Austin Distance Challenge 2016-17

 

This past year, I signed up for the Austin Distance Challenge again, because it was intrinsically fun, but also to ensure that I would get enough running in for the Austin Marathon. The Distance Challenge, sponsored by the Austin Runners Club, involved five races: The Run Free 8k, the Run for the Water 10 miler, the Decker Challenge half marathon, the 3M Half Marathon, and the Austin Marathon.

The Run Free 8K is out in Cedar Park, a considerable distance from downtown.  It leaves from one of the high school football stadiums and winds through residential neighborhoods before returning to the starting line. It's a nice start to the fall training season.

The first piece of the puzzle

Run for the Water goes through downtown and along the lakefront. It's one of the prettiest routes in the challenge and much of it is along routes I train on.

Starting line on Cesar Chavez

The drum group at the finish line

A friend got this shot of me at the starting line.

After that came the Decker Challenge -- a hilly route just east of Austin in Decker, and notorious for terrible weather.  This year, it wasn't bad --- a bit misty with a steady drizzle. By the finish line, my glasses were so fogged up I had to take them off to see anything at all. Which made it difficult to see things like potholes...

Glasses fogging up as I climb the hills

Blindly crossing the finish line

 Not on the Challenge, but still an Austin staple was the Turkey Trot!  One of the more fun races, it usually features a good number of costumes and a large helping of whimsy.

After the holidays, the next race was the 3M Half Marathon. It's almost the exact opposite to the Decker Challenge, because it's all downhill. It starts up in the Great Hills area and winds its way downtown. This year it was a particularly fast run because there was an incredible wind out of the north. Several folks, including myself, were nearly blown over as we ran past the UT football stadium.

A selfie at the starting line

the 3M photographer got a shot of me taking my selfie

After the finish in sight of the Capitol

And the last race was the Austin Marathon!

But. About three weeks before the race, in the middle of the night, I slipped and came down on the edge of my entertainment console and tile floors. Result? A nice set of bruised ribs and a strangely linear scar on my right side.

By race day, I could still feel it a bit but had gone on short runs with only minor discomfort, so I decided to go for it.  The first half went pretty well, but the second was less pleasant.  But I'm still glad I did it...

Looking all chipper and optimistic before the race starts

Vulcan salute for the photographer

Gritting it out with a hundred yards to go

Finished!

So my time for the marathon ended up being a personal worst, although I did make it under five hours :-).

Anyway, thanks to all the organizers, volunteers, emergency personnel, and everyone else involved in putting on these races! You keep Austin running!

Next up? The Capital of Texas Triathlon! Hopefully there won't be rain...

Austin Distance Challenge!

The famous Distance Challenge fridge magnets

It's been a few months, but I finally have some time to sit down and blog my having completed the Austin Distance Challenge (long course), sponsored by the Austin Runners Club.  I'd done most of the events before, but decided to do the challenge itself (six races, culminating in the Austin Marathon), because I wanted to put more structure into my training for the marathon. I'd done several in the 90s, but this was my second of the century and I wanted to do better than my last one (2013).

The first race was the Run Free Texas 80s 8k (for those who don't think in metric, that's about five miles) up in Cedar Park.  Naturally enough, there were a couple of DeLoreans, each outfitted with a flux capacitor.  Time travel being what it is, they were obviously the same car but from different time periods. :-).  The course was through residential neighborhoods and parks and had some rolling hills -- nice for a beginning of the season race.

Back to the Future!

The second race of the Challenge was the Run for the Water Ten Miler.  The course was along Lady Bird Lake and up through Tarrytown and then back downtown, There were some great hills on this course and let me know I needed more hill work...And, ironically enough, it was raining. :-)

Rain and hills

Race three was the Decker Challenge, a half marathon in early December with a course around Decker Lake.  It's notorious for hills and really bad weather.  (The last time I ran it, it was in the 40s and pouring rain).  If anything, last year, it was a bit too warm.  The hills were pretty brutal, though. 

My face when attacking the hills

But Santa was there!

After that, we had a month break until the Rogue Distance Festival 30k (about 18.6 miles) in early January.  This one was fairly cold and probably my least favorite of the events.  It was up in Cedar Park again and ran through residential neighborhoods which was fine.  There was an issue with marking the course, though, so most of us got off track, which meant the mile markers were out of order so it was impossible to figure out a pace. (I think at some point, we were going in circles -- and ended up going about a mile farther than we should've.).  Still, it was my longest run before the marathon and I was kind of glad it happened that way. 

Yay!  I'm done! :-)

With four events done, it was all downhill from there.  Literally.  The 3M Half Marathon starts up in the Great Hills area and runs a straight line down to downtown. It also has a swag bag filled with useful (and not so useful) 3M products.:-)

Leo checks out the swag bag

This one also started out pretty cold and way too early :-). 

Before dawn, in the warm car before the cold race.

I really enjoyed this one, though, and it was a nice preview of many of the neighborhoods on the marathon route.

Finisher!

The piece de resistance, of course, was the Austin Marathon in mid-February.  I like the course, but the first time I ran the Austin Marathon, it was all downhill, starting up north and snaking its way downtown.  Now, there's a good bit of uphill until around mile 18.  I still like the course, though, and it's not like the hills from the Decker Challenge or the Run for the Water races.

I was pretty happy with my time -- my second fastest of the century!  I did it in under 4 hours, which had been my goal.  Next year, I'll work more on speed, but this time, I just wanted to not have my quads seize up in the last two miles :-).

Running through UT campus

Made it! Best time of the century!

Anyway, thanks to everyone involved in putting on the races and the challenge itself: organizers, volunteers, emergency personnel, and all the rest!  You keep Austin running!

A Dino a Day Strikes Back: A CHRONAL ENGINE Celebration! Day One

Welcome to Day 1 of A Dino a Day Strikes Back, celebrating the paperback release of CHRONAL ENGINE, and the new editions of NINJAS, PIRANHAS, AND GALILEO and TOFU AND T.REX!

This T-shirt from Snorgtees features a traditional size/scale comparison of a human and various theropod dinosaurs (a Dilophosaurus, a Utahraptor, and a T.rex, I believe).  It seems that a significant number of the size comparisons on the Wikipedia dinosaur entries feature this image, which is the waving human from the Pioneer spacecraft gold plaque.  Apparently, they were first used by paleoartist Matthew Martyniuk (who refers to the silhouette as "Pioneer Dork," because of his seeming insouciance in the face of carnivorous theropods in close proximity).

These photos were taken at the Palmer Events Center, at packet pick-up during the Austin Marathon Expo in February 2013.  For some reason, the shirt seemed appropriate :-).  

Shadows of me and Cyn

The view from Palmer grounds

Expo and packet pickup

Austin Marathon!

I am delighted to report that I completed my first marathon of the century!  It was also my slowest marathon (and the one with the most hills), which I attribute to both age and a couple of training glitches in the last month before the race. :-).

I last ran the Austin Marathon in 2000, when it was all downhill.  Since then, the route has become a bit more picturesque, but the first half is mostly uphill.

The Expo, where various vendors display their wares and you pick up your bib, T-shirt, and timing chip, was held Friday and Saturday at the Palmer Events Center (we got there early, before most of the crowds had arrived):

The race T-shirt

Here's a pic of me before the race, at 6 in the morning before I headed out, looking grimly determined :-):

The start and the finish line were on opposite sides of the Capitol:

Finish line at 10th and Congress

Gathering at 15th street for the start

The race was held in conjunction with a half marathon and a 5k.  (Typically, 2/3 of the participants are there for the half). This is also my first marathon with a cell phone camera, so I snapped a couple pictures along the way:

Early in the race, looking south on Congress at Riverside

Mark Oakes (husband of author Cory Oakes)

Around mile 20

I finished with a personal worst (an hour longer than my personal best), but came in around the time I was expecting, so I was generally pleased.

After the race

After the race, with finisher's medal!

The race was very well organized and a lot of fun.  Because it's through the neighborhoods, there were a lot of spectators sitting out on their lawns and cheering (Gillian Fedfearn, a Macmillan book rep, was among them!). 
 
Thanks to all the organizers and sponsors and volunteers!  The music and bands along the way were terrific (I particularly liked the Japanese drum group), and the Gatorade and water were plentiful.

So who's going to do the race with me next year?