Let me start by saying that I was very excited about this race in particular for many reasons. First, I was going to be running the third event to achieve my "Marathons of Texas" medal.
Secondly, I was going to stay with my really good friend, Stacy, that I just adore, that I haven't seen in about 5 years.Thirdly, I LOVE Austin. If I could pack up and move anywhere, I think it would be Austin for sure. It is such a great city, the food, the sights, the people, just the overall atmosphere of Austin has always sparked something in me.
Fourthly, I was going to run with my friend Leslie. It was so much better that I had her to run with. She pushed me through when I needed a push the most!!!
Now that you know why I was excited to run this, let's get into the race. Lord O mighty, I will start with that. It was HARD, really hard. It was not 40 degrees like it was predicted to be, it was HUMID and pretty windy. Not what you want on race day. The first 3 miles were uphill. THREE miles....uphill!!! Then there were some downhills, but more giant uphills.
When I read the course description, I should have been alarmed then, but I shrugged it off. It surely couldn't be THAT bad, right?!
I will write some of what the spectator guide said:
The (REALLY) BIG ONE (mile 11.8)
15th and West sits at the top of possibly the toughest hill of the day. Yeah, really? This is a good place to line the course with loud, positive support, and even coach a bit, telling runners to keep their heads up, keep their hips under them, and to move those arms. Yeah, that worked out real well! DO NOT tell them it's the last hill - they've got a couple more to go in the LAST mile. That's right, they saved the BEST hill for LAST!
I almost had to laugh while CLIMBING That mountain. It was just comical really to see everyone TRY and run. I attempted and just walked it. There was no point in burning all my energy, when I KNEW there was worse to come!
Skip ahead to the next one:
The (OTHER) BIG ONE (mile 12.7)
At Westover, the marathoners have crested a FAIRLY MASSIVE hill, and have nearly closed out what is, in terms of hills, the toughest portion of the course. At this point you could not even see the street at the top of the hill!!!
After getting past these grueling hills, the end was near! I couldn't have been more relieved to see the finish line that day!!! The race was tough, it was worse than Tyler with the hills, but fortunately it didn't beat my body up like Tyler did. I had hip pain for weeks after that race!
After weaving through the giant line of baggage check to get to the shirt tent (which was all the way on the very end of the chute) and watching a man collapse behind us and need immediate medical attention, I was ready to get the heck out of there. This happened to be the second one I saw that day. There was a man right after the last big hill that I heard stopped breathing and was given CPR by a passing runner. He seemed to be stable when I came across him, but that shook me a little. I am sure he must have tried to power up the hill and over exerted himself. I wonder how many others collapsed that day. It had to have been because of the difficulty of the course and the higher temperatures.After the race, my friend Stacy tooted us around town to see some sights, we even did a little light hiking.
Overall, was it a race that I would do again? YES, I would and I will run it again, probably next year!
