2008 AT&T Austin Marathon

Pacing the marathon, instead of racing it, was a lot of fun. This was my 6th year in a row to run the Austin Marathon, but my first time to be a pace group leader. Duane and I were the leaders of the 3:20 group and kept up the tradition of Team Mullet. Sometime in the past, the 3:20 group leaders started wearing mullet wigs during the race. Here's a picture of what mine looked like.

As a pace group leader, you really get spoiled. They gave us a couple shirts, a 1/2 zip pullover, a pair of shorts, and a pair of shoes. In addition, Rogue kicked in another 1/2 zip for helping them out on some practice pace runs. Of course, we also have the responsibility of running 26.2 miles at a certain pace. 3:20 works out to 7:38/mile. That's a nice pace for me, but certainly not an "easy run" pace.

Race day turned out really nice. It was cold at the start and gradually warmed up throughout the race. The start on Congress Avenue was nice and smooth. We ran under the fire works on the bridge and were able to get on pace pretty soon. The first couple miles were a little slow because of the crowd and the hills, but we made it all up easily on S. 1st St. In fact, we got about 30-40 seconds ahead of schedule and just held it there for most of the race. We had a really large group with us at the start and we all seemed to stay together through about 18. From there we slowly dropped some people while some others ran on ahead. By the last few miles we only had 4-5 left, but it felt good to see them finish and meet their goal time.

I felt pretty good most of the way, but started feeling some tightness in my left hamstring around Great Northern. It wasn't enough to slow me down, just bothersome enough to irritate me. The last few miles were pretty tough for both of us but we kept up the pace. Since we were still 40 seconds fast, we slowed down the last couple miles and kept urging people to beat us to the finish. You could see the pain on some people's faces when we would catch them. It would have been nice if they could have kept up with us, but normally when the pace group catches you at the end of race you're toast. It's a feeling I'm really familiar with.

The finish on Congress Avenue was really cool with some large, loud crowds. We slowed a little and yelled at the guys behind us to hurry up to beat 3:20. Duane fell in with a couple guys and pulled them to the finish. I pulled off my wig and started swing it around to get the crowd to yell. It looked like we were going to time the finish perfect, but our official finish time was 3:20:03.

This was my 12th overall marathon, 6th in a row at Austin, and my 1st time to complete the Distance Challenge. Other than St. George, it was probably the most enjoyable marathon I've run. It felt great to have people come up afterwards and thank us for pacing them, even the ones who didn't finish with us. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do it again next year.

Random Postings

I haven't posted anything in a few weeks, so ....

Sadie and I will be getting married one month from today.

This weekend is the AT&T Austin Marathon and I'll be a pace leader for the 3:20 group along with my friend Duane. We'll be wearing our mullet wigs and trying to get as many people to the finish line as possible. A few guys from my Boston training group, and possibly Travis, will be jumping in to run with us as well. It should be a lot of fun.

My cat and my recliner have gone to live with Sadie as we start the merger of our two houses. I need to do some painting, install some new carpet and complete some small projects in my house so that I can get it ready to sell. I'm admittedly way behind in doing this.

Anyone looking to buy a nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath townhome in the Great Hills / Arboretum area?

Pitchers and catchers have reported for Spring Training. I'm hoping to get tickets for the Rangers-Red Sox game in Fenway while we are in Boston for the marathon.

Sadie fixed my first vegan Valentine's Day Dinner last night. Everything was very tasty, especially the Strawberry-Plum crisp that we had for desert.

If all goes well on Sunday, I'll complete my first (and probably last) Distance Challenge. They're giving out a Brooks jacket to all the finishers this year.

3M Half Marathon

I'm pretty proud of my race yesterday at 3M. Despite starting too far back and having my legs feel a little lifeless, I still managed to push through for a 40 second half marathon PR.

I didn't want to battle the traffic or parking so I decided to run from my house to the start. It's a little over a mile if you cut across a few parking so lots, so it was a nice warm up for the race. I must have left my house about 5 minutes too late because by the time I got there and dropped off my clothing bag at the bag drop, the starting corral was packed. I ended up squeezing in towards the middle, but it still took nearly a minute to cross the starting line after the gun went off.

After a slow first mile, I tried to pick up the pace but it felt like a lot more effort that it should. I ran the 1st half of the race around 6:50/mile and kept thinking this might be a bad day. I was obviously still feeling the effects from the fast 22 mile run from last weekend. Around Mile 7 on Burnet Road I decided I either needed to slow down and just run it on in or I needed to pick up the pace and actually see what I had left. I chose to pick it up and see how long I would last until I blew up. To my surprise, I kept up my faster pace all the way to the end. My last two miles were my fastest two of the race (6:22, 6:15). My finish time was 1:27:56 (6:43/mile).

I'm glad I decided to pick it up because it turned a bad race into a good one. I would have liked to run faster, but I managed to get as much out of the day as I could and still ended up with a new PR. This will be a good race to remember when I get into some tough races in the future.

List: A Few Things I Can Do This Week

Since Sadie is off in Cancun until Sunday, I realized yesterday that there are a few things I can do this week.

1. Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich at Subway with red onions and the sweet onion sauce. That was great for dinner last night.


2. ESPN on my TV 24/7.


3. Full control of the XM Radio in my truck.

I'll post more if I can think of any.

Of course, it will be better when she is back.

ARA 30K

I ran the ARA 30K on Sunday. This was the 4th 0f 6 races in the Distance Challenge. It was tough, but fun race through the hills around the Barton Creek and Lost Creek neighborhoods.

My main goal for this race was not to hurt myself. I didn't want to try and push it too hard through all the big hills and and hurt my chances of running the Austin Marathon. That is especially important now since I get to be one of the 3:20 group pace leaders now and I'll have people depending on me.

The hills begin right at the start so I just lined up more towards the middle at the start and just tried to run comfortably. Unbelievably, there were people starting up front that started walking almost immediately. After dodging them I settled in to a good rythmn. The first few miles are generally uphill and I managed to stay around 7:55/mile or better. The first major downhill was on Barton Creek Blvd around Mile 5. Sadie's dad and stepmom were out there to see me run by. I slowed down to talk to them and saw Murray running up behind me. We ended up running the rest of the way together. It made the race a lot more fun having a friend to talk to the whole time, especially on the big hills and windy parts. We kept a nice steady pace the whole time and started passing a lot of people the closer we got to the finish. Sadie was at the corner of Barton Creek Blvd and Southwest Pkwy, so I got to see her twice on the most boring part of the course.

The last couple miles have some of the steapest hills, so we passed a lot of people walking in that section. Finish time was 2:28:19 (7:58/mile). I was pleased with that pace on a hard course.

Looking at the results and our 10K splits, I was 74th overall. I had the 89th fastest 1st 10K, 78th fastest 2nd 10K, and 65th fastest 3rd 10K. I liked the fact that I was better at the end than I was at start.

Only 2 more races and I will complete my first Distance Challenge. 3M will be fun.

2007 Year In Review

2007 is a year that I will always look back on fondly.

Obviously, the biggest thing that happened was getting engaged to Sadie. On the two year anniversary of the day we met, I popped the question at the top of Mt. Bonnel and she said yes. Most people (Sadie included) wondered what took me so long. I just thought the 2 year anniversary of us meeting was the perfect time to do it.

The next thing was qualifying for the Boston Marathon. I ran 3:06 at the St. George Marathon in Utah. I finally made it after failing on my previous 4 attempts, but I guess the failure just made the success that much better. It was great knowing that I had finally accomplished my goal and even better seeing how happy my family and friends were for me.

Sadie and I took several trips this year.

• In April we visited New York City to visit Tara. We spent 4 days there and covered nearly all of Manhattan. A few highlights were seeing a game at Yankees Stadium, going to the top of the Empire State Building, seeing the WTC site, running in Central Park, and eating at several great restaurants.
• In August we went to Chicago to see Sadie's friends Erin and Mike. We toured around a little and saw the Shedd Aquarium, Michigan Avenue, Millenium Park and the Forest Park area where they live.
• In October, we spent a few days in Utah after the St. George Marathon. We toured and hiked in Zion National Park for a couple days and saw all the beautiful scenery. After that we drove to Las Vegas and spent a day there. Those are two very opposite places. I think we both enjoyed Zion a lot more.

Work was very busy and kept me moving all year long.

Decker Challenge 20K

Today I ran the Decker Challenge 20k, the 3rd race in the Austin Distance Challenge. I've always like Decker because of the hills, but this is the first time I have run it in 3 years. I always seem to hurt myself at this race, so I've been skipping it.

I've been missing a lot of workouts lately and I haven't been feeling good the last couple days, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I lined up a little farther back them normal to keep from starting out too fast. It apparently didn't work since Mile 1 was 6:49. A little bit quicker than I planned.

The first half was spent passing people on the uphills and getting passed on the downhills. Around Mile 7 I decided to press a little harder and finished out the rest of the way pretty strong. Sadie was at the top of the last big hill with Lilly around Mile 10 and gave me a little boost to get to the finish. I finished in 1:29:32.

The weather was a lot warmer than usual for this race, but I thought it was pretty comfortable.