3M Half Marathon

I decided to run the 3M half marathon a couple of weeks ago, mostly just because lots of my Trizones friends were planning to run it and I knew it would be fun.

Race morning was cold, about 40 degrees.

Joe, me, and Julie pre-race, I had enough layers on that I didn't need a trash bag to keep in the body heat. Everyone makes fun of my crazy face mast, but at least I wasn't too cold. We were waiting for the start and I thought maybe I should go use the porta-pottys again, I said something to someone about having to pee and they said "it's just nerves now" I though yeah, it'll go away once we get going. and if not, I can always stop along the way. They usually have restrooms at every water station.

We finally got started, I started with Julie, Sandra, and Julie's dad Joe. We planned to run the first half at 12:00 min/mile then speed up in the second half. I felt great from the start. Sandra, Julie, and Joe all have the cool Garmins that tell them their pace, I don't. I can't count the number of times they told me to slow down a little. They did a great job of keeping me from going out too fast. By about mile 2 I took off my jacket and pulled the face mask around my neck. At the first water station there was a long line for the porta-potties, so I decided to wait. We were going at about an 11:30 pace and I was feeling great! At about mile 3 or 4 we saw Laura and Little Pam pass us, I ran with them and chatted for a minute, but they are faster than me and they were running the relay so I didn't need to try to keep up with them. As we came to the turn onto Shoal Creek at about mile 5.5 I started looking for Jeff. I saw him and sped up so I could say hi and give him my jacket and gloves.

Running by Jeff on Shoal Creek. Julie, Joe, and Sandra are behind me. After I ran by Jeff and Kenneth, I slowed back down. Elle and Diane at Shoal Creek.

After seeing everyone at Shoal Creek, Jeff and Kenneth headed to the finish line.

As we got close to the halfway point at the Northcross post office, I realized there was no way I was going to finish the race without stoping for a potty break. We got to the halfway point and there were porta-potties, but they had really long lines. We turned onto Burnet and I was really watching for any place I could stop. I saw a Texaco and told Julie, Sandra, and Joe that I was going in there, I sped up but as I got close I saw it was closed! So I kept going looking for somewhere I could stop. Finally I saw an open Mexican restaurant, I ran in and found the bathroom and ran out as fast as I could. It took 2 minutes or less. I thought maybe I could catch Julie, Sandra, and Joe, but I wasn't going to kill myself to do it, especially since I knew the gradual uphill on North Loop was coming up. I made it up the North Loop hill and still felt good. My quads were getting sore and I was feeling a little hungry since I didn't drink enough Infinit during the first half. I turned onto Duval and only had 3 miles to go! I started doing the math in my head and figured I could be really close to my PR. I sped up a little, but not too much since I had to keep it up for 3 miles. The last half mile I really tried to speed up, I knew I was close to my PR. As I crossed MLK, I could see the Trizones tent on top of the parking garage, it was awesome! I could see people up there yelling and cowbelling! Then right near the finish, I saw Jeff, Kenneth, and Tom taking pictures. Iwas going as fast as I could to try for a PR. As I came in to the finish, I was sure I was about a minute off my PR. My official time was 2:32:53, just 36 seconds slower than my PR! I was really mad about having to make the bathroom stop when I saw my time!

finish line from the Trizones tent, what a view!

Carolyn and her daughter Tina coming in to the finish. This was Tina's first half marathon!

Sandra and I after the race. It was really cold after the race. We were all freezing while we watched everyone finish. Julie, Sandra, and Joe finished about 2 minutes ahead of me.

Jody coming to the finish line with Kenneth and Vickie congratulating her along the way.

Trizones had an awesome set up on top of the parking garage, food, drinks, great view of the race and even Performance Wellness giving post-race massages! Awesome!

Jeff got this shot of the top of the Capitol from the "Trizones Penthouse"

Cindy and Sarah at Taco Deli after the race. This was the first time Jeff and I had been to Taco Deli, it was Yummy!

Tom and Carolyn at Taco Deli

Final thoughts:

This race was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I did it!

It's really fun to know a course so well, we ran it a few weeks ago, part of it was in my neighborhood and most of the last 4 miles is part of my bike route to work.

My quads are pretty sore already, I assume from all the downhills in this race, and maybe from biking to work all week too.

Nutritionally, I should have drank more Infinit in the first half of the race, it was really hard to drink anything when I had to pee!

I still think I had an amazing run last year at the Austin half, and the fact that I didn't beat that time at 3M which is mostly downhill just proves it, especially since I have trained better this year. Hopefully I can have an amazing race at the Austin Half again this year!