Texas Marathon

I went to bed at midnight last night, but found it difficult getting to sleep. Then at 2:30, the people across the street started setting off fireworks for an hour. After that, I finally got a little sleep, but woke up at 4:30. I never went back to bed and left at 5:40 to meet Norman and drive down to Kingwood for the Texas Marathon. Perfect marathon weather! About a quarter mile into the race, I somehow tripped on the sidewalk and took a hard fall. I shook it off and never fell again. Early in the first of four loops, I started running with a Kingwood school teacher, Amy Hitchcock. She was doing the half marathon and we ran together for two loops. We had a nice visit and the time passed by quickly. My third loop was miserable and slow. I felt much better in the fourth and final loop and had a good strong finish. I never walked during the entire race, except through the aid stations. My finish time was 6:06:47 (compared to 6:30:24 in this same race last year and 5:48:07 in San Antonio in November). A photo of the finisher medal (2.2 pounds) is shown above, along with last year's medal. Other SHRC members running were Norman Langwell, Jon Walk, Curtis Barton and Edwin Quarles. Bill Dwyer was there to provide support and Waverly Walk sang the National Anthem and worked as a volunteer. Soon-to-be SHRC member, Misty Baugh, was also there providing support.