3M Half Marathon and Relay - Run

Started out taking things easy. I had done two marathons in the last three weeks (two and a half marathons if you go back three weeks and a day) and my ankle was a little sore coming into this race. To keep my pace in check I paced Mary Ann along for the first 4 miles. The sun was just starting to come up when we started so it was a little cool at first but warmed up nicely by the time we hit the 5K mark.

Finally at mile 4 I said good-bye to Mary Ann and I was off and running at full pace. Did mile 5 in 7:00 flat. It felt good and I could have kept it up but I knew I would be doing more harm to my ankle if I did. So I slowed myself down to around an 8:00/mile pace and enjoyed the course the rest of the way.

Alot of this course over-lapped with the Austin marathon course but I had to wonder how much of it was going to follow the new Austin course this year. Regardless the elevation changes would be good practice since that marathon is only a few weeks away.

By the time I hit mile 10 I was starting to feel worn down and just didn't really care about this race anymore. I just wanted to be done so I could drive back home and climb into bed.

Coming though town around mile 12 we were running past busier and busier intersections. It was later in the morning now and there were actually cars there for the cops to stop. One woman was leaning out the window of her mini-van and yelling at the cop standing in the street: "What are all these people doing?" The cop gave her a funny look, "They're running!" The woman shot back, "Why?!?" I happened to be running past her at just that moment and yelled back at her, "WHY NOT!?!" Everyone around me thought it was pretty funny, including the cop, but the woman seemed pretty pissed. Oh well. Her laziness just made my day.

Around 12.5 I could feel the finish line getting closer. Then as I started to pass a guy he looked up and realized I was carrying a flag and said, "Oh man! I've got to finish next to you!" Great I thought. Two weeks in a row and somebody forces me to sprint to the finish when all I want to do is jog slowly and be done. Fine. So this guy is cheering his head off while I'm trying to figure out what kind of drugs he's on and where I can get some.

Cross the finish line, get some water, get my medal, check my time: 1:51:45. Eh, not bad. I could have done alot better if my ankle wasn't bothering me (it turns out that I was also sick when I ran this race). Oops, wait a second. 1:51:45 is a PR for me! Well, that's good too.

Not run on a sore ankle. Not run when I was sick. Not run on an empty stomach.

Got my finisher photo taken and walked back to the start to wait for Mary Ann. It wasn't long before she came in and I walked back up to the finisher area to congratulate her. We got our photo taken with our medals and then headed to the post-race area to check out the food. Not a bad spread but I wasn't hungry at that time. I did however grab plenty of well-earned cookies for later. We got in line for the free massages but the wait was about 40 minutes. If my Jeep was nearby and I could put some pants on while I waited it might have been worth it, but I was cold and ready to go. So I said good-bye to Mary Ann and hopped on the shuttle to take me back to the start line.

Walking through the parking lot, guess who I saw? Yup, finisher guy. He was jumping up and down as soon as he saw me. Had to take a picture with him and told him I'd see him at the Austin marathon next month. Got in the Jeep and headed home. Ended up stopping for a good hour and a half along the way to rest. I was alot sicker than I realized.


Injury, sickness, poor pre-race nutrition.


Good race. Not the best in the world, but I'll be back next year if I don't have anything better to do that weekend.

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