The Aramco Houston Half Marathon was my 18th half marathon! I was nervous about this race, seeing how my longest run during my training was in early December (10 miles). I was supposed to run a half marathon in December, but woke up feeling sick. Sure enough, I ended up having a cold for the next 3-4 weeks. During that time, I barely ran– I had this persistent cough that would get worse while I was running! Before you know it, it’s 2 weeks before the race! The weather forecast showed that a cold front was coming in the day before with a prediction of 35 degrees at the start. Eeks! I haven’t had to run in the 30s in years!!
PRE-RACE: Woke up at 5:30am. I had already picked out my outfit, but was feeling uncertain and decided to do another google search on suggested outfits for the temperature. I ended up going with a Nike long sleeved top, New Balance running jacket, Athleta thermal running tights, Nike gloves, and my Under Armour head warmer. For breakfast, I had half a English muffin with half a banana, almond butter, and honey. It was already 6:00am so I didn’t want to eat too much 1 hour before the start! It was about 6:20am. I was cutting it a bit close – Corral B would close at 7:00am and I still had to find parking, walk to the convention center, and drop off my bag at gear check! So, I decided to just go to the Toyota Center garage and dish out the $20 for parking. From there, I jogged to the convention center, pinned on my bib, dropped off my bag at gear check, and rushed to corral B – I made it 1 minute before they were going to close the corral!
Miles 1-6: It was definitely feeling cold, so I let myself speed up just a little in the beginning to warm up. I had planned to have gels at Mile 4, 7, and 10. I haven’t attempted to eat a gel while running in a long time, so I walked, ate my gel, and drank water. The first half of the race felt pretty good. I ended up taking off my headband and my gloves, stuffing them into the pockets of my jacket. I did start to feel a little numbness in my toes, but nothing painful, so I just kept going.
Miles 7-13.1: Somewhere in mile 8, my back started to felt achy, although it didn’t occur to me to stop and stretch it until mile 10. I blame the concrete! The stretching actually helped a lot and I was able to speed up a little and have a fast last mile!
Splits:
Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 9:41
Mile 3: 9:38
Mile 4: 10:07
Mile 5: 10:32 <– gel
Mile 6: 10:11
Mile 7: 9:43
Mile 8: 11:41 <– gel
Mile 9: 11:28 <– retied shoes
Mile 10: 12:12 <– gel, stopped to stretch
Mile 11: 11:19
Mile 12: 10:41
Mile 13: 8:51
Aramco Houston Half Marathon
January 20, 2019
Time: 02:18:05
Pace: 10:32/M
Overall: 5673/12536
Female: 2548/7002
Division: 405/917
TANGLED SHOESTRINGS 