Austin Marathon - RunMarathon

This was my second Austin 26.2, so the terrain was no surprise. Last year I went out slow and still was hampered by the hills (4:30). This year my approach was different. I decided that if the hills were going to get me, I would have a better lead on time when the hills finally took there toll. I left with the 3:40 bunch, just like I did in Houston last month. In fact my 13.1 split was 10 seconds faster than Houston. Once again, the folks that improperly ranked theirselves for the start really paid a toll on me, but what are you going do? Anyway, I felt pretty good through 15, but then started to really feel the pain in my hammies and hips from the hills. So, I went ahead with plan B. That was to pull in the reins some and just fight of the 4:00 pace group that I knew would be creeping up on me. Finished <4hr, which was my worst case goal, considering an extremely painful 4:30 last year.

Before next years race, I'm going to attempt to break the race down into more manageable sections. Perhaps drive the course beforehand to know when the bigger hills are coming. Austin really plays mind games on me. So, I need to figure out a better race strategy.

Medal, T-shirt, and agonizing walk back to the car. The hour long bubble bath back at the hotel was awesome. It made the 3.5 hr ride back home bearable.


Lack of uphill AND downhill training. Which, I'm not sure I can accomplish living in Houston.


No fault of the race organizers (I think). But, they need to really make the point before hand that, for example 4:00hr pace group means 4hr marathon, not half! Two years in a row I blew tons of energy going around folks that were walking within the first mile. Or doing a easy Sunday stroll.