Tyler Half Marathon Race Report (Updated!)

Yes, a half marathon in Tyler!

And I - and Seven Hills Running Club vice president Ken Johnson - represented.

Another hilly half marathon for me this year, and the time - despite good running weather - represented that. A lackluster 2:30:39 ... but I'm running / racing my way back.

44th half marathon
63rd race of 13.1 miles or more (14 full, 2 30K, 1 25K, 1 15m, 1 50K)

Here are the mile splits (11.14 "chip" difference):

Mile 1 -- 10:18.19
Mile 2 -- 10:13.21
Mile 3 -- 10:45.96

The first three miles were in and around the very nice UT-Tyler campus. Mile 3 ended with a bit of an uphill on a little bit of an out-and-back while still on the campus.

I tried keeping up with this attractive young woman ... and ended up sucking wind in this picture. (Reminder: Enjoy the sights, but don't go into oxygen debt over it!)

Mile 4 -- 11:16.30
Mile 5 -- 8:47.74
Mile 6 -- 12:21.24

As you can easily see, mile 5 was short and mile 6 was long. Overall together, they were probably just right as I saw that the mile marker sign was moved forward from where the actual "5" was spray-painted on the road.

And the kicker is that mile 6 ended on a downhill, but we were warned by the race director - and a runner out on the course with me that a tough uphill was coming. I thought to myself that the pace between the two miles was 10:34 and that was OK with me.

Mile 7 -- 13:15.01

A tough hill that I ran some and just power-walked as quick as I could the rest. Other than Leadville and the half in Wyoming at altitude, this was the second toughest mile behind mile 20 or 21 during the Alpharetta Marathon in Georgia.

Mile 8 --10:53.88
Mile 9 -- 11:06.58 (Overall time of 1:39:09, which was 11 minutes per mile)
Mile 10 -- 12:51.48
Mile 11 -- 14:23.35

My time went to hell and a handbasket in these last two miles. Miles 8 and 9 were on the open country road, which wasn't bad to run on at all. I remember running to the mile 9 marker to try and beat the 11-minute time split, but just missed it.

Mile 12 -- 10:11.59
Mile 13 -- 13:12.16
Last .1 -- 1:02.61

Save three (3) miles and I would have been in more of an acceptable 2:23-2:24 range, given that my running and working out had not been consistent to that point.

Here's one of the Brightroom pictures [click here] ... I might have looked good, but I don't know that I was too happy. :)

As I approached the finish line, there with the public address system with good friend, Lewis George of Mellew Productions in Richardson (Dallas). This was the third event of Lewis' that I've done. The other two have been the Azalea 10K in Tyler back in 2004 and the Big-D Texas Half Marathon in April 2005, I believe.

I'm really not even sure when he and I hit it off. It was some time during the first Love The Half Texas Challenge campaign in '04-'05 that Paula Robertson put on. From then on, we'd see each other at the various Expos at either Houston or Austin. He was more than a little surprised to see me ambling across the finish line.

Lewis puts on very good, well-run events and they're worth the money. The pricing structure for this half was $45 through October 1, $50 up until the day before the race and $55 race day (which is what I paid). Compared to many other half marathons, this was worth it - especially with the course taking it out of you.

Water stations were well-manned. Gatorade and water was available at each station. Mile markers were easily seen. It is not a closed course, but it isn't in a high traffic area. When it did get into such an area, cones and police were positioned appropriately. Post-race foods consisted of Chick-Fil-A (hit the spot on a cold day), plenty of fluids, bagels and bananas.

The winning times (results) were 1:17:57 and 1:34:38, respectively, for the men's and the women's to give you an idea of the course difficulty in Smith County.

Leon Rieger, 42, of The Woodlands - a long-time Run The Woodlands 5K veteran - was there and finished 50th overall out of 279. My time was 2:30:40 in 217th overall. Ken, who was running in his home town, came in about 12 minutes later in 2:42:48 (243rd).