I’ve realized that I’m not super into remembering what happened during a race and honestly, that’s not the most important part of a race for me. The actual running part is my own thing and some days I’m feeling it and other days I’m not. That doesn’t make or break a race situation for me.
This past weekend I decided to run the Katy Half Marathon because I wasn’t feeling motivated to run. I really couldn’t trust that I would get out of bed to run and I knew I needed a little extra motivation. I was skeptical of doing this race because this was the first year for this race. First years don’t usually equal great things, but I’m glad I took the plunge here.
When I went to pick up my packet, they didn’t have me in the system as registered. That kind of didn’t sit well with me but it wasn’t a big deal. They added me in and I was on my way. Little did I know, on my way home I was going to be 2 ft away from having a semi-truck roll over me. It was definitely the scariest moment of my life and I didn’t know what to do. I was fine but the driver of the truck wasn’t so lucky. FYI: When calling 911 they ask too many questions in a serious situation. A person in distress won’t always know what to say.
(Photo courtesy of my friend Becky)
Anyway, the next morning Willie woke up early to drive me to the race. It was a 6:30 am start which I like because it doesn’t take up the whole day. It was a very foggy morning and I couldn’t see anything until well after the sun came up. I think I ran the first 9 miles with my glasses off because it was just that hard to see.
I lined up with the 2:15 pacer because I definitely wasn’t feeling the run. I was out here to keep my endurance and just to have fun. I wanted the cool swag.
I finished the race in 2:10:12 which was 7 seconds off my PR but I’ll take it because I wasn’t really pushing my pace. It was a mostly flat course, I think. There were some down hills. I really just wanted to run and enjoy it. That’s exactly what I did.
Pros:
Mostly flat.
Aid stations were always ready.
They had a cool drone to video the start line. (I was very amused by this.)
Very professional event.
Great finisher shirts and mugs/pint glasses for all half marathon finishers.
A great medal.
Great finisher’s festival with lots of food and great energy.
Cons:
I had the packet pickup snafu.
The death loop back to the finish in direct sun. (I’m black and direct sun is a killer for me. I know, runner problems, right?)
Don’t think there was an GU on course and I think it was advertised to have that, but I may have missed it.
No lowfat chocolate milk at the end. This is definitely something that needs to be at the end of every long race. I don’t get why most races don’t have it. Don’t they know I need to recover?
Final verdict: I would do this race again. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the early start time and just some good ole running fun. Plus, the event directions are very good and always kept up good communication. No question was left unanswered. This race was very well done for the first year! Put it on your list.
