Austin Marathon RR

This race was all about the Hs - Hot, humid and hilly - very good for IMTX training, which was my purpose for running this marathon. Not a good race for a PR unless you are like me and your only other marathon was so slow that you could walk the second half and still PR (which i did - walk and PR). At the finish line one of the people I was running with said that if that was his first marathon, he would never do another one. I actually felt great - probably because I stuck to my plan of going sloooowww. Austin is my favorite city by far, and I loved getting to run through parts of it, and definitely recommend this race for anyone who wants a challenge.

The expo - traffic in Austin is awful and was made even worse by the line of the people trying to get into the expo. It took us almost an hour to go a mile until I finally decided to jump out of the car and run in to get my packet. By the time I came back out, my mom had driven about 2 blocks. The race was sponsored by Livestrong (Lance made an appearance and ran the half), and the swag was pretty great. They gave away a messenger bag instead of a Tshirt which I loved becuase, really, I dont need another Tshirt. My maid is running around town with all of my old race tshirts posing as a triathlete/runner. If you saw her you would know what a funny site this actually is.

The start - no bueno. The start was really narrow and the half marathoners and marathoners were all bunched together. They used to start in another part of town that was much wider and I heard it was a better experience. I also think that if you have over 20,000 people trying to get across a little line at once, you should have a wave start. It took me about 15 minutes to get across the starting line. For the first time before a race I had zero nerves. It was purely a training run so there was no pressure. Plus I knew I had to walk up all the uphills because of my hip, and through all of the aid stations to practice nutrition. I knew it would be a slow marathon, and I was just out to have fun and feel really good at the finish.

The race - I was told the first 3 miles were uphill so I knew there would be a lot of walking involved. Whoever told me that lied - the first 16 miles were up hill. There was one downhill break from mile 4-6 where I pushed the pace a lot, but the rest of the time I was just walking up the hills. Around mile 20 I ran into a friend of mine who decided she would run slow enough to run in with me. Miles 20-26 were almost all downhill, but by that time it was hot and I was tired so my run was slow. We both ran across the finish line, and I felt great. No hip pain, no nausea and I had energy. I guess taking in calories really does work in a marathon - go figure. I also PRed (again, not saying much) after a pretty rough bike ride on saturday. So all in all it was a confidence booster I need going into May. I also think that I am going to actually train for a early 2012 marathon and see what I can do.
Here is a really fuzzy picture of us at the finish line taken by my mom's BB. I realize I forgot to post potential outfits, but a trip to cancun followed by food poisoning meant that I didnt have time to pack and resorted to wear what I had left at my mom's house from my last trip home. Of course it was some lulu.

Um, yes my friend has a baby and is one of those impressive mom runner types.

And good news - I finally got into a Dr to look at my hip. I find out exray results soon, but the good news is that he is a triathlete. So he knows that telling me to stop running and find something else to do with my time is not an option, instead he said he would fix it. YAY!