On Sunday I ran the 2010 Houston Half Marathon. 13.1 miles in 3 hours 13 minutes.

I am sore today.

My biggest fear was I was going to be cold waiting for the race to start. I walked the .4 miles to the starting line from the hotel and then crowded into the corral with lots of other people. So many people we kept each other warm. Well I was warm from about mid chest down because everyone was so much shorter than me. It was strange.

I didn’t remember to bring a hat or gloves. Borrowed a pair of gloves from the Mrs and it wasn’t that cold.

My wife managed to get to a couple of locations on the course and take pictures of me. It was great to see her when I did. I was able to give her her gloves back at mile 5.

It was amazing how much expensive gear was just discarded on the road. Gloves, hats, shirts. I saw a woman at mile 1 unzip a wicking jacket and just toss it on the ground.

There were so many spectators and it was great to have people cheering you on. Made the whole race seem shorter, not the distance, but the time. Our names were on our bibs and when someone would yell out your name and encouragement it was awesome. Always made me smile and look at them.

The race was well run. My only complaint was that by the time I got to the first two water stops, there was no Gatorade. So I only had water for the first 5 miles, but that wasn’t a big deal. There was water.

What did I learn for next time?

Bring a hat and gloves, though I got along fine without them.

Could have used more calories. I carried a South Beach bar, and ate half about mile 5 and a quarter around 7. By nine I was hoping for gatorade because I wanted the calories. My wife gave me a donut at mile 11, and some people had passed out orange slices at a couple of places on the route.

I need to lose about 20 lbs. I’ve been on the see-food diet for the last month and gained back about 10 lbs I’d lost. If I lost 20, I think I would have been 30 minutes faster.

Will I do it again? Probably, it was just too much fun. Maybe the full distance, but the Mrs said she’d do the half next year, so I’d run with her if she does.

I’m going to take a few days off and then start training for a triathlon in May.