Hillary Montgomery sets PR as second U.S. finisher in Houston half marathon

HOUSTON – Another career best performance in the half marathon had Texas A&M's Hillary Montgomery recording a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 48 seconds to finish as the second American and seventh female overall in Sunday's Aramco Houston Half Marathon.
 
In the fall Montgomery earned a berth into February's Olympics Trials marathon with a half marathon time of 1:13:35 in Philadelphia. A near two minute improvement a month away from the February 13^th Olympic Trials in Los Angeles serves as a positive sign for Montgomery.
 
"Setting another PR by such a large amount feels surreal," said Montgomery. "I knew I was capable of setting a PR based off of my training recently and what my coach was telling me, but you never know how a race will play out.
 
"The 10k split (33:36) was right off my 10k PR, so I knew I was either going to run really fast or have a rough time finishing. Right before mile eight, my shoe actually came untied and after running with it for about half a mile, I finally had to stop and tie it. It was a little difficult getting back into the pace after stopping, but I was determined to leave everything I had on the course."
 
The longer distances for Montgomery eventually will build up to a full 26.2-mile challenge during the Olympic Trials. A competitive field in the Houston half marathon race offered up a nice test for her as well.
 
"My sole goal coming into this race was to be as competitive as possible," noted Montgomery. "I'm currently unsponsored, so I haven't had as many opportunities to compete in races with as much competition as I knew the Houston half would have.
 
"When the race began, I settled into a pack of girls who were clicking off the pace I knew I wanted to run around. Around the fifth mile, the pace began to feel too easy for me, but I knew it was still early in the race and I was running with some big names, so I was very unsure about trying to push the pace and break away by myself."
 
The winner of the race, Kenya's Mary Wacera, recorded the fastest-ever women's half marathon on American soil with a 1:06:29 as she broke the previous record of 1:07:11 set by New Zealand's Kim Smith in 2011 at Philadelphia. Wacera bettered the course record of 1:08:26 set in 2012 by Belyanesh Olijara of Ethiopia.
 
Wacera, who collected $45,000 for her record-setting victory, made a move just after the 15-kilometer mark to take the lead from fellow Kenyan Cynthia Limo. Wacera then established a six-second gap over the next 5k and stretched that margin to 12 seconds at the finish. Wacer's 1:06:29 ranks No. 9 on the all-time world list while Limo finished as runner-up in 1:06:41, moving her to 11^th on the all-time world list.
 
Sara Hall was the top American finisher, setting a career best of 1:10:07 in fifth place. Montgomery followed as the next U.S. finisher in seventh place.
 
"I ultimately decided that I had enough confidence in my training and current fitness to where I needed to go for it and run fearlessly," said Montgomery. "Later, I learned that I was running as the second American, and that gave me so much motivation throughout the race as it was such an unexpected honor."
 
Following her All-American career with Texas A&M, Montgomery has primarily raced on the roads in preparation for the marathon Olympic Trials.
 
"I feel very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to continue to build upon the great training and experience I received running at Texas A&M," stated Montgomery. "I never expected to have this much success this early as a post-collegian, so I am very surprised and thankful that I have been racing so well.
 
"Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven was actually the person who encouraged me to continue to run and set me up with my current coach, Steve Magness. I owe a lot to Coach McRaven because he took me aside and told me that he thought I could get a lot faster and really took the time to help me find a training and coaching situation that would work well for me."
 

Houston Half Marathon – Top 10 finishers: