Anyone running this event in Bryan?

tl/dr: Never again.

I've run the half once and the 5k once. Never again. Running through the vines sounds fun until you actually do it. There are too many switch backs and they just keep going on and on. It isn't a PR race. The half route leaves something to be desired.

The year I ran the half, the half marathoners were released first to go through the vines (ran the vines again at the end). They then released the 5k group (only ran the vines at the end) just as the half marathoners were coming out of the vines and up behind them. We had to deal with the 5k walkers walking five abreast with no clue about race etiquette.

Best thing about it was when Race Texas controlled it and our club got the extra drink tickets.

Yeah, I posted about it in another thread. But same opinion from me.

Last year the vineyard part of the run was cancelled because of rain, so the half marathon was really about 10.5-11 miles. I had a pretty bad calf injury at mile 3 or so, and seeing how it wasn't an actual half, I was going to drop out at the next medic tent I saw. Wasn't one on the entire course....

With that in mind, are there any other half's coming up in the next month? I had to skip the Woodlands and want to get one in before summer.

Outlaw Half in Fredericksburg on April 6 is one. I know nothing about it, really, other than when and where but was/am looking at running it. There is also one in Dallas the last weekend in April, but I don't recall the name.

I need to figure out my plans on running one in early April or not and plan to do a little more looking around at some point this weekend. I'll let you know if I find anything else in the region.

Blue Bell is April 13 in Brenham. There are HM, 10k, and 5k options.

There are several in DFW coming up. Arlington 3/31, Texas Big Star in Frisco 4/13, Bluebonnet in McKinney 4/20, Skyline Half (the one ptothemo was likely referring to) and Irving 4/27, Murphy 5/5.

Do any of you have any experience with the Vintage Park Half Marathon? Or heard anything about it? It's in the Tomball/Spring area, and is in April.

I don't know about Vintage Park, but I ran the Katy Half in February. Those two and the Cypress Half are put on by the same organization.

At the Katy race, there were not near enough port a potties at the start line causing a ~45 minute wait. The port a potties they did have were situated in the middle of a muddy field. On the course, the aid stations were really disorganized and actually got in the way. I 100% recognize they were manned by volunteers, but that's every race, and the experience was unique for me.

Vintage Park may be different, but the things at the Katy race seemed to be more organizational and may impact VP also.

ETA - My comments are more negative, but the overall experience was okay. I would run it again if it fits the schedule in the future, but I'm not going to build my schedule around it.

I did the inaugural Blue Bell Half last year. They ran out of water at the aid stations. Seriously, I won't ever do that race again. It was hot and people could have had serious issues. They should stick to the 10k.

Sucks to hear. I enjoyed the 10K

montegobay said:

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I did the inaugural Blue Bell Half last year. They ran out of water at the aid stations. Seriously, I won't ever do that race again. It was hot and people could have had serious issues. They should stick to the 10k.

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half-marathon running out of water is not going to cause serious issues.

those in shape enough to run it in about 2 hours wouldn't need it,
those running slower than that wouldn't need it.

I was addressing the "serious issues" he said it could have caused.

Its not a marathon. Serious issues were.not going to arise from 13 mile race runnig out of water. And thats a big distinction. They ran out of water, i.e. not a case.of having no water at all.

I would imagine at the poiny where they ran out of water was probably for those who pacing for 3+ hours.

ptothemo said:

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Outlaw Half in Fredericksburg on April 6 is one. I know nothing about it, really, other than when and where but was/am looking at running it. There is also one in Dallas the last weekend in April, but I don't recall the name.

I need to figure out my plans on running one in early April or not and plan to do a little more looking around at some point this weekend. I'll let you know if I find anything else in the region.

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I did the Outlaw Half last year in Luckenbach. Other than the weather being really terrible (a cold front blew in right before the race which dropped the temps into the low 30s with a strong north wind and some drizzle) it wasnt a bad race. It is an out and back on county roads so fairly boring and obviously there are basically no spectators. There is a pretty significant hill at mile 7-8 which is awesome when you are heading down it but not so awesome on the way back up, especially with a headwind. However the aid stations were fine, the post race party was great and packet pickup was enjoyable. I like the shirt and wear it often. With better weather I'd consider doing it again.

91_Aggie said:

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I was addressing the "serious issues" he said it could have caused.

Its not a marathon. Serious issues were.not going to arise from 13 mile race runnig out of water. And thats a big distinction. They ran out of water, i.e. not a case.of having no water at all.

I would imagine at the poiny where they ran out of water was probably for those who pacing for 3+ hours.

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There is a strong part of my personality that really wants to point out everything that is wrong - and downright dangerous - about this type of viewpoint.

There is also a strong part of my personality that understands that I can't control what other people think or believe.

I'm just going to let the latter of the two win out here despite the former absolutely screaming at me.

Good to know and I'm glad to hear experience from someone who has done it, thank you!

ptothemo said:

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91_Aggie said:

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I was addressing the "serious issues" he said it could have caused.

Its not a marathon. Serious issues were.not going to arise from 13 mile race runnig out of water. And thats a big distinction. They ran out of water, i.e. not a case.of having no water at all.

I would imagine at the poiny where they ran out of water was probably for those who pacing for 3+ hours.

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There is a strong part of my personality that really wants to point out everything that is wrong - and downright dangerous - about this type of viewpoint.

There is also a strong part of my personality that understands that I can't control what other people think or believe.

I'm just going to let the latter of the two win out here despite the former absolutely screaming at me.

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That's a nice coward's way of saying "I have no real facts to back me up, but I'm going to just claim I won the argument".

People can go 2-3 hours with exertion with some water, and they had some water... they ran out at some point, but that doesn't mean everyone had NO water at all.

And apparently this happened because there were absolutely ZERO reports of anyone have "serious" issues from the Brenham half-marathon.

It seems to me that if this was SUCH a dangerous situation, then at least one person would have had some issues that would have been newsworthy.

So, please! Let your personality shine. Point out all that is wrong as long as you remember that this DID OCCUR with ZERO SERIOUS ISSUES. I'm sure you can claim something like "Well, they got lucky".

Sugar Land has a half this weekend (St. Paddy). It's not too late to sign up and the cost isn't terrible given its the week of the race ($85)...I just signed up today on a whim since the weather looks nice this Sunday. I've run it twice before but both times it was too warm, so thought I'd give it another shot.

It's pretty well run and a relatively straight course. Not the best scenery or crowd support...you're mostly running through an ultra-rich neighborhood in Sugar Land. Which actually isn't bad if you like looking at massive estates...but a lot of the course involves a double-loop.