Ready to run the Houston Chevron Marathon

Sunday January 13th I will line up at 6:30 am with 20,000+ other runners as we wait to run the Houston Chevron Marathon and half. This will be my second year to run this Marathon. Last year I ran it as my second full marathon and finished with a 50 minute PR. Needless to say my first marathon was a hot mess, quite literally, San Antonio was hot and miserable in November 2011. So last year my Houston finish time was 4:39, which I was pleased with. This year I am hoping to beat that but not by much. My A goal is a 4:30. This weekend is quite jam packed with hosting a baby shower on Friday night, taking the Girl Scout troop to horse camp Saturday morning and headed to pick up my race packet Saturday evening and check in with my girl friends as we share a hotel room just blocks from the start line of the race.  The weather forecast is not looking good, as the chance of rain for Sunday morning keeps increasing.  The worry of blisters and cold wet mess is on the mind. Wishing much luck to all my fellow running buddies who will be towing the line with me Sunday morning.

Jingle Bell Run Recap

I big thanks to all the volunteers from Salvation Army, from Columbia High School NHS, from LJFAT, from Brazoria REACT, and all the others who came out and made the Jingle Bell Run such a huge success.  We had 119 registered for the 5K and 1 mile walk and 27 kids finish the 300 meter kids run.  With a fast finish, Xavier Jimenez took first place in men's division with a finish of 16:09.  Journey Hartung led the women's division with a finish of 20:11.  Sponsors of the race include BASF, Lone Star Bank, Krogers, Wal-Mart, TJ's Lube, Elite Appraisal, Chili's, Academy, Lowe's, and Bleu Roots Salon.  Santa Claus made a guest appearance and cheered our little runners on.

2012 Jingle Bell Race Results

San Antonio 2012 Race Report

We rocked it!  That's one way of describing the great time we had at the 2012 San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon.  San Antonio is an awesome city to visit and the over 50,000 visitors there all seemed to enjoy themselves.  We went to the Riverwalk Friday night and had drinks at MadDog.  Saturday morning we found Starbucks and then breakfast at Blanco Cafe, very yummy.  We headed to the expo to get race packets, check out the booths, and shop for running must haves. We talked to booths about our upcoming Jingle Bell Run and asked for participation.  We had reservations at Roses on the River at 7 pm and had some great Mexican food and Ritas.  Saturday night was an early bed time, so we could be ready to wake at 6 am.  We walked to the start line around 7 am and wished each other luck while we separated into the designated corrals. There were 33 corrals going off every minute.  I lined up in Corral 8 and stretched what little I could with a mob of people all around.  Our corral moved up and by 7:38 we were off.  The first mile was congested and slow as my garmin told me my pace was a 9:41.  The runners around me were not going the 9:10 pace I was hoping for.  I gentleman in his 70's came flying by me in a red ball cap and a red race shirt from 2009.  I decided to tuck in behind him and visualized a rubber band that encircled the two of us.  Mile 2 was a 9:24, mile 3 and 4 was a 8:56, and mile 5 was a 9:10 pace.  Somewhere after mile 5 I lost my running hero at a water stop and felt the heat and humidity affecting me.  Mile 6 and 7 were around a 9:25 pace, but after that I slowed even more.  Mile 8 and 9 were at 9:47, mile 10 picked up to 9:27, then mile 11 and 12 were 10:06 and 10:09.  I found Suzanne and we ran the last mile in together at a 9:43 pace, then the last .2 miles we attempted to sprint in at a 8:36 pace.  Overall time was 2:05:47.  I had hoped for my first sub 2 hour half marathon but new that the weather wasn't cooperating.  It was 80 degrees when I finished the race.  I got my medal, my food, and my free beer and headed to find my friends.  I videotaped some of the awards ceremony, and listened to country music star Jo Dee Mesina sing on stage.  She had run the half marathon and followed it by performing as the headliner at the concert just minutes later.  Fantastic.  I had a blast with the 14 friends that traveled to this race.  I think I prefer the smaller races with less participants but I had a great time overall.

  

Ready to Rock San Antonio

The San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon is this Sunday.  I will be running the half marathon.  I am really looking forward to a fun weekend with my gal running pals.  I've ran this race in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  It's a fun course with lots of crowd support and great stuff to see.  Running in front of the Alamo is amazing.  I ran the full last year which wasn't great as it got hot and boring, but the half is a good race.  I'm hoping I can break the 2 hour mark and PR at this race.  I don't think the weather is cooperating with that plan though.  I run much faster in very cool temps, if every race was in the forties, I'd be one happy runner.  So far the high this Sunday is the eighties, so it may kill any chances of a PR, but we will have to wait and see.

Race Report- Gator Run

A new half marathon PR of 2:01:25 and an age group award.  I am surprised and thrilled.  The Brazos Bend Gator Run was a great run, many thanks to Matt Ney and Powerhouse Pilates for putting on such a great event.  They had great race swag and yummy food, as well as hot coffee and hot cocoa as it was in the 40's and cold this morning.  I definately had a negative split at this race.  I started the race at a 9:45 pace and saw an 8:45 pace towards the end with an overall average pace of 9:16 min/mile which is much faster than all of my training runs.  January 27th they have an ultra- a 50K that I may have to go for.

Cold Front, why yes thank you

The first real cold front is blowing in today, and this one will hang around more than 24 hours.  Just in time for all the great races this weekend!  The Monster Dash 5K at MacLean park is 10/27 at 8 am.  I have 2 medals from prior years and won the costume contest last year.  League City has a 5K event on 10/27 as well.  I will be running the Gator half marathon on 10/28.  Looking forward to a low of 48 and a high of 60.  Between these three races, I have 350 flyers for our Jingle Bell Run going out in race packets so hope we have some additional participants sign up this weekend.