Run
Comments: Ran with Sam, who I haven't run with before except in training. She was a great running partner! What would you do differently?: Pack warm clothes in drop bag (or put in trunk to retrieve after race) Post race
Warm down: walked back to car, stretched a little bit. What limited your ability to perform faster: Not enough long distance training beforehand. And locked bathrooms when I needed one. Event comments: The start line was chaos. I guess it started on time although I get the sense it was a little late (I didn't have on a watch). Spectators were mixed among runners, runners were not grouped properly according to ability (slow people up in front, for instance), no consideration for the safety of runners behind you (clothing/water bottles/etc tossed in the path of runners, who could not see these hazards due to the massive crowd), there were plenty of water stops, but First water stop didn't have enough volunteers -- there was a wait to get a cup of water, the bathrooms at Austin High which are NEVER locked, were locked, and couldn't even use a bush cause some pervert was peeking over the bridge above. I was familiar with the course as I had ran it twice before, so I knew how to react to the hills. There were plenty of cheering spectators and music on first part of the course, but we could have used some musical encouragement after Mile 9, too. The finish area was also confusing -- I heard the name of a marathon finisher (someone I hadn't seen in years) and tried to get over to see him, but they wouldn't let me and shoooooed me back in the finishers holding pen. I didn't get to see him. I didn't know it till later but if you left the food area, you couldn't get back in. Fortunately I had taken two bananas but if I'd decided I wanted a bagel, I would have been SOL. Race 'packet' was a joke, a useless white cotton tee, a minicliff bar and a single serving of rice. There were some positives: WEATHER!!!!! parking was decent (arriving at 5:30), although I'd like to have gotten a closer spot since I had to schlep the food table to the team tent after I ran half a marathon, the fireworks ROCKED!!! The voluteers that were in attendance worked their tails off. They just needed more of them (at least at the first water stop)It was also nice to run on the roads with no car traffic exhaust to breathe. Last updated: 2007-02-19 12:00 AM
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United States
The Austin Marathon Foundation, Inc.
37F / 3C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Usual
Woke 4:00am
Drank liter of gatorade
PB&J english muffin
Arrived at Race Site 5:30am for 7:00 start
At 6:45, took vanilla bean gu and water
Ran to the start line (5 blocks from my car)