Since I started running a year and a half ago, every race has resulted in a PR – a person record. It’s pretty easy to do, given that the first time you do anything is always your best try to-date. Yesterday I had my first chance to break my PR streak – I finally ran a race for the second time. Last year I ran the 3M half marathon with a result I was very happy with, 1:56 (1 hour, 56 minutes). Would I be able to beat that time this year?

Circumstances were not optimal. I’m training for the Austin Marathon, and so went on a 26 mile training run one week before the half marathon race. It takes more than one week to fully recover from a 26 mile run. On race day yesterday, the temperature was almost perfect, but it was very windy. So windy, in fact, that road barricades were blown over and the police delayed the start of the race by one hour to get them put back up. Standing at the start line for over an hour just waiting is not a great way to start. Still, I thought I was in better shape than a year ago and so I was hoping for a good run.

And it was good. I finished at 1:49:45 – seven minutes faster than last year (woohoo!) and an earned PR. Given the circumstances, I think there is still room for improvement. I’m not retiring yet.

By the way, I was not the only Austin lithographer to run the 3M. Paul Zimmerman, an Intel assignee to Sematech, ran the race as well. He is what we call an “elite” runner, given a spot at the front of the pack so that no weaving around us slow folks is required. And he earned his title. Paul runs in the Masters category (40 years and older) and finished second at 1:09:47, just one second behind the winner (who, by the way, was nine years younger than Paul). That’s a full 40 minutes faster than me! Whew! Way to go, Paul!