Saturday, January 29, 2011

USATF Half-Marathon Championship

One of the great things about being a runner in Houston is watching some of the USA's greatest men and women runners at the 2011 USATF Half-Marathon Championship. While both the Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Half Marathon will be held tomorrow, the official USATF 2011 Half-Marathon Championship was held this morning, and was comprised of approximately 90 elite men and 50 elite women athletes.


For this event I was one of many spectators in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center, many of whom like myself will be lining-up for our own races tomorrow. Using my handy iPod Nano I recorded the following video of the race's start, mile 5 (which very conveniently crosses near the starting area), and the finish for both the men and the women.


Both when I saw Ryan Hall briefly during his 2007 record-shattering run and this morning it was a bit surreal reflecting upon his unbelievably smooth and relaxed running gait. While he continues to knock down some great splits, it's clear by comparison to his former finish times - and his inability to kick hard in answer Mo Trafeh's last-minute surge - that he and his Flagstaff support team have much work ahead. I truly hope that they're successful, as it would be great to see Ryan bring home a medal from London!



And finally, here's a better angle of the men's and women's finishers, and some good post-race interviews:






4 comments:

  1. Wow - that was with your Nano? Holy cow, what great video quality from that little thing.

    Also, Ryan Hall got second? He should have kept the beard!!

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  2. So.freaking.cool. Man, RH was close!

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  3. NIce to find your blog. Was great to watch these vids this morning!

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  4. Your site is such a great resource...inspiration, good reads, podcasts...thank you.

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