Location: Minute Maid Park to Hermann Park
Distance: 5 miles
Chip time: 55:36
Splits: [to be entered later, when I get back to my watch]

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Location: All over Houston
Distance: 26.2, yo!

Splits:
6.2 mile: 1:14:04 (avg 11:56 min/mile)
13.1 mile: 2:39:48 (avg 12:11 min/mile)
18.6 mile: 3:52:46 (avg 12:30 min/mile)
Final: 5:45:55 (avg 13:12 min/mile)

Average Heart Rate: 171
Max Heart Rate: 236 (can’t be right)

Calories: 4,046 (!!!)

Pre-race jitters:

Following a fitful night’s sleep, I arrived at GRB at 6am. Paid $10 to park near the finish line - a bit high, but I figured my legs would appreciate a short walk back to the car after the Marathon. Grabbed my trusty endurance bag, and headed into Hall A.

The minute I walked into GRB, I felt the energy in the air. Thousands of people were crammed inside the convention center crowded around running club tents, standing in line for the portacans, going through stretching rituals, etc. I wandered through the crowds and found Sarah, Jessica and Jon at the Houston Running Bloggers meeting spot. After a little check-in, Jessica and I headed over to the bag drop off and the port-a-can line (which was HUGE)….and then we headed out towards the starting line.

The minute we stepped outside, my excitement and nervousness kicked into high gear. It was chilly outside, but I hardly noticed. Jessica was running the Half, so we wished each other good luck and went to our respective starting corrals. As I walked through the Marathon starting area, I kept running into people I had either trained with or met at races during the season - we’d exchange hugs, and excitedly wish each other good luck. Awesome.

I was stretching when I spotted Holden wandering through the crowd. I told him about how I kept waking up in a panic, thinking I had missed the start of the Marathon…..and he said he had experienced the same thing! Hilarious. I’m sure we weren’t the only runners out there that morning who had the same nightmares.

At 7:00am, the gun went off and the Marathon began!! We were near the back and it took about 6 minutes to reach the starting line. Holden said he hoped there was a water stop on the way to the start since we were so far away. I was so excited, I started jumping just as we approached the starting line.

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Location: Toyota Center and back
Distance: 3.1
Time: 32:33
Mile 1: 10:55 (had to guess the mile marker)
Mile 2: 10:25
Mile 3 + .1: 11:12 (didn’t see mile 3)
Average Pace: 10:28 min/mile

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This particular race report isn’t going to be as thorough as my other ones….partly because I really, really want to put on some SalonPas and take a nap, but mostly because today was my worst race to date and rehashing it isn’t going to be much fun.

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TXU Energy Turkey Trot 10K

Location/Route: Uptown Park/Tanglewood
Distance: 10K
Time: 1:04:07
Mile 1: 10:24*
Mile 2: 10:24*
Mile 3: 10:32*
Mile 4: 10:32*
Mile 5: 10:32*
Mile 6: 9:50
Last .2: 1:45
(* = average)
Avg Pace: 10:19
Avg Heart Rate: 178
Max Heart Rate: 209

Race Report:

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Finally, my full 25K race report.

By the way, thanks for all the encouraging comments on my quickie race report. I ::heart:: Houston runners. And Laredo Taqueria.

Chip Time: 3:20:58
[Average] Pace: 12:58
Heart Rate: 170 - 193
Mile Splits: Let’s just say they were an excellent example of positive splits. heh.

Race Report:

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On Sunday, I ran my first 20K race.

The Koala Health and Wellness Centers & Luke’s Locker 20K (managed by the fabulous Houston Striders), the first of three races that comprise the Warm-Up Series for the 2006 Houston Marathon.

This was the longest official race I’ve ever done. I’m so glad I got through it.

And after struggling (mentally and physically) through last month’s 12 mile training run, and even contemplating switching to a run/walk strategy for the Marathon, I ran the entire 12.4 mile course non-stop….and beat my target time by 8 minutes. Yay!

My results:

Chip Time: 2:22:36
Pace: 11:30 min/mile
First 10K: 1:13:21
Second 10K: 1:10:26

Race Experience:

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