Even though I am not a fan of Houston, I am glad I participated in the Compaq Houston Marathon.
I happened to be working out at Compaq the week before and the week after the marathon. I think they had about 200 of their employees participate including the CEO, Michael Capellus. There was even a pep-rally the Wednesday before for all the runners!
It was a pretty cold start but I was better prepared than last year at Motorola. I wore lots of layers and cranked up the heat in the car (suffocating my brother and cousin who were driving me). It was good being able to hang out inside the Convention Center right before the start. Actually, I spent all my time inside waiting for the restroom. It was about 7:15 when I headed outside. My family was already waiting for me at the women’s start so I pealed off some of my layers and threw them at my mum. At the women’s start there was a pacer guy holding a 3:45 sign so I stood by him. I was going to try and run 3:40 but didn’t want to start out too fast. Apparently, the 3:40 pacer was actually starting with the guys, which didn’t make much sense to me. The start was fun and I was talking to a girl from Chicago who also wanted to finish in 3:40. She was telling me about the Chicago marathon and that there were 40,000 runners, which is quite different from only 5,500 marathoners at Compaq. Took us only 20 seconds to cross the start and it had taken her 6minutes at Chicago. The Chicago chick left me soon after mile one. At about mile 6, I ran into Peter while getting water. It was good to see him and have some company for a while. The crowds were fun and were very receptive to any kind of enthusiasm from the runners. So I was cheering “Texas” while running through the crowds. We saw my family again at mile 8. It seemed like everyone was cheering for Peter as we ran through the crowds, and then later we came to realize that there was a guy running in front of us with his name, Peter, written on his shirt! For about six miles I was running beside a lady wearing a huge red, polka dotted cowboy hat, which got a lot of positive responses from the crowds and I later saw her on the news. I felt good till about mile 18 when I started to lose energy. I’m not sure why because I was taking gu and other junk along the way. Perhaps I didn’t eat enough the day before. I felt like I was picking up the pace when actually I was slowing down. I had “hit the wall.” At mile 20 I was getting a little discouraged but the crowds were great and were cheering me on and occasionally I found strength to through up my arm and give them a “hook ‘em horns!” It was a lot warmer at this point but also windy. I passed by the Miller Lite guy at mile 23 who was trying to get people to drink beer, but I learnt my lesson from last year and thought to myself I’ll drink some tonight! At about mile 25, when I knew the finish clock was approaching 3:40, I was disappointed but decided that I should at least try and finish in 3:50. So I found the strength to pick up the pace for the last mile and finished strong in 3:49:11.
I felt really dizzy when I finished and had to have a guy take me to water. Then I went to the food, which I couldn’t eat. Breakfast tacos were not appealing at this time. The set-up of the start/finish areas of this marathon was not as well organized as Motorola. It was hard to find stuff (like fruit and the finishers T-shirts) and they kept non-runners separated from the runners. BUT, there was a much needed and appreciated free massage!
I recovered really well. (Much better than my previous two marathons) I highly recommend a little stretching, walking around, and a massage after the marathon.
The guy who won the marathon, Drew Prisner, works at Compaq and it was his FIRST marathon. I saw him on the news and was very impressed that a guy who focuses on 5K’s & 10K’s and with the body of a sprinter won the marathon. His time was 2:28. Amazed by him, I decided I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to look him up and call him! I called and congratulated him and had about a 15 minute phone conversation. No date though! Ha! He was a very friendly, positive cool guy. He said determination and a positive mind is all it takes. I asked him all kinds of questions about his training, diet, plans for the future, etc. I suggested that he run Motorola sometime, which he sounded interested in.
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