HMSA 25k Race Report

After my disappointing San Antonio RnR Marathon I was itching to run another race to redeem myself. I so happened to be in Houston visiting my brother before he left to go to Cozumel for his IronMan. When we arrived at his place he mentions that the HMSA 25k was tomorrow morning and would Willie, my other brother, and myself like to run it? I knew the temps for the race were pretty much optimal for a PR and I wanted redemption for my awful performance at the SA RnR marathon. I told him I was in.

We wake up early next morning so we could go do race day registration. While waiting for the 7:30 start my brothers and I discuss racing strategy. I tell them that since I've been pacing others for my last 2 half marathons I wanted to break 2 hours for 13.1 miles and also run the 15.5 miles in 2:15. With the temps starting off in the mid 40's I had no doubt in my mind that I could hit my goals. After some more waiting, a stop at the port-o-johns and couple more cups of water we head to the starting line and wait for the start of race.

THE COURSE
The course was a 3 looped course on Memorial Drive with each loop being about 5 miles. Hydration stations were stationed about every 2 miles.
 

 

MILES 1 - 5 (8:59, 8:40, 8:40, 8:44, 8:54)

I'm running along with my brother Wilie to start off. There is lots of swerving going early on as it is pretty congested just like many other race. After the first mile though things start clear up and we are able to run without too much zigzagging. I'm running pretty comfortably at an 8:35 - 8:45 pace but was worried I wouldn't be able to keep this for the 15.5 miles so I was actively trying to slow myself down hence the 5th mile being an 8:54 split.

MILES 6 - 10 (8:31, 8:43, 8:38, 8:48, 8:45)

Feeling good after the first loop, I know I only have 2 more loops to go! This is where my brother John, who was taking it "easy", passes me up and tells me I'm looking good and to keep it up. I attempt to stay with him for a bit but he's flying off at a sub 8 pace so I back off and stick to my race plan. Everything is still feeling really good and I know that I'm on pace to run a sub-2 half marathon if I kept doing what I was doing. 

MILES 11 - 13.1 (8:32, 8:44, 8:39)

 

I make the turnaround and look down at my watch at 13.1 and see a time of 1:54 and some change. Boom! An unofficial half marathon PR by 8 minutes! I do a little happy dance in my head and keep on running cause I still have 2.4 miles to go!

MILES 14-15.5 (8:38, 8:43, 8:10(0.55))

I considered these last 2.45 miles my "victory loop" but that did not mean that these miles were easy for me. My body was feeling the pounding from the last 13.1 miles and had not yet fully recovered from the marathon just 7 days earlier.  I had to shake off all those feelings so I could still reach my goal of finishing in 2:15.  After one last little hill it was a straight away to the finish line. I give it one last push with the help of the cheering crowds and sprint to cross the finish line with a new 25k PR!

I finished in 2:15:08 getting a new 25k PR by 20+ minutes. I actually don't think I could have raced it better than what I did that day. I was 37th out of 79 in my AG and finished 412 out of about 1200 runners. Not too shabby for an impromptu race.

SPLITS: 
8:59, 8:40, 8:40, 8:44, 8:54, 8:31, 8:43, 8:38, 8:48, 8:45, 8:32, 8:44, 8:39, 8:38, 8:43, 8:10(0.55)

Sub 2 for 13.1 miles: CHECK
25k in 2:15 CHECK

Redemption is mine.

I've been using low-fat chocolate milk as a recovery drink after many if not all of my training runs. It's probably the best and tastiest way to provide your body with the calories, hydration, carbs, proteins, and vitamins that your body needs in order to refuel itself after the punishment that you've put it through. You can try many of the other recovery drinks out there but I find low-fat chocolate milk to be cheaper and the fact that it has the perfect ratio of carbs to protein all in one bottle just makes it the best choice for me.

Do you want to join me on Team REFUEL? Check out this website to apply: http://gotchocolatemilk.com/getsponsored/apply

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