LIVESTRONG Austin Marathon
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LIVESTRONG Austin Marathon - RunMarathon
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Comments: Crazy unexpected day for me. I felt undertrained and underrested for this affair. Had no idea how I would click off 26.2, considering I had been to 20 miles only once in training and never above 16 on any other occasion. Let the crowd sort itself out for 2 miles, then started taking my splits seriously: They seemed too fast at 8:40 or so, for a goal of a 4 hour finish. I backed it down, but kept hitting the same 8:40-8:55 range and it felt right. More importantly, it felt sustainable. My thoughts turned to a 3:55 time. Kept clicking off the 8:40-8:55 miles as we continued to climb to the high point of the course. As soon as we made the turn south, I could feel it underfoot, that the terrain was now my friend and all that climbing I had done over all those false flats was going to pay off. I opened it up over the last 7 miles, allowing myself to walk a few aid stations and up one troublesome hill in Mile 23. As I descended Duval and through the UT campus, I shortened my stride and let the hill do the work. One small pain on the bottoms of my feet, but nothing else except a passing tightness at the back of my right leg in Mile 16. Everything felt good; nothing was bleeding, it was all systems go. Toughed out the San Jacinto climb a second time and really felt the crowd energy rounding the capitol and heading into the finishing barricades, knowing this ordeal was over and I had not just survived, but thrived: PR by almost 5 minutes over a much more challenging course than Grand Rapids. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This may have been my best race ever. Post race
Warm down: Plenty of walking Last updated: 2012-02-20 12:00 AM
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2012-02-20 7:32 AM |
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2012-02-20 9:36 AM in reply to: #4056258 |
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United States
The Austin Marathon Foundation, Inc.
46F / 8C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 966/3878
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 148/417
Good but short night's rest. Plenty of instant oatmeal and some yogurt. A pre-race GU as well. Hit the starting line and wandered around a bit before getting a spot in line and letting the gun go off for what was to be a very unexpected day for me.
Lots of stretching, but no aerobic workout aside from walking around the capital grounds.