Texas MedClinic Half Marathon.......and a tower of beer!!

This last Saturday was another race day. I have to admit this one snuck up on me a little. I had been concentrating so much on the last two triathlons I did and doing shorter distance speed work, that before I knew it, it was race week. I was running the Texas MedClinic Half Marathon, and I hadn't done a run longer than 6.5 miles in a couple months. I wasn't too worried I just knew I wasn't going to be able to run it at the pace I would have normally hoped for.

I originally signed up for this race because it is 4 weeks out from my next Half Ironman and I figured it would be a good measuring stick of where my legs were at this point in my training. Although with the lack of long runs leading up to it, I knew I would just have to take it a little conservatively.

The race for the most part was pretty uneventful. The temperature wasn't hot, but it wasn't exactly cool either. It was decently muggy which made us sweat enough to wish they had set up the water stations a little better than they did. Normally in a race that distance you see them every mile. This one was about every 2 -2.5 miles.

I definitely could have used the extra water stations. The race was going well all things considering. I hit the halfway point in under an hour, and I was on pace to finish in between 2:00 and 2:05. About mile 11 the humidity caught up with me, or more specifically with my calves. Of course they started cramping up on me to the point where every couple hundred yards I had to stop and stretch them out because they were locked up. But in the end I was still able to finish this race in 2:10:30, and just under the 10 minute/mile pace I was shooting for.

It definitely gave me a little more confidence heading in to the Half Ironman in a few weeks, even though I know I still have plenty of work to do over the next few weeks.

All things considered I it was a successful race, so I thought in celebration I would treat myself to something special.....