26.2 miles. 4:10:12. Warm sunny day. Running without a long run under belt with being injured at New Year. But churned out 19 decent miles. Then cramped at 25. Happy to finish! Using Garmin on first major run. Switched auto-lap from training mode of each 1/2 mile to 1 mile to match the mile markers. GPS showed early in race 0.2 extra miles so the auto laps were out of-sync. Caused by not being able to take the best lines with amount of runners. Decided despite how crazy it looked to put on usual split timer watch as well and hit that at each mile marker. Saw I was hitting 8:53 pace for many miles despite the hills or water stops or how feeling.
With it being my 4th Houston marathon in a row this race was kinda routine. Except I was down on the long conditioning runs. I knew anything over 18 miles would be a struggle. But in the back of my mind I knew it would be just a case of toughing it out. I thought I was on top of the cramp situation as I'd cramped during some of longer workouts and new it was the warmest marathon I'd done. So took plenty of Gatorade - well - in small amounts consistently. Tried some electrolyte capsules I'd gotten from trail races. Also had a Gel at 14.5 miles. Was expecting a Gel to be handed out at mile 20 like in the past 3 years - but there was none. So no extra energy source for Allen Parkway hills. Instead had the beer and stopped to savour it. Definitely the highlight of the run. After a slow uphill mile on Allen Parkway (just in time for the photos!) I tried to kick up the pace on downhill for last mile. Bad move - cramp in both legs under Pierce elevated freeway. Had to stop and jump around awkwardly, causing concern for all! So then it was just a case of finishing without cramping stopping me run. Still wanted to "race" at the end - but cramp returned and it is a fun finish line video as a result.
So all things considered escaped a desperately bad run. Definitely nice to just complete after all the other preparation and know can tough it out on basic fitness without having to do marathon specific training. Oh. Decided to hang out with the 4 hour pacing group. Shame to see their main guy holding sign having issues 24.5 miles and not able to finish strong. Just shows each persons race is unique and personal despite camaraderie and team work.
