Alamo 13.1 Half Marathon

I'm a bit behind as FW came back from San Antonio, worked almost a full week, and then topped it off with some wedding planning.  We're beat!  Our trip to San Antonio was a lot of fun and this race was a great way to top it off.  There are some organizational issues the race organizers will need to work on, but I really had fun at this race.

The first snafu didn't effect me at all.  Many people had trouble making it to the packet pickup, held at a local hotel, the day before the race.  Another sporting event made traffic slow to a crawl and getting into the hotel difficult.  I only had a three block walk and was unaffected.  Race morning certainly had a few issues.  We stayed right by the Alamo, which made race morning a breeze.  I was able to get out there fifteen minutes before the gun went off.  It was actually quite cold at 46 degrees on race morning.  But the first issue was the lack of corrals.  Here's why:  There was a 5k, 10k, and half marathon.  So they had the 5k runners line up first, with the 10k runners behind them, and the half marathoners behind them.  It wasn't marked and you had runners in different races mingling and starting at different times.  I had no clue where to line up and spent the first two miles dodging people to make up time.  This can be easily fixed at next year's race.

We headed from the Alamo for a brief loop through the downtown area.  My GPS watch conked out early so I ran this one on feel.  It was quite liberating!  The first few miles were probably in the 8:30-9:00 range as I dodged people for a bit.  It opened up some as we came back past the Alamo and headed north.  We went through a few nice neighborhoods and on a crushed limestone path for a little bit.  I felt great due to the cooler weather!  I had prepared for high temps (it was in the mid-80s earlier in the week).  My pace felt good and I'm sure I made it down to the 7:30s by mile 5 or so.  I was also passing a lot of people.

One of the course highlights was Breckenridge Park north of downtown.  This is a HUGE and gorgeous park.  I actually took my headphones off in this area and enjoyed the scenery.  We were around and in Breckenridge from mile 6 through about 9 1/2.  We also crossed the river several times and made our way around a beautiful pond.  The only problem with this part of the course was the amount of turns.  Some of them were very sharp and added a few seconds.  Otherwise, this was the highlight of the course.  I'm guessing I was down to 7:00-7:15 per mile for this section and still felt great.

My only other major complaint about this race was the lack of organization at the water stops, particularly late in the race.  I appreciate the few volunteers who manned each stop, but there were so few of them that I didn't want to wait for water.  They were constantly having to go back to get more cups and a few times I saw a few volunteers standing around.  I'm glad it wasn't warmer because this could have been a major problem.

We then made our way back south to the Alamo for the finish.  We did go along the north end of the San Antonio Riverwalk (highly recommended).  The scenery was great, but there were steps along this portion, plus some very sharp turns.  If you know anything about long distance running, you know steps do not feel good toward the end of the race.  We then made a loop through downtown again and turned to the Alamo for the finish.  FW was waiting for me and somehow I missed our usual high-five.  I'm not sure how I missed her!

I had no idea what my time was due to my watch issue.  We went to the results tent after I got some food and beer.  Shockingly, I turned in my second fastest half marathon time with a 1:36:37!  This was good enough for 67/1824 overall and 10/57 in my age group.  Not a bad effort at all!

This race was definitely worth the trip and I think the race organizers will listen to the participants and change some things for next year.  The course really is beautiful and a great way to show off San Antonio.  Next up for me is my favorite race of the year.

Next race: Ohio River Road Runners Club Half Marathon- Xenia, OH

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

La Porte By the Bay Half Marathon

My final race for 2011 was the La Porte By the Bay Half Marathon in La Porte, Texas.  I was able to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins, which made this one even more fun!  They were even able to follow us on the course and see me at several different points along the course.  Extra motivation!

Getting to the race was a piece of cake.  Plenty of parking at the high school across from the Sylvan Beach area for the start.  I was impressed with the size of the race (890 runners) and the organization.  The swag was pretty nice as we got gloves, a tech shirt, and some running socks.  

The weather wasn't bad at all.  It was around 55 degrees with a  drizzle at the start of the race and it didn't warm up much from that.  We started out from Sylvan Beach and I used a different race strategy than normal.  The key attraction of this race is that we got the opportunity to run the Fred Hartman bridge twice.  I could tell from the pictures of this bridge that it would be tough, so I decided to start out fast to make up for time missed on the bridge.  We made a quick one mile loop around town before we began heading outside of La Porte towards the bridge.  I kept under my usual 9 minute pace for the first few miles and got through the first three miles in 26:04. 

The area before the bridge was not very scenic, but I wasn't really expecting much.  This race was all about the bridge itself, which we started at the five mile mark.  This thing was a beast!  The ascent began with a gradual uphill that really wasn't bad.  Then the uphill changes dramatically.  Check out pictures of this thing online.  Plenty of people were taking some walk breaks.  I had no problem the first time around and just maintained a steady pace.  I hit the halfway point in just under an hour. 

The downhill was nice, but a little too steep.  The quads were beginning to feel this race and I was glad to make my way back to flat ground.  We made a quick detour to the turnaround point and my family saw me twice here.  Then we made our way back to the bridge.  Not so much fun the second time around.  I walked about 100 yards on the initial uphill and was able to slog through the rest.  I stopped taking splits right now because my quads were in a lot of pain and I did something to my left foot during this race.  Thankfully, that has now healed up.  The final three miles were slow, but enjoyable as the bridge was now behind me (though it may haunt my dreams).  I just maintained a steady pace and came in at 1:53.08.  That is way faster than my goal of simply breaking 2:00.  I was in PR shape, but those uphills were just terrible.  

That ends my 2011 running season.  I achieved my goals of new PRs in the half marathon and marathon and I even added a surprising 10k PR, too.  Nine half marathons, one full and twelve other races make this a very successful year for me.  I also ran in several more states: Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, and Texas.  I'm taking a well earned break during the holidays before starting in again.  My plan is to start in late February with a half marathon in either Florida or Georgia.