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Houston Half Marathon

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Location:

San Antonio,TX,

Member Since:

Dec 13, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K PR - 18:01 - Nov '14

10K PR - 38:37 (workout) - Oct '14

Half-marathon - 1:22:43 - Jan '14

Marathon - 2:58:43 in Boston! - Apr '13

50 mile - 7:49:30 (2nd) - Nov '15

Short-Term Running Goals:

- Balance

- Run more trails, volunteer, more social running, run with a team

- Race a lot more.  learn.

Race results / possible schedule:

Apr 2 - Hells Hills 25k trail - 4th

Apr 9 - Toughest 'n Texas 20-mile Trail - 2nd

May 7 - Paleface - Trail Marathon - 3rd

May 29 - American Hero road 25k - 2nd

Jun 25 - Pedernales Falls 30k nighttime Trail - 5th (sick)

Jul 16 - Muleshoe Bend 30k nighttime Trail - 3rd

Jul 23-24 - Fossil Valley 9-hour nighttime Trail - 2nd

Aug 6 - Colorado Bend 30k nighttime Trail - 4th

Aug 27 - Reveille Peak 30k nighttime Trail (entered)

Sep 10 - Franklin Mountains 50k (entered - not all-out effort...I hope)

Sep 17 - Lighthouse Hill 20-mile trail (entered)

Sep 24 - J&J 50 mile trail

Long-Term Running Goals:

Compete in a few more ultras without going off course (again)

Sub-18 in a 5k

One.  Good.  Marathon.

Personal:

I started running at age 30, in late 2009.  I have 2 daughters (10 and 8 yrs old).

  

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony A5 Lifetime Miles: 1054.70
Kinvara 2 - Gray/red Lifetime Miles: 1551.08
Kinvara 3 - Gray/red Lifetime Miles: 1244.23
1160s Lifetime Miles: 888.70
Saucony A5 Red Lifetime Miles: 565.10
Saucony A6 - Yellow Lifetime Miles: 214.00
Saucony A6 - Red/blue Lifetime Miles: 61.50
NB MT101 Trail Lifetime Miles: 302.00
Fastwitch 6 Red #1 Lifetime Miles: 286.50
Fastwitch 6 Red #2 Lifetime Miles: 267.00
Race: Houston Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:22:43, Place overall: 57, Place in age division: 7
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.0013.1013.10

53F.  Really good race.  I thought if everything went perfectly, I could break 1:23, so I guess it did.

Miles 1-5: 6:23, 6:13, 6:15, 6:16, 6:20.  (Garmin splits today, forgot to turn off auto lap).  As you can see, it took a little while for me to find the magical 6:20 pace I was shooting for.  I really felt good today.  With all my recent track work at faster paces than this, it truly felt pretty easy; I mean, there's 13 miles so it better feel easy.  I came through the 5k a little fast, officially in 19:22.  By the end of the first 5 miles you could definitely see who there was to run with going the same pace.

Miles 6-10: 6:20, 6:19, 6:19, 6:18, 6:23.  These miles were awesome.  I found a group of 3 and latched on.  They all had Luke's Locker on their clothes, so I guess they were friends.  Jake gave me advice yesterday that helped - find a girl to run with because they are great at pacing.  There just happened to be one in this little group and they were deadlocked on 6:20...perfect!  I came through the 10k in 39:06, a little ahead of the plan.  Before mile 8, the two guys in the group peeled off on the full marathon route.  I went ahead and introduced myself to Luke's Locker girl, heretofore known as Kylee.  We stuck together through this section, right on pace!  Came through the 15k in 58:35, another great 5k split (19:29).

Miles 11-13.1: 6:15, 6:29, 6:22, 0:31 for .11 (4:42 pace).  Kylee went behind me a few steps somewhere in mile 11; I should have slowed down for her, but I thought I knew better.  Sure enough, that little pickup in mile 11 debilitated me in mile 12 and she dropped me there like a bad habit, ended up beating me by 8-10 seconds.  Turning the corner for the home stretch, this guy pulls up next to me and we had ourselves an all-out foot race to the end.  It was awesome.  Usually I just pick up the pace slightly at the end, but we were battling like crazy.  Dead even at the line, but he won on the chiptime.

Key takeaways1) That 2 x 5k workout continues to be a great HM predictor for me.  2) You can fake your way through a HM on low mileage if you have some good hard efforts in there.  3) Girls are smarter pacers than me.  4) I'm in great shape for Boston, but I've gotta run real mileage now, because you can't fake your way through that race.  5) I love my new age group!  7th of 721.

Saucony A5 Red Miles: 13.10
Weight: 0.00
Comments
From joebell1981 on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 13:12:09 from 99.39.133.24

Awesome, Joe!! Congrats on the PR!!

From Tracy on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 13:16:22 from 70.194.75.100

Fantastic race report for a fantastic race. I'd hardly call that faking your way through a half. That was the real deal!

From seeaprilrun on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 13:24:41 from 68.102.189.33

Not a faker! That was legit, with a legit PR,and your fitness is fantastic. With a little mileage that half-marathon speed is definitely gonna translate in Boston! Wow!

From Jake K on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 13:51:59 from 72.20.135.157

You nailed it Joe. Perfecto pacing - a 90 second PR! That's huge. Really happy for you. I could tell on the shakeout run yesterday that you were ready to kick butt :-)

From RileyCook on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 14:01:45 from 172.56.15.209

Awesome job Joe! Congrats on the pr.

I was hoping to run that easy run with you and Jake yesterday but the timing didn't quite work out, would've been nice to meet ya in person. But keep up the training and you'll have a great Boston

From Jason D on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 14:49:30 from 24.1.80.94

I was pleased to see your progress in my feed this morning, Joe. This is technically a 10k PR for you as well and I am also guessing a 15k PR, so there's that as well.

Plenty of time to build your mileage!

Well done and congrats.

From allie on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 15:40:28 from 174.23.134.136

way to go, joe. excellent race.

From Andrea on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 17:34:16 from 67.177.11.154

Congrats on a great race, Joe! Always good to get in a solid HM PR towards a marathon. Now get those miles in!

Jake said you were what he expected, so not sure if that's good or bad :)

From Matt Schreiber on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 18:59:02 from 66.17.102.185

I was pumped to see your results Joe! Great job today. Looks like everything went well for you.

Congrats on the race, and another great report.

From Josh E on Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 21:51:21 from 75.162.251.201

Nice pacing and pr Joe. You are setting yourself up for some real speed!

From flatlander on Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 09:42:31 from 76.31.9.237

Excellent race, Joe. You have this dialed in so well right now, really looking forward to watching you get ready for Boston.

From derhammer on Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 10:49:54 from 64.245.52.2

Sweet race - congrats. That's an awesome time.

From I Just Run on Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 16:56:42 from 67.79.11.242

Great job Joe!

From Rye on Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 21:37:16 from 75.174.29.196

Congrats Joe!

From Bam on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 07:27:58 from 89.126.28.24

Nice.

From Jake K on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 09:53:29 from 199.190.170.29

Look at this finish!!!

http://tinyurl.com/krot6u4

From SlowJoe on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 10:18:53 from 168.215.171.129

Jake - total time from your comment until my wife posted that picture on Facebook: 7 minutes.

Would you believe that guy actually leaned forward at the finish line, like they do in the 100m?

From seeaprilrun on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 11:29:47 from 68.102.189.33

That picture is the best, the best! Still in the orange shirt, airborne, grimacing, totally epic!

From Tracy on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 11:37:51 from 50.103.252.199

Sweet pic!

From Tom K on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 19:35:32 from 71.203.20.181

I'm stunned at the 10k PR thing Jason pointed out. Great race, Joe!

From SlowJoe on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 19:38:03 from 66.69.93.8

Should I be ashamed that the kid in that picture is 15 years old? Where is the age threshold of shame and pride when you are racing a kid? For example, if he were 18, I would be proud but if he were 11...shame.

From Andrea on Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 19:55:23 from 67.177.11.154

13 year old = shame http://goo.gl/LVGR1q

From SlowJoe on Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 04:48:53 from 66.69.93.8

Andrea - Oh yeah! Much shame there. I brought up the 11-year-old, because I saw this tiny kid (age 11) cross the finish line just a minute or two after me....whew. If it was a 5k, I'm certain he would've blown me away.

From Burt on Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 19:17:46 from 71.35.49.125

I hope the comment section hasn't been closed yet. Great job Joe, and I like your style. Moving in on Kylee after her two guys left her. She was totally on the rebound.

Andrea - If Jake said, "He was what I expected." and didn't say anything else, that's bad.

I can't believe you still wear that orange shirt! Well, I'm off to read Flatlander's SGM report. See ya.

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