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Comments: I kept with my game plan and for that I am pretty happy. I could have pushed a little harder at the beginning but I wanted to take it easy since it was uphill and finish strong. I seeded myself with the 3:15 marathon group and I was not too happy once the race started to see how many people disregarded the seeding times. I was trying to push through numerous runners that were probably only running a 10 to 12 minute pace. My first 3 miles were near a 7:28 pace and I was ok with that. I felt great and didn't want to push too hard so I didn't worry about people passing me. The next 3 were mostly downhill and I averaged near 7:02. I just maintained a comfortable pace the next three and then decide to attack the hills on miles 10-12. I was able to pass quite a few people and was pleasantly surprised to see my splits. The big hill near mile 12 was a killer but I sucked it up and ran the last mile at a 6:36 clip. What would you do differently?: I could have pushed the first 6 miles a little harder and might do so next time but this was my first half marathon so I wanted to finish strong and I think I did that.  Post race
Warm down: My legs were yelling at me but I jogged over to my car to get the camera and then back tracked 800m from the finish line so I could snap a few action photos of my wife. I was very proud of her since she had never run this distance race either (and she had a baby less than 8 months ago). I have to admit that I teared up a little when I saw her pushing up that hill. She had her head down and headphones on and didn't even notice me so I started running through the spectators yelling her name. thank goodness some lady next to her noticed me and gave her a nudge because I was starting to turn some heads. What limited your ability to perform faster: more training Event comments: I will definitely do this again next year Last updated: 2009-01-27 12:00 AM
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United States
The Austin Marathon Foundation, Inc.
52F / 11C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 178/6959
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 25/458
Woke up at 4:15 and had a cup of coffee, bagel, and banana. I wanted to get downtown by 5:30 so I could grab a decent parking spot somewhat near the finish line that way I could run to the car after finishing to get my camera and snap some pics of my wife. We were able to get a metered spot a few blocks east of the finish line and then realized that my car battery bit the dust. I tried not to worry about it and figured I would deal with it after the race.
The finish line was about 8 blocks from the start so my wife and I hung out by the finish line since the bathrooms were a lot less crowded. We did some light stretching and then jogged down to the start line.
I decided to seed myself in the 3:15 marathon pacing group. My goal was to go out with a conservative pace and finish strong. The first 3 miles were all uphill. The race was delayed 15 minutes so I just tried to keep warm.