Running with Little T: October 2015

Every year several Dallas runners would flock to Austin for this race. Our group would always include at least 15 people either running the full marathon, half, or the 2 person relay. I had ran the half or the relay countless times, but didn't get around to running the full until the year of 2004. I'm glad I did because only a few short years later we all stopped going to Austin. I can't remember why, except possibly because they started changing the course; initially to the disastrous Freescale start in 2006--this is the one with the ice storm and the crazy deer that jumped into the starting corrals and the year that Toby ran his sub-3 hour marathon, all of which is worthy of its own blog entry someday, but I digress. They moved the start again to downtown near the capitol, and as far as I know it has remained largely unchanged since then. I do remember they changed sponsors and the prices jumped really high. Maybe that was the final straw. At any rate I find it strange that I never hear of any local runners heading down there for the event any more.

I liked the original course, a mostly point to point route, with one long out and back in the middle, and a finish into Zilker park near downtown. It had some rolling hills, but overall it was decent terrain. The course was always lively and fun. Every race I ran was an enjoyable one, and the marathon was no exception, so I really don't have much of a story to tell. The race started early--it was still dark when we assembled. Here is the group shot from that year. Doug, Shelly, and I ran the full, and Kathy and Shelly's daughter ran the half, in fact, Kathy ran with me for her entire race, which was a lot of fun.

Pre-race nervousness? Not this group!

We ran a decent first half, around an 8:35 pace, which was reassuring, since my last marathon was the disastrous Boston marathon, where I was reduced to walking. Looking back now it's obvious that the course of Boston combined with lack of downhill training is what did me in, but back then I was still nervous about running another marathon. It was a great relief to get back to "normalcy", and run my usual marathon time again. (3:52 chip time). Years later, after meeting and running with LSP we realized we both ran this race and were within a couple of minutes of each other, back when we didn't know each other! I have scoured all my photos, looking for a shot of her in them to no avail.

Strangely enough it just occurred to me that this was my last Texas marathon! I'm not a repeater, so courses that have remain unchanged are out for sure, and those that have changed haven't changed enough to draw me back. I'm keeping my eye on the fairly new BCS marathon. The only problem is that it's held on the same week-end as the Dallas marathon, which I'm usually involved with one way or another. I enjoyed running the 20 mile distance of the Ft. Worth marathon. Maybe I'll run the whole thing someday, but it's not high on my list. People always ask me why don't I run White Rock-Dallas again and the main reason why is because these are my stomping grounds! I'm afraid I'd be bored to tears. But then again I'd know everybody, ha ha. I don't know, maybe in a few years. I'm having too much fun traveling to new places right now.

As for the Austin marathon...if anyone is up for it I'd love to run the half marathon! But I'm going to have to say NO to the Hula Hut...maybe the Oasis on Lake Travis? Fun times back then...

Immense gratitude sums up the marathon week-end; a week-end spent with 12 great friends, aka the "cat herd", or in some circles loosely referred to as the "TB's". In addition to our group the White Rock Running Co-op (WRRC) had a huge presence, as did several other Dallas runners who ran in Luke's Locker's training programs. Oddly enough, even though Wineglass is not a mega-sized marathon, each year many Texans flock to it. There isn't even a direct flight into Corning from Dallas. Our group decided to do it mainly because we had so much fun together last year when we did the Newport Rhode Island marathon for Kathy's 50th state celebration. The Wineglass marathon and surrounding area appeared to suit us.

The day before the marathon it was cold and rainy, but luckily the forecast called for the rain to end that night. Since my last 2 marathons were in the cold rain I was happy to see that forecast. Yay, I'd be able to feel and use my hands! Our group consisted of 8 marathoners, 3 half marathoners, and 2 on the injured list, Laura Hebert and Toby. Laura had a leg injury, but Toby's situation turned out to be a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. It appeared to hit him all at once, early into the training, and he is still working on getting treatment for it. If you don't know much about RA know this: it's serious stuff, and very debilitating. Watching it take an athlete like Toby down is pretty scary.

Race day morning: 7 of us are on our bus ride up to the starting line in the town of Bath. (Mark was already there by the time we got on our bus). The full marathon course ran from the town of Bath southward to the town of Corning, a point to point course. The half marathoners started halfway in between the two towns. We got a text from Vicki, a half marathoner, that their bus driver accidentally took them to the full marathon start, ha! Talk about a bus load of people ready to kill the bus driver! When we got off the bus we all made a beeline to the restrooms. They were playing a David Gilmour song, which made me think of Toby since he loves David Gilmour and I found myself getting emotional. I know he didn't have any real investment in running this marathon, but not having him there with us really hit me hard at that moment. There's nothing more pitiful than crying in a stinky porta potty, except praying, and yes, I've done plenty of that in my day! Thankfully my moment was brief. Rejoining the gang, 8 of us who trained together all summer really made me grateful for our health. We're not exactly a spring chicken bunch!

Grateful for being here

The forecast of a cloudy day was already proving to be incorrect, so right before we turned in our warm ups I switched into a tank top and put on my sunglasses, which, finally, I nailed it on what to wear! They didn't play the National Anthem, in fact, they played nothing! We took off into total silence. Very odd. Early on we all settled into our respective paces, with Jamie, LSP and Amelie together in front of Kathy and I. Mark and George were long gone right away, and Mike stayed behind us. The only bad thing about a point to point course is that we would never see each other again unless in passing, until the end. The out and backs and chances to say hi to each other were a lot of fun in Newport!

I was trying to stay positive, but I did have to say to Kathy that I didn't think this was as scenic as I had hoped. We had a lot of stretches along the highway early on. Also, we were a little early for the turning of the leaves this year. Still, it was nice. The temperature was pleasant, but we did have some head wind to deal with. (Not too bad, in fact I felt it helped keep me cool later on). We had some inclines to contend with, but I have learned a long time ago that "net downhill" doesn't mean "all downhill". Toby was on the course a LOT with his camera. And I mean A LOT.

I was feeling the urge to play my music and keep the pace up--I felt like it was starting to slip a little around mile 11 or so, and I hated to leave Kathy, but eventually I told her my music was going on and I had to go it alone. Unlike during the training runs I am not much of a talker in the marathon. The music really pulled me along for the next several miles, and happily the scenery improved as well.

Last pic of us together

Looking at the marathon's elevation map, there was what we referred to as "the pointy thing" at mile 15. I was really curious to see what it was. Sure enough, it was a pretty steep little climb. It was kind of funny to imagine everyone else going, ah so this is the pointy thing? I was kind of hoping for a bridge, but we did have a few bridge crossings later on. (Yes, I have a bridge fetish).

Not feeling the love of the bridge at this moment

My game plan for pacing marathons these days (if things are going according to plan) is to try to stay within my "comfy zone" of 9:00-9:15 minute miles as long as possible. Miles 19 and 20 were at 9:15, but then I couldn't hang onto it anymore. Once it slips my goal is to try to keep it under 10 minute miles, which usually equates to no walking or lingering at the water stops. At this point the marathon got more interesting because we entered a bike path, where there were a lot of spectators and hoopla--much needed! I was hitting a rough patch around mile 22 when I spotted Toby AGAIN with his camera and I was so mad! I wanted him to cheer or talk to me or something, anything besides point that camera at me. I told him I was really sick of his camera and people laughed, but man, I meant it.

I may be smiling, but I was really bitchy

Finally, at the water stop at mile 24 I took a walk break, took in 2 cups of water and got my head on right for the rest of the run. At that point the 4:05 pacer ran by and I kept him in my sights. This really helped me focus on running and not give in to walking. My marathon math was playing tricks with me, because I was projecting a 4:04 finish, but figured I must be pretty close with the pacer right in front of me. On mile 25 I came across my co-worker Susan. She asked me something about the distance we were at and I said we were at 24.5 and not understanding what that meant she asked, "What mile are we on?" I told her we were on the 25th mile. I know what marathon math is like, and later realized that she may have thought the next mile marker would be 26 instead of 25, so I felt really bad about that. If you run marathons you know what I am talking about! At any rate, I kept my pacer guy in my line of sight over the final bridge to the turn onto the finish line. When I approached the finish I heard screams, and I mean LOUD SCREAMS from the half marathoners cheering for me, and it choked me up as I crossed the line, where Toby, Mark, George, LSP and Jamie greeting me with hugs. One by one we hugged each other as we finished, then made our way to the group photo. It was truly a joyous finish, unlike the cold rainy ones I had last done. (Although frankly, all finish lines are awesome, even if nobody is there to cheer you in).