Motive Bison Stampede Race Report
I wanted to do this race last year; however, I think it fell on the weekend after the HMSA Classical 25K. I know Houston Striders' Charlie Rodriguez last year ran New York City one week (4:31:32 - which was off of his Austin PR of 3:45, I think), volunteered for the 25K the next and then ran Motive Bison Stampede two weeks after NYC. He covered the tough course in 1:48:05.3.
So, you are wondering, "How did I do?" For the elevation changes of this course (you can see a course narrative here and see the elevation map here), I did well. My chip time was 2:21:09.1. (My watch time was 2:21:11.50. I love it when it is close!) And I did this after:
1.) Not getting a decent night's sleep as planned because of a family matter outside of my own house (didn't finally get to sleep until 11:15 p.m.) and,
2.) Getting up at 2-something to leave by 3:15 a.m. so that I could pick my packet and chip up by 6:30 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. race start.)
The two first people that I see after getting out of the truck: Striders' Karen and Tim Bowler!
Yikes! It was cold and windy! I wore a technical short-sleeved running shirt with my 2003 The Half windshirt overtop. Race time temperature was 50 degrees with some good stiff winds at times - even late in the race as it started to warm up during miles 12-13.
Outside of the hills, I ran a pretty consistent race even though I was closer to 11 minutes per mile than 10. I think at this point though, given yesterday's and today's performance in this type of weather, I think I can get inside my 2:16 half marathon PR from this April on a flat course.
My splits today were as follows:
Mile 1 -- 10:06.30
Mile 2 -- 9:49:44 (19:55.74)
Mile 3 -- 10:01.12 (29:56.86)
Mile 4 -- 10:38.88 (40:35.74) -- I lost 15-30 seconds waiting for the Mile 3 rest stop to pour gatorade, which was the first stop that had it.
Mile 5 -- 10:54.31 (51:30.05) -- Included a steep downhill and the beginning part of the climb of Rain Creek. The climb started at about 4.5 miles. There were three short hills that carried over into mile 6.
Mile 6 -- 11:25.76 (1:02:55.81) -- This included a fourth hill before the mile 7 marker.
Mile 7 -- 11:33.89 (1:14:29.70)
Mile 8 -- 10:45.17 (1:25:14.87)
Mile 9 -- 10:23.58 (1:35:38.45) <-- Fastest Mile 9 of a half marathon since April 1, '05
Mile 10 -- 11:00.10 (1:46:38.55)
Mile 11 -- 10:50.62 (1:57:29.17) <-- Fastest Mile 11 of a half marathon since April 1, '05
Mile 12 -- 11:03.92 (2:08:33.09)
Mile 13 -- 11:31.46 (2:20:04.55) -- It isn't the heat that gets me. It is the sun. The sun started to come out here *plus* my quads and left hamstring were pretty beat up from the hard 10K yesterday and hills today.
Last .1 -- 1:06.95 (2:21:11.50)
As part of the "King of the Hill Challenge," the event had discussed before in a press release that I posted on this blog earlier in the week, they actually recorded your time from mile 4.5 to mile 5.5 (from the bottom to the top of the hill.) Run-Far timed it this way:
To the hill -- 45:55.7 - 10:07/mile
The hill -- 11:34.5
From the hill -- 1:23:38.8 -- 11:04/mile
Excellent event, with the exception of the first two water stops at mile 1.5 and 3. (They were not prepared at all -or- just didn't have enough lead time with the volunteer crew, which were Motive employees. They had a water station contest and I voted for the Harry Potter one. Everybody was dressed up as well as signs made for along the road with interesting crack commentary!)
One of the best medals that I've ever received. Of the 18 medals (three marathon, one 10-miler, one 30K and 13 halves), this is the only one in color! Nice simple t-shirt and a pair of event running socks! Finish line was very well organized. You got your medal handed to you and chip removed immediately. A few short steps later you received water, gatorade and a plastic H-E-B bag with a banana, animal crackers, those orange-colored cheese crackers and a Clif bar. Walk out of your shute to the right and there were bagels, burritos (1) and donuts (2). They were Krispy Kremes!
Before the race, I watched the eventual winner, Nicodemus Malakwen from Kenya, stay out of the cold just like every one else. He was wearing what looked to be almost brand new Adidas shoes (couldn't tell the brand) and the only thing that he really did was stretch his quads where you grab your ankle and pull it back to your rear end.
Even though his legs where skinny, the definition and muscular build of his thighs were surprising for such a skinny guy.
Malakwen would take advantage of the great weather and shatter the course record of 1:08:40 set by Gilbert Tuhabonye in 2002 with a pristine time of 1:04:48.5. Fellow Kenyan and runnerup Benson Osoro, 30, also broke the course mark in a time of 1:07:36.6.
The duo, from Cary, NC, were brought in to Austin with a couple of Hanson Running Project runners (Rezpecki and Kyle O'Brien, who finished 3rd in the men's) by Freescale Austin Marathon race director John Conley.
Jackie Rezpecki, 27, beat Chris Kimbrough and Desiree Ficker to go 1-2-3 in the women's field. Rezpecki's winning time of 1:21:25.7 was three minutes off of the women's course record. It is the third race that Kimbrough, a 36-year-old stay-at-home mom, and Ficker have gone 1-2. Ficker won the Capitol 10K in April while Kimbrough won the IBM Uptown Classic 10K last month.
Locally, new Houston Strider Caroline Chamness, 40, of Kingwood, who qualified as an elite runner for the Houston Marathon at the Koala/Luke's Locker 20K ,was third overall in the Master's Division in 1:31:28.6.
Speaking of other Striders, 56-year-old Karen Bowler easily won her age group in a time of 1:40:21.3. (Easily. By almost 12 minutes.) Karen's husband, Tim, 57, covered the course in 2:01:28.0.
Today, it was my 21st career half marathon, including my 10th this year. It is the 6th fastest half marathon that I've ever done. (Huntsville five weeks ago was my 5th best.)
Other "Faces in the Crowd" included the following:
Beckner, Zoey - Humble resident and UT student, 19, was 19th overall in the women's and first in 15-19 age group in 1:34:26.2. (She recently joined the Tornados in HARRA competition.)
Birt, Jill - 8-year-old who covered the course in 2:17:24.5. (She ran Motorola in February as a 7-year-old in 3:55:03.)
Capetillo, Leslie - Texas 10K Challenge finisher from Pflugerville, 43, 2:33:27.
Gwyn, Katie - The Woodlands resident, 25, who won a few Run The Woodlands 5Ks earlier this year was 18th overall and 5th in 25-29 age group with a 1:34:10.7 posting.
Harrington, Ty - Texas State (formerly SW Texas State) head baseball coach, 41, 2:22:37.
Harvie, Ben - Terlingua Track Club/On The Run Racing Team/Kemah resident, 59, 1:32:48, 3rd in 55-59 age group.
Hoban, Brom - Austin American-Statesman running notebook writer, 51, 1:49:10.
Leonard, Popcorn - Best name in the finishers! 44-year-old male from Midland, 1:27:13.
Limbaugh, Duane and Jennifer - 31 and 29-year-old Dale, TX residents finished the course in 1:17:15 (64th overall) and 1:55:23, respectively. What do you think the over/under would be for Rush!?
McClung, Chris - 26-year-old Houstonian who races for Houston Harriers was 13th overall in 1:19:58.
McDowell, Liam and Logan - The 10-year-old brothers from The Woodlands both finished in 1:58:58.
Mericle, Clint - One of the top 50-and-over runners in the state from Corpus Christi. Winner of the 1975 and 1977 Houston Marathon. Ran 31st overall behind Ficker in 1:23:49 at age of 52.
Nelson, Merry - Memorial Park Running Club member, 48, and her husband, William, 49, finished in 2:12:16 and 2:12:17, respectively.
Stout, Calvin and Joyce - 52-year-old Brenham native and his 43-year-old wife finished in 1:53:30 and 1:59:16.1, respectively. (I've met Calvin and Joyce at a couple of races.)
Tuhabonye, Gilbert - Last year's White Rock Marathon winner, 30, finished 4th overall in 1:11:22.
Varela, Frank - Austin-area running blogger, 40, 1:41:10.
So, you are wondering, "How did I do?" For the elevation changes of this course (you can see a course narrative here and see the elevation map here), I did well. My chip time was 2:21:09.1. (My watch time was 2:21:11.50. I love it when it is close!) And I did this after:
1.) Not getting a decent night's sleep as planned because of a family matter outside of my own house (didn't finally get to sleep until 11:15 p.m.) and,
2.) Getting up at 2-something to leave by 3:15 a.m. so that I could pick my packet and chip up by 6:30 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. race start.)
The two first people that I see after getting out of the truck: Striders' Karen and Tim Bowler!
Yikes! It was cold and windy! I wore a technical short-sleeved running shirt with my 2003 The Half windshirt overtop. Race time temperature was 50 degrees with some good stiff winds at times - even late in the race as it started to warm up during miles 12-13.
Outside of the hills, I ran a pretty consistent race even though I was closer to 11 minutes per mile than 10. I think at this point though, given yesterday's and today's performance in this type of weather, I think I can get inside my 2:16 half marathon PR from this April on a flat course.
My splits today were as follows:
Mile 1 -- 10:06.30
Mile 2 -- 9:49:44 (19:55.74)
Mile 3 -- 10:01.12 (29:56.86)
Mile 4 -- 10:38.88 (40:35.74) -- I lost 15-30 seconds waiting for the Mile 3 rest stop to pour gatorade, which was the first stop that had it.
Mile 5 -- 10:54.31 (51:30.05) -- Included a steep downhill and the beginning part of the climb of Rain Creek. The climb started at about 4.5 miles. There were three short hills that carried over into mile 6.
Mile 6 -- 11:25.76 (1:02:55.81) -- This included a fourth hill before the mile 7 marker.
Mile 7 -- 11:33.89 (1:14:29.70)
Mile 8 -- 10:45.17 (1:25:14.87)
Mile 9 -- 10:23.58 (1:35:38.45) <-- Fastest Mile 9 of a half marathon since April 1, '05
Mile 10 -- 11:00.10 (1:46:38.55)
Mile 11 -- 10:50.62 (1:57:29.17) <-- Fastest Mile 11 of a half marathon since April 1, '05
Mile 12 -- 11:03.92 (2:08:33.09)
Mile 13 -- 11:31.46 (2:20:04.55) -- It isn't the heat that gets me. It is the sun. The sun started to come out here *plus* my quads and left hamstring were pretty beat up from the hard 10K yesterday and hills today.
Last .1 -- 1:06.95 (2:21:11.50)
As part of the "King of the Hill Challenge," the event had discussed before in a press release that I posted on this blog earlier in the week, they actually recorded your time from mile 4.5 to mile 5.5 (from the bottom to the top of the hill.) Run-Far timed it this way:
To the hill -- 45:55.7 - 10:07/mile
The hill -- 11:34.5
From the hill -- 1:23:38.8 -- 11:04/mile
Excellent event, with the exception of the first two water stops at mile 1.5 and 3. (They were not prepared at all -or- just didn't have enough lead time with the volunteer crew, which were Motive employees. They had a water station contest and I voted for the Harry Potter one. Everybody was dressed up as well as signs made for along the road with interesting crack commentary!)
One of the best medals that I've ever received. Of the 18 medals (three marathon, one 10-miler, one 30K and 13 halves), this is the only one in color! Nice simple t-shirt and a pair of event running socks! Finish line was very well organized. You got your medal handed to you and chip removed immediately. A few short steps later you received water, gatorade and a plastic H-E-B bag with a banana, animal crackers, those orange-colored cheese crackers and a Clif bar. Walk out of your shute to the right and there were bagels, burritos (1) and donuts (2). They were Krispy Kremes!
Before the race, I watched the eventual winner, Nicodemus Malakwen from Kenya, stay out of the cold just like every one else. He was wearing what looked to be almost brand new Adidas shoes (couldn't tell the brand) and the only thing that he really did was stretch his quads where you grab your ankle and pull it back to your rear end.
Even though his legs where skinny, the definition and muscular build of his thighs were surprising for such a skinny guy.
Malakwen would take advantage of the great weather and shatter the course record of 1:08:40 set by Gilbert Tuhabonye in 2002 with a pristine time of 1:04:48.5. Fellow Kenyan and runnerup Benson Osoro, 30, also broke the course mark in a time of 1:07:36.6.
The duo, from Cary, NC, were brought in to Austin with a couple of Hanson Running Project runners (Rezpecki and Kyle O'Brien, who finished 3rd in the men's) by Freescale Austin Marathon race director John Conley.
Jackie Rezpecki, 27, beat Chris Kimbrough and Desiree Ficker to go 1-2-3 in the women's field. Rezpecki's winning time of 1:21:25.7 was three minutes off of the women's course record. It is the third race that Kimbrough, a 36-year-old stay-at-home mom, and Ficker have gone 1-2. Ficker won the Capitol 10K in April while Kimbrough won the IBM Uptown Classic 10K last month.
Locally, new Houston Strider Caroline Chamness, 40, of Kingwood, who qualified as an elite runner for the Houston Marathon at the Koala/Luke's Locker 20K ,was third overall in the Master's Division in 1:31:28.6.
Speaking of other Striders, 56-year-old Karen Bowler easily won her age group in a time of 1:40:21.3. (Easily. By almost 12 minutes.) Karen's husband, Tim, 57, covered the course in 2:01:28.0.
Today, it was my 21st career half marathon, including my 10th this year. It is the 6th fastest half marathon that I've ever done. (Huntsville five weeks ago was my 5th best.)
Other "Faces in the Crowd" included the following:
Beckner, Zoey - Humble resident and UT student, 19, was 19th overall in the women's and first in 15-19 age group in 1:34:26.2. (She recently joined the Tornados in HARRA competition.)
Birt, Jill - 8-year-old who covered the course in 2:17:24.5. (She ran Motorola in February as a 7-year-old in 3:55:03.)
Capetillo, Leslie - Texas 10K Challenge finisher from Pflugerville, 43, 2:33:27.
Gwyn, Katie - The Woodlands resident, 25, who won a few Run The Woodlands 5Ks earlier this year was 18th overall and 5th in 25-29 age group with a 1:34:10.7 posting.
Harrington, Ty - Texas State (formerly SW Texas State) head baseball coach, 41, 2:22:37.
Harvie, Ben - Terlingua Track Club/On The Run Racing Team/Kemah resident, 59, 1:32:48, 3rd in 55-59 age group.
Hoban, Brom - Austin American-Statesman running notebook writer, 51, 1:49:10.
Leonard, Popcorn - Best name in the finishers! 44-year-old male from Midland, 1:27:13.
Limbaugh, Duane and Jennifer - 31 and 29-year-old Dale, TX residents finished the course in 1:17:15 (64th overall) and 1:55:23, respectively. What do you think the over/under would be for Rush!?
McClung, Chris - 26-year-old Houstonian who races for Houston Harriers was 13th overall in 1:19:58.
McDowell, Liam and Logan - The 10-year-old brothers from The Woodlands both finished in 1:58:58.
Mericle, Clint - One of the top 50-and-over runners in the state from Corpus Christi. Winner of the 1975 and 1977 Houston Marathon. Ran 31st overall behind Ficker in 1:23:49 at age of 52.
Nelson, Merry - Memorial Park Running Club member, 48, and her husband, William, 49, finished in 2:12:16 and 2:12:17, respectively.
Stout, Calvin and Joyce - 52-year-old Brenham native and his 43-year-old wife finished in 1:53:30 and 1:59:16.1, respectively. (I've met Calvin and Joyce at a couple of races.)
Tuhabonye, Gilbert - Last year's White Rock Marathon winner, 30, finished 4th overall in 1:11:22.
Varela, Frank - Austin-area running blogger, 40, 1:41:10.
posted by WalkSports.com | 4:45 PM
4 Comments:
swwwweeeeettttt!
you never cease to amaze me with your traveling and back to back racing. Once again, mucho impressed :)
I am worth nothing if I don't get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. How on earth do you do it?!
You are the king of races. :)
Jen,
You would think that I might be able to garner a free race entry here or there from a race director to get a writeup on their event like mine.
Jon
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