This race is part of the HARRA race series, which means
there are quite a few serious runners and track clubs at the race. I’m not sure if I’ve been out of the Houston
race scene for so long or if it was this particular race, but I didn’t
recognize anyone at this race.
My original goal was to treat this as a fast long run and
practice running while bringing in a fair amount of calories. I never really intended to run it as a
race. The plan was to drink Gatorade at the
water stations, eat a cliff bar at mile 4 and the sport jelly beans at mile
8. For the most part I followed my plan,
minus the “not racing it” part. I’m glad
I ran it hard.
This race was a test of your mental toughness. The course was almost a boring as running on
a treadmill. If said treadmill
was in a white room with no TV or radio. There was almost zero fan
support, just one little girl sticking her hand out for a high five. The course was mainly roads down vacant lots
or multi-lane highways. The water
stations were great and the volunteers did a great job of letting you know
where the water/Gatorade was and which you were grabbing.
Overall it was good race for me, it was much hotter than I
expected, but I still performed about as good as I could have hoped. My splits were even, only 20 seconds difference
between fastest and slowest mile. About
mile 8.5 I had a lack of concentration for about 5 minutes, which led to two
miles being at near an 8 minute pace. My
last mile was my fastest, but just barely.
Final time 1:18:14, finishing 17th in my age group (out of 51) and 133 place
overall (out of 734). Next up: Houston Half Marathon.
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