Chevron Houston Marathon 2010

Another one in the books! I came into this year's marathon with tempered expectations. My training was not nearly as consistent as I would have liked. I had only run one training run over 20 miles, instead of the three I had planned on. I didn't adhere to proper tapering schedules, I crammed a lot of long runs just weeks before. I felt so behind. I managed to string some solid runs together while training with my brother. I finished a 23 mile run the week prior just to give me some confidence (I know. I was supposed to be tapering!). We stayed downtown again, for the ease of getting to the starting line with a little extra sleep. The strategy paid off once again. I felt rested and ready to go. Less than a mile into the run, I noticed that my Garmin stopped tracking me. I fiddled with it trying to get it started again and lost about .60 miles of tracking. The malfunction threw my usual strategy for a loop. I couldn't rely on the pace slip as a reference and my readings weren't reliable. Then it dawned on me, this might be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it will be liberating to run without relying on the watch for once. It was. For the first 13 miles I kept between an 8:45 - 9:15 min/mile pace. I was with the 4:00 hr pace group for much of the race. Around mile 16 or so, I started losing them after some water breaks. I expected this so I wasn't worried. I was just happy that I felt as good as I did. My goal was to stay ahead of the 4:30 hr pace group which would bring me in around the same time as I did a year ago. After mile 19 I could feel my pace slowing. As I walked through a water station, a man with a Jamaican accent wearing an orange Hawaiian lei pats me on the back and says "c'mon, let's keep going. each step takes us closer." I smile and start kicking again. I say to him "alright. I'm with you, brother." I run with him for about a mile at an 8:00 min/mile pace, all the while knowing this could very well hurt my finish. I didn't care because I was having fun. After a mile, I decided I should conserve my energy for the remaining miles. I slowed back down to a conservative 9:20 pace. Around mile 21, I felt a hint of a cramp coming on in my right quad. I took a few breaks just to stretch it out. I hoped that it would buy me enough time to finish strong. Instead of stopping at only the water stations like I had been, I started stopping at each mile marker. I stretched each time I stopped. At mile 23, the cramps became more prevalent. My pace slowed considerably to a 10:30 min/mile. This is when the 4:15 pace group caught up to me. I ran with them for about a half mile before I had to stop again to stretch. With less than 3 miles left, I knew a PR was within reach. I just needed to hold it together for the final stretch. I pushed forward. At mile 25, I said a prayer as I usually do. I asked for strength and fortitude. I received it. At mile 26 I see my family. As always, it's the best feeling in the world. Their cheers give me what I need for the last .2 miles. I kicked hard to the end. My legs were like concrete at this point, but I kicked. In the end, I narrowly beat my best time by 11 seconds.

4 hours 19 minutes 41 seconds

Another one in the books. :)


P.S. I forgot to blog about my San Antonio run back in November. I finished the Half in 1:53. A few minutes slower than my Half PR.

P.S.S. A special thank you for my awesome family and wonderful wife for supporting me! I love you all!

Quick Update: Happy New Year Edition

My resolution is to stop making empty promises on my blog...

Here are the highlights since September:

- Asics DS Trainer 14 impressions - Pretty solid so far. I've probably run 200-300 miles in them so far and haven't had any problems. They feel a lot like the DS 13 with a little more polish. We'll see how they do in the next marathon (two weeks from today!).

- Batman: Arkham Asylum Review - Awesome all-around! The game exudes smart design and polish. It's rare that I play a game that is paced so well that I feel compelled to keep playing it to finish the story. This is how adventure games should be made. Ironically, it wasn't a game that was on my radar until the near it's release, but I'm sure glad I picked it up. I'm looking forward to finishing it on Hard.

- Scribblenauts - Clever game filled with charm and replay value. It has not disappointed, though I admit I haven't picked it up much since (mainly due to a blitz of huge releases though the holiday season).

- DJ Hero - Easily my favorite rhythm/music game now. The playlist is packed with great mixes that totally suite my music sensibilities. The gameplay is familiar but the interface breathes new life into the flooded genre. Unfortunately, it hasn't sold very well at all. Get out there and support this game!

- New Super Mario Bros. Wii - What a welcome entry into the Mario Bros. lineup. Classic 2D platforming at it's best. The cooperative mode is a great new twist although be warned if you're planning to play with your significant other. I can't tell you how many times my wife and I got mad at each other for causing the other person to fall to their death. And every time, we're just sooo certain it was done on purpose. (I swear, honey! I don't care how it looked, it's always accidental!)

- Left 4 Dead 2 - I had no intentions of getting the game, but then the trailer got me really hyped. I've played the first campaign twice and they're definitely not kidding when they say the difficulty has been amped up from "tough" to "ridiculous". I'd be playing this a whole lot more right now if it weren't for the next thing on this list...

- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Ahh, here's the where all my gaming time has been spent. Man, Modern Warfare 1 blew me away and I wasn't completely sold on all the new locales that was to be featured in this game, but now that I've experienced it I can honestly say it's the best CoD yet. The campaign is nearly as thrilling and twisted as the first Modern Warfare, though I'd probably give the edge to the first one because it impressed me so much. The campaign is equally short, but that's not where the game truly earns its keep. The multiplayer is fantastic! The new gameplay elements and tweaks have totally rebalanced things, particularly the addition of the Death Streak perk. I've logged about 30 hours in multiplayer so far and I can see no reason why this game won't dominate my 2010.

- Ireland - My wife and I went on a wonderful vacation to Ireland in December. We had an amazing time filled with castles, waterfalls, Guiness, blood pudding, and ghosts!! (more on that later) It truly is a gorgeous country and a place I'd highly recommend visiting.

- Other new game purchases - Lego Batman, Pure, Stranglehold, Quake Territories, Frontline, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Van Halen.