling a little weird, but I just figured it was nerves.

We found the 3:30:00 pace group a few minutes before the start. This was mistake #1 for the day. With the warm conditions and high humidity, I should have adjusted my goal and fallen back to the 3:40 group. You'll find out later, why that wouldn't have really mattered. Finally, we were off. We hit the first mile at about 8:35. A little slower than our pace, but I figured it would actually be slower with the massive amount of people. We ran the next four miles at a 7:50-7:55 pace, and we were back on schedule by mile 5. I just settled into cruise control with the pace group, and I took in all the sights and people along the course. We passed my parents, sister, and brother-in-law at the corner of Memorial and Studemont. Then, disaster #1 hit. My stomach started feeling pretty rough, and I had to hit the port-a-potties at mile 7.

Now, I was back on the course, and I could actually still see my pace group. However, they were quite a way in front of me. I was feeling better, and I had put so much emphasis on trying to run a 3:30 marathon. This lead to the worst decision I made all day. Of all the things that went wrong, this is the one I created all by myself. I decided to catch my pace group so I ran the next 5-1/2 miles at a 7:25-7:30 pace. I caught the group at Rice Village, only to have my stomach act up again. Stop #2.

After my second stop, I was feeling pretty drained. It was probably a combination of my stomach problems and running harder than I should have. I saw my wife, Sarah, and Jennifer at the village, and I felt energized for a half mile, or so. I hit the half way point in West U at 1:47:49. I was almost 3 minutes behind my goal pace. I decided to reevaluate at this point. I calculated in my head what pace I needed to keep to finish in 3:40, and I continued on. From West U, we hit what felt like the hardest 1/4 mile of the course that day, the Westpark Hill. It's not really a hill. It's actually an overpass, but we live in Houston. We don't naturally have hills on the Texas Gulf Coast. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this is where it quit misting/drizzling and started to rain. Awesome, just what I needed. Not really, I know sarcasm doesn't come through type.

Next, we hit the Galleria. I was feeling incredibly drained at this point. My stomach problems lead to a major nutrition failure, and my stomach was growling. I was starving. I took my first walk break at mile 16. Post Oak Boulevard is where I officially started to unravel. I stepped in a huge puddle that I didn't see so now I had completely soaked feet. In Tanglewood, the 3:40 pace group caught up to me, and I decided to jump in with them. I ran with them for a whole 1/2 mile. Then, the leader ran off to the side, threw his balloons and visor on the ground, and started walking. The group immediately fell apart. This did not help my mental state any, but I continued on.

The two mile stretch from the 18th mile marker to mile 20 was the roughest stretch for me. I felt weak and hungry. I took orange slices from every person handing them out, and I took my extra Hammer Gel I had packed. At mile 20, I felt a little better and decided I was going to run for 10 minutes. Then, I would let myself walk for a minute. My pace was pretty slow (9:30), and I felt good so I decided to make it 20 minutes. I felt better, but not good. I saw Sarah, Jennifer, and my cousin, Christopher, on Memorial at mile 22. I waived to them. I decided to take another walk break on the bridge from Memorial to Allen Parkway. I ate some more orange slices from spectators, and started running again about 100 yards after the bridge. I saw my parents, sister, and brother-in-law again at Allen Parkway and Studemont.

At mile 24, I found myself running beside a guy I met at the 30K in December. He's a much better runner than me, and he finished last year in 3:16 so I realized I wasn't the only one struggling today. We ran the last 2-1/2 miles together, and we picked my friend, Tanner, up with 3/4 mile left to go. It really helped running with other people. We could see the GRB. We passed the sign saying 1/4 mile left, and we picked it up as much as we could. I crossed the line with an official time of 4:00:35, and I never felt so good about missing a goal time by so much. I fought through some demons and finished.

Over the next couple days, I talked to more people, and I began to realize everybody struggled with the weather. Overall, I feel I'm capable of running a faster marathon, but I think I did pretty well considering my stomach problems, nutrition issues, and the weather. I was not happy with my time, at all, but it is a new PR for the marathon. I bested my previous marathon time of 4:07:13 by almost 7 minutes. One good thing for the race is that I think taking electrolytes helped. I didn't catch cramps. I just didn't have any energy to make my legs move.

The next four weeks are dedicated to recovery. Then, I'm going to start working on getting better for next year.