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Austin Marathon 2011

20 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Marathons, Running

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Austin Marathon, Chuys, Cross Country, Kerbey Lane, Nancy Wilson, phallic signs, RRHS, Steve Mahoney, Toby Thurman

Austin Marathon 2011I can tell you now about the wisdom of training on only 4 miles a day for a marathon.  More specifically, I can tell you what has more impact, gaining ten pounds or dropping in altitude from 5280 feet to 550.  Gaining 10 pounds.  I’ll expand on that topic a bit later.  This pic was taken by my brother Steve in the final 100 meters on Congress Avenue.  Fortunately he can’t figure out the video on his camera so you can’t see that the other runners in this pic were all passing me.  I’m back at my mom’s house, showered and blogging with a Miller Lite by my side.  I’ve got about an hour before I meet up with some high school friends at Chuys.

This run started at 7am on Congress Avenue a block north of the Texas Capitol and proceeded north a few blocks toward the UT campus.  The darkness of night may have faded, but it was hard to tell with the thick overcast.  The weather was awesome.  Drizzle was projected but never materialized.  It wasn’t cold though and I wore Nike Dri-FIT® runners shorts and my Denver Marathon short-sleeve shirt with hi-tech fabric.  I also wore my black Barr Camp runners hat but carried it the second half of the race as the sun never came out.  I launched a 17 hour playlist from my iPhone in shuffle mode.  I love the random nature of my 17 hour universe when just the right song comes on as I need it.  Dream On by Aerosmith led today’s charge.  I was huddled in a scrum with the 3:30 pace runners.  I actually hung with them for 10 miles or so.  That might have been too fast.  The street was crowded and didn’t start to yield room until crossing the Congress Avenue bridge after a couple of miles.  Lance Armstrong was larger than life on an electronic billboard at the end of the bridge looking down approvingly at us all like some brew pub deity commanding us to drink Michelob Ultra.

The race blogs I read to understand the course weren’t downplaying the hills.  This little run didn’t shy away from elevated terrain.  We climbed up South Congress Avenue for 5 miles non-stop.  My crowd of runners got a kick out of the Austin Motel sign after 3 miles.  This phallic signage stood erect as if to point the way “up” South Congress.  Other signs were notable.  My favorite was around 18 miles where some young woman held a large white poster board in front of her body.  Above the sign were bare shoulders and below the sign were her bare thighs and feet.  The sign read, “I’m naked behind this sign”.  There were lots of runners looking over their shoulder as they strode past.  Speaking of women, I absolutely love that sporty look of braided pig tails and ponies with fitted running outfits.  Austin has some real beauties.

I also read a number of references to the great Austin crowds in some blogs.  Wow, I can’t say enough.  I was truly impressed by the number of supporters out on the streets.  Reminded me of my early days running the Capitol 10,000.  They would read the names on the race bibs and call them out for a personal touch.  It might have been the difference between me finishing and still lying out there somewhere in a gutter.  This run was hard for me.  At 12 miles or so the course split for the half marathoners to head back toward downtown.  If they allowed last minute decisions, I’d have turned for the shorter run then and there.  I was feeling beat and knew then that I wasn’t in shape for the full marathon.  It’s a fair argument to state I wasn’t in shape for the half.  My legs didn’t have the strength for this distance.  They totally melted.  I felt fine otherwise.  The hills didn’t bother me until after 11 miles.  My feet hurt like hell.  Talk about inexperience.  While my shoes were not new, I hadn’t been running in them much because they needed inserts to protect my left foot from over-pronating.  I was busy with travel for work this week and didn’t have a chance to run in them after buying inserts.  My feet felt like they were in a vise, but loosening them didn’t help.  I didn’t get any blisters on my hills or arches, but did get one on a toe.  But they just hurt.

Running through the old Austin neighborhoods was special.  Each neighborhood reminded me of some old girlfriend or date.  But the ravages of age kept me from remembering any of their names.  Running through the last neighborhood I lived in before moving to Boulder was pretty cool.  And the bonus was that Hyde Park was nearing the finish.  I knew at this point I’d make it.  The Hyde Park Bar & Grill was around the 24 mile point.  I’d been walking at each aid station to drink water since mile 16.  I’d let the 3:30 mile pace group go long ago and had since been passed by the 4 hour pace group.  I wasn’t too disappointed even though I’d expected to finish in 4 hours.  I was just focused on finishing.  I’d accomplished my goal of using this to keep myself motivated through the winter and this was good for that.

This run has also been good for meeting up with old friends.  Nancy Wilson Basey met my brother and me for lunch at Kerbey Lane off 38th Street.  She looked as good as ever and made me feel pretty good that she went out of her way to see me.  We hadn’t seen each other in 30 years.  And I’m meeting up with some other friends from my RRHS Cross Country team in 30 minutes at Chuys.  Toby Thurman and Bill Hay.  That’ll be a trip.  I come down to Austin every Christmas but don’t generally meet up with old friends because I focus on family.  Time to publish this and head over for a frozen rita.

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Game Day

06 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Austin Marathon, Chuys, football, superbowl

You think I ran today, or do you think I sat around and just watched the Superbowl?  Well, the game wasn’t until late afternoon, so I squeezed in a little run before hand.  I wanted to run a long one but I didn’t have that much time.  I spent most the day painting my dining room.  It would have been great weather though for a long run.  I woke up to 4 inches of fresh powder and the sun was out – up until I stepped out the door and it turned cold and cloudy.  I considered snowshoeing today but would have needed to start earlier.  The painting took longer than expected.

My big run is only two weeks away so no amount of extra training is going to help me prepare.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I can’t get more fit aerobically in two weeks but I can properly maintain with a healthy diet and regular running.  I’ll try to do as many 8 milers as possible – if my work schedule allows.  And I’ll do weights to stay strong.  But eating healthy might be more important than any actual training at this point.  So I only had one beer at the super bowl party.  When I say “diet”, I’m usually referring to alcohol.  In fact the only other substance I’ve ever curtailed is caffeine.  I’m not likely to eat differently.  My breakfast typically consist of a toasted bagel with cream cheese, lox and capers.  Lunch is a sandwich of some sort.  Dinner is average Americana but more meaty than starchy and a few veggies.

I don’t expect the Austin Marathon to be special in terms of performance.  Matching my time from the Denver Marathon last fall would be nice but my expectations are for somewhere right around four hours give or take.  I’m mostly excited about hooking up with some of my high school cross country teammates.  At a minimum I’ll be meeting up with Nancy Wilson Basey.  She’s running the half and we plan to have lunch afterward.  And Bill Hay said he’d be at the finish with a cold one.  I’m hoping to maybe see some others the next night at Chuys.  I visit Austin at least once a year for Christmas but rarely visit my friends because so much time is focused on family.  For some reason I feel like catching up with people I haven’t seen in 30 years.  If I do, pictures will follow.

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Austin Allergies

30 Thursday Dec 2010

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

allergies, Austin, Chuys, Hyde Park Bar and Grill, Kerbey Lane, Running, Taco Shack

Austin is over-rated.  Sure, those breakfast tacos from the Taco Shack are nice.  And those frozen ritas at Chuys make for a tasty beverage.  But I didn’t go to Austin to eat.  I went there to run.  Well, actually I went there to celebrate Christmas with my family, but my plans for me time were setup around working out.  And that’s highly unusual.  Generally, as soon as I know I’m headed to Austin, I begin scheduling my dinners at Hyde Park and Kerbey Lane.  But this time was going to be different.  I setup a training routine for distance the first week and speed workouts the second week.  I was able to squeeze in 24 miles in week one after the road trip, but week two fell apart.  After making a leaf maze in my mom’s backyard and taking turns with Ellie on negotiating iterative redesigns, I rediscovered I’m allergic to Central Texas.

Mold Spores and Cedar.  Those allergens wrought havoc on my running in my youth.  They exiled me to Colorado over 20 years ago and remain as patient sentries ready to attack upon my return.  I dutifully curb my drinking in Austin as alcohol dilates the sinus membranes and exacerbates the symptoms.  But the leaf maze did me in and I couldn’t recover.  I’m home now and still feeling the effects.  My sinus headache became a sinus earache as I gained altitude driving home.  And my breathing is still constricted.  But I’ll try a run tomorrow anyway.  I’m excited to try my new YakTrax I got from my brother-in-law for Christmas.  The snow has been falling steadily all day – we ran into it crossing Monument Pass on the drive home – and I expect the trails to be well covered tomorrow.  I love running in fresh snowfall.  It’s gentle on my aged knees.  I already pulled the YakTrax over my shoes and set them by the door in anticipation.  I still have a four day weekend left to my vacation and I intend to enjoy some winter running.

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