Hello Kitty, Rules!

You can thank Dan-O for the title.

I ran the Austin Marathon today and finished somewhere around 4:20. Not as fast as I would like, but the right speed for the type of training I have been doing over the past 6 months.

I must say that I was elated at almost every turn of the race. I saw people from HCTR all over the course cheering folks along as we went by. For the sake of accidentally leaving someone out I won't name names, but I do want to thank Gabe A. About mile 20 Gabe was there with some Shiner Bock and it just so happened that about that time I was needing a drink of beer or ,in my case, a half a beer. Thanks Gabe.

HCTR is a group, if you are in the Austin area, you must be a part of. Everyone of these guys and gals are number one. Great character. Positive enthusiasim.

As far as the race, I had a great time. I really tried to run this race better than I have run any of my previous marathons. I always get caught up in the event and run poorly on the back 13.
Not this time.

I ran with my friend Erin from the Schertz Ladies Running Club. We started the first two miles with another friend of my Jenn who was running the half at about a 10:20 pace. This was good because we did not waste alot of energy running around folks and got a chance to get warmed up. At about mile 6 I thought it would be funny to yell out, "Hello Kitty, Rules!" At the top of my lungs of course. I continued to do that throught the race. It made me laugh, not sure if anyone else thought it was funny. Around mile 13 I yelled out, "Spongebob is my homeboy!" That was funny, but had to many syllabyles. So, I just stuck with Hello Kitty, Rules. The plan for this race was to run no faster than a 9:30 pace until at least mile 17 and then we could start to unload. This plan worked great and I ran every step with no cramping, so soreness, or any of those issues that normally happen to me in a road marathon.

At mile 21 or so, I didn't really start running waaay faster, but I did pick up the pace about 15 to 30 seconds faster. I was using an idea from Joe, about stealing peoples energy. Needless to say after mile 21 no one passed me, but I was passing folks and "stealing thier energy". I havent looked at the splits yet, but I know the back 13 were faster than the front, they were easier but I was real solid and steady and at the killer hill at mile 24 I was able to run up the whole thing and the lesser hill at mile 25 with no ill effects. The last 400 meters I broke into a full sprint running up on my toes. What a nice way to finish a marathon.

It was fun to run by and say thank you to all the spectators and give high-fives to all the kids.

I saw one dude about mile 22 who was running so poorly with his form, because he was hurtin real bad, he was making me tired. As I passed him up, I told him to hold the form and keep the breathing steady. Running like that, he was going to end up feeling like he ran 50 miles.

Before and after the race, I was able to spend a little time visiting with Thomas Orf and his wife. His wife was running the half and he was supporting her. From what he tells me she had a good strong race and felt real good for most all of it.

All in all it was good day. I was able to spend the afternoon with Jeff and Cheri eating lunch and talking about up coming races. It was a good afternoon!

Almost forgot, I am out of the running for the Texas 50 mile slam award. I broke a piece of bone off my toe this past Tuesday in Kung Fu. I went and had it X-rayed on Saturday morning. I knew something was wrong, but wanted to know what so I could decide whether or not I was going to run Austin. My index toe has a piece of bone chipped off right where it meets the foot bones. I am glad its nothing major, but I need to take about 4 weeks off to let it heal and want to get started on my Hardrock training well and healthy. So until about the end of March I will be working on core work. I am mentally prepared now for what its really going to take to do Hardrock after talking over the race with my coach, Mr. Joe.

That's all for now!