On January 17, I ran the Houston Marathon under blue skies and with perfect racing temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s. Despite those advantages, I could not hold the pace to make a PR or break 3:25. I held to 7:35 - 7:45 per mile for the first 15 miles but at mile 16 I could feel strength slipping and struggled for increasingly slower times - 7:50, 8:00, 8:08, 8:10, 8:30 and even 9:00, but in the final miles managed to gut it out well enough to preserve sufficient time to cross the finish line at 3:29:30, another Boston qualifying time and a respectable performance. I ranked 615 overall out of 6,670 men and women who started.

Next race is the Boston Marathon on April 19, 2010.