Run WIld Half Marathon

The weather forecast for Sunday was up and down all week and although I wasn't ever worried about the weather, I was not prepared for a warm and muggy, humid morning...but you take what you get in weather. Since my last 3 races all started in the 20s and 30s (2 with rain!), I wasn't about to complain about the weather.

The course is one I have run twice before, and if I remember correctly I set a new PR each time. The course is run on roads starting on the west side of downtown Houston with an out and back 3 loop course. The course also ends up having a fair number of small hills as you go down 12 underpasses and back up again not counting a couple small inclines on the roadways.

I went out faster than normal and made myself hold back a bit, for which I would be grateful later. I had two main problems during the race, starting near mile 4 my right thigh felt as if it were on the verge of cramping up when I ran fast enough and my stomach started felling unsettled around mile 6. I fought off the cramping by following my training and trying to run a consistent pace that my leg would tolerate (miles 2 - 13 each fell within a 50 second pacing range range as I ran a consistent 9/1 run/walk) and I fought off the stomach issues by drinking more water and less Gatorade than normal.

In the end the consistent pacing worked well for me, and I was able to maintain the pace even though I was tiring over the last few miles. For the last 2 years I have been trying to get under 2:30 in the half marathon and never quite getting there having a PR of 2:31:24 from last December, but today's run finally yielded a different result as I finished in 2:26:45.