Monday, February 23, 2009

Run Wild Half Marathon !!!

Few weeks back one of my friend from Rice talked me into running "Run Wild Half Marathon". I was happy to see few BCRR members (Kathy Mahon, Lara Allen, Cathy McGlohn, Rosie Schmandt, Deborah Touchy, Fred Steves, Hardeep Thind, Bonnie Jo Barron and of course me) running this race. Hardeep also ran Park to Park race the day before. This was one of the smaller races and less than 300 people participated in it. John Phillips was helping organize the race and his heater was much appreciated before the start of the race.

The race course consisted of three 4.37 mile loops on Allen Pkwy with few under passages making it nothing but flat. However, the weather conditions were perfect for racing and small running crowd made the experience much more fun. Overall, the race was very well managed. They had water/Gatorade stations every two miles. The "5th" mile marker was placed incorrectly because I ran mile 4-5 in 9:15 and 5-6 in 5:14.

I had failed to run 3:30 in Houston marathon and I went into this race to attempt 1:38 or less. Good weather conditions and plenty of rest/slacking after Houston marathon made sure my legs felt fresh and I ran my PR of 1:34:41. Surprisingly, I won my first age group award. Bonnie Jo Barron and Fred Steves also won their respective age group awards. After race party was fun with some food, hot/cold beverages (No beer) and free complimentary chair massage.

If half marathon is your favorite distance then this might be your race to set a PR. Look out for this race next year.



All photos: courtesy of www.raceshots.net

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on your run. It was not the easiest course with the strong head wind, so you are to be commended on your performance. (BTW- where are my illegally downloaded race pictures?)

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  2. Great run. I predicted at G-man that you'd run 1:35. Heck of a run 13.1 at almost 7 minute a mile. Outstanding.

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