Week in Review (February 13 - February 19)

Tuesday (13,424 steps) - Barre with Kelly. Sloan's Lake Tap & Burger run club! Ran one big loop with Dulce and Zach. Managed to not stay out too late. Went to Target for a stock-up trip, it's always terrible to spend a few hundred bucks on things like laundry detergent and toothbrush head replacements.
Wednesday (20,788 steps) - Boulder Roost run club! BARELY made it there in time, and Kristin came, so we all ran "together."

Another new route that had some incredibly icy sections. Overall, a pretty great run!

Instead of a regular raffle, there were "couples" contests. The first one (no picture) was backs against each other and lowering to a squat. I did that one, but my partner quit early. A and JT had a great time doing the alternating push up and sit-up challenges. 

We went to Under the Sun again, and A had a semi-ok night selling cookies. (Will be glad when this is all over!)
Thursday (12,449 steps) - A had a Scout thing after school, so I got my run in closer to home at Berkeley Park (since I wasn't sure when she was going to be done). Pretty "speedy" 3 miles for me. Socialized a bit with the gang before heading home.
Friday (7,277 steps) - Barre with Sasha. After work it was dinner and packing. The gal who bought my snowboard showed up around 7:30 and seemed pleased with the purchase. Also, my furnace seems to be going out, so I spent some time troubleshooting, although not much I could do right before we were heading out of town (figures, right?).
Saturday (8,478 steps) - With the change in our flight schedule we didn't have to get up super early to go to the airport. Everything was easy peazy and our flight left close to on time. A had downloaded some movies and we watched The Money Pit during the flight. Heather picked us up and we headed to the expo downtown. First though, we stopped at Whataburger for lunch! After the expo we headed to Heather's house. Lisa picked up A to spend the night at her house. Meanwhile, we went to Hurricane's for dinner, and it was the most delicious ever. Unsure if this was ideal pre-race food or not.

Sunday (27,591 steps) - Austin half marathon!

We stopped to get coffee on the way home (because it was soooo cold outside). I got a red velvet latte from Cuppa Austin, and it was delicious. Afternoon was spent watching the Olympics. Around 6, Lisa picked me up so we could have dinner together. Her, my niece and A made chicken fajitas and a pumpkin bundt cake. Was delicious! She dropped me and A off around 9 back at Heather's. Only made it about an hour before I headed to bed. Exhausted.
Monday (6,891 steps) - Slept until some crazy hour like 9. We went to Jim's for breakfast (omg, was that delicious).

Then, we walked around Brushy Creek for a bit.

It was super windy though, so we ended up spending the remainder of our time... watching more Olympics! Chili's for dinner on the way to the airport. Through security in record time (like 8 minutes). Flight into Denver was uneventful (delayed, but we landed roughly the same time as our original schedule). THEN, we had to brave the snow that had hit. It was probably close to 10 before we got dropped off at the car (maybe later), and the roads were crap. Didn't get home until about 11:30. Waaaaay late.

Stats:

• 96,898 steps
• 27.1 miles run
• 2 barre classes

Austin Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Sunday, February 18
Austin, TX
Half Marathon #178
Weather - Overcast, drizzling

So when Heather moved to Texas last summer, she decided to run the Austin half marathon. Now you might remember that I ran the full marathon in 2012 (back when I as fast). She sent me a groupon in an attempt to entice me to join her. Somehow, I purchased this groupon (no seriously, they have my card on file and I don't actually recall hitting "buy"), and a long weekend was planned.

Our flight into Austin was delayed. We still had plenty of time to get to the Parmer Events Center to pick up our packets. Disappointed that the shirts were unisex? WHY??? Nothing of interest at the expo, so we were not there long.

Race Day

Planned to leave at 5:30, with the 7 am start. I got up at shortly after 5, which gave me enough time to get dressed, braid my hair and have coffee.

I had hyped up the Waze app to Heather for getting us to our pre-booked parking at the Westin, yet the exit Waze told us was closed. We still arrived at the valet stand with plenty of time. The hotel was super awesome about letting us runners hang out in the lobby and use their fancy bathrooms. With about 15 minutes until the gun we decided we should head to the start. It was still dark!!

We lined up... somewhere? Maybe around the 4:30 sign, although we weren't planning on running that fast. I had looked at the course map and elevation profile earlier and realized it was not the same course I had run years earlier. Of note was the long gradual hill for roughly the first three miles. My personal goal was to not walk any of the hills.

At the start line

I had my throwaway sweatshirt on and assumed I'd wear it at least the first mile or two. False. I got hot and ripped that thing off within the first 7 minutes. The aid stations were placed nearly every mile, and all had Nuun - yay, my favorite!

This sign made me laugh

The first 8 miles were uneventful, other than the first of our 3(!!) beer stops.  Around mile 8 Heather was walking the hills. I was obnoxiously running them and then waiting at the top for her.

There was a series of these posters that had silly Monty Python references (half and full course stayed together the first 11 or 12 miles)

I do remember commenting that the race had not picked the most scenic city route. We ended up having another two random beer stops - including Mile Beerteen!

Luckily, at some point we heard someone talk about the hill at mile 12. And oh boy, was that a hill! Apparently one section was over 13% grade!

allllll of the fog (which kept temperatures down)

Thankfully, there was no longer an uphill finish, and we turned onto Congress Ave. for the last tenth. We got our bottle of water (and a nuun packet) and a bag of random crap. We did not, however, get a space blanket. We both decided to skip the beer and head back to the car instead.

Official time - 2:34:07
Garmin time - 2:34:11
Mile 1 - 11:39
Mile 2 - 12:23
Mile 3 - 11:22
Mile 4 - 11:53
Mile 5 - 10:52
Mile 6 - 11:16
Mile 7 - 11:19
Mile 8 - 11:16
Mile 9 - 12:18
Mile 10 - 11:44
Mile 11 - 11:45
Mile 12 - 11:33
Mile 13 - 12:07
Mile 13.28 - 9:07 pace

Thoughts:

• Expo - the venue is pretty good. Located only about 20 minutes from the airport, so that was helpful. There weren't that many vendors there, so we got in and out quickly. 
• Swag - Not impressed with the unisex shirt (as I stated earlier). I don't keep many race shirts, but I like to keep the ones from races I travel to. This one will get donated.
• Medal/buckle - yep, you read that right! I like this one!
• Aid stations - well-spaced, and I liked that there was Nuun at every one. On the half course there were Clif Shots at mile 9, but I didn't take one.
• The race itself is very well organized, but a bit pricey. Makes sense though for a big city race, a LOT of roads downtown had to be at least partially closed down.
• Suggestions for next year - space blankets at the finish and of course, gender specific shirts!
• As for my personal performance, I felt really great this whole race. This is a huge mental boost for me as I have only run double digits a handful of times since Chattanooga. Heading into some high mileage training, so really pleased with how this went!