Race Recap: The Austin Half Marathon

I signed up for this race fully intending on running the full marathon. This is a race on my list that I MUST do. Last year I said I was going to do the race this year and I had high hopes of running it. I picked up my packet, enjoyed the expo for the amount of time I was there…

Running a marathon takes focus and control because it really is a mental battle. My head wasn’t in the game. We had to wake up pretty early to make it the race start. They recommended being parked by 5:30 am and we were about 30 minutes away. Friday night I didn’t get great sleep because we were late arriving. Saturday night I woke up at 1:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was debating my race routine (which I’ve never done before). That was the first sign something wasn’t ok.

Race morning ready! #runaustin #teambeef #nuunbassador #nuunlove

Standing in line for the restrooms I asked Willie if I should run the full or just do the half because I did have the option to split off. He told me to run the full because that’s what I said I was going to do. I know he was saying that because he thought that’s what I wanted to hear. I really just wasn’t feeling it.

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We lined up with the 4:55 marathon pacer. It was warmer than usual due to the humidity. It just wan’t sitting right with me. I thought that if I just stayed with them I would be ok and I could tough it out. The race started out really great. Everyone talks about how tough this race is with the hills and the first half is pretty brutal. I didn’t feel any of that. Yes, it was challenging but it definitely wasn’t the hardest thing I’ve done lately. I was feeling great physically but mentally I was putting myself through the ringer. I stayed with that pace group for the first 10 miles, but I decided at that moment I needed to NOT do the full.

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This was right before mile 10 and it made me make the right decision. I knew I had the Mercedes Marathon coming up this weekend and I didn’t want go through the mental pain of running the full. I knew I needed to be on point and running the Austin Marathon would completely deplete me. It was a big learning moment for me but it was something I just had to do.

Mile 11.5 had the biggest hill in it. It hurt to walk up that sucker, I don’t know how anyone ran up that think. It looked like it was going straight vertical. That was very challenging, but I wasn’t too tired in the back end because I had been pacing for a marathon.

Finished the race I dropped to the half because I need to be fresh for Mercedes next week! Runner problems but I gotta be smart! #runaustin #nuunbassador
I finished the half marathon in 2:23:38 minutes.

What I liked about the race:
Expo was pretty nice. I haven’t gone to a good expo in months, so this was a plus.
The medal is very cute. The marathon medal was even better. It will be mine NEXT YEAR!
Running through downtown Austin was awesome with no cars.
The course was very scenic.
All race profits went to charity.
You could prepay for your parking spot.
There were green initiatives for the race (but there were still a lot of cups on the ground).

What I didn’t like:
Getting to packet pickup was horrible. Traffic really sucked.
The water stations didn’t seem together all the time. I found myself waiting for water in a lot of spots on the course.
Lack of port-o-lets on the course. I guess if you’re familiar with the area you knew where restrooms were on trail in the park but other than that…there weren’t enough.
The finisher shoot was one of the longest I’ve ever walked through for no reason. We were just walking and walking.
Apparently there was a finisher’s festival but I have no idea where that was because I didn’t see it and there were no signs pointing you there.

Verdict:
Obviously, I’m going to do the race again. I’m itching to tackle the marathon course. I think we might spend the money to stay somewhere downtown the night before so we don’t have to worry about getting up so early. I think an extra hour of sleep would have made a big difference and Willie wouldn’t have been waiting in line for the port-o-lets until 5 minutes before the race.

Not running all the marathons

Not running all the marathons

Last week I was prepping all week to run The Austin Marathon. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy or fast but I just wanted to run it. I kept referring to the weekend as a “shit show” but I was really excited for it. As excited that I was to run that marathon, I knew I probably shouldn’t. It nagged at me all week which made me really think about the situation. Running the marathons is fun and I love to do it. But it is incredibly taxing on the body and probably not something I need to…

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Race Recap: Katy Half Marathon

Race Recap: Katy Half Marathon

I’ve realized that I’m not super into remembering what happened during a race and honestly, that’s not the most important part of a race for me.  The actual running part is my own thing and some days I’m feeling it and other days I’m not.  That doesn’t make or break a race situation for me. This past weekend I decided to run the Katy Half Marathon because I wasn’t feeling motivated to run.  I really couldn’t trust that I would get out of bed to run and I knew I needed a little extra motivation.  I was skeptical of doing…

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Exercising is the LEAST offensive thing I’ve …

Exercising is the LEAST offensive thing I’ve done to my body

A study by the American College of Cardiology came out suggesting the amount I run will increase my chance of death but it’s at the same rate of people who sit on the couch. The National guideline suggests 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise. For me, this isn’t a big deal. Teaching two of my classes is 90 minutes and we all know I work out more than that. I haven’t even made a dent into the 150 minutes with running. But even if I wasn’t running, would more than 150 mins of exercising be harmful to my health?…

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Staying safe when you take your workouts outside

Staying safe when you take your workouts outside

Last week a woman was running in the wee hours of the morning and she was attacked. Her attacker tried to pull her in the bushes but she went all karate kid on him and got away. I don’t know if I could have done that. I can tell you one thing, I don’t want to find out. This terrifies me because I’ve been known to go running at 3:30 am! I did this without telling my husband where I would be running and I would be gone for hours at a time. He never would have known if I…

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Race Recap: The Louisiana Marathon

Race Recap: The Louisiana Marathon

I had no skin in the game here.  I just ran the Mississippi Blues Marathon the week before and I just wanted to finish.  I won’t lie when I tell you, I chose to run the marathon so I could eat some of the delicious food at the finisher festival.  Spoiler alert:  I was too tired and worn out when I finished to enjoy any of the food. As the week went on, I just wanted to do better than I did last year.  I finished last year in 4:57:53 so coming in at 4:56:59 would have been plenty for…

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Race Recap: The Advocate 5K at The Louisiana …

Race Recap: The Advocate 5K at The Louisiana Marathon

The Louisiana Marathon race weekend is one of my favorites of the year. I can’t explain why but it just is. Maybe it’s the energy, the friendly people, the beautiful course and even the great finisher festival. It’s a race I don’t think I’ll be missing. Willie and I usually run the 5K the day before our big races. This year I was running the 5K and the full. Willie was running the 5K and the half. This year the race included the quarter marathon (6.55 miles) and I wish I would have signed up for that instead of the…

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Race Recap: Mississippi Blues Marathon

Race Recap: Mississippi Blues Marathon

This past weekend, I ran the Mississippi Blues Marathon in Jackson, MS.  This race made Runner’s World Best Marathons to run this year.  I was highly intrigued about this race making the list.  Jackson isn’t exactly the travel hot spot so I really wondered what the fuss was about.  I quickly learned but I’ll get to that later. This race was also the marathon maniac reunion race of 2015!  Last year the reunion race was The Louisiana Marathon, but I was just running my first marathon at that race.  It was exciting to be a Marathon Maniac this year and…

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Race Recap: Texas Marathon

Race Recap: Texas Marathon

I wanted to get the new year started off the right way by doing something healthy.  New Year’s Day started with a 90 minute drive to run a marathon.  The forecast for this race was not ideal but it got better as the day approached. When we arrived, we went to pick up our stuff.  We got a huge bag, hat and t-shirt!  This bag is seriously huge.  I have no idea what I’m going to put in it.  Maybe I’ll just use it as my race day bag because I always have so much stuff. I didn’t take any…

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Hello 2015!

Hello 2015!

The post is late, but I wanted to share how I spent the first day of the year with you.  First off, I want to tell you how I spent New Year’s Eve! First I carb loaded and then… I went to sleep at 9pm. This morning we got up early so I could run a marathon.  I know you’re shocked, right?  The race recap will be up tomorrow but I wanted to show you the medal.  It’s the one on left and it weighs 3.1 pounds. It’s kind of heavy. After the race, we stopped by Panera Bread to…

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My year in running 2014

My year in running 2014

The year is coming to an end so it’s only fitting that I recap my 2014 running. I’ve been running for my former self all year long. Not because I’m afraid of her, but I’m just showing myself how far I’ve come since that January day. In 2014, I ran 13 marathons, some half marathons (I lost count), a couple of 10Ks and a few 5Ks.  Obviously, I was only keeping track of my marathons and nothing else, I have no idea why though.  I PRed my marathon and half marathon in 2014 too.  I think that is the thing…

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