The fast club...

This was a weekend filled with running. It was a weekend all about the fast club and 13.1 miles.

When it was announced a couple of weeks ago that Olympian Ryan Hall would be running in the National Half Marathon Championship held in Houston this weekend, I told K about it and made it clear that I wanted to go. K provided just the right response, "Okay, we'll see how we can make that happen." Sometimes I really love that boy. So, we headed down to Houston on Friday after work and walked just a couple of blocks from our downtown hotel to see the race on Saturday morning. The race was held on a loop course, which included an out and back on one section, so it was quite easy to see the runners multiple times without having to go very far.

K opted for a short run over to see the race start at the Convention Center while I was ready and waiting to see the leaders breeze through mile 1 in about 4:40 or so.

The lead pack of men followed by the main pack at mile 1

Here come the women

They headed back in the same direction after the turnaround so we saw them again a little after mile 4.

The lead pack making one of the much griped about turns on the course

One block over and we were able to see them after they came out of the aid station after mile 6.

Smyth making a move coming out of the aid station

Then, we headed over to see the finish. And, what a finish it turned out to be. Hall pulled away shortly before the 13 mile mark and it appeared that he had the win over the other 2 runners who were still with him at that point. However, there was a sharp right-hand turn into the finishing straightaway where Mo Trafeh made a move past him in the corner. Trafeh held on to win the race in 1:02:17 while Hall finished second in 1:02:20.

Trafeh made his move coming around the corner onto the final straightaway into the finish

 

A couple of Rogues also put in great performances: Scott MacPherson finished 7th overall in 1:04:02 and Erik Stanley finished in 1:07.

Much was said about the course, which was a preview of the course for the Olympic Marathon Trials next year. It seemed that some of the runners weren't happy with the several sharp turns on the course. It will be interesting to see if the course changes at all based on that feedback.

Runner's World coverage of the race is here.

Then, today was the 3M Half Marathon in Austin on a warm, muggy morning. Not ideal weather conditions to take advantage of the PR friendly downhill course. For me, today was all about supporting K in one of his goal races. I dropped him off at the start and stuck around to see the runners head off before making my way to my next vantage point at about 3.5 miles in. Very aware of K's speed, I had to be fairly speedy myself in getting to various points of the course to see him. This was the second time that I have done this, and with a bit of planning and rushing around, I was able to see him at the start, 3.5 miles, 8 miles, 10.75 miles, and the finish.

K at mile 8

K finished in 1:20:06, not a PR but a very respectable top 10 age-group finish