BCS Half Marathon 2019
Colin Dismuke / December 08, 2019
3 min read
On Sunday I ran the BCS Half Marathon for the 7th time (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019). I believe it’s the race that I’ve competed in for the most total years.
Given that I have a decent size dataset, I thought I would examine my times and ranks over the years to see if I could glean any insight.
The first chart below shows my overall finish time for each year. After just breaking 1:30 the first year I raced the half marathon, apparently I took the next year off and ran almost one and a half minutes slower in 2014.
Not wanting my running career to be over before it started, I steadily reduced my time over the next three years, just breaking 1:26:00. Since then I’ve gotten slightly slower, mostly due to having twins born in 2017 and a few other commitments that the amount of time I had to train.
The second chart has a similar shape to the first but slightly different behavior toward the end. Relative to all other runners, runners in my age group, and male runners, I’ve stayed quite consistent since my peak in 2017 despite my times getting marginally slower.
I think this is mostly explained by a smaller field across all categories. The mean number of participants across overall, age group, and gender for 2013-2015 vs. 2017-2019 were 2,194 vs. 1,579, 130 vs. 69 (nice), and 756 vs. 608, respectively.
The BCS Half Marathon and Marathon are one of the best run races in Texas and support a great cause. If you have the opportunity I encourage you to participate 🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♂️
A few pictures in downtown Bryan, Texas:
Camera: Sony α7 III Exposure: 1/160 Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 55mm ISO: 100
Camera: Sony α7 III Exposure: 1/160 Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 55mm ISO: 100
Camera: Sony α7 III Exposure: 1/160 Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 55mm ISO: 100
Camera: Sony α7 III Exposure: 1/125 Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 55mm ISO: 100
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