2:18:33! I did the Half

2:18:33! I did the Half in 2:18:33! I am happy.
I did 2:15 two years ago when I was better trained, and figured I could do 2:25 this year, so my goal was somewhere in that 10-minute window. I really thought it’d be closer to the 2:25 end. But I had a good day, and started strong, and managed to maintain it. My splits were all over the map, but my slowest mile was actually the first, when everyone was battling the starting crowds.
Mile 1 – 11:20
Mile 2 – 10:43
Mile 3 – 10:48
Mile 4 – 10:17
Mile 5 – 10:37
Mile 6 – 10:19
Mile 7 – 10:26
Mile 8 – 10:13
Mile 9 – 10:53
Mile 10 – 10:22
Mile 11 – 9:13 (short?)
Mile 12 – 11:46 (long?)
Mile 13 – 10:34
Final 0.1 – 1:04
I headed downtown and parked right in front of Minute Maid Park at 5:30 — for free! Woo! A car pulled in right next to me and it turned out to be Erin, a coworker. She’d seen me on I-45 and followed me all the way downtown. I’d totally forgotten she was running the Half, but it was nice to see her. We headed into the convention center where I immediately spotted the bright orange of the Houston Running Bloggers banner.
The pre-race festivities passed quickly enough. I headed outside at 6:30 to use the outdoor port-o-potties (much shorter lines!) and mill around. What a difference from last year — last year it was freezing as I stood waiting for the start, but this year it was downright pleasant.
At 7 a.m. we were off, in the glow of an absolutely beautiful sunrise. It was a little cloudy, and the sun lit up the clouds in a brilliant orange. For the first mile, I couldn’t stop looking at the pretty sky. The race was pretty uneventful for the first few miles. Not too many spectators, but still tons of runners tightly clumped together. As we went over the Elysian viaduct, I glanced up and saw the streetlights bouncing up and down. I guess that’s what thousands of runners crossing a bridge will do!
After an 11:20 first mile, I settled into a comfortable pace. Since my goal was 11:00 miles, it was easy to judge whether I was under that by doing the math. By the time I hit the 7-mile mark, I had a couple minutes “in the bank” to get me under 2:25, so I was feeling good.
Just past the 8-mile mark I got a huge boost from a crowd of my friends! (They were there more for Michelle who was doing her first marathon, but thankfully waited around to cheer for me and Erin as well!) I’m sure I’m going to forget someone who was there, but Nick, Curt, Sara, Jose, Ashley, James, Paul, Sonia and a couple others hollered and shouted and got me excited and feeling good. I saw them again a mile and a half later after the Half course turned around and we headed back downtown.
The toughest part was the end — I started to get pretty tired and my legs started aching. I walked a couple extra times in the last 2 miles (after having walked only through the water stations to that point, as is my habit). As we entered downtown, the wind tunnel effect hit with a vengeance, but as we turned the final corner and I could see the finish line far in the distance, I knew I’d make it. And I knew I’d make it under 2:20.
After finishing, I found some of the other HRBers, as well as my friend David from the Gilruth trail. After a while, Jon, Jessica and I started walking backwards along the course to find others to cheer for. We ended up walking back to ~24.5 miles — so I ran a half marathon and then walked 4 miles there and back! Sheesh.
As for the HRBers, they rocked it! Waverly — Jon’s 10-year-old daughter — came in under 3 hours at 2:54 and change. Jessica beat 2:00, and Cassie and Manny soundly beat 2:15. Sam ran 1:19, which wasn’t what he was hoping for but he seemed happy enough afterwards. I never did see Keith, though I see from his time that he finished right behind me. I saw Erica at the finish as well though I didn’t catch her time. In the marathon, Lance clocked 3:02 and change, Steve S came in around 3:53 and Steve B finished just a smidge over 4:00. Jon, Jessica and I then got to see Dalton, Holden, Dave, Joe, and Jen near the 25 mile mark. It was great to see each of them in turn, and see that they were going to make it to the finish! I also saw a couple non-HRB friends, including Erin and, later, Michelle. Michelle was having a lot of trouble with her knee, but she pulled through in the end!
I had a great run and another successful Houston Marathon & Half Marathon day is in the books.