Houston Half Marathon

Today I am home nursing my aching muscles-and trying to keep up with two kids who did not run 13.1 miles yesterday. So, that's working out well. But, yesterday I did this:

Pretend this is an action shot-I missed my husband the first time and had to double back about a half mile-whoops!

Woo-hoo, another 1/2 marathon done! I wasn't planning on running this race and I wasn't sure about running since I haven't been able to get any long training runs in lately. Before the race I only ran 4 miles-oops. Not the smartest idea. (In my defense, it was a last minute decision. I'm not usually this stupid!...Usually) BUT, I knew it would be good to run the distance in prep for my Austin 1/2, plus the race was in town, so I knew the course and knew it wouldn't be too difficult to run.

Things I have learned about running half marathons so far (in all the 2 I've run, Ha!)

1) Bring napkins, tissues, and hand sanitizer for pit stops. (I ended up making two pit stops and was glad I had the emergency provisions!).

2) Sparkle skirts are an awesome way for your husband to (eventually) find you on the course-but it is better to describe what you are wearing BEFORE you pass him and have to back-track! Oops. Of course mine is Orange-duh!

3) Yurbuds are awesome. My previous earbuds fell out of my ears all.the.time and it was so annoying. These stay put and you can carry on a conversation while running. Awesome.

4) The Houston Marathon is a VERY well run race. The spectators are everywhere and really make running much easier. I would run this race every year IF I get a number.

5) Those last 2 miles suck.

6) Best signs on the race: "Worst Parade Ever," "Run a Better Race than Perry."

7) Also, apparently I need to take off my warm headband before taking pictures, yeesh.

It wasn't all rosy race stuff, as I was running the last 3oo meters of the race, I ran by a medic team giving another runner chest compressions. I've seen it a couple times before, but you never get over the finality of that effort. What a sad thing to happen; you just know that he had seen his family, maybe they were waiting in the reunion area, just a few yards away, ugh. I was so glad to read that the paramedics were able to revive him on the way to the hospital.

Now, to get ready for the Austin 1/2 and this time actually run enough beforehand!