Race Report - Austin Marathon

I survived!

Well, The Heart of Texas Challenge in now over and I am proud to say that I have completed it. It was rather difficult today, but that was expected.

Paul and I woke at about 5 AM and left along with Bob and Michelle, friends of Paul’s. We left at about 5:45 for the 7:00 start. We got to downtown Austin and it was still dark and after a stop at the Porto’s, we walk to the start line and meet up with Larry and Art whom we work with. The race is delays about 10 minutes but then starts out. I run with Art or the first 3 miles until I lost him in the crowds of both the half and full marathoners. The half marathoners stay with us until 10 miles and then it thins out. It is cloudy and cool at the start which is wonderful and the first 4 miles and a struggle as my legs don’t know what is going on. After 4, they loosen up some and I can pick up the pace. I end up meeting some guy from Austin and run wit him for about 7 miles as we talked about all sorts of stuff. We were running his pace perfectly so he stayed with me. Miles 6 & 7 actually make it under 10:00 for the first time in the race.

There were hills over the first 3 miles and then back down and then they started again at about mile 7 with a short yet steep one. The hills actually felt good since it was using different muscles that I used yesterday on the flat beach. Miles 9 through 13 were quite steady over the hills from a low of 10:17 to a high of 10:39. I go through half way at about 2:18 and now I am feeling a little tired but I am going into uncharted territory is I go past 40 miles for the weekend.

Even though I am tired, I am in good spirits and I talk to quite a few people for a minute here and a minute there. Very friendly people in the race. I see a lot of the same people now for most of the rest of the race. The crowds along the course and also friendly and supportive. Lots of fruit and other stuff the eat.

My plan from the start was to run between water stops and walk as I drink for a break. I end up doing this the entire race though the breaks get a bit longer as time goes on. I get to mile 20 in a time of 3:33:41 and now the calculations start in my head as to how fast I have to run to still break 5 hours. I am feeling confident unless a major breakdown occurs. My knees and Achilles are sore but not too bad. The roads have a camber to them but if you stay in the middle, it is better. Half the road is open to traffic so not much room.

A little after this I meet 2 guys who end up being Texas State Trooper. Great guys and a lot of fun to run near. We help each other out and have fun. Now the rest of the race is mostly downhill but a few more up hills to go. Mile 24 ends up being my slowest and my only mile over 12 minutes at 12:35, must have been a long water break. The right after mile 24, we go up a long sort of steep uphill. I catch up the State Troopers and yell “Let’s Go Troopers”. “YES SIR” was their response. We got to the top and all of a sudden I felt good so I picked up the pace. Mile 25 ends up 11:34 but the hill was long and slow. I continue to feel great for some unknown reason so I keep up the pace, actually go faster and Mile 26 ends up, just like yesterday, being my fastest mile of the entire marathon at 9:15. I didn’t know I had it still! There was also a minor 1 block sort of steep hill there. I probably could have gone under 9 had it not been there. I end up having quite a sprint at the end at cross the line in 4:43:10! The best part was I felt really good afterwards. Well, not good, but good for just running a marathon good.

I was able to eat after the race and now we are waiting for Art to pick us up to go out to dinner. Art runs a 4:31, Larry runs 4:20, and Paul was feeling bad the first half of the race and ends up running a 4:18. Fun was had by all though I don’t plan on doing this back to back marathon crap anytime soon. I just calculated my total time and for 52.4 miles, it ends up being 9:00:20. If only I could have gone 21 seconds faster! Ah, no big deal.

Well, thanks for your support and well wishes for the races. Good luck to all of you coming up on your own races. I need to recover now with a beer and some good Authentic Texas Bar-B-Que!

Race Report: Surfside Marathon

Well, it is 1 down and 1 to go in the Heart of Texas Challenge.

Paul and I left our Hotel at about 6:45 to drive the 8 miles or so to the start line. It was a bit foggy in the morning, visibility of about 1 mile or so. We get to the start line area and park right on the beach about 200 meters from the start line and big white tent. It was about 60 F out so a little warm but all in all not bad. There are lots of people walking all over getting their bags and chip things. And a festive atmosphere is around.

Right at 8 AM the trumpet player plays the National Anthem and we are almost ready to go. There is not mat to cross at the start so everyone is running against “gun time” which is no big deal as there are about 650 to 700 people on a quite large beach. The horn sounds for the start and off we go. The goal is to start out at 9:30 pace and see what happens later in the race. Slower than I am used to but a good idea as you will see later.

Mile 1 9:06 Felt very slow and I had to hold back a lot.
Mile 2 9:35 First water stop and short walk break

We ran about 2.5 miles down the beach and turned around and headed back toward the start/finish line and then continued a whole 13.1 miles to the north.
Mile 3 9:12 Still feeling very easy
Mile 4 9:29 I think I need to stop for a porto
Mile 5 9:42 Did stop
Mile 6 9:17 Ahh I feel better.
At mile 6, the wind picks up A LOT. We have to head into this wind all the way up to the turn around at mile 15.5 and it is brutal. I would say it was a 20 MPH wind almost directly into our face. We all hoped that after the turn around that is would still be this much at our backs the final 10.7 miles. At mile 7 I feel the presence of a lady running just behind me. I am 6’2” and I was the wind block for her. Pretty soon more join in. By mile 9, we had about 8 to 10 of us running in a pack. The problem was I was the leader for all but about 2 miles of it. Now runner etiquette says that other should share the lead as wind breaker but only this younger guy in his 20’s would do it for a short time. He was tall as well so everyone loved us. I mentioned a few times as we talked a lot that someone else should take the lead for awhile but that lady just said “But you are doing such a nice job at it” This irritated me as I like to run properly (at least in my book)

Mile 7 9:57 Windy
Mile 8 9:46 Windy
Mile 9 9:35 Windy
Mile 10 9:51 We start to play games guessing how far it is to the buildings we see off in the distance. I say 2 miles, the other guy says 1.5 miles. It was 1 ¾ miles, we tie!

Just trying to keep it steady here and just get to the turn so the wind can be at our backs. The other guys says a funny line “She is just playing by different rules”. At one point in time, someone in the group moved over and almost trips me from behind. Stayed up so no harm.

Mile 11 9:53 Windy (Getting repetitive, isn’t it)
Mile 12 10:05 Crap, first mile over 10
Mile 13 9:57 This wind is getting very old very quickly
Mile 14 10:43 No one leading but me and I am sure a water break.
Mile 15 10:56 Way to close to an 11 minute mile but only ½ mile until the turn around

We hit the turn around at 15.5 miles and does it feel good to have the wind at our backs. My total pace here was 9:49. Also, I said this race was entirely on a beach but the sand was very firm. So problems with sand flying up but there was nothing to block the wind either. The wind did help keep us cooler, but it was way too hard to run good it. We turn around and head back and that lady just takes the lead and goes. I thought some bad thoughts about it but let it go quickly. At 16 ½ miles, the other guy I was running with says, “See, she is playing by different rules” as she build about 40 meters on us. It is this guy’s first marathon so I felt bad that he had to deal with so much wind in #1. He was from Houston.

Mile 16 9:45 Woo Hoo, wind at our backs

At mile 16.5, it starts to drizzle, by mile 17, it is a down pour! Now the sand was Gushy and very wet. It rained hard for about 20 minutes so we were fully soaked. It also caused some ruts in the sand where the water rushed to the Ocean. Did I mention we ran only 10 to 20 feet from the Ocean most of the time! That was pretty cool. Not much else to see, but the roar of the Ocean was quite loud.

Mile 17 9:28 Pouring Rain
Mile 18 9:16 Pouring Rain

I was running all by myself my now still seeing that lady about 100 meters ahead of me promising myself if I was close to her at the finish that she would be toast in a sprint to the line.

Mile 19 9:25
Mile 20 9:58

This is where I usually start to falter but I told myself not this time. I went out slow enough and I refused to let it get to me. Plus I was passing a few people here and there so that helped my confidence.

Mile 21 9:47
Mile 22 10:52 Water Break and a porto stop
Mile 23 10:42
Not sure what was going on here but I had to buckle down and suck it up. Only a 5K to go. Feeling confident still though.

Mile 24 10:02 Legs are tired now but the finish is calling my name.

At about 24.5 miles I see a guy in a yellow shirt a head of me. He is now my new goal. Catch him and pass him. Plus I can now see the finish tent off in the distance a whole 1.7 miles down the beach. I decide to pick up the pace and say screw whatever this will do to me tomorrow.

Mile 25 9:48 I am getting closer and closer to him!
Mile 26 9:04 My fasted mile of the race and I had caught the guy and moved past him quickly. I cross to the finish line and finish in 4:17:10. Not a fast time, but considering the 10 miles of wind in the face, I am happy. I end up in 43rd place. 1 place higher than at Icebreaker (I am glad I passed that guy) I also end up 6th in my age group but that means nothing.


I find Paul and he tells me about his race. He ends up running 3:37 and takes 10th overall and 2nd Place Masters. That was awesome. He received a plate as an award and we both also get a plate for being one of the first 50 out of state finishers in the Half and Full. I feel a little queasy but we decide to wade into the Ocean to cool the legs a little. The water was Fickin’ Cold! I went in about thigh deep and let the waves cool me off but after 5 minutes, it hurt and my feet were not getting numb quick enough.

After a quick shower at the Hotel it was back on the road to Austin. I feel better as we go along so we shall see what Sunday brings the second leg of the Heart of Texas Challenge. Weather looks cool so that is good. Plan: Go out slow and finish. No time goal at this time.

On My Way to Austin

I am at the airport right now waiting to board my flight to Austin. It is time for the Heart of Texas Challenge. My flight first goes from Milwaukee to Dallas and then after a 2 hour layover, I fly to Austin. The plan is for Paul to pick me up in Austin and then find an Italian Restaurant for some Carbo loading dinner, then to the hotel. Tomorrow, after Paul has a few conference calls in the morning early then we plan on driving the Austin Marathon Course to get a feel for it. I saw a video on their website of the course and it looks very hilly. I think I am in trouble as this is the second race in the Heart of Texas Challenge. After than, we are going to drive the 3 ½ hours or so to Surfside, TX (about 1 hour south of Houston) to the hotel we are staying at for the Surfside Marathon.

I still do not know what to expect. Well, for the first race I sort of do. I will do this as a normal marathon except I am going to go out a little slower this time. Plus the race is entirely on the sand of the beach so it will be a bit slower because of that. I do have my gel plan already in place though. I already drank 48 oz of Accererade today which is over 400 calories. I will do the same tomorrow. I have the lemonade flavor and let me tell you, this is not the best tasting stuff in the world. I guess I have had worse but I did have to force it down some.

I am anxious and excited for the races. I think the weather is supposed to be good but I will do more checking later. Paul and I are the only 2 from Wisconsin in the Surfside Marathon so I hope we represent well. Looking at past results, it looks like Paul could place pretty well. Good Luck to him!

On a different note, I was given a ticket to the Milwaukee Bucks game last night. Great seats too. We sat in the 5th row of the upper deck right at center court. I went with my friend Dale and we had fun. I like Pro Basketball but not nearly as much a College Basketball but I still enjoyed the game. Buck beat the Pacers so that was good. Bango (the Bucks mascot) even made a behind the back half court shot on his second attempt during on of the time outs. The halftime entertainment was really fun to watch. It was a Special Olympics 6 minute Basketball Game. They sure had a lot of fun out there and got real big cheers when they made shots.

It is time to board the flight. I hope to post again tomorrow if I can get Internet access, but if not, wish me luck; I think I am going to really need it on Sunday. Well, here goes nothing!

Update: I was unable to post this when I wrote it. It is not 10:30 PM and I made it to Austin. Paul picked me up and we went to an Italian Restaurant where I has some Shrimp in Fettuccine Alfredo. It was pretty good but a bit too buttery. It felt good to get off the plane. While taxiing in Dallas, I called home and Melissa instantly asked me if I had already seen any horses or cowboys. Not yet sweetie but I am sure I will.

10 Days 10 Hours

It was cold once again today. But do you ever notice that once you get used to the cold, it doesn't seem to feel as cold as it did before? I get this every spring and fall. 50 F in the fall is MUCH colder than 50 F in the spring. Now I said it was cold today. When I ran this afternoon, it was about 14 F with a windchill of 1. But is didn't seem as cold as it did just a month or so ago. By the time I was done with my easy run, I had sweat on my forehead and I didn't feel cold at all. Had I stayed outside for more than a few minutes cooling off, then, yeah, it would have felt freakin' cold, but I go inside close to right away.

I did do another 5 miles today at an easy pace. Ended up being 8:40 pace. I did not get a chance to run yesterday so I was really anxious to get out there today.

It is only 10 days and 10 hours until The Heart of Texas Challenge. To remind you, The Heart of Texas Challenge will be Paul and I running The Surfside Marathon on February 14th, followed by the Austin Marathon the next day, a mere 23 hours after we start the first one. You might be asking if I am crazy. The answer to that is Yes. You might be asking if I am stupid. The answer to that is No (I think). You might be asking if I can actually do it. The answer to that is yet to be determined. We will see. I have done the Disney World Goofy Challenge once 2 years ago. That was running a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon the next day. It was hot and humid for that one but I still don't know what the weather will be in 11 days. The one advantage to this challenge is the order of the races. The first race (Surfside) is run completely on a beach. It is a hard packed sand beach that you can drive a car on so it isn't super soft that would kill legs. This should give the legs a little break before marathon #2. Also in the second marathon, Paul and I will be meeting some more friends who will be running. Larry and Art will also be there and more than likely, I will begin to run with Art and take it easy to start. Though reading Art's blog recently, he looks like he has been on an "Ivan Drago" style workout regimen and might be in great shape and ready to smoke me. Again, we will see.

Thursday should be fun. I plan on taking the Princesses to Wisconsin Dells. If you do not know where or what that is, it is a big Tourist place here in Wisconsin and is also known as "The Waterpark Capital of the World" They have waterparks everywhere. I think if you build a hotel there, you must be required to build a waterpark. The place we are going to is called the Wilderness Lodge and they had 3 indoor waterpark areas totaling 260,000 square feet of waterparks and an additional dry play area. I am hoping for some good family bonding experience. Plus I love waterparks, especially in the winter.