Austin Rundown

Jon, Melissa, Lynette, and I arrived in Austin a bit before dinner on Friday; our early arrival helped out by a 2PM departure from Houston. With out bags stashed and a quick internet search of "The Best" places to eat in Austin, we headed in the rainy night for the short walk to Iron Work BBQ. Though I'll admit that my BBQ memory is short, I still stand by Iron Works being the best BBQ I've ever eaten! With content stomachs, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest before heading to Austin's famous 6th street.

For the second year in a row we stayed in the Residence Inn/Courtyard at San Jacinto and 4th street (good work Jon!). That made for a short walk to the night's festivities, with our first stop in .... some bar I don't remember the name of (Maggie Mae's?). It was a bit cold in Maggies (kind of an open air place) so we quickly headed to the site of last year's revelry, Cheers Shot Bar. Cheers has shots that seem to line up with a "fun night of activities"; Panty Dropper, WooWoo, and Orgasm. Last year we had some Sophomoric fun with the shot names, so this year we repeated the experience (and by we, for some reason, I was the one taking most of the shots!) and also enjoyed some of their $1 well drinks (college town, cheap drinking!).

By this time our other group had arrived in Austin and we met up with them at .... uhh ... some other bar I don't remember the name of! We went in for just one drink ... and each had about four! There was dancing, trash talking, almost run ins with bridal parties, and promises of Fergie concerts (yes folks, it was that wild!) before we headed back to the hotel for some much needed inebriated sleep. How much sleep was needed you wonder? Apparently about 10 hours or so, as we didn't roll out of bed until Noon. I for one normally don't sleep that well in a hotel, but this was obviously an exception!

After a late lunch, we headed to the marathon expo to pick up our packets. I ran into Boston Rob, Max, and Russ as they were picking up their packets for this, the last leg of their Texas Challenge; five marathons in Texas in about five months! Though lunch had just been eaten, it was almost time for our running group's dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse; a decent dinner though I suppose it did drag a bit long as it lasted for almost three hours! A little NBA Dunk Contest was watched back at the hotel, then off for bed to rest up for the big morning.

The foul weather of the weekend gave way to near perfect Sunday morning running weather (41 degrees and clear with light winds). Austin is in the middle of a multi-year project to improve their event into a world caliber run, so they made some notable changes to the event; the start line was one of them. They moved us off the bridge up into the city a few blocks thus enabling us to see the fireworks show that went off at the start. In a sign that no good deed goes unpunished, the smoke from the fire works show absolutely swamped the bridge as we crossed; if your going to breathe in smoke during a run, I suppose early on is the time to do it!

As with last year's course, we were forced up a climb of about 200 feet in the first two miles or so of the run. Last year Jon was willing to pace me out in my attempt to break two hours, so I had a distraction through the climb. This year Jon was running his own race and I thought the girls might be taking it easy since they were feeling a bit sick (from an illness, not from Friday night!), so I was solo up the hill. It was a mean, hot, labored climb, but my times were a decent, though slightly slower than expected, 9:30 / mile.

Miles three through five have us return to the river and core of the city, and thus, are extremely downhill. In that gravity aided strech, I managed a 8:55 and a 8:25 and figured I had a shot at breaking 2:05 (my own personal line between a decent and a good half-marathon). The next few miles were about as expected, flat with times bouncing between 9:10 and 9:45.

As with last year, somewhere around mile seven there was a nasty "blind hill"; you turn the corner and there is this silly steep climb to a bluff we were to run along. Deciding that such hills were better walked than ran, I slugged my way up it and ran along my way. The two miles with the blind hills were a bit slower at about 10:05, but most of the other miles were still banging around 9:40 or so.

Then, somewhere just past mile 11, Lynette and Melissa came striding by! They were nice enough to run by and chat for a sec, and since they were running stronger than me at that point, I figured I would try and run with them, letting them pull me on in to the finish. Then came Austin's "Heart Break Hill"! Seeing this monstrosity looming after the sharp downhill we were coming too, I decided to go down the hill as fast as possible, as I knew I would probably need to walk up the hill. And walk I did, as the girls and others gave their best efforts running up this last beast before hitting mile 12. I had mentally given up on breaking 2:05 at this point, as I figured this hill would break any chance of that. It turns out thought that this mile, with thanks to the downhill and the speed I got from the girls, was around 9:45; still a chance at 2:05!

The course changes made miles 7-12 less hilly, with several medium hills erased from last year. The downside of the changes though were a series of rolling hills to finish off the race. Though my right calf started to cramp a bit, I shuffled my way through these hills and then hit the final downhill with what I had left; I finished in 2:04:29. The girls finished in 2:03:20, and Jon had a speedy 1:51:01. Brenda, who we were sadly not able to meet up with before the run, clocked a 2:11:42, a time she was quite pleased with.

The time I posted makes my three Austin Half Marathons my second, third, and fourth fastest times at the distance. I think that proves a half marathon at the end of a season of training for distance (particularly the marathon) is a good way to get a fast time. My time was within about a minute of last years, though I certainly ran in more control (better times at the end) than last year. Every time I have a good half, but don't really challenge two hours, I always think back to the 2006 Houston Marathon. In that run I set a marathon PR that I haven't come close to, and if I had stopped at the half marathon point of that race, it would have been my second fastest time at the distance (2:00:08). Will I ever be that fast again??? An impossible question to answer, but it's one I contemplate as I drift in my personal "fast, but not as fast as I was" era of running.

So what from here? Tomorrow I get my second cortisone shot in my left heel, which leaves me wondering whether I should just shut everything down and ensure that I finally put this heel problem behind me. Part of me wants to keep running, as there are several runs I would would like to do in the coming weeks. The time between now and the Indy Half would also give me time for the speed work I missed during the Fall, and thus perhaps, a chance to challenge two hours again. I think the best option is to leave it up to my doctor. I will tell him I can take about six weeks off from running; a dead stop, not even an easy loop of Memorial Park! His answer will be my course of action.

Hopefully, unlike last time, I won't almost pass out while he's giving me his answer! Take care!!!