The Gusher Half Marathon Recap

On March 12th I ran The Gusher Half Marathon in SouthEast Texas. It was so so much better than last year. Just to give you a little recap. I ran the Gusher 5k last year with my sister-in-law Karen and it was horrible!

Karen and I before the Gusher 5K. 

Onto the recap. I got up early Sat. morning because last year it was hard to find parking when we got there. I wanted to leave early enough that I could get there and to the race on time. Brian's parents came down to watch me run. I was very grateful to have some family there.
My friend Tammy was meeting me at my house to follow us there. This was her first half marathon and I was going to be pacing her, or at least trying too.
We left for the race and around 45 minutes and a wrong parking place later, we made it to the race start.

Almost ready to run in my new cheetah skirt.

 My outfit all laid out and ready to go for the next day.

 You gotta have the essentials...Gu's, garmin watch, ipod and road id.

The shoes that make it feel like you are running on air. I love these shoes! When you find a shoe that fits, stick with it! It will bring you many places you never thought you could go.










When we finally found a parking spot, it was right by the starting line. I was so happy. We had to go find the shoe tags for our time. That is one thing I did not like. You had to tie them on your shoes and I was so worried the whole time I was running that it would fall off, but it didn't.
I am going to do the rest of the post mainly through pictures. I would rather look at pictures than read, wouldn't you. :0)

 I have been very grateful. Brian has been able to come with me for 2 of my 3 half marathons and I didn't think he would be able to come to any.

 Tammy and I before the race started. She is excited to run and so am I. Although I was nervous about this race. It was beautiful outside and I was hoping they would have enough water for the runners and that it would not be to hot.

37 seconds until the half marathon starts. One thing that they did not do for this race that I was used to, was that they did not have corrals. All the half marathon and marathon people started at the same time. If you were a walker you got at the back and the elite runners got at the front. It was not to bad though.

 Made it to mile 3. We were around 34 minutes on this one, so that is about normal for me.

 Tammy was all smiles at mile 3, which is great, because we had 4 more 5K's to go.

 There was around 4 hills like this one and I was not prepared for this at all. I was a little worried, because I have not trained for hills, but this was preparing me for the Rock N Roll Dallas run.

Mile 6 was around Downtown and there is a street called Crockett Street. It is not my scene of town at all, but many people go there to party it up.

 Also downtown is the worlds largest fire hydrant. There is a Fire museum there and this marks close to where it is at. I was pretty excited about seeing this, because I have never been to that part of town.

 LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER!!!! THANK GOODNESS!!!
Like I said, last year, they did not have enough water for the runners and actually had to go behind the runners towards the end to give them water. This year, however, there was tons of water and it was cold everytime I got some. There was also gatorade, gu's, bananas and oranges along the entire route. They also threw out water bottles incase you wanted to carry it with you! Much much better job Gusher workers and volunteers.

 We made it to Mile 12. I am holding up a one because we only have 1.1 more mile to go. We were so close and I was ready to be finished.

WOOOHOOOOO Mile 13. I have never gotten a picture of the 13 because I have ran past it, but I wanted to get it this time. Brian actually saw me stop to get this picture and was laughing at me when I was crossing the finish line because I was so close to finishing!











There we are! Coming in strong!! I love all the people cheering on the side.

 All smiles as we are crossing the finish line!

My time was 2:39. I was one minute faster than last time, but we stopped quite a few times for pictures and what not, so I would have finished faster if we hadn't of stopped.
You can see in the picture I am giving Tammy a high five because she did so AWESOME on this race.

 They had water, fruit, and sandwhiches at the end. The race was great and I had a wonderful time running it. They did so much BETTER than last year!

 Brian and I after I finished! The medal was of the Spindletop Gusher in this area. It is an important part of history of this town and the oil industry!

 Brian's parents and I after the race! We were getting ready to head to Winnie for some Flea Market Shopping!

At Winnie Market, I found MightyMouse. More about that story to come!












Thanks for staying with me during this recap! I would recommend this race to anybody after the changes they have made! It was great! Sweatbands review coming up tomorrow for sure!!!!!!!!