For Whom the Dogs Bark

Texas Half Marathon

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Location:

Cypress,TX,

Member Since:

Oct 10, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 24:22 (March 2010); 22:33 (October 2010); 20:47 (May 2011); 21:05 (May 2012); 21:33 (September 2012); 21:23 (November, 2013); 22:31 (September 2014)

5M: 39:22 (November, 2012); 35:54 (November, 2013); 36:03 (March, 2015)

10K: 44:08 (November, 2010); 49:20 (July, 2013); 44:07 (April, 2015)

12K: 56:03 (December, 2013); 58:58 (December, 2014)

10M: 1:11:58 (October, 2012); 1:15:24 (October, 2014)

Half Marathon: 1:53:xx (London's Run 2010); 2:05:21 (Cowtown 2010); 1:37:04 (Gusher 2011); 1:42:19 (Huntsville 2011); 1:33:47 (Baytown Jailbreak 2012); 1:33:50 (The Woodlands 2012); 1:42:52 (Texas 2015); 1:49:17 (Jailbreak 2015); 1:38:34 (The Woodlands 2015)

25K: 2:01:47 (Fifth Third River Bank, May 2014)

Marathon: 5:51:35 (Texas Marathon 2009); 6:21:36 (Ogden 2009); 4:58:29 (St. George 2009); 4:13:45 (Texas Marathon 2010); 4:04:12 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2010); 5:11:14 (Hartford ING, 2010); 3:41:43 (Richmond SunTrust, 2010); 3:39:27 (Texas Marathon 2011); 3:41:46 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2011); 3:30:35 (St. George 2011); 3:41:51 (Richmond 2012); 3:49:15 (Texas 2013); 3:46:59 (Paavo Nurmi, 2013); 3:34:04 (St. George 2013); 3:49:51 (Texas 2014); 3:31:59 (Richmond 2014); 3:28:34 (Boston 2015)

Short-Term Running Goals:

3:20, 1:30, 0:20

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'm 60, there is no long term.

Personal:

I live, work and run in Houston, Texas. I have run 17 marathons, some good ones and some others. I prefer straight, flat, cold, sea-level marathons, still waiting for my first one. I feel like there are more PRs out there. When I have them, I am told it is time to dial it back, run for healthy reasons. I'm sure that's right, and I'm sure it won't happen.

My wife and I are from the mountains of the west. We have five kids, three granddaughters and three grandsons. The kids and grandkids are native Texans but we are not -- you have to be born here.

As for my blog title: I run most of my miles before sunrise, sometimes hours before. On the back road of my neighborhood two hours before daylight, I can depend on a pack of mutts behind the boundary fence lighting up when they hear my footsteps. I have wondered what they wanted; but according to Hemingway I needn't ask.

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Fri, Jan 01, 2016

Race: Texas Half Marathon (13.11 Miles) 01:38:54, Place overall: 13

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	0.00	13.11	0.00	13.11

46F, cloudy, N 10 mph. Ran the Kingwood Half Marathon today. Woke up two hours early after not much sleep, just because that's how I do it. Took two Ibuprofen to ward off knee pain, and ate a small breakfast, no dairly or citrus. Wade and I drove out together, planned to run together but he took off because he was having an unexpectedly good day, beat me by about 1:20 and got 11th place overall. I did better than I expected as well, and had fun racing someone in the last few miles. She started catching me at mile 9.5. I knew I was a dead man, because I am not a fast finisher. But it was fun holding off the inevitable as long as possible. I talked to her afterwards. She was a nice lady and not all that young (50, as I look at the official results), though I didn't offer that particular compliment. Then I ate a piece of pizza. Then I drove home and packed the Christmas decorations. The holidays are now over.

Splits: 7:39 (152), 7:32 (164), 7:35 (167), 7:49 (167), 7:40 (169), 7:52 (170), 7:41(169), 7:37 (168), 7:47 (167), 7:58 (166), 7:57 (166), 7:43 (172), 7:40 (173), HR average 176, max 176. 7:33/mile based on a full 13.11 miles. But the split times are high because the course measured short. Wade and I aren't sure if it really is short or because it is a winding path mostly through the trees. I measured 12.85 and he measured 12.9. Usually we aren't that far off of each other, which is why I think the trees impair the measurement. But if my 12.85 is correct, I averaged 7:42 instead of 7:33. Pretty slow race, my PR at this distance would have given me 3rd overall. Official placement is 13th out of 276.

Comments

From SlowJoe on Sat, Jan 02, 2016 at 10:19:51 from 45.18.50.53

Solid race, Flat. Hopefully 2016 brings more opportunities for consistent training!

Smart move to hold off on that lady's compliment..."wow, you're really fast considering how old you are!"

From Dan on Sat, Jan 02, 2016 at 12:26:50 from 71.72.159.140

You are wise. Holding a compliment back like that will allow you to run future races. Nice race! My Garmin always is short when I do trails or around trees so I bet it was a legit 13.1.

From Tom K on Sun, Jan 03, 2016 at 19:55:32 from 174.58.54.215

It wouldn't be new years if you weren't racing, Flat! Well done. Exactly how does one frame that compliment? "Have you always been fast?" No, that's no good. "I usually run around with women half your age." No, that's awful. I've got nothing. You are a wise man.

From flatlander on Mon, Jan 04, 2016 at 05:30:12 from 76.31.29.220

Thanks for the validation, guys, who says we are not cautious. I'll come up with a suitable prize to whoever figures out an acceptable compliment, though by then she may be 51.

From Dan on Mon, Jan 04, 2016 at 16:38:44 from 71.72.159.140

So what's that, jaguar hunting?

From allie on Mon, Jan 04, 2016 at 17:51:55 from 24.99.46.55

she still has 10 years left to set long term goals. maybe you could have said something along those lines. next time.

nice job on the race and happy new year.

From derhammer on Tue, Jan 05, 2016 at 13:35:01 from 64.245.52.2

Nice race and congrats!

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