Race Day

Tomorrow I will be lacing up the shoes to run my third marathon the Austin Marathon. I was a little worried about the weather, but it looks like it is shaping up to be a beautiful day to run. Should be around 43 degrees at the start and get up to the upper 50's.

The course is a hilly course, but I have been running lots of hills in my training so I think that I am as prepared as I can be - if you can really be prepared for a marathon that is.

I will be sporting my Don't Mess with Texas jersey that is made by Primal Wear instead of the Star Wars one.



Also, I will be meeting up with an old friend from High School that I have not seen in over 20 years. We found out on Facebook that we were both doing the race. Facebook is awesome. We would have been running in the same race 1400 miles from where we grew up and would probably not have seen each other if it were not for Facebook.

My running buddy Julianne is also running tomorrow in the half marathon. We have been getting together on the weekends and doing our long runs together. Good Lucj tomorrow.

I will post the pace result as soon as I can and write up a race report. No predictions on a finish time - sorry!

May the Force be with US tomorrow!!!

New San Antonio Running Store

Recently I had the opportunity to meet with ownership/management from Run On a Dallas based running store that has opened a location in San Antonio. The store has been open about 6 weeks now and is located in Stone Oak area between 1604 and 281. I met with Michelle and Eric and had a nice chat about running in San Antonio.

The store was very nice. Seemed to be well stocked with all of the running essential gear. The store also hosts weekly social runs, running training classes and free seminars. You can sign up the San Antonio store Email Blast and be notified of their upcoming events by clicking on the link.

The store is in a new plaza and seems to be well placed near Anytime Fitness, Subway, and some other health conscious restaurants.

Take some time and stop in at the new store and check it out. I don't think that you will be disappointed! Good luck Run On and welcome to San Antonio!!!

May the Force be with YOU!!!

Chad

Race Report - RGR Endurathon 25k

A couple of Sundays ago I ran in the SARR Endurathon 25k race sponsored by RGR. The race was held in Bulverde, TX. This was the first time that I had run in this race. I had signed up for the race last year, but had a conflict and was unable to run the race.

The morning was fairly cool, but it was expected to get fairly warm during the day. I wore a thick long sleeve tech shirt and warm-up pants. The race course was fairly hilly for the first 8.6 miles. It then flattens out for about 2 miles. There are a couple of more hills until the huge killer hill around mile 13. It seemed to go straight up. It was horrendous!!!

I struggled through the hill and the remainder of the course. I finished the race in 2:16:48 which was am 8:48 minutes/mile pace. I knew this was a really good time for me, but I was not sure how it compared to the other races that I had run at similar distances. When I got home I reviewed the results from the other races that I had ran, which I have listed below.

Around mid Sept I finished the Dallas Tour de Fleur 20k in 1:55:52 which is a 9:15 min/mile. So I had 27 sec/mile improvement. In Oct 2009 I finished the SARR Fall Fest 25k in 2:35:43, which is a 10:05 min/mile, which was an improvement of 1:17 min/miles.

I am thrilled with the results. I think the key has been all of the hill work that I have been completing while getting ready for the Austin Marathon.

May the Force be with You!!!

Training Update

Training has been going well for the Austin Marathon. I have been really hitting the hills during the training runs. I have modified my routes on the easy runs and long runs to incorporate a lot more hills. I have also added a hill workout each week and have been increasing the number of hills each week. I watched a video of the race course on the Austin Marathon website and there is a huge hill at mile 9. It looked like it was about 3/4 to 1 mile long and was very steep. So when I have been doing the long runs I have tried to get a good sized hill in the route around mile 9 to simulate this hill. I am hoping that it will help me on race day. We will find out.

It looks like they have made some minor changes to the race course this year and have taken out a hill that was at mile 25. I am sure that I will appreciate that on race day!!!

Julianne and I have been meeting regularly on the weekend to do our long runs. It has worked out pretty good. I have been running with her and then continuing on to run the longer distances. It is nice to have company for some of the miles.

So far I have already put in (2) 20 mile runs and am planning on running a third one next week. This is the most 20 mile runs that I will have put in prior to a marathon. I have not been too worried about how long they take as I have added a lot more hills into the routes that I have in the past. All in hopes of making Austin feel easy.

Today, Julianne and I are going to do a 5 - 6 mile run. I am planning on starting at the Pearl Brewery and running along the new Riverwalk extension. It should be a neat run. Then tomorrow I am running in the San Antonio Road Runners Endurathon 25k race. The race is being sponsored by Run Gear Run (one of the San Antonio running stores). I don't know much about the course as I have not run in the Bulverde area before. I really like running in different locations. You get to see new areas from a different perspective when you go out and run. This is one reason that I look for races when I so on vacations or take along running gear when going out of town.

May the Force be with YOU!!!
Chad

What Next

Well after the Marathon I was sooo looking forward to the P.F. Chang's that they were offering on the day of the race for those that had signed up at the expo. I was concerned that they would be gone or out by the time I finished. So I asked the people at the expo if they would be there for the people that finish in 4 + hours and they assured me that they would be there all day. So I finished the race and made it through the refueling/support area and went right to the P.F. Chang's tent - only to find them packing up for the day and turning everyone away. I don't know if they ran out of food or were only staying for part of the day. Regardless, P.F. Chang's is a big sponsor of the Rock and Roll Marathons and they should be prepared to serve all of the finishers of the marathon or not sponsor/participate at all. This was a big turn-off for me on P.F. Chang's.

Now that I have that off from my chest!!! What am I going to do next......

Julianne and Gina told me that they were planning on running the Austin Half Marathon on February 14th. So I figured what the heck I might as well give it a try as I have heard really good things about the Austin Marathon. In general Austin has a really good reputation for putting on good races and providing great race support. I have run the Capitol 10k, Austin 10K+ Adventure Race, and the 3M Half Marathon. I have not been disappointed by the support at the races. The only bad part about the Austin Marathon is that it has a reputation of a lot of hills.

I went ahead and signed up for the full marathon. I figured that I will try and incorporate a lot of hills into my training program. This should also help to keep me motivated and ensure that I continue with the long runs.


By the way I would like to give a big shoult out to Julianne and Gina for completing their first half marathon. They did great and had a lot of fun!!!!

May the Force be with YOU!!!

Chad

San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon - Race Report

After a fitful night of sleep I awoke about 4am to get ready for the marathon. I was meeting Julianne and Gina to ride together to the AT&T Center. We got to the AT&T Center without any problems and there were no lines for the shuttle. This is a big improvement over last year - although we arrived earlier this year than last year.

We made it to the starting line area and checked in our gear bags and got some bananas, bagels, and Cytomax. The weather was a lot different from last year. Last year it was really cold at the start of the marathon. This year it was pretty warm and would get warmer and more humid as the day would progress.

We wandered around until we found the USA Fit group that was supposed to be meeting for a warm up. I stretched and went for a short jog to get loosened up. Before long we were entering the corral, which began the long wait for us to cross the starting line. I had decided to start the race with Julianne and Gina so we were way back in corral #23. It took about 45 minutes before we were at the starting line (finally!!!). We were off on my second marathon and their first half marathon.

Gina, Julianne, and were running along and about 1 1/2 miles into the race Julianne and I look back to see how Gina was doing and she was gone. She was nowhere to be seen. Like good friends we kept running ;-) So Julianne and I continue on running together. There are lots of people running and the streets that we were running on were pretty full with runners. We were having to duck and dodge around the other runners as they were going slower than our pace. At about mile 4 Julianne let me know that she had to stop for a bathroom break. I was going to stop and use the facilities also, but the line was really long and I didn't have to go that bad. So like the good friend that I am I kept running ;-). Because the weather was warm and humid as I went throught the water stations I would get an extra cup of water and pour it over my head. After each of these water stations I felt soooo refreshed. Unfortunately the feeling did not last long.

A couple of days before the marathon I had pre-programed some text messages into my phone so that I could text to facebook, family, and friends as I ran the race. This worked really well and didn't casue any problems on the run. I would usually plan my walk breaks aroung the mile markers that I had planned send out the texts. I was surprised that I kept getting text messages from the people that I been texting.

It was just before the half way point and my hips were starting to ache. It was a nagging pain,but did not seem too serious. I got a big pick me up around mile 14 as Jill, the girls, Jill's dad, and Janene were there cheering me and the other runners on. It was great to see them. Arin and Rachael ran with me for a little bit, which was really great that they could participate a little with me.

Got a nice surprise right before the Stinson Field Airport as they had a sponsor set up there cheering us on and giving some snacks. I did not remember this little section in last years run. Just before Stinson Field I passed by a little road and relaize that they had changed the course a little and we did not have to go down this little road and back and the part that I did not remember from last year was new - YEAH.

It really started getting tough around mile 18. I started to get some cramping in my quads and had to slow down and walk for a bit. I was just trying to keep moving and hoping that the cramps would loosen up. After about 10 minutes or so the cramps were gone and I was able to start running again. The rest of the race was very difficult. It was definitely mind over body - willing myself to keep going.

I was of course keeping track of my time and I saw the potential finishing time continue to creep up and up. At about mile 23 or 24 I passed a girl that was asking some spectators if she could barrow thier phone. They asked her if she needed them to get her some medical attention and she sobbed "No, I need emotional support." I knew what she was talking about!!!

I finally reached the last little hill before the finish line. Although, this little hill no longer seemed little. It was HUGE!!! - I was determined to run up it as there were tons of people around cheering us on. It was really great. I made it up about 3/4 of the way and had to walk a little, but when I turned the corner and saw the finish line I found a little extra and was able to pick it up a little and finsh the race. I finished in 4 hours 33 minutes and 25 seconds. This was about 12 minutes faster than I finished the race last year. Woo Hoo!!!!

I could definitely tell a difference between how I felt after this years marathon compared to last years marathon. The last 6 miles or so were tough both years, but my knees did not hurt nearly as bad as they did last year.

May the Force be with you.

Chad

2009 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon - Expo and Pasta Dinner

Finally marathon weekend had arrived. After about six months of training with the USA Fit Training group that was hosted by Run Gear Run I was pretty excited. I think that I was more excited to run this year than I was last year. For one thing I had a lot more running under my belt than what I did last year, I had been running a lot faster this year compared to last year, and I kind of knew what to expect.

I left work early on Friday to pick up my race packet at the expo and walk around. Friday evening I had also volunteered to work at the expo. The expo was pretty cool as usual and there were lots of things to sample. I was really excited that PF Chang's was signing people up to get free food at their tent after the marathon. I even verified that they would still be serving for the slow people like me who were going to take more than four hours to finish. They said that they would be there serving food all day (unfortunately this was a lie as I later found out - it really turned me off from PF Chang's - more about this later)

I splurged while I was at the expo and I bought a SA RNR jacket, a refrigerator magnet, and a SA RNR buff(like the buffs that the Survivor show hands out). I had wanted to buy the buff last year, but didn't decide until I finished the marathon and by then they were all out. I decided to buy the jacket because I figured this was the second time running the marathon I might as well get the jacket. Last year Jill had bought the refrigerator magnet so I thought I would continue the tradition.

Also, while at the expo they were offering a limited number of registrations for 2010 at $55. I can't resist a deal so I went ahead and signed up to run next year also. I know. I know. I am crazy!!!

The most awesome thing ever happened to me at the expo. I was volunteering at the expo (handing out race packets) and was on a break. I was walking through one of the back hallways of the Alamodome and ran into Dick Beardsley (WOW!!!). If you don't already know, Dick is a famous marathoner that came in second place in the Boston Marathon in 1982 in an amazing 2:08!!! He was just behind the winner Alberto Salazar by 2 seconds. That race is one of the most famous Boston Marathons and is called "The Duel in the Sun". Dick was amazing!!! He was so friendly and really took the time to chat with me. It was great. He gladly signed a couple of things for me and I let him get back to his work. Later I caught up to him at his booth and bought one of his books which he also signed.

On Saturday night we had our friends and fellow runners Julianne and Gina and their families over for our version of a pasta dinner. Jill made her fabulous baked spaghetti. We had a great dinner and a fun time. I think this was so much better than going to one of the pasta supper's put on by the events.

A few days earlier I had reviewed my marathon checklist from last year and updated it for this year. I gave a copy of the list to Gina and Julianne. This was going to be their first half marathon. Last year I did my first marathon and Chris from Marathon Chris shared her checklist with me. I was very appreciative for the checklist as her list included something that I never would have thought of on my own, but so desperately needed and that was ---- toilet paper in plastic baggies. It was a lifesaver. As they reviewed the list they razzed me about some of the items that were on the list like - technical underwear, race jersey, and running shoes. I had to explain that the the list was meant to be used for all races especially the ones that you have to travel for. It would really suck to fly into your race a realize that you don't have your shoes - it has been done just ask Alan from the Running with the Pack podcast and blog. He forgot to pack his shoes when he went to run the marathon and had to borrow some from his co-host's (Jeff) wife. I think that they were too small and pink to boot.

After our friends left I went about the process of getting everything ready for the race. It was going to be an early morning as we were going to leave around 4:45am. I wanted to leave as little as possible to do the next morning.

The next post will be about the marathon itself.

May the Force be with You,

Chad