Houston Half Marathon

I am way behind with this blog.  The Houston Half Marathon & Relay was two weeks ago and I have the Cleveland Fall Classic next week.  Time to get blogging!

This was my second time visiting Houston.  I went for the LaPorte Half Marathon (that dreaded bridge!) last December and had so much fun that I decided to go down for the Houston Half Marathon.  The best part is that I was able to visit family again!  It doesn't get much better than that.  You know what else?  The weather was perfect!  It felt like Ohio in the fall rather than Houston.  It was actually in the mid-40s when we headed out.  That is cold for Houston but perfect for me.

The race started near downtown at a small park right off the highway.  The pre-race atmosphere reminded me of the Columbus Marathon but with fewer runners.  I chose this race because it's the largest city in which I've run a race, but it's not congested due to there being around 3000 runners.  That's a good size race without the hassle of getting to the start line, finding the gear check area, etc.  It was still dark when we began the race at 7am and we made our way through the downtown area on a short loop.  This was a very cool part of the race.  The skyscrapers were still lit up and we were running on the road in downtown Houston.  How many times do you get that opportunity?  The roads were of course wide enough to accommodate the runners and there was none of the congestion that you can experience in these races.  I was a bit disheartened by my pace, though.  I was going at about 9:15 per mile for the first three miles, but I felt like I was going more at a 8:30 pace.  Thankfully that would change.

We then started heading west away from the downtown area.  This race had a lot of straightaways, which sounds boring, but it actually helps not having to worry about running the tangents.  My pace felt good and I noticed I was hitting some sub-9:00 miles during the long straightaway, slowly chipping away some time.  This portion was along the highway, so there wasn't anything too scenic.  By the time we hit mile 7, I was well on pace for my 13th straight sub-2:00 half marathon.

Next up were some parks for a few miles.  This was a nice portion of the race and it broke up the monotony some.  I picked it up quite a bit around mile 8 or so as my gel from mile 6 was starting to do its job.  The pace felt surprisingly good, especially considering I ran a great race at the Dayton Corridor Classic two weeks prior.  We headed out of the parks and back to the main straightaway.  I was at a 1:25 at the ten mile mark.

The last 3.1 was pretty uneventful.  I didn't have too many people around me so I just tried to maintain my pace.  The race stats show that I was 7:44 pace for the final five miles or so.  I'm guessing the last few miles were around a 7:30 pace.  Pretty darn good for me.  The final mile was a complete blur and I was able to pass a few people and hit the finish in a respectable 1:48.25, good enough for my third fastest half.

Training has been spotty since the race.  It's mostly been maintenance runs on the trails and trying to stay fresh for the next half, which will be my third in a five week period.

Next race: Cleveland Fall Classic Half Marathon- Strongsville, OH