The Houston Marathon/Half-Marathon

Two Sundays ago, GPG and I ran, respectively, the Houston Marathon and Half-Marathon. For two schlubs who hadn't really trained a lick, I think we did very well. I'm actually very proud of GPG, who ran the full marathon with a cold he picked up in Germany, having only run about 14 miles for the longest practice run before the actual race. Just think what he could do if he trained up properly!

Unfortunately, I was suffering from jet lag from the trip to Germany, so I slept very poorly the night before. I also have developed a very skewed sense of temperature since moving away from Wisconsin, so here I am at the breakfast table, more tired than I'm letting on, and wearing way too much clothing:


When we showed up to the race, most people were wearing shorts and t-shirts or tank tops. I was wearing this long-sleeve shirt and leggings, proper for the forecast . . . that never materialized. It ended up being too warm for such clothes. Oh, well.

Here I am after my half marathon, quite sweaty and pretty worn-out:


I did okay, finishing in 2:07, but I was significantly slower than the first time I ran a half. But I don't think I had a bad showing for not really training at all.

GPG, though, did very well, although his "before" picture doesn't really look like it:


We ate Nutella on toast before the race: the breakfast of champions.

The Houston Marathon provides computers for families and friends to track the progress of runners. So I kept an eye on how GPG was doing, and I walked out a little bit when I thought he might be getting close to the finish line. I found him close to the end, in downtown Houston:


I ran with him the rest of the way, and he had a really strong pace going. I could barely keep up with him! So I think he ran a terrific race. Here he is at the finish line:


And here he is, cleaned up a bit, with his Finisher t-shirt on:


He looks very good having just run 26.2 miles, doesn't he? I'm very proud of him.

But I think I have only now just recovered from my own race. I actually didn't run after the half for five days, partly because of the bad weather in Austin, and partly because once school started I got very busy. But I ran 3 miles just this past Saturday, and I could tell that my legs were still tired! I ran again on Monday and still didn't have my usual energy. I guess one doesn't recover as quickly when one doesn't train.

I did enjoy the race, though, and I regret that I wasn't able to train up for the full marathon this year, especially since, as GPG's t-shirt indicates, it was the 35th anniversary of the Houston Marathon. I might try for the full again next year . . . if clerking for a judge proves to be less busy than law school. We'll have to see about that!