Watch Time: 2:01:22
Official Time: 2:04:10
Pace: 9:29 min/mi
Comments: This did not go at all as I hoped. After the Cowtown Half Marathon last month I felt I could get a sub-two-hour race if I added a bit of distance. That wasn't the case. At all.
I got a 15 miler in two weeks ago and had been doing regular runs under the target pace I would need to hit for my time. I knew this course threw a few ugly hills into the mix but I hoped I could get ahead of the clock enough while mitigating the slowdown to make it. For the most part, I held to that strategy for the first half of the race.
The problem was the humidity. Temps got into the 70s during the race but the 90+ percent humidity made it a nightmare. I had sweat through my shirt by the first 5K and it didn't get better from there. The humidity zapped my energy as I tried to battle through the two big uphills and, like last month, I got to the final four miles with nothing in the tank.
Once again, I was just hanging on for the very end of this one. The battle was in not stopping and walking the end of it. So not only did I not reach my race goal, I finished a half minute slower than last race. Wonderful.
Conditions
Hour: 8:00 a.m.
Surface: asphalt/concrete/brick
Weather: cloudy
Temperature: 70 degrees
Humidity: 93 percent
Wind: callm
Location: Dallas, Texas
Shoes: Brooks Glycerin 15
Injury update: Left hip was unhappy the last four miles. My right Achilles Tendon was noticeably sore after the race. Chafing was a big problem.