Austin Half Marathon

I have been looking forward to the Austin Half Marathon ever since last year. Most of my Houston friends were coming to town to run, so I knew it would be a lot of fun!Cassie, Kim, and David at packet pickup. David ended up not running due to an injury
Everyone got into town by Saturday afternoon and we went to packet pickup. It was a little more crazy than I had hoped. I picked up Richard and Kim at their hotels before going to the convention center, but with all the traffic and roads closed it took longer than expected. The packet pickup was also really crowded.

Ingrid and Gillian at packet pickup. Austin was Gillian's first half marathon.

While we were in the long line at packet pickup, I realized there was no way I was going to make it back up to my neighborhood to pick Jeff up from work before dinner. Luckily Del offered to pick Jeff up on the way to dinner. That didn't go as smoothly as planned either, sorry Del! In the end they got to dinner and we all had a great time.

Jane, Del, and Kim at Spaghetti Warehouse

Steph and her brother Kevin. Kevin came out to spectate on a bike and ended up getting into an accident and breaking his collar bone! Yikes! Steph said he's going to be fine.

Richard and his daughter Amanda

It was also Kathleen's birthday on Saturday!

I was super excited when I woke up on race morning. Everyone got ready and we got to the Trizones tent earlier than expected. Coach Tracy was just setting up the tent went we walked over. Race morning was a little warmer than we expected, in the 50's

Jeff biked the course to spectate this year instead of walking.

Coach Tracy and I pre-race

Matt, Cassie, Del, me, and Ingrid

Ann, Kasey, me, Annette, and Red

Richard, me, and Cassie just before the start with the Capitol in the background

Jeff said this guy ran out in front at the start, wouldn't it be fun to be able to run that fast!

I started the race with Richard since we planned to run about the same pace. I told him it was fun to see the mass of people running up Congress at the start. Jeff got a good picture, but it just doesn't do it justice.

Richard and I ran up Congress and enjoyed the awesome crowd support, I pointed out Hey Cupcake to him and we smelled breakfast tacos from Guero's. The first 3 miles were mostly uphill, but we were keeping pace. We chatted, although Richard talked more than me, since I usually have a tough time talking while I run. We turned onto 1st Street and I knew we'd have about 3 miles of mostly downhill and flat before the rolling hills on Lake Austin and Enfield. I was really enjoying his company, but when he stopped to fix his sock, I decided to go ahead in hopes of my PR. I saw Jody and Cindy from Trizones between miles 4 and 5 and I saw Jeff around mile 6.

When we got out of the truck at the race site, I realized I had forgotten a hat. I never run without a hat. I was really annoyed! It was fairly windy so my hair was blowing around and bothering me the entire race.

I stayed on pace till mile 7, but I could tell I was breathing a little too hard and getting tired. I started to slow down between miles 7 and 8 and Richard caught up to me between 8 and 9. I was really happy to see him. He seemed to be feeling pretty good except for some calf cramping. I knew I was in trouble when I couldn't catch my breath during our 1 minute walk breaks. Around mile 10, I knew I wasn't going to hit my PR, I was disappointed, but I just tried to enjoy the rest of the race and do the best I could. Around mile 10.5 Richard went ahead and ended up finishing 3 minutes ahead of me. I saw Kenneth, Tom, and Carolyn at mile 11 at the top of the BIG hill and I saw Jeff just after that. Coming in to the finish was fun with all the spectators cheering. I had a great time running even though I didn't run quite as fast as I had hoped. I ended up finishing in 2:43, my goal was 2:32.

After finishing we all hung out and ate cupcakes at the Trizones tent.

I REALLY enjoyed my cupcake since I hadn't had any sugar at all since Christmas day

Gillian really enjoyed her cupcake too, I'm not sure how she ended up making such a mess! She finished her first half marathon at a smokin' sub 2 hour pace!

After cupcakes we watched people finishing the full marathon for a little while.

Coach Tracy coming in to the finish, check out those leg muscles!

Maggie and I at the Trizones tent.

We went back to the tent, but we were too hungry and tired to wait for most of the full marathoners to finish. I was sad that I didn't get to see Kasey, Terri, Liz, Annette, and Elle finish the marathon, but they all did well.

Ingrid, Steph, and I

Steph did the full marathon at Houston and decided to do the full at Austin too (3 weeks apart). I told her she was crazy to do both! She proved me completely wrong and got a huge 12 minute PR! Her first marathon under 5 hours on a really tough course!

We went to Chez Zee for lunch and while there, I realized that most of the Houston crew got half marathon PRs. Ingrid, Kim, Cassie, Jane, and Del all PRed!

I had an absolutely awesome weekend, the only thing that could have made it more perfect would have been running a 2:32 half marathon.

Next year I plan to run the full Austin Marathon as my first marathon, so I'll run the half at Decker and at 3M in preparation. So hopefully I can get a 2:30 half marathon at one of those (you never know, it could happen at Decker even though it's crazy hilly)

Death Race 2009

Nic's second bike race was themed after a movie called Death Race 2000, it's a 70's movie and it's AWFUL! I only watched about 5 minutes before I got bored. The idea was the people raced across the country and hit as many people as possible for points. This race was based on points and racers got extra points for dressing up like characters from the movie. One guy even had his bike "in character" This race also started and ended at the Drungo Ice House. It's the perfect location and a great place to hang out. They have great food and a nice patio. Plus the owner, Mike, is really bike friendly.
From Drungo the racers went up to Performance Bike on Anderson Lane.
Getting ready to take off

Behind the store at Performance, Nic had set up cardboard cutouts and lots of plastic babies. He had a point scale for cutouts, big babies and small babies.

The racers were back really fast! They all seemed to have fun and got a little crazy getting all the cutouts and babies back to Drungo. It was so much fun to see everyone come back and see what they had and hear about what happened at Performance. It would have been really fun to be in both places at once!

The same guy who won Nic's first race won this one too, I think his name is Ernie.

Then there was the track stand competition

The foot down (ride in a tiny circle) contest. I think Shannon, the co-owner of a pedicab company won.And a drag race down Rio Grande
Nic built this swing bike, it's hinged in the middle and Nic can actually get the rear wheel to come around almost to the front wheel!

We all had a great time and can't wait to see what crazy ideas Nic comes up with for bike race #3.

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!

Spectating at the Houston Marathon

Most of my Houston friends ran the Houston Marathon or Half, so I decided to go spectate and cheer for them.

Pre-race dinner was at Pronto Cucinino.

It was so Yummy and we had so much fun! I think I got my core workout for the day just from laughing so much!

Race morning Cassie and I met Chris and Ramona at Ingrid's. Chris made a life size cut out of Ingrid! It was awesome! We walked a couple blocks to the 5 mile mark and watched for everyone. The course was crowded and it was really hard to find the people we knew. We missed Matt (he sped by before we even started looking for him). We were annoyed to miss Matt, since the only chance we had to see the half marathoners was at mile 5. We almost missed Ingrid and Kim, but Ingrid saw her big cutout sign and started waving at us.

Ingrid was obviously having a great time!

We saw Lisa and Stacy, we missed John, Rick, Kathleen, Steph and Loanna. I could have sworn I saw Julie (from Kickrunners), but it was someone else named Julie who looked a lot like her. I even called her brother Kyle to tell him I'd just seen her. oops!

Richard ran by us and yelled "hey Heather" and then I finally saw him. I have no idea how I could have missed his bright neon yellow shirt! Richard ran with me for the last 6 miles of the 30k last month. He had a great race today, ran negative splits and was only a couple minutes off a PR.

Cassie's Houston Fit Yellow Fever sign. Cassie was a cheerleader in high school and it really came out today! She was awesome! We both had a 5 hour energy shot this morning, so maybe that was part of it too.

I guess I was a pretty good cheerleader too. I actually ended up with a couple blisters from cowbelling and this morning I barely have a voice! Cindy from Trizones is always saying you have to train for cowbelling, maybe she's right!

Cassie saw her friend Kelsey and ran onto the course to cheer for her. I think she may have scared Kelsey with all her enthusiasm!

Next we went to the 13 mile mark, it's a really pretty part of the course, but we got to this point about 2 minutes after Kim and Ingrid went by! We did see Steph at this spot and Cassie saw some of her Houston Fit friends.Next stop was the HRTC "Hoopla Station" at mile 24. We found Kathleen, she had finished her half and was cheering for the full marathoners. We also found Penny and David and Gillian.

Penny's husband John ran a sub-4 hour marathon!

The Statue of Liberty running!
Ramona made signs for Kim and Steph. I wanted to find something fun to put on a sign for the 24 mile stop. I found something that said "Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ass" I put a variation of it on a sign and lots of people who came by smiled, laughed, and commented about it. Cassie and I were both really happy that people liked it.

Ingrid came by with the 4:30 pace group and looked great!

This was Ingrid's first marathon. She was hoping if everything went perfect to run 4:30, she ended up finishing in 4:29:23!! Nice job Ingrid!

Kim was just a couple of minutes behind Ingrid. She had a better race at San Antonio, but I think she still had fun today.

We also saw Rick, he did Poolsharks and a few Zephyr rides with us last season.

David and Gillian both did long runs today. Gillian actually did her longest run ever and then came out to cheer for everyone!

Cassie being the mega cheerleader!

Steph finished in 5:06, she looked great at mile 24 too! She said she wasn't feeling too great in the middle miles, but at mile 17 she started feeling better and really picked up the pace. Apparently, Loanna was just ahead of Steph, she saw us, but we missed her.

Ingrid showing off her medal at Onion Creek. We decided to go to Onion Creek for lunch, it was insanely crowded! And it took over 2 hours to get our food! At least I got to hang out with my Houston friends and hear about their races.

Steph post-race. She looks so happy!
Steph, Matt, and Cassie. Matt got a half marathon PR today! He said he was hurting pretty much the entire race and seemed surprised that he was able to get a PR.

I had so much fun spectating today! It made me even more excited for the 3M half next weekend and Austin in 3 weeks!