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! 

Kooky Spooky 10K (Race Recap)

Sunday, October 26

Golden, CO

Weather - Sunny and warm

Ariel had been asking to run a 10K for years. I had been very hesitant to let her sign up for one since she doesn't do much, if any, recreational running. She joined me a few times for run club over the last few months, but other than that, no "training" for this race at all.

She was very excited to go to packet pick-up and get her bib, but was a bit disappointed that there was no "expo" to attend. We picked up our stuff the Friday before at a busy Italian restaurant. Not a great choice for dinner time.

Saturday night she got her clothes ready - Flat Ariel is ready to run!

Race Day

My friends Heather and Dan were super excited for Ariel's race and offered to run with us so we could all motivate her. We didn't get up super early since the race was only about 20 minutes from the house and didn't start until 9:30. We got there with about 45 minutes to spare and got some pictures and used the bathroom.

I knew Ariel was nervous about the distance, and to be honest, so was I. The course is a loop course and it is NOT a flat course. It was unseasonably warm and the sun was beating down on us before we even started running. We lined up just in front of all the strollers and I hoped for the best.

The first mile was a gradual downhill, and was the only mile where A was "happy" and feeling well.

Dan and A

I love Heather's "Top Gun" costume!

Not being a seasoned runner, Ariel was drinking a TON of water because it was so hot. This caught up to her as the miles went on and she got a stomach ache, which made for an unpleasant few miles. Her legs were tired, she was getting discouraged, but we did our best to make it fun for her.

Once we got to some downhill, it was a bit easier to motivate her - mainly, because she wanted to pass people. She did really great the last mile or so - even managed a few smiles for the photographer:

When she could finally see the finish line, she was a bit more motivated. She ran most of the last half mile, and the adults held back so that she could cross the finish line ahead of us. L and Hannah came to the finish line, which made A really happy.

I was pretty disappointed that the announcer screwed up Ariel's finish line announcement. All-Out allows you (when registering) to include a "tidbit" for the announcer to say when you cross the line. He was supposed to say Ariel was finishing her first 10K, but didn't announce it. Kind of a bummer! 

Ariel's Officials

Overall - 223/245

Gender - 153/170

Garmin Time - 1:33:32

Garmin Distance - 6.24 miles

Garmin Pace - 14:59

Mile 1 - 10:37

Mile 2 - 13:43

Mile 3 - 18:49

Mile 4 - 17:20

Mile 5 - 15:14

Mile 6 - 14:53

Mile 6.24 - 12:06

We collected our medals and it was already time to head over to the awards and raffles.

I think Dee, the race director (who knows Ariel pretty well), created the special age group just for her. Regardless, she was pumped to win first place (out of one, she says) in her division. Dee made a really big deal out of the award, which was neat.

Thoughts:

• All-Out really puts on a good event. Ariel has volunteered at 4 races and earned a free entry for a race, and picked this one - which turned out to be a pretty good choice.
• Very clear communication - both in writing before the event and on the event website,
• The courses are very well marked. She runs multiple distances and there is pretty much no way you could screw it up. Plenty of aid stations, all well stocked with water, "electrolyte drink" and 2 of the aid stations had Clif gels (although those were probably intended for the half marathoners).
• The race offers FREE race pictures!! I love free race pictures, and I'm happy that we got a few really good ones.
• All her races now offer separate medals for all three distances, which is also really cool.
• As for Ariel and the race itself, I think she was in over her head for the distance. She normally is fine for the first mile or two, so a 5K with minimal to no training is probably her max for now.
• Overall, it was a pretty fun day, and huge thanks to Dan and Heather for sticking with us on a sunny, hot day. It really made the experience fun for Ariel that her "big friends" were willing to stick with her.

Eugene Marathon (Race Recap)

Sunday, April 28
Eugene, OR
Marathon #21
State #21
Weather - Perfect. Overcast, cool. A bit humid.

Rumor has it that there is MAGIC in Eugene. Last year, there were a TON of bloggers I follow that had amazing races in Eugene and set PR's left and right. Needless to say, I wanted BADLY to run the Eugene Marathon. I booked airfare (again, CRAZY cheap - round trip into Portland for $106!) in December. I waited a bit to register after having months of slow and painful running. Kim assured me that if I at all was considering the full that I should just register for it and the drop down to the 1/2 was simple if I had to do it.

I convinced my BFF Heather to join me in a "redemption" marathon, as L has decided no more marathons, the end. We managed to settle on a matchy matchy outfit, and off to Oregon we went...

Saturday

Our flight out of Denver was just after 8:00, so we had to leave by about 6. Not to much earlier than I would get up for work, so that was nice. Spent the 2 1/2 hour flight to Portland watching a marathon of Teen Mom 2. (I know, I know). Arrived in Oregon around 9:45, and only ended up having to wait about a half hour for Heather to arrive. Picked up our rental car, and then we started our weekend. First two goals were to hit up Voodoo Doughnuts and Lululemon. (Did you know that Oregon has no sales tax???) We got a bit turned around trying to find the glorious donuts, but when we DID find them, they were GLORIOUS.

I shared the voodoo guy (raspberry filled) with L and also had a maple bacon bar. Man. Those things are good. Genius. We walked through a pretty sketchy part of town to Lululemon where L was overjoyed to find the Pinkalicious pace setter in her tall size. Then we decided that we had been screwing around long enough and decided to start the drive to Eugene so we didn't miss the expo.

Shortly after leaving the city, L spotted a sign advertising a place called "Pizza Schmizza" - aka, LUNCH.

L drove, thankfully, and it was the prettiest drive EVER. Oregon is so green and lush compared to brown, dead Colorado.

We got to the expo with about 1.5 hours to spare. Of course, my line for bib pick-up was the longest. It was crowded and chaotic. We took this fun shot though:

Um yeah. I seem to have lost all ability to make a normal face for a picture. With no plans other than 6:00 dinner near the hotel, we decided to hit up Voodoo in Eugene. You know, for some pre-race fuel.

You can TOTALLY get married at Voodoo! Starting at only $200??? My possible future spouse will be so thrilled to know that I absolutely WOULD get married at Voodoo.

I'm saying "RAAAAAAAWR"

I sure love me some donuts

We checked in to our hotel and managed to walk right past Kim's room. We chatted for a few minutes and then we settled into our room until it was time to go to dinner. We ate at Amici's at the other Holiday Inn across the lot. There were a lot of complaints about service and food. I was thrilled with the no sales tax and my sausage and pepper Panini and fries were pretty tasty. We went to the bar/tap house near our hotel. Service was bad, but my vanilla porter was so good I had a second one.

Lights out early, around 10.

Sunday

Up around 5:30, with plans of leaving between 5:45 and 6:00 to drive over to the start. I thought that was a bit too late and I was really worried about parking, especially since we didn't know the area and there was no parking at the start.

Luckily, Kim coached us pretty well, and without even meaning to, we managed to all park in the same lot, only a few blocks from the start.

The start was a giant cluster of chaos. We only cycled through the bathroom line once and then took a pre-race picture:

Not my favorite - I look super chunky (Left to right - Heather, L, Alma, Kim, Sally, Me, Jess)

And then it was time to line up. The picture I took at the start is for reals the only picture I took of the entire course.

I had put my ID and credit card in the same pocket with my phone, and it seemed like too much of an ordeal to pull it out. Heather took BILLIONS of pictures (as she should have, it was the most beautiful course EVER. I will "borrow" one or two from her blog here:

Thank you, Heather, for taking the time to capture the beautiful-ness of Eugene.

Going into the race, we really wanted to not die and finish within the time limit, which was 7 hours. L gave us a time limit of 6:40 so that we would have time to shower (thanks to the SUPER awesome check out time we were given of 2:30!!)

A quieter goal was to get Heather a PR (sub 5:10 and a super loftybutmaybepossible goal of sub 5 was discussed. I did not want to wear a watch, so Heather was in charge of monitoring pace.

We started in the back of Corral C and honestly, the first few miles went by pretty quick. The course never seemed to crowded to me, and there were a lot of spectators. Sadly, the race honestly started going to shit for me around mile 3. It felt like a gradual uphill. I had no idea what pace we were running, but it SEEMED HARD. I already felt like I had to use the bathroom, which is no bueno this early in the race. I was trying to let Heather take charge of the pace and do my best to keep up with her, as long as I wasn't physically hurting.

At the turnaround, it finally felt downhill and I felt a LOT better. The next few miles went well, except for the aid station at mile 6 running out of cups. Not water or Gatorade, just cups. Volunteers were suggesting I cup my hands for a drink. Um. No thanks. I used a port-o-potty an hour ago. Bleh.

The hill at mile 8 seemed pretty small from the base. We ran up the first half... then walked the rest. Nice downhill at the backside and then we ran by the start/finish area. There were already speedy half marathoners finishing. Jealous.

We hoped to see someone we knew heading in, but we didn't. We ran by our car just before mile 10 and since there wasn't a wait, used the bathrooms. I felt better for a bit. I think our pace slowed a little, but I felt decent through the halfway point, which is about where the 5 hour pace group caught us.

I knew that Heather wanted to stay in front of them. I wanted to as well. The pacer had the loudest and most high pitched voice ever. I really wanted to outrun them. My ankle started to ache (I promise this is not made up) and somewhere around 14-15 miles in is when I gave the race away. I tried to get Heather to go on without me. I felt like a total jerk for screwing up ANOTHER RACE.

But... she didn't, and we had a great time. The weather stayed on our side, and the sun came out only briefly for a few miles. The aid stations were spaced pretty well apart and again, THE COURSE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EVER.

At mile 23.69 there were guys handing out beer on the course. I may have told one of them that he was my favorite person on the planet. And I meant it. Beer during a race is The Best. We walked quite a bit the last 10k. Heather was saying that her right leg was hurting pretty bad, so I didn't feel AS bad about taking so many breaks.

We came around the corner and recognized the lot where we had parked and realized we were close! We were discussing a walk break when we saw Alma and Kim!! I think I'm screaming - HIIIIIIIII!

And clearly we were getting pretty darn excited for the upcoming finish. WAHOOO, look how smiley we are:

I really wanted to sprint into Hayward. I really did. My stupid crappy dumb legs were done. It was all I could do to NOT walk across the finish line.

Bib #4207
Official Time - 5:17:31
Overall Place - 2369/2561
Gender Place - 1109/1222
Division Place - 209/223
5K - 34:58 (11:16 pace)
10K - 1:10:21 (11:20 pace)
Half - 2:32:41 (11:40 pace)
20 Mile - 3:54:39 (11:44 pace)

We took a quick finisher pic and grabbed some water and then met L right outside the gates and walked to the car. We hurried to the hotel and took quick showers so that we would have time to get LUNCH AND BEER.

We went to Roadhouse and had a delicious burger and fries and I had a GIANT BEER.

It seemed silly to only go to two of the three Voodoo Doughnuts, so obviously, our only other plan was to go to the third location when we got back to Portland. I apparently fell asleep in the car, and we stopped long enough to go to another Lululemon (in hopes of L getting Aquamarine in tall, which they did not have) and some froyo from Yogurtland. Quick-ish stop at the last Voodoo:

Then we headed to Kim's house, where her and S were graciously going to host AND entertain us. We ordered some food:

And then we watched Pitch Perfect. If you haven' t seen it yet, you should. It is HILARIOUS. Early to bed again. Our flight left early Monday morning, so quick donuts for breakfast with some coffee and some chatting with Kim and then we had to be on our way.

Thoughts:

• Running a marathon is hard. And I don't think I want to do it anymore. I have said this before, but if I'm left with that feeling even AFTER being on the prettiest course ever, I think it's time the marathon and I break up for a bit.
• We got TONS of comments on our outfits. (Sorry, L, it appears Heather and I are twins!)
• The course is great great great. I can see why people come here to BQ. A year or two ago, this race would have gone much differently.
• Plenty of aid stations. I didn't wear a fuel belt and I was fine. 2 Clif gel stations and there were 2 stations with bananas (there should have been 3, but I think one ran out before we got there).
• Did I mention this course is beautiful?
• I really like Oregon. I might have to come back sometime.
• Annoyed I didn't take any pictures myself. I should have.
• I got the worst chafing EVER on my inner right thigh - serves me right for not body gliding. Two days later it STILL hurts.

Giving Back - Volunteering at the Spring Fling Half Marathon

L was supposed to be running the Spring Fling half marathon the day I was in Moab. However, due to a foot of snow, the race was postponed. The organizers put out a frantic request on Facebook for volunteers. Due to the rescheduling, spring break AND Easter weekend, they were experiencing a major shortage in help. For a brief moment, I thought about racing. Then changed my mind and signed A and I up to help out instead.

My dad and H decided to join us, and the four of us added to the giant total of 22 volunteers for the race. We arrived at 7:30 and were greeted with donuts and coffee. My dad and H were assigned to the first aid station and A and I were helping with packet pick-up. There were three distances available - 5k, 10k and half marathon. And they all started at different times. Luckily, this eased the congestion of handing out packets.

Due to the shortage of volunteers, it was a bit frustrating when we came across "problems" and there was no one of authority to help. People who say they registered online but they were not on my list was an issue for a few runners. Also, this race required a photo ID to pick up, and probably half the people didn't have one. Then there were all the people that wanted to change distances or use someone else's bib. All issues I have never really thought about when I race. No one got too upset, and everything went pretty smoothly.

Due to the lack of volunteers, there were multiple cautions given to the runners about following the course markings as there were not enough volunteers to be at every possible location - only at places where runner safety might be in jeopardy. Remember, only 22 volunteers, and most of them were at the aid stations or the start/finish line.

The half marathon started at 9:00, the 10K at 9:30 and the 5K at 9:45. This staggered start I'm sure eased congestion on the course, and had people pretty much finishing at the same time.

I was GLAD I had decided not to run. It was the WINDIEST ever. A lot of time was spent trying to make sure things didn't blow away. However, a lot of the canopies had to be taken down because even sand bags zip tied to the legs wouldn't keep them from blowing away. Even the finish line blew down a few times before they finally gave up putting it back up.

We had about 20 minutes of prep time before the runners started finishing. A and I were also in charge of handing out finisher medals:

All runners would get a medal, regardless of the distance they were running. This was a smaller race, and for most of the runners, they did special announcements (I'm assuming there was a section for "about me" information during the registration process). For many, this was their first race. Awesome to see so many "first timers."

A few runners claimed they "didn't know it was the finish line." Well, I know the finish line sign blew down, but the neon green chute and canopy at the end should have been a hint.

Most runners do NOT want you to put the medal around your neck. Probably helpful to A since she is so small. Also, runners are sweaty, sweaty, sweaty. Further amazement at the Disney characters that ACTUALLY TOUCH RUNNERS. ON PURPOSE. Ew.

A few runners refused their medal. Adamantly. Interesting.

And, a few runners were MAD. I got screamed at by a decent number of half marathoners that got lost on the course and ended up running extra distances. I know I was the first person they saw across the line, but it was frustrating for me. By this time, I had already been out there for HOURS. Gives a whole new appreciation to runners, especially those at the bigger events that deal with WAY more runners. So, just try to be nice to volunteers, remember, they are doing this for FREE.

Overall, I had a pretty fun day, and I will of course volunteer again when I have the opportunity. If you haven't had a chance to do so yet, please do, most runners are very appreciative of the efforts you put in! I enjoyed my free burritos, coffee, donuts AND, thanks to the postponement, all bananas from the prior week became the most delicious banana bread EVER.

(This race offered FREE race pictures, which is how I have so many of me and A to share. There are probably 30 more of us that I'm not posting. Running Guru is the BEST!!)