One medal down, 7 to go!

Woo-Hoo!

Thanks to Coaches Alan & Kathleen with Houston Fit Fall Half and my friend Tom Brannon, I finished the Houston Half in UNDER THREE HOURS!
Yea Me!

Alan & Kathleen have been a super tremendous support all training season long (since May) and Tom was a super sweetheart to show up to cheer me on throughout the race and even did the last 2 miles or so with me.

I forgot to hit stop as I ran through the finish line, and then stopped to get my medal, hug Javier and pose for some pics and then stopped my Garmin, which showed 2:54:39. So I'm guessing maybe 2:50? That would put me just under 13 min/miles for 13 miles. DANG!

My previous 1/2s have been in 3:21 and 3:11, so this is a HUGE improvement.

Here's a few pics:

Jackie, Anna, Brenda & Kathleen, all smiling with medals!

Alyssa & Anna with medals, waiting for massages.

The medal - a little boring, but a medal nevertheless!

Pics from Javier

Javier was at the finish line of the Houston Half and was nice enough to take some pics of me:



Coming across the finish line (chip time 2:53:39.5):


Getting the medal:

With Javier:

With my friend Tom, that came out to cheer for me:

THANK YOU JAVIER!!!!

Marathon season goals

Here are the half marathons I have in mind for this marathon season:

Koala/Luke's Locker Houston Half Marathon -- Sunday, October 26, 2008

San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon -- Sunday, November 16, 2008

Dallas White Rock Half Marathon (maybe) -- Sunday, December 14, 2008

Aramco Houston Half Marathon -- Sunday, January 18, 2009

Surfside Half Marathon (on the beach, probably walk) -- Saturday, February 14, 2009

Seabrook Half Marathon -- Saturday, March 14, 2008

Seabroon Half Marathon Trail Challenge (ANOTHER half marathon) -- Sunday March 15, 2008

WOW!

Possibly a BIT way too ambitious, but I'll see how the osteo-arthritis and osgood-schlatter in the knees does and give it a go.

Yikes -- being in writting on the world wide web makes these more real!

But, I'm totally okay with not making them all, just a darn good attempt.

If I'm successful at the Trail Challenge in Seabrook, I earn 3 medals for the weekend.
That will give me a grand total of EIGHT medals for the season, making me the Michael Phelps of land.

WOOT!