Don't have a lot of details at this point - only what I could pick up from some really crappy local TV coverage and some not-so-real-time race tracking; but, Alan finished 40th overall in the USATF National Championship 1/2 Marathon in Houston this morning. He finished with a time of 1:09:37 (5:18 pace).
It looked like the weather was quite good for the race. Temps in the mid-40's, little to no wind, dry. They do start awful early (7:00 a.m. - it's still semi dark for the first couple of miles).
Alan went out at a good agressive pace, hitting 10K at 32:11 (5:10 pace) and was still on pace through 9 (46:28 - 5:10 pace). Looks like he fell off a bit over the last 6 kilometers - but, still - it was a solid, fast time.
And, talk about a fast event. How would like to run a smokin' time like 69:37 and just make it inside the top 50? Definately in the big pond now.
Alan did meet one of my predictions. He did beat Shalane Flanagan. So, as I'm watching the finish line camera they're announcing Shalane about ready to come in and here comes Alan into the camera right in front of her. So, he stayed ahead of an Olympic bronze medalist; and, gets some face time on the camera!!
Turns out he also ran faster than Deena Kastor, who ran the 1/2 at PF Changs in Phoenix this morning. Deena's time was 69:44. To put that in perspective, Alan beat two Olympic Medalists, one of whome (Shalane) is a sub-31:00 10K'r and the other (Deena) who has a sub 2:20 marathon PR.
Congrats to Alan for such a great run and for making the Big Sky country proud.
The Muddy Buzzard
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