See Jane Run

20 Friday Feb 2015

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Austin Half Marathon, Christi Moore, Rebecca De La Rosa

Forty-three year old Christi Moore took 14th in her age division of the Austin Half Marathon with a 1:43:02. A 7:52 mile pace. 117th out of 5130 women. I mention this because that’s her running behind me in this photo. We’re running together here at the seven mile point in front of the old Austin Power Plant. It gets better. Six miles later, we both complete 13.1 miles within a few seconds of each other. I ran my first half in 1:42:49. The course splits after 10.5 miles between the full and the half. We both continued on the same pace for 2.6 more miles. In case you’re wondering, I’m pulling a gel out of my pocket in this picture. Mobile eating is more difficult than you’d think. Enlarge the pic by clicking on it and tell me that Christi isn’t checking out my ass. If she PR’d, I’m taking some credit.

This second photo captures thrity-one year old Rebecca De La Rosa rounding the final turn in the Half. Rebecca likes to tell the story about how when the kids were told to run a mile in high school, she’d always walk it. She’s been running the last couple of years with my niece Christi. A different Christi than the one chasing my tail in that photo. Since they started running Tough Mudders together, Rebecca has lost 70 pounds. This was her second half marathon. Rebecca PR’d in 2:10.

These are just two of the impressive women who ran the 2015 Austin Half Marathon. The 3rd place woman finisher in the marathon has been in the news all week for her brave crawl to the finish line. Seriously, Hyvon Ngetitch literally crawled the entire final sprint down Congress Avenue to the finish. The women pwned Austin last Sunday. Some tough Texans.

The Happy Runner

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Austin Half Marathon

Is it me, or am I smiling in this picture? In it, I’ve just crossed the South 1st Street bridge onto Cesar Chavez Boulevard nearly 8 miles into the Austin Half Marathon. When I think back to the run, I can remember this and I was smiling. I felt good throughout this run last Sunday and no doubt ran past the countless spectators with a goofy smile for much of the 13 miles. I find it remarkable for the contrast with the suffering I endured in the 2011 Austin Marathon.

I wouldn’t have noticed my expression in the picture or remembered the run in quite the same way yesterday. Calling EMS for my mom and spending 7 hours in ER helplessly watching her fragility left me in a fathomless depth of despair. If I tightened my lips it was not to smile but to hold back tears. I was as close to darkness as my mom. And so her heart’s dramatic return to a normal rate today and seemingly complete recovery has me feeling beyond relief. After the entire day, I have a goofy smile on my face. I saw this picture on my hard drive looking for something to blog and immediately understood it was a reflection of my current grin. What a roller coaster. I changed my flight home tomorrow to spend another week here. I’m going to enjoy and make the most of this coming week.

Run Austin

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Austin Half Marathon, ball buster, race course

I registered for the Austin Half Marathon today. That makes 3 half marathons between now and April 1st. Register for any more and I won’t have to train in between – I’ll stay fit simply from my weekend events.

This is a call out to all my friends in Austin to join me. I’ll be down there for most of February hanging out at my mom’s house – spending quality time. And no doubt washing windows. It’s not an easy course. In fact, it’s a ball buster if you’re not in shape. Think hills.

At a high-level, it’s 5 miles up slope, followed by 5 miles back down the same slope, although on a different street. And the final 3 miles are over the rolling hills west of downtown Austin. While I don’t consider myself in good enough condition to run the full marathon – at least not without pain – I suspect I’ll run this in 2 hours or less. I’ll treat it like a workout by starting out slow up South Congress. I’ll unwind running down South 1st Street. Then focus on maintaining good form over those final hills. Should be a good beer drinking day. Having run the full last year I can tell you this is a well run event.