All I need is a track in the background

Steve had a great birthday party. Everyone at my place fell asleep around 4:30am with the new time change. I woke up when the alarm went off at 6:45 confused as to why I had to get up. Took a shower, got dressed, even remembered my number. I think I had 16oz of Gatorade on the way there. (A different flavor than the Gatorade of the night before.) We stopped at the McDonald's off Lamar to pick up breakfast. It was not something I would have thought to do, but I was starving and it tasted so good. Easily found parking and wandered over to the starting line, leaving the Gatorade in the car. The weather was a bit humid, a tad windy and cool but at least it was no longer raining. There were runners all over the place. I think we found the right starting place according to our orange bib pace, but I did see a lot of blue bibs, too.

Going into this race, I knew I wasn't going to be in the best shape. It was Matt's first race, so I figured we would take it easy and not run too hard. When the morning finally arrived, I figured we'd take walk breaks. I was already looking forward to those breaks. I was dehydrated, but Matt was prepared. He brought 3 of his own GU's! The gun went off. About 4 minutes later, we started moving. There was an Armadillo next to us. Early into the run, we had to avoid photographers who were focused on getting a shot of Joe the groovy Armadillo. We start running up Congress Avenue, and I figured I could run all the way to the Capitol, but then I'd have to take a break. Where is the first water stop?? We turned onto 14th street and Matt kept running. I was still running, just very slowly. Being the experienced elite athlete I am, I told him that I wasn't going slow, I was pacing him. Where's the next water stop?? We turned down a couple more streets, and at each water stop I'd take the biggest cup of water. I'd remind myself that it was too late for the water to do that much good as it sloshed around in my belly with breakfast. But where's the next water stop?

My jacket began feeling much too hot. It was the first time running with my Distance Challenge jacket and it wasn't as breathable as the red & black Mizuno one that Matt was now wearing. As I took it off, I noticed my arms were wet, and not from the rain. Luckily the jacket was easy to run with around my waist. "Julia!!" Behind me was Bobbi, my second half of the marathon running buddy! I didn't know anyone that was planning to run it and hadn't been keeping my eyes open for people I knew. I just wanted to keep up with Matt. It was nice to talk with Bobbi and catch up. She was more in favor of my pace over Matt's, which was a nice relief.

There weren't as many people dressed up as I expected. We ran by a woman with a big poofy dress and big braids. We passed up a guy wearing a shirt that said "Slow by choice". I told him how much I liked it. A shirt I didn't like as it passed me up simply said "RUN HARD". Yeah, maybe next week. We saw a girl with legs so skinny, it was frightening. Some people ran the race waving huge flags. Towards the end, we were passed up by a Barton Creek Salamander. Not quite as fast as the Chinese Dragon, but still faster than me. At the IBM water stop, I spotted my coworker Allen. He was already behind me, so I had to turn around to say hi. (There were tables set up on both sides of the road!!)

I think we ended up running about 3 miles with Bobbi. Matt was taunting us nearly the whole way with lines like "I can't even run this slow!" The one big thing that made me keep up with him was that he had the key to my car, and I had no money or cellphone to find an alternative way home. A mistake I hope not to repeat next time! Around the real mile 4 (yes, the second mile 4 sign!), Bobbi said she needed to slow down. So I told Matt we could run ahead. He didn't want to leave her behind, but I knew it'd be for the best to just keep going. Also, by that time I realized I'd saved up enough energy and was now warmed up enough to keep running to the finish line. I took off ahead of the taunter and my great running pal, Bobbi, but Matt stayed behind. (Apparently he was trying to give me a head start!) So we ran the last two miles together. It was easy to lose sight of him at the water stops, but every time we managed to find each other. Passing the mile 5 marker and crossing over the first street bridge, I wished that I had the energy to sprint the entire way the the finish, but that wasn't happening today. Instead I asked Matt if he could carry me the rest of the way. It was hard running. Matt still had enough energy at the end to keep taunting me. I often wanted to just put my arms around him... sometimes because I was so happy he was running with me, and sometimes in an attempt to strangle the man!! Finally about two tenths of a mile to the finish, I was able to sprint to the end.

We finished!! I was so happy! This time I actually did put my arms around him and refrained from attacking him. When I looked up, I saw a camera in our face. The photographer said he was from the Statesman and asked if we were married. tee hee. We told him we were dating and our names. I knew it'd be an awesome picture, and wow how cool if it was in the paper. We drank half-frozen orange juice and ate a bit of Capitol 10K 25th anniversary cake. Then we headed home and took a nap!!

That night I found our picture on the AAS website. The next morning, I woke up to find we were indeed in the paper. In fact, Matt made the paper twice!

Matt and the Armadillo at the starting line (I was behind the Dillo.)
Photo at the finish line
The caption for the second photo of us read "Lean on me: It isn't easy running 6.2 miles as Julia, left, of Austin learned at the finish line. She got some support from her boyfriend, Matt, also of Austin." (Obviously the photographer didn't notice my Distance Challenge jacket around my waist!!)

Looking at the results, I see a lot of families ran together. I hope this event goes on another 25 years!

What a perfect run!