208 Still In Houston Distance Challenge

After the first two individual races of the HARRA Fall Series, there were 405 runners -- including 143 HARRA members (as of 10/13/06) -- that had finished the United Space Alliance (USA) 10-Miler and Koala/Luke's Locker Houston Half Marathon.

At Sunday's HMSA Classical 25K, only 208 of the 405 runners finished to stay alive in the "Houston Distance Challenge". 131 are male and 77 are female.

98 of the 208 distance enthusiasts - or masochists - are HARRA members. 63 are male and 35 are female. The club-by-club breakdown is as follows:

25 - Bayou City Road Runners
20 - Houston Striders
11 - No racing affiliation
9 - Bay Area Runners Club, Tornados Running Club
6 - Terlingua Track Club
5 - Al Lawrence Running Club
4 - Houston Masters Sports Association
3 - Fort Bend Fit
2 - Brazosport Area Road Runners Association
1 - Houston Fit, Houston Harriers, PTI, Runner's High

The top cumulative times of each of the Open, Masters and Veterans divisions are as follows:

Open Male (35)
1. Ray Caesar Martinez, 3:38:25
2. Joe Oveido, 3:55:08 (TOR)
3. Andrew Keller, 4:04:43 (HS)
4. David Minken, 4:07:27 (HS)
5. Manuel Laynes, 4:13:17
6. Jeff Eisele, 4:13:21 (TOR)
7. Chip Maxa, 4:15:33 (HS)
8. Francisco Gonzalez, 4:15:43
9. Hector Perez, 4:17:03
10. Rodrigo Mallard, 4:29:29

Open Female (33)
1. Lisa Tilton-McCarthy, 4:16:38
2. Olya Perevalova, 4:18:26
3. Debbie Rudisill, 4:19:04 (BARC)
4. Michelle Friedman, 4:26:42 (TOR)
5. Stacy Holden, 4:46:08
6. Sara Collazos, 4:49:27 (NONE)
7. Jennie Minken, 4:50:36 (HS)
8. Melissa Murray, 4:50:41
9. Rebecca Foster, 4:58:34
10. Vera Balic, 5:02:03 (BARC)

Masters Male (53)
1. Gerardo Mora, 3:45:28 (HMSA)
2. Francisco Perez, 3:48:40 (TOR)
3. Richard Peoples, 3:59:15 (ALRC)
4. Rich Fredrich, 4:00:19 (TTC)
5. Kevin Regis, 4:10:59
6. David Depinet, 4:16:50
7. Mike Crowley, 4:16:52 (BCRR)
8. Scott Wonderly, 4:18:56 (BCRR)
9. Jose Reyes, 4:21:46 (TOR)
10. Martin Pesek, 4:29:51 (BCRR)

Masters Female (34)
1. Susan Walters, 4:17:15 (TOR)
2. Helen Grant, 4:25:50 (HS)
3. Bonnie Jo Barron, 4:34:49 (BCRR)
4. Liz Schwandt, 4:35:14
5. Jody Berry, 4:39:55 (HS)
6. Melissa Hurta, 4:43:57 (ALRC)
7. Anna Sumrall Helm, 4:46:29 (BCRR)
8. Phyliss Aswell, 4:54:30 (NONE)
9. Annie Hadow, 5:01:19 (ALRC)
10. Miriam Terc, 5:05:18 (HS)

Veterans Male (43)
1. Ted Traynor, 4:15:49 (HS)
2. Scott Bounds, 4:18:29 (BCRR0
3. Ben Harvie, 4:18:47 (HH)
4. Dale Lee, 4:24:42 (TTC)
5. Mark Anderson, 4:25:45 (HMSA)
6. Mark Girouard, 4:26:25 (TTC)
7. Tom Pasquini, 4:30:48
8. Kenneth Ruane, 4:36:39 (NONE)
9. Rich Vega, 4:42:08 (TTC)
10. Don Padilla, 4:50:09

Veterans Female (10)
1. Alice Keelin, 5:17:20
2. Kathleen Mahon, 6:05:16 (BCRR)
3. Carol Croom, 6:17:56
4. Donna Whitney, 6:40:50 (BCRR)
5. Kathryn Vidal, 6:44:38 (BCRR)
6. Charmaine Bixler, 6:54:53
7. Cindy Burris, 7:47:14
8. Pamela MacKay, 7:50:08
9. Margaret Montgomery, 8:00:12 (BARC)
10. Sadie Greenman, 8:37:13 (ALRC)

Analyze this ...

39 of the 208 runners improved their minute per mile pace in both races.
21 of the 208 runners saw their pace decrease in both races.
117 got faster in the half marathon, but slowed in the 25K.
31 slowed down in the half marathon, but picked up the pace in the 25K.

Here's the breakdown by cumulative per mile pace:

5:30-5:59 per mile -- 3 overall, 2 HARRA members
6:00-6:29 -- 5, 5
6:30-6:59 -- 25, 17
7:00-7:29 -- 18, 11
7:30-7:59 -- 21, 9
8:00-8:29 -- 18, 14
8:30-8:59 -- 19, 8
9:00-9:29 -- 16, 10
9:30-9:59 -- 22, 7
10:00-10:29 -- 13, 3
10:30-10:59 -- 16, 1
11:00-11:29 -- 13, 4
11:30-11:59 -- 4, 1
12:00-12:29 -- 7, 1
12:30-12:59 -- 3, 1
13:00-13:29 -- 3, 2
13:30-13:59 -- 1, 1
14:00-14:29 -- 1, 1

Not real surprising. HARRA membership drops off as the minute per mile pace increases. What was slightly interesting is that the top half of the 6-minute through 9-minute per mile paces had a higher percentage of HARRA members than the lower half.

If the data above is listed in any publication or club newsletter, a source credit of http://houstonrunning.blogspot.com/ is appreciated.