LIVESTRONG Austin Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Austin, Texas
United States
The Austin Marathon Foundation, Inc.
60F / 16C
Overcast
 		Total Time = 2h 44m 1s
Overall Rank = 4077/4486
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 523/578
Pre-race routine:

Got up kind of lateand was in a rush. Ate a mini lars bar on the way to the race start. We were walking to the race start while hearing the national anthem and got to the start just a few minutes before the gun.
Event warmup:

None really, just the .5 mile walk to the start. Based on past marathon events my wife has done we were afraid of a long wait time and cool down from the walk to the start.

Run
  • 2h 44m 1s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 12m 31s  min/mile
Comments:

I ran side by side with my wife the entire course. She has more experience in running Half's (this was my first) and she tends to run a nice steady pace versus my tendancy to go too hard and burn out fast.

I started out with a raggedy sweatsuit on I'd had for years I meant to take off the pants before the start but stopped at mile one, the jacket and gloves were gone before the 5k mark.

On the steeper hills I would drop to a long stride walk and match her running pace for a few minutes when she would start to pull away I would move back into a run, but by this time the hill was not quite as steep.

I had some leg pain from my shin injury from the beginning. This moved up and down the leg a bit, but never got too bad. Past mile 10 or so it started to affect my knee as well, the hills had taken a bit of a toll.

What would you do differently?:

Nothing. On this course, as my first HM I wanted to be conservative and just get through it. I have another HM in 2 weeks on a flatter course, and a HIM in less than 2 months so my goal is to stay safe and get through the races this year and then build intensity and speed for next years running season.
Post race
Warm down:

Grabbed food, items, and walked a couple miles back to hotel. It was a little 2 cold and I'd wished I had saved my gloves for the walk back.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I've really been building distance not speed. Over the next 6 months i plan to hold at about 10mile long runs (excluding races) and slowly gain intensity.

Event comments:

There were lots of aid stations and they were very long so not crowded.

They had gatorade and water at every station and split them at most so the gatorade was first, the water was second, and in most cases in different cups. This made it pretty easy to know what you were getting.

After about 5M they had vasoline and aspirin as well.

The one complaint about the aid stations was they were not always well marked so at the start I sometimes didn't realize they were approaching and had to cross in front of a number of runners to get to the edge.

There was lots of live music along the course and a number of spectators, but the sea of athletes far outweighed them.




Last updated: 2012-01-07 12:00 AM
Running
02:44:01 | 13.1 miles | 12m 31s  min/mile
Age Group: 523/578
Overall: 4077/4486
Performance: Average
According to the Marathon: 5k in 37:37 5m in 1:01:59 10M in 2:03:19 12M in 2:30:08 Garmin: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/151333987#
Course: This is a very hilly course with a lot of turns. The marathon and half marathon course are mixed together until after the 10th mile. The large numbers of turns means that you are likely to run father than the predesignated distance since you can't turn exactly at the inside corner of every turn and go exactly in a straight line between corners.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4