Austin Half Marathon

On 20 February, I ran the Austin Half Marathon. I ran the first few miles with JC and her friend N. But then I ran ahead. I ended up finishing in 2:31:31. It was a strong finish, for me, although I have mixed feelings about the time. I do think I could have gone faster. It's strange how competitive I can be about running. I know I'm not fast, but I don't like to let too many people pass me. The race was well organized. There was amazing crowd support, and there were water stops every mile or so. What surprised me, however, was just how hilly the course was. I know Baltimore was hilly, but at least there was a mile or so of flat. On the Austin course there was no real length of flat, it was either going up or going down. My one complaint about the race was at the finish. They decided to hand the race shirts out at the finish. I finished in the middle of the pack and frankly, it was crowded as hell. I'm talking a street full of people, packed to the gills, not moving, and waiting to get a shirt. I think they would have been better off just handing out the shirts at the expo.

After the race, we went to a nearby restaurant to celebrate. The food was great and it was a beautiful day to sit outside and celebrate our race finish. We split a tamale with cheese and roasted poblanos, a nice egg breakfast with great roasted mushrooms and tomatoes. And the dessert -- it made the run worthwhile. It was a flourless cholocate cake with a hint of chili, carmalized bananas and brown butter banana ice cream. Oh, and I had a maragarita to wash it all down. There were a lot of other racers there. I'm glad I did it and that's race number two done. Next month is Sun Trust National. I have to start making my tutu!

Love the Run You're With 5K

Today was the Pacer's Love the Run You're With 5k. Today's high is supposed to be in the 50s, but at 9am it wasn't that warm. Still, unlike yesterday, it wasn't windy, and there were places/stores open so we could go in and warm up. TK ran with bad cold. Not only that, she ran fast (well, faster than me). I was impressed. I did okay. Didn't break 30 minutes, but I was close with a time of 30:10. I'm still waiting to see the official chip time. I hope I wasn't off by too much.

I admit, I did the race, in part, because of the fun T-shirt design. I liked the one from last year and this year was just as cute.



But the shirt was purple. PURPLE?!?!

The First Half of the 13

In honor of my New Year's Resolution, here are the half marathons I've signed up for thus far:

1. Manhattan Half (Jan) 2:28
2. Austin Half Marathon (with JC in Feb)
3. National Half Marathon (with TK in Mar)
4. 13.1 NYC Half Marathon (not to be confused with the NYC Half Marathon, which I did not get into this year) (Apr)
5. More Half Marathon (Apr)
6. Still have to find one for May
7. Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon (june)
8. North Face Endurance Half Marathon DC (June - I still have to sign up for it)

Does 7 Miles Count As A Long Run?

I did a long-ish run today. I was looking forward to it because the weather was actually supposed to be in the high 40s, which is warm compared to most of the other runs this winter. However, there was a lot of wind. I forgot how tough it is to run against the wind. It takes a lot of added energy. Sometimes I felt like I was exerting a lot of effort for not a lot of distance. I did run longer than I had planned, so that is a positive. I ran around the mall (I know it's not surprising) and hit all four Presidential monuments. I went West to Lincoln, than crossed crossed Independence to hit FDR and then the Jefferson and, last but not least, the Washington Monument. From there I headed East to do a little mall loop to 7th. I should have gone to 3rd, but I was getting cold and the wind was getting to me. After that I headed home (with a stop at Whole Foods). According to map my run, it was 7.2 miles. Not too bad considering next weekend I'll have to run 13.1 miles in Austin!

Tomorrow is the Love the Run You're With 5k. It's supposed to be in the low 50s, but I'm guessing at 9am, it will still be chilly. The shirt design is cute. The shirt color is purple. Yep.

Running Consistently

I've actually started to run fairly regularly again. The weather has been good, but I think it also helps that I haven't been working crazy hours this week. I'm even using the Nike+ app on my ipod. It's about time I started to run more often. However, I also need to up my mileage, especially with Austin in a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to that!