Number 5

The Austin Marathon was finally upon us. I had no expectations for the race considering how I ran the Rogue 30K. After 3M, I took a week off of running. My right knee was hurting, and I could not bear the pain while walking let alone running. I might have hurt it playing basketball. After my knee started to feel better, I ran as much as I could. I ran four to five times a week. I mixed in some speed and hill work in there a few times. I feel like I am cheating myself by not having a strict training plan. I only had one 20 mile long run which I ran a week before the race. The 30K was my only other long run. I struggled with both runs.

The night before the race, I went to see Young the Giant in concert. What?! Yeah I did that. My buddy Rob and I have bought tickets to a bunch of concerts this year. I did not realize that this one fell on the night before the marathon. I was on my feet for about three hours, but I did not drink any alcohol though. I ended up getting about five hours of sleep which is fine because I normally do not sleep very well the night before a marathon. On Friday night, I got about six hours because I wanted to wake up early to watch the USA vs. Russia hockey game.

The weather forecast all week for Sunday was not looking good. It was going to be warmer than usual. The morning of the race, it was in the 50's with a humidity of 95%. Yikes. The race started cloudy, and thank goodness, it stayed that way. If the sun had came out, I would have been toast. I made a conscious effort to drink more water leading up to the race to make sure I did not cramp. I ate a small bowl of cereal the morning of the race. +Amber McGee dropped me off at the starting line about 15 minutes before the race which is early for me as of late. I sucked down a gel right before the start. That was the extent of my fueling before and during the race. I had extra gels, but I was running on how my body felt. I did not have a goal going into the race. I knew a PR was out of the question. I just wanted to finish under four hours without walking. At the back of my mind, a 3:45 time would have been ideal. I also wore a brand new pair of shoes to race in. Good thing that did not backfire in my face.

I started the race in the middle of the pack to make sure I did not go too fast. I wanted to keep the pace under 8:30. My plan was to bank time which is probably not smart. I wanted to build a cushion in case I started to slow down. Around mile two, my lower back was starting to hurt. My back has been hurting of late for whatever reason. The crawl up Congress Avenue felt good. My ankle started to feel funny on South First Street. I kept feeling I was going to twist it throughout the race. I took on some kind of liquid at every water stop. The weird thing is I never had to stop during the race for a bathroom break.

The crowd support this year has been better than in the past. I felt like there were more people cheering us runners on. I ran my fastest mile from seven to eight probably because of the energy I felt from the Beef Team cheering section. There were a ton of them. Livestrong used to have an awesome cheering section around mile nine. Freescale replaced them as the title sponsor this year and picked up where Livestrong left off. The Freescale volunteers/employees were having themselves a party. At mile 10, I had stop for a brief moment. My calf compression sleeve was starting to rub my left heel raw. I had to put some Vaseline on the spot.

The miles leading up to 18 were pretty uneventful. I kept an even and steady pace. Around Great Northern Boulevard, my legs were starting to feel heavy. It did not help that Great Northern is a false flat. It looks flat, but in reality, it is an incline. My pace was starting to slow down. I had a feeling the next eight miles was going to be a fight. My legs felt tired during the concert so I knew I clearly made a mistake there. It was more of a mental fight than a physical one to resist the urge to walk. During the race, I was waiting for the hills to go away, but it never did. The 3:40 pace group passed me around mile 22. That was not a good sign because I did not even try to hang with them. I was counting the miles down as I went. At mile 23, I was like "come you wuss, you run 3 miles all the time." I was going to have to grind it out. You start to see more causalities when you run through campus. People were starting to walk, and it can be discouraging and disheartening.

When I crossed MLK, it was the home stretch. I knew there were two hills before the downhill finish. I enjoy running up hills and have always been a strong hill runner. I picked up the pace and was passing people on the hills. However I have a poor memory. I thought the light ahead was 11th Street, but it was actually 12th. Come on! I had one more hill and block to conquer. I turned on the jets and took off for the finish line. I crossed with a time of 3:42.42. I was satisfied with the result. I did not train correctly, but I ran the race with a decent time without injuring myself. Next time I run a marathon, I will train properly.

Thanks to everyone who was out there cheering me on. To my awesome wife- cheering for me at multiple spots with our friend Eileen. To Chloe- who flew from Atlanta to cheer me on, sort of. To Mike and Michelle- who probably wanted to run but are about to move to Switzerland. To Mike Galante- who was out for a morning run and ran by and gave me some encouragement.

What is next? Hopefully the New York City Marathon in October. I will find out at the end of March if I get in through the lottery process. I would also considering running the Capital to Coast relay again. I might try to win a couple of local 5K's in Kyle. I sort of feel like I am cheating when I run those but oh well.

Until next time, happy running...

The Bridge

The Austin Marathon is coming up soon. What have I done since then?

Run for the Water was a week after my relay. My legs and body were not ready for the 10 mile race. Also I was still trying to catch up on sleep. It was rainy when I was parking the car. I met up with some people at work and ended up getting to the starting line a little bit late. I was stuck in the back which was not necessarily a bad thing. It prevented me from going out to fast. I did not think it would have matter though. I just could not turn it on this day. The rain stopped but the humidity stuck around. My official time ended up being 01:15:51. I was little disappointed in not getting a PR, but I knew it was probably not in the cards.

Decker Challenge Half-Marathon was next on the list. I am starting to become pretty careless about what I do around race day now. I have stopped worrying about the amount of sleep and what I eat or drink. We went to Houston the Thursday before to see Justin Timberlake in concert, and it was awesome. We ate a lot of barbecue and sushi and also had a few drinks on that trip. We drove back Saturday because my work had a Christmas party that night. I ate a bunch of junk food and had some Shiner Cheer on draft that night at the party. This was the first time I ever drank before a race. I ended up getting six hours of sleep that night. I left the house 45 minutes before the start of the race and got there with five minutes to spare. It was below freezing this morning, and I saw snow and ice on the drive to the race. I have never ran Decker, but I knew it was going to be hilly. I wore tights for the first time for a race. I kept a nice pace with a lot of strong effort on the uphills. Someone along the course called me an "uphill beast." I will take that as a compliment. Around mile 10, there was a king of the hill challenge. I sprinted up that hill and felt great. I finished the race strong and ended up with an acceptable time of 1:38:45.

Rogue 30K was a lot sooner than I expected. Last year, it was after the 3M Half-Marathon, but the 30K was two weeks before this time. I have not been running as much. I have been hovering around 30 miles a week, and the week before the race I ran 14 miles. I thought that I can make the jump to 18.6 miles easily. Boy, I ended up being wrong. My goal was to stick with the 8:00 minute a mile pace group. My easy pace is normally around 8:30 so I thought that was doable. When I left the house the temperature was around 55 degrees. When I got to the start line, it was 37 degrees so I was underdressed. I should have had on an extra layer that I could have shed and an ear band. It was definitely cold at times with the stiff wind. The race itself was pretty eventful the first 13 miles or so. My legs were starting to tighten up all over. I started to fall of the pace. Around mile 17 or so, I could not fight my legs any longer and had to walk. I was devastated because I have never walked during a race before. I alternated running and walking till I crossed the finish line. My finishing time was 2:39:22 which was about 12 minutes slower than last year. Sometimes I think having bad races make you a better runner in the long run.

3M Half-Marathon was the fifth race in the Austin Distance Challenge. 3M is a faster race because the course is mostly downhill. They also changed the course this year to not include such an uphill finish. I knew I was not going to get a personal record (PR) because I have not been running as much or as fast. The weather was perfect for a half-marathon. It was nice and cool, but you could still wear a short sleeve shirt and shorts. I got to the start time with two minutes to spare. I have been cutting it close lately in getting to races. Around mile three, my claves were tightening, and I was getting shin splints. I was like crap, not this again. I fought them for most of the race. I never get shin splints. It might have been the shoes I was wearing. I had my own personal cheering section following me around the course. My wife, +Amber McGee, is pretty awesome and I guess Amanda, Eileen, and Scott are too. I kept a pretty consistent pace throughout the race. I finished the race strong and was happy with that. I should have turned it up more with three miles left. Oh well. My official time was 1:37:49. The goal coming into the race was to finish it faster than Decker. Goal met!

What is next? The Austin Marathon is four weeks away. I am a little scared/worried about it. We shall see.

Until next time, happy running...