Heidi Westover

Remember Heidi Westover, the high mileage teacher who runs up to 200 miles per week (see post here)?

Heidi (1 hr 11 min PR in the half marathon) ran 1:15:16 last weekend in Houston (results).

Had she run 1:11, I would tell Heidi to keep doing what she is doing. Pure speculation, but I suspect she would run faster by cutting back on miles and focusing a little more on quality/tempo.

1:24:13 for 10th Place and 10 Kg of Rice!

I FORGOT MY GPS! Splits as I remember were 19 min at 5K (6:07 pace), around 39 min at 10K, and 59 min at 15K (6:20 pace). The wheels came off the last 2-3 K (finish ave was 6:24).

What did I learn today? Clearly I went out too fast for my current condition, but with no real long runs behind me I know I have room for improvement. Early on I got caught up running nearly the first 8K with another American who ran 1:18 in Sept and eventually finished 5th today- It wasn't until after 5K that I knew I was in over my head- I should have let him go earlier but sometimes you hold out hope for a miracle, and those rarely occur without putting in the work.

This race had the longest straight away finish I've ever seen! Check the link- the finish was clearly visible after the last turn which looks to be nearly 1.5 kilometers away.