The Houston Marathon

Sunday I ran the Houston Marathon. I finally had some good luck at this event. Before I get into the details of the race I want to thank my family for coming out and watching me run. Thank you Alex, Jessica and Mary. It meant a lot to have you out there.

Now for the race. I woke up a little before 4am and I started fueling up for the race. Shortly after I woke up I stepped awkwardly on my left foot and my ankle and my Achilles tendon became very sore and I of course was very worried. This soreness would present some problems during the race.

We arrived to the race around 5:45am and as usual I was nervous. I was stretching inside the convention center and I just couldn't get my ankle feeling right. Around 6:45 am I headed out to the start line where I ran into Skyler who was running his first marathon. A little after 7am we were off. Initially Skyler pulled ahead of me and about a mile in he slowed because he felt his pace was a little too quick.

My ankle and Achilles were sore throughout the race but the pain was manageable initially. Skyler kept running at a good pace and were on target through 9 miles. At mile 11 which was around Rice University we ran into Dave Vega and he ran with us for a little bit. Skyler and I kept trucking along and at the halfway point we pacing at a time of 4:15:00. This was right where I wanted to be.

As we continued on from miles 13 to 20 the pain kept increasing but we seemed to be keeping our pace. My Achilles at this point felt like it was going to snap but I wanted to keep going. I knew I was going to make it when I reached Woodway because I knew that it was a straight shot to the finish line. As Skyler and I reached Memorial Park which was around mile 20 the pain really became intense and I really wanted to stop and walk. Thank God Skyler was there because I probably would have. This is also the point where the runners start to fall apart.

During the run up Memorial and through the park there were bodies everywhere. The heat was starting to increase and I know the pain was unbearable for most of the runners. As we continued up Memorial I pointed up the road to the Michelob Ultra stand I could not wait to get there. I downed a beer and it was the greatest beer I think I have ever had. Skyler and I motored on and we ran into Liz who gave us some Motrin that would have to get us through the race. I asked her why we did these things? She reminded that I am an Ironman. I accepted it and moved on. A few minutes later Skyler asked me the same question and my answer was because we are stupid.(sorry I was hurting) We kept moving along through mile 22, 23 and 24 walking for a minute here and there. We saw Dave again around mile 24 along with Heather and the rest of Skyler's family. At mile 25 we were walking and we ran into Nikki and Jonathan who ran the Half Marathon. At this point we started running again and Jonathan ran the rest of the way with us. We really picked up the pace at this point and the pain was excruciating. Skyler pulled ahead of me as we sprinted in to the finish.

My time was 4:24:59 which was around 3 minutes better than my previous PR. I am very happy that ankle held up and that I was finally able to have a good day at this event. I also want to thank Skyler for running with me. I don't think I would have done as well without him there.

As proud as I am of my own achievement I want to say that I am even more proud of all of the athletes that I coach that finished the event. With that said I want to give credit to Liz for getting most of these athletes started with endurance events but I had the honor of taking them to the next level. Nikki Vardeman just completed her second half marathon since joining the Lone Star Team and Skyler Moss just completed his first marathon. The Vellecas finished their first half marathon and even though they trained with the marathon team and our team I am sure our multi-sport training helped. Nikki Frank and Ashley Hester set PR's and Crystal had a great day as well. A week ago Lori Ivanoff finished her first half marathon and it was her longest run to date. And of course it was Norma's first half-marathon and I am very proud of her and this great accomplishment. I know she had a few injuries and she was still able to make it to the finish line. Congratulations to all who finished the event.

This is the first event of my 2009 schedule. I have a busy year and I am hoping that my body will hold up. Sunday I am riding the Frost Bike 50 so hopefully it will be another productive day.