| Location: Springtown,TX,USA Member Since: Feb 02, 2009 Gender: Male Goal Type: Age Division Winner Running Accomplishments: Firsts:
- First marathon - White Rock, Dallas, December 2005 (4:01)
- First BQ - St George, 2007 (3:20)
- First Boston - 2008 (3:30)
- 1st Place Clydesdale - Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon - 4/2007
- 1st Place Ultracentric 6-Hour Champ 2007 - 38.75 miles
- 1st Time Leading Pace Group, Cowtown '09 (3:39:41)
- 1st Place Overall, Porcupine Promenade 5K (20:10) - 4/2011
- 1st Trail Race. Grasslands Half Marathon. 1st Overall Masters (1:53) - 3/2013
- Leadville LT100 MTB '16 - on a mountain bike, but the toughest challenge, so far!
Marathons Run (27):
- Dallas White Rock ('05, '07,'09,'14)
- Chicago ('06, '08)
- OK City Memorial ('07)
- St George ('07,'09,'11)
- Waco Miracle Match ('07)
- Ft Worth, Cowtown ('08, '09,'10,'11,'12,'13,'15**)
- Boston ('08 '09*, '10, '13)
- Park City ('08)
- San Antonio Rock 'n Roll ('08)
- Steamboat ('09)
- Utah Valley ('10)
- Houston ('12)
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* - PR
Ultras (3):
- Ultracentric 6-Hours ('07 - 38.75 mi)
- El Scorcho 50K, Ft Worth (('08, '09)
PRs:
- 5K - 19:27 (6/2008)
- 10K - 41:49 (5/2008)
- 15K - 1:04:14 (9/2011)
- Half Marathon - 1:33:12 (1/2011)
- Marathon - 3:19:47 (Boston 4/2009)
- 50K - 4:35:53 (7/2008)
Short-Term Running Goals: Keep injury-free.
2016 Races
Ft Worth Cowtown Half Marathon Long-Term Running Goals: Be age-group competitive for many years!
Have fun running!
Make some great friends along the way! Personal: Married to the same wonderful woman since March 1988. 3 adorable kids.
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| | Race: |
Houston Marathon 2012 (26.2 Miles) 03:29:40 | | Slow miles | Fast miles | Total Distance | | 26.20 | 0.00 | 26.20 |
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When I signed up for the Houston Marathon a few months back, I only did it because it was to be held on the same weekend as the 2012 Olympic Trials. This is the first time that both the men's and women's competition for the three spots to represent the US in London, were to be held in the same city at the same time. And it was just the carrot I needed to sign up for Houston.
I hitched a ride with my friend John for the 4 hour drive to Houston. John, who was planning to run his second marathon, BQed on his first attempt.
Houston was my 22nd marathon. I was going to Houston with little expectations (or pressure) for my performance. I had already BQed for Boston 2013 at St George in October, so I had that monkey off my back. My next important race is at the end of February where I'll be pacing the 3:40 group for the 4th straight year at Cowtown in Ft Worth.
On Saturday, John and I woke up early to go watch the Olympic Trials. The men started at 8:00 made a 2.2 mile loop which went right past our hotel. It was awesome! I took literally hundreds of photos from various spots along the route. I'll have to weed out the bad ones and post the rest sometime. Watching these elites of the elites is something I'll never forget. Very cool!
 - Near the start of the trials
- mini-1_Trials2.jpg (110.18 KB) Not viewed yet
 - Past midway point
- mini-1_Trials7.jpg (165.91 KB) Not viewed yet
My buddies, Dave, Tom, and Tom's wife Anne arrived Saturday afternoon. Along with John, and his daughter (who is studying at Rice University) went to dinner at a nice pizza joint. Dave and I shared a large Chicago-style, deep-dish, spinach and garlic pizza, and lots of water. We were stuffed.
After dinner, I prepped my clothes for the morning, climbed into bed and watched Tebow lose to New England...and drifted off to sleep around 9:00ish.
Up at 5:30, walked about 3/4 mile to the Convention Center, took a few photos, and dropped our bags. It was game time!
My plan was to run about 3:30, while keeping an eye on my heart rate. In many of my marathons, I get caught up in the moment, feel great, and run way to fast, way too early..then crash and burn. As Houston was going to be flat, it would be a great place to try this experiment. I was planning to keep my HR in the low 140s for the first 10 miles, then upper 140s for the 2nd ten miles, then if I had anything left I would finish in the 150s.
The weather was perfect on race morning. about 40F, very little breeze, partly cloudy skies. I wore shorts, short-sleeved shirt (I had forgotten my singlet --thanks John for the loaner!), running cap, sun-glasses, and gloves. The race started precisely at 7:00. As I took a last minute stop at the POPs, I started way at the back of my wave and crossed the starting line around 7:05.
The first few miles were slow as planned. I spent a lot of time on the sidewalk, or running around slower runners. I crossed the 1st mile marker in about 8:45. Not bad...HR was around 136. I picked it up slightly from there, and enjoyed the ride. I didn't look at my pace again until the half split (1:45:03). Right on schedule.
I came up behind my buddy, Tom Murray at around 5 miles (I think, it's all a blur). We must have started close together as our overall paces were only a few seconds apart. We chatted for a bit, tried to run together briefly, then I lost track of him.
The crowd support was very impressive. There were very few spots along the route where there weren't crowds of people, cheering, holding signs (my favorites with "This is a Boring Parade!" and "GO ").
Houston runs a simultaneous half and full marathon. There are separate starting lines, then they merge at around mile 2. The half marathon turned off at around mile 9 -- things got quieter for a little while.
A mile after the split we went by Rice University I saw John's daughter, standing all alone cheering on the runners. I gave here a quick sweaty hug then kept going, just as Tom passed by. I ran with Tom for a few more minutes...as we got doused by a priest with water shaken from a Rosemary branch...then I said out loud "Did I miss the Half Marathon turnaround?" I guess I sounded convincing, as another runner asked if I was serious. I still had my sense of humor near the half-way point -- I knew I'd have a good day.
I lost Tom again around mile 14, as we climbed an overpass (the only real hills on the course). Pretty soon my buddy, Dave came up behind me. I was surprised. He was going for 7:40s and I was sure he was a few minutes ahead of me. Dave had to make a pit stop, and let me know he was feeling tired. I just kept with my plan and steady pace, and soon lost Dave.
At the 20 mile mark I felt pretty good. A group was handing out balloons, so I took one and tied it to the back of my bib belt. For the rest of the race, I always felt like someone was right on my heels! When the balloon started to pass me I knew there was a tail wind, or I was going too slow!
My heart rate was now around 150, but I was still hitting splits around 8:00. I felt good, but decided to keep it steady all the way in, so that I wouldn't have a long recovery, as I needed to be recovered and ramped back up before Cowtown in 5 weeks.
The last few miles were wall-to-wall people. I could see the convention center where the finish was, from about a mile away. Having walked the last mile a few times in the past couple days, I knew exactly what was left. I kicked it up a little bit, got the heart rate up to about 162 and crossed the finish line feeling great! 3:29:40...a negative split!!! (my 2nd of 22 marathons run)
I collected my medal, took a photo, and waited for my buddies to come in. John had already finished in an amazing 3:20:58, Tom finished in 3:36, and Dave finished in 3:39 -- all PRs. It was an excellent day. We couldn't have asked for better weather!
 - Tom Murray, Dave Chase, Marc Elliott, John Studebaker
- mini-1_Marathon_01.jpg (118.3 KB) Not viewed yet
For our entry, we got:
Cotton short-sleeved event shirt
Finisher's Medal (shaped as a 40, celebrating the 40th running)
Finisher's technical long-sleeved shirt
Commemorative 40th anniversary glass etched mug
Hot post-race breakfast
Splits are here
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