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Sunday, December 11, 2005

Another step...

I completed another step towards my goal. This morning, I ran the White Rock half marathon. By my watch, I ran it in 1:47.03. Official results haven't been posted yet, but I'll link to them when they are. It's about 8 minutes off my previous half marathon (you'll have to search for my name), but, hey, that was 6.5 years and at least twice as many pounds ago.

Edit- unofficial results have been posted- they have me at 1:47:04.

My knees felt great, but my calf tightened up part of the way through. I was able to run through it and it got better, but then it really tightened up about the last 3/4 mile or so. (I may need a follow-up appointment with my trainer.) I started out a little fast. It's very easy to do, when the adrenaline's flowing and there are thousands of people running around you, some passing you, some being passed. I slowed down though and ran a better pace in the middle of the race. I had enough energy left to speed up a little bit for the last few miles. It helped that these had a bunch of downhill, though. It gives me hope that I can do the full maraton in 4 hours, as long as I can stay healthy and stick with the training. Maybe I shoud try to qualify for Boston. 3:15. Ouch. Maybe not!

Just to give fuel to those (including my wife) who think I'm crazy for doing this- It was really fun! There were a ton of people along the route and some bands playing at various spots. I saw parts of Dallas I had never seen. There are some really nice houses along Turtle Creek- Wow! I just decided to make the most of it and say hi to the police officers and volunteers at the intersections, give high fives to random kids who had no idea who I was, and talk to a few of the runners along the way.

For those of you who really care, here are my splits...
Miles 1&2- 16:38
Mile 3- 8:04
Mile 4- 8:30
Mile 5- 8:25
Mile 6- 8:42
Miles 7&8- 17:58
Mile 8-8.9 (about, anyway- the route joined back up with the marathon course, so at the mile 22 marker, I had 4.2 to go) - 6:09
8.9-9.9- 7:57
9.9-10.9- 7:30
10.9-11.9- 7:48
11.9-12.9- 7:39
Then the last ~.2 were 1:39.

I was pleased with the way I ran. I'll probably run the Houston Half in January, then the real deal is in February!

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