So Close at the Houston Half

A beautiful day greeted the Half Marathon in Houston!

First, big congrats to Holden Choi and Joltin' Joe Carey, who ran their way to a PR this morning. I believe Edwin Quarles and Keith Kelleher both had PR's today as well. Further, big props must go out to Yellow Fever Coach and Lead Runner, Robert, who not only did the Rocky Racoon 50K yesterday, but completed the half today. Not do be outdone, Byron, another Yellow Group Coach, did the same. You guys are animals.

Jaclyn and her sister, decked out as an Angel and a Devil respectively, took the easy way to the finish line with a copacetic run punctuated time and time again with comments from the crowd and other runners (including June). Apparently Jaclyn is a convincing Angel! Victoria, Jaclyn's sister, did not have to convince anyone she is a little devil... They eased through the course in 2:31:41. A nice run on a nice day.

It was a pedestrian day for Scott, Victoria's husband and our brother-in-law. Still smiling over Florida's win over Georgia in the world's biggest cocktail party, Scott had a good race, with an official time around 1:57:34. Another sub-2:00:00 for Scott, which is to be expected.

For me it was one of those "if I knew then, what I knew now" type races. I will not complain though. Started the day with a six mile run prior to the half marathon. We stayed at the Doubletree (excellent move on our part), so I was able to get back upstairs, change clothes and get down and get my chip prior to the race.

And then we were off. I spent the first lap running with Sean, one of the Yellow Group Peeps who is training for his first marathon. Sean wanted to do an easy, enjoyable run so I hung with him for the first loop. We maintained an 11:00 mile pace throughout. At the end of the first loop, my legs wanted to go, so I bid adieu to Sean and went at my own pace. I was feeling really good, so I decided to keep moving at whatever pace I was doing until I could not do it any longer. I do know that by the time I hit mile the halfway point, my overall pace had come down to 10:02 per mile. Not bad for having done six miles before hand.

I just kept going. I figured I would hit a wall at some point. Yet my overall pace kept falling. Under 9:40 after mile nine; under 9:30 after mile 11; and so on. I finished up with a sub-eight minute miIe. I could not believe I was feeling as good as I was. Official time: 2:01:06. That my friends is a PR. I am absolutely stunned. Who knew I would have so much in me for nineteen miles. And oh so close to breaking the 2:00:00 barrier. Next time.

Surprisingly, the second half of my was even better than the first. I had an obnoxious split of around twelve and a half minutes. My pace for the second half of the race was 8:34. I will surely take that, especially when one considers that for the day, it was miles 12.5 - 19.1.

After a week in Providence, Rhode Island, the Allen Parkway Hills were greeted with glee as I motored easily up each of them time after time. Of course, I realize that come January they will be nothing to sneeze at and will look like they are mountains during the latter part of the Marathon.

The Houston Striders, along with Koala and Luke's Locker put on a darn good race. The only downside was that they were not consistent at the water stops. Some had water first, gatorade second and ohters had it reversed. Other than that - first rate.

Obviously I saw plenty of Houston Fit folks on the course. I also had the good fortune of seeing several of the women who got me where I am today. Yes, I am talking about the therapy babes from Koala. Along with Doctor Denise, Maggie, Nicole and Melissa where out giving post-race massages. Add Tiffani, whom Jaclyn and I saw at packet pickup on Saturday, to the mix and the gang was intact. It was good seeing everybody.

I also got to see Jon Walk, who was out cheering. Unfortunately, I did not see any of the other Houston Running Bloggers. What a bummer. Even more wacky was that Holden and I finished within a second or two of each other.

Speaking of Bloggers, check out Vic. He finished in under three hours. An awesome accomplishment. This man will be marathon ready!   

Next up, the 25K. But first, it is now time to go celebrate Jaclyn's 30th at Pappacitos. Mmmmmmm, Pappacitos. Jaclyn will probably have a couple of Waves... She deserves it. Eleven Half Marathons for her thus far this year with number twelve coming in December. Rock on BABE!

Listening to: Backdoor Love - Dujour (From the Motion Picture Josie and the Pussycats)     

Comments

[JustJunebug]

i dont know how i didnt see you before or after.

i leap frogged with your angel and devil the entire way.

way to go!!!

[Holden]

Dang, looks like you finished right in front of me which means you probably passed me towards the end. Dang, I didn't even know. I did see Jaclyn a few times on the course however.

[atownrunner]

dang, that's pretty impressive running. I saw the angel and devil a couple times on the course as well.

[Carolyn]

Congrats on your PR! That is a fantastic time and very impressive considering your additional mileage beforehand. I was sad to miss the half and see the Yellow Fever running strong - and I would have loved to see the Angel and the Devil - but I was running the Marine Corps. Beautiful day, perfect running weather. I'm proud to say that I too had a PR yesterday - 4:08:58 - which left me stunned as well. Who knew? I look forward to getting back on a regular training schedule with the Yellow Fever, assuming I can even walk by Saturday, let alone run!

[Vic]

Crap!!! Crap!!! Crap!!! I can't believe I didn't get to see you. I saw the constumed beauties but had no idea they were Jaclyn and her sister.

WOW!!! Nice runnin'g dude. You just get stronger and stronger. Very impressive PR. I saw that you PR'd on Jon's site but I didn't know you already did 6 before that. Nice warmup, James.

[Crosstrain]

Great stuff, congratulations. I don't know how we missed you. Glad your doing the 25k, so see you there.