2015 Austin Marathon Race Report

Me and Triscuit, post-race.

I woke up on Valentine's Day congested, still blowing opaque snot rockets from some sort of cold/virus/sinus infection. Panic set in, so I asked Facebook what to do. I tried at least five of the recommended remedies -- from Sudafed to a consistent drip of honey-lemon-ginger-apple-cider-vinegar concoctions -- to clear out my head.  Something must have worked a little magic, because I was less congested on race day.

Justin and I neared the race start just in the nick of time and found Brandon by a large central water cooler before dodging our way through the crowd to the 3:15 pace group. I saw Triscuit immediately and breathed a huge sigh of relief as we listened to the national anthem. I blew my nose one last time before the final countdown, and then off we went!

The year before, I took off up Congress in what felt like a hastier stride in retrospect. This time around Triscuit and I were in lock step with the pace group, and it felt good. We breezed around to South First, where Triscuit became the voice of reason as our pace crept down into sub-7s on the downhill. It was hard to let people pass, but it was harder to pass on  the cupcake handouts on the opposite side of the street. 

We picked up Karen around mile 6 just as things were starting to flatten out again. I was absolutely stoked to have a team!

The next few miles went by quickly until the point where I thought my bladder was going to burst. I resisted it for a while, swearing to myself I wasn't going to do a repeat of last year's race where I wasted at least 5 minutes on restroom stops while regretting my steady diet of beer and queso the day before. 

I spotted an open porta-potty minutes later -- only to have it high-jacked by the dude one foot in front of me.  I was pissed and starting to lose control of my bladder, so I broke ahead of the pace group for a half mile or so around the half marathon split until I found a vacancy. As soon as I popped open the door after the sweet relief, I was elated to see that our pace group passing.

The next 10 miles were pretty blurry. I remember seeing Gina cheering on every other corner like she had magically teleported each time, and we saw Rob and Angel at some point. I spent most of the time focusing on the clever signage that surrounded and trying to convince myself that it was just another jaunt downtown -- that it was all downhill to the Capitol (except when it's not...)!

Triscuit kept reminding me to drink water and handed me her bottle every so often, and I managed to stay nourished enough to avoid a wall by taking gels every 5-7 miles. 

By the time we hit my neighborhood, I was still feeling pretty good. Justin was cheering on our street corner near mile 22. His smile gave me a boost. Realizing that we were getting near the end, I started kicking it into gear as we approached the end of Duval. I began to worry as the runners became more spread out -- I was so so close, but was I really going to be able to hold strong for those few remaining miles? There was only one way to find out. 

I heard loud cheers coming up on Big Grumpy (what Justin and I call the big hill on SanJac) and saw a pack of RiffRaffians cheering just when I needed it the most. Gareth chased me up the hill on a bike, after which I broke out into a sprint for the final 400 meters. It felt so good to be over that finish line and even better that I finally held a pace that allowed me to finish strong.