2008 Capitol 20,000

Yesterday was the 4th annual Capitol 20,000. Yes, the 20,000. For the last 3 years Duane, Toby, and I have run two laps at the Capital 10,000. We've been joined by some others a couple times (Sadie, Jennifer, Duane's dog Maverick).

This year's addition was the hardest ever for me since it came less then 36 hours after returning from Sadie's and my honeymoon in France and also because I had run a total of 35 miles this month. That's not exactly the best way to peak for Boston.

Toby and Dan decided to do their extra lap before the race this year. Duane joined them and thus completed the 1st Cap30k. I kept with tradition and did the race first and the easy lap 2nd.

The race was really tough due to the humidty and my fatigue. It really helped that it rained off and on throughout the race and kept us somewhat cool. Duane and I ran the race portion in 44:12. I felt pretty good the first few miles, but by the time we got to Mopac I was starting to work real hard. I slowed down a little but was able to run a respectable time considering my training. After the race, we met up with Travis for the 2nd lap. He had a good race running sub-40/min. It was pretty tough getting started again, but we took off up Congress Avenue again.

The 2nd lap is always cool because the streets are deserted, but still closed off for the most part. It's mostly people taking down the waterstops and band setups. We usually catch the last place walkers somewhere on Enfield around Lamar. Once we do that we slowly start catching the masses of walkers. By the time we get to Cesar Chavez it gets really crowded and you start weaving through everyone. It's weird to be running through a big crowd of walkers.

The 2nd lap was really hard for me. I think we were running around a 9 min pace, but it seemed much faster. The hills took a lot out of me and by the time we got to Mopac my foot was hurting. I must have laced my right shoe too tight, because the tendons on top were really sore. We stopped at water stops and took it pretty easy. We stopped at the S. 1st St bridge so that we didn't cross the finish line a 2nd time. The 2nd lap was unnofficially 55 minutes including some stops for water and loosening my shoes.

This was the toughest version of the 20k, but I'm glad we kept the streak going.

I'm A Married Man

Sadie and I were married on Saturday. I couldn't be happier to be sharing the rest of my life with such a wonderful woman. Our wedding seemed to go just as it was planned. I was a little overwhelmed to see how many of our family and friends came to celebrate with us. I'm not used to being at the center of attention (Sadie was THE center of attention, of course), but I managed to get through our vows without messing up and was able to dance without tripping.

We tried to take it all in so that we could remember our wedding with some clarity. In the short time I have to write this, a few highlights that I remember were:

1. Our vows that seemed to go on forever. Sadie and I both got the laughs during out turns.
2. Walking in at the start of the ceremony. Everyone seemed to be staring at me since Sadie hadn't entered yet. I tried to smile and make eye contact with as many people as possible.
3. Seeing so many people from different parts of my life all in the same room. There were family members, running buddies, golf buddies, college friends, work friends and people I know through Sadie all together.
4. Our first dance. We danced to George Strait's "I Cross My Heart". I can two-step okay, but I was too nervous to try any spins or twirls. We just kept moving in a big circle and I tried to stop stepping on Sadie's dress.
5. My dance with my mom. We danced to "Rhinestone Cowboy" and it sounded like everyone was singing along and having a good time. This was one of my favorite songs when I was a little boy. There's a good back story to why we picked it.
6. The champagne toast. Duane gave a wonderful toast that nearly had me crying. I had no idea what he was going to say about me, but it left me feeling great to have such a good friend.
7. Our exit. Everyone lined up with sparklers and we ran through them to our car. It was a beautiful ending to a great night.

All in all it was a great day. It started with a round of golf with two of my college friends and teammates, Clay and Brian, along with Brian's dad Tim. The middle of the day was spent getting ready for the wedding and hanging out in the Groom's House with all the guys and my family. It finished with the perfect wedding to my new wife Sadie. The newest Mrs. Jones. She's the love of my life.

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.