If it’s 6:30 in the morning at the Tanger Outlet mall in San Marcos in early March, you must be at Moe’s Half Marathon. About 350 or so runners were on Sunday morning, when cool temperatures in the mid-50s, and a slight breeze from the south, gave nothing to prevent them from running fast times.

Unless you count the course, which is generally recognized as one of the toughest in Central Texas- compared by many to the extremely hilly Decker Challenge Half Marathon.

But that didn’t prevent Michael Grizzle from knocking out steady 6:10 miles on the rolling hills east of San Marcos’ Tanger Outlet. Grizzle, who was a top Austin runner before moving to Kerrville several years back, separated himself early, opening up a sizable gap on Zachary Smith.

Still, Grizzle, who had never run Moe’s Half before, thought he was running for second place. That’s because David Grice, who has gone 1:11 for the half, was way out front, cruising through the miles seemingly without effort.

But Grizzle needn’t have been concerned. Grice was not registered for the race, and was just out for a training run.

“He [Grice] just took off. I could tell he was running really easy,” said Grizzle. “I had no idea he wasn’t in the race.”

By the time he hit the finish line in 1:20:47, Grizzle was nearly two minutes up on Smith, who was busy holding off hard-charging Andrew Lock, of Houston, 1:22:32 to 1:22:47.

“It was pretty hilly,” said Smith, a chemical engineering major at the University of Texas. “But definitely a good course.

“I kind of liked running solo in front,” said Grizzle, who will be competing in the Boston Marathon next month, where he hopes to run around 2:45. “I could relax a bit. This was like a marathon pace run for me, but a bit faster.”

With Grizzle taking first overall, San Antonio’s Peter Huff took the top master’s spot in 1:24:06. Six out of the top 10 finishers were over 40, including Scott McIntyre (fifth in 124:40); Michael Woo (sixth in 1:25:21); Scott Birk (eighth in 1:26:01) and Greg Thomas (ninth in 1:26:35).

In the women’s race, Cedar Park’s Claudia Spooner, who finished sixth in the Austin Marathon for the second straight year just a few weeks ago, thought she’d test her legs to see how her recovery was progressing.

Apparently, quite nicely.

Spooner, like Grizzle, had never run the race before, and also ended up running solo as Nancy Dasso, her closest pursuer, was nearly a quarter mile back. “I was pleasantly surprised by the course,” she said. “I had heard a lot about how tough it was.”

Spooner, who plans to run the Dallas Rock ‘N’ Roll Half Marathon next weekend, negotiated the course averaging 6:57 miles to finish in 1:31:03. Dasso came home in second, clocking 1:35:05, good for first in the master’s division. Mo Ecker took third overall in 1:37:12.