The Life and Times of Sam Luna

  I’ve really enjoyed Masters racing over the past couple of years, so I was excited to hit the track again for the mile at the Yeoman Fieldhouse at UH. Coming into the race, I felt strong —training had been solid and consistent, and I was ready to see what I could do. I had a good warm-up : a couple of miles of jogging, some strides , dynamic stretches, and 4 x 150m ramp-ups to 4:50 pace to get the legs firing. Race Plan & Execution They ran the mile in two heats , and I was in the second. My goal was to go out at 4:58 pace , hold that through 1009m , and then kick it up a notch . Once I started hearing my splits, I knew I was just a touch off pace —but I didn’t panic. At 809m , I still felt in control and started gradually picking it up. Navigating Traffic & The Final Push I was getting back on track when I hit lapped traffic , which forced me to run most of the penultimate lap in Lane 2 —this ended up being my slowest lap . Despite that, I closed strong , crossing t...

This marked Sarah's 11th Houston Half Marathon! I provided coaching and pacing duties. I did pretty well if I say so myself. So did Sarah! I have not run the half in a LONG time, and was a bit nervous to attack the half with Sarah. She put in alot of hard work leading up to the race and had a really great taper. We got to the convention center early to park and stretch. With us both being in the A Corral it was a nice walk to the corral and a couple of blankets kept us warm. Race start temp was 58 and dropped through out the race to 52. I work multiple layers for the run, long sleeve, short sleeve and my Houston Tank (GO COOGS!) Once we crossed the start line the plan was to run 7:45-7:50 pace for the first half and then drop down to 7:40 pace for the second half. Sarah nailed the pace with me and was feeling and looking strong. We split from the full marathon and had fewer runners around us and so the wind kicked up a bit with the cold front rolling in. I made sure Sarah behind me...