All I need is a track in the background

Pre-race thoughts

The morning started with a disappointment. I had left my cellphone at home. I always ran marathons with a phone so I could get text messages from friends across the country! I had warned my Hype buddies and my immediate family. This year, I was also hoping to get split updates on a few friends. Oh well, no big deal... and I probably would run faster without the distraction. Got to the garage early 5:45 to avoid traffic, which worked, but I could see traffic would quickly get backed up soon. Although there were two people directing traffic into the garage, there was no one directing traffic inside. I sat behind a car that was waiting for a person to close their door before pulling into the closest available spot. Once out of the car, I headed over to Texas Iron Fred's apartment to stay warm. I took the opportunity to write my name on tape on the front and back of my top and on the back of my jacket. I felt like an elite having access to such nice quarters. The start area was organized so well! I dropped my bag and found two different places with portapotties on my way to my Texas Iron group meeting. When I got there, people were wondering where Jamie and Andrea were. They showed up not too much later. traininglog handed out little disposable heat warmer packets to warm our hands! I chatted with people to see how they felt, and gave Grace a hug before we broke to do a 10 minute warmup. Usually I don't warm up for a marathon, but I trusted my coaches. On the way out, I ran across Heather, a member of J-Fo's training group who hadn't seen anyone else yet. I told her I'd be lining up at 4:15. Finished my warmup, grabbed water, hit the least used portapotty and got in line. There was so much room in the lineup that it was VERY easy to find Heather and the rest of the J-Fo crew (keylimeypie, setine, sneaker_chic) who were waiting for me in front of the 4:15 pacers. Much better than at 3M where I never spotted my friends before, during or after the race.

As we hiked up towards the start and crossed the line, either Jenn or Amanda were talking about how we were up on LJ so early in the morning and that an Amy Anderson had wished them luck. I told her that Amy is in my Texas Iron training group and is a super cool person! pelli was in the 4:15 neighborhood, too and said hello.

My plan was to finish at a 9:44 pace and finish just under 4:15. Run the first three miles a little slower. Last year the first mile time scared me because it was so slow. This year, I knew that it was slow because of the crowds and the uphill. I knew exactly where .5 was (just before the bus stop/portapotties) so I was right on plan for that first mile. (10:04) The second mile was downhill and felt so easy, I let myself go fast. Maybe too fast. (9:09) I lost my running buddies which was sad, but I knew this was my own race to run. I almost got myself back under control for the third mile, but was still going faster than planned. (9:46) I saw cruisergirl running her first marathon and ran with her for awhile before eventually pulling away. Even though this part of the course was new in 2004, I was familiar with it. As part of the Texas Iron Tri-A-Marathon group, we ran our last long run two weeks previous covering the first 8 miles before turning around to loop. I also drove the course with effendi and spotted every mile marker. Both were great refreshers.

I ran a little faster than goal pace up to mile 7, where I dropped my jacket off with Coach Andrea. (9:24, 9:40, 9:42) Suddenly, I felt FREE to run! I had the similar feelings last year when the wind made me feel like a sailboat with the jacket and I finally got to drop it at mile 19. After that, I started seeing mile splits in the 9:20's and 9:30's. I spotted Texas Iron Diana ahead and caught up with her on a downhill. She suprised me by saying it was her first marathon, when I was thinking (hoping?) she would be the older and more experienced athlete to tell me to slow down. We ran together for about a mile and then I continued on at my speedy pace. I kept telling myself that if I didn't slow down, I'd be paying for it in the later miles. I couldn't help myself -- even with just a two week taper, I felt GREAT!

A man ran up beside me and told me he had just discovered my website the week before and thought it was inspirational. Cool! I hadn't been paying much attention to crowds, knowing no one was out there for me, but I was amused by the "Free beer and cigarettes" and was happy to see the Al's Ship of Fools sign. If someone yelled for Comet, I just gave a thumbs up or a smile. Not too much energy diverted to fun. Well... I did see a cute little kid wearing a Mizuno hat cheering for runners and just had to yell "nice hat!!"

Even though I was feeling fantastic and running at what seemed to be a realistic pace, my heart rate monitor seemed to be high. I'd focus on relaxing, and hold my shirt tight against my HRM strap and it'd drop about 10-20 beats. Perhaps it was just not functioning right. Along 45th street, I tried pulling my strap up under my middle layer which was sort of a pseudo sports bra, so my top wouldn't hit it and raise the reading. A man tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a ClifShot. Apparently when I was adjusting it, the clifshot hiding nicely in my shirt fell out. Oops! What a great guy! It's reasons like that why I have a spare. Going down Duval, I saw a runner raise her arms up to some spectators and they cheered loudly for her. I recognized them! It was Bobbi with a group of friends. I recognized her! It was Jessica and so we ran a little ways together. Down by Crown and Anchor, I saw two runners with headphones chatting to each other. "You need '99 Problems'!" "huh?" "You need the song '99 Problems'!" I was so tempted to yell out some lyrics, but was afraid a Lady(runner)-like person might get offended.

It was great to see the half marathon finish and cheer for Evil. He waved back at me. This year I was pumped to see him and not disappointed that the half marathoners were so lucky to have him. Just after the half finish line, my Gateway RunTex running (and tri!) friend Kristen yelled for me from behind the fence. Hooray, a spectator I know! This was the first year I ran with a pace band and I found it helped immensely! I didn't have to do any math to see if I was near my goal pace, I could see that I was about two minutes ahead! So I took the hill somewhat easy and didn't push it. I ran through downtown and saw Coach Andrea again. I waved as she told me I was looking good. I felt awesome! I was still worried about how the final miles would turn out, though. I forgot to look for Leslie. I missed two mile markers in a row, but wasn't too worried that I was slowing down. When greeted with a hill, like up to Lamar, I just kept my pace going and my legs were always willing. At some point, another woman came up to me and asked if I was Comet from "the threads". Yeah that's me! She didn't realize I was a woman!! (I definitely am.)

At the out-and-back, I first saw the 3:45 pace group and suddenly spotted friend after friend. (traininglog with a thumbs up, BobJ with a "I got your Mizuno fan!", sneaker_chic, pelli with a "Hey MizMiz!") Since I was focused on my running, I wasn't scanning the crowds too thoroughly. At a more elevated point in the road, I couldn't believe how many people and how much road was still ahead of me before the U-turn. Even though there was wind blowing, it felt good and wasn't forcing me to run any slower like last year. After the turn around, I saw the 4:15 pace group and was a little nervous that the buffer between us seemed short. I scanned the runners in the hopes of seeing J-Fo, but never spotted her. (Wearing a Decker shirt probably helped her blend in!) Someone spotted me though, because dmit let me know that I was passing him up in a race once again. I took advantage of the downhill towards the rock. Although some of the bands and band leaders didn't seem lively enough, I really liked the band at the rock! Suddenly mgansle spotted me and started yelling and cheering for me as she ran alongside me for a few steps. I couldn't believe how enthusiastic she was! It really helped, because around that time I was thinking "This is the most boring race I've ever done." After running past zillions of spectators at NYC, this seemed so quiet in comparison!

The corner had two portapotties and no line. I was so tempted to stop as I was feeling discomfort and it wasn't from being hydrated! I was so worried I wouldn't last through the finish line. Oh may as well keep going at least another mile. It was fun to run on this stretch of road thinking of the countless runners who have run on it before me whether for a 5K or the marathon. Usually around this place, I hear the finishers across the street and it drags me down. This time I thought of Jay finishing right then with the 3:10 group as my watch said 3:06. It was such a perfect weather marathon day, they surely were having a successful run. Back downtown, there were huge crowds and I looked out for Coach Andrea who asked if I needed anything and I told her I was doing just fine. A little later, Coach Jamie who'd done the half was running behind the crowds yelling that I looked great. I felt pretty fortunate being cheered by them with as much enthusiasm as I cheered for them at Ironman Canada. Except I was in 2000th place, and not 2nd like Andrea. A sign seemed to appear from the crowd saying something great for Chris. "Too bad they misspelled 'Comet'" I thought to myself and used it to push myself on. My Duval friends were back and cheering! They got a photo, too!



Just 6 more miles to go, and I still feel okay. I still wasn't in the clear yet, but if I was still feeling good that that point, I'd take it as a great sign. "quick light feet, quick light feet" I think I even said it to myself aloud. At times, I'd think about the text messages my Hype buddies and LJ friends were probably sending me. The bad poetry, the "GO JULIA GO!". I could hear Oscar's voice cheering me on and Amy's voice telling me to stay relaxed. This race, when I needed something to motivate me, I took the Diddy approach and ran "for the kids". I thought of Asha, sunsword's niece who was ultimately the one who got him motivated to train for a marathon and raise money to fight Leukemia. Today he was running the half marathon with Team in Training. I also thought of kids who would never make it to the starting line. I ran for them.

People were starting to walk by now, and I was still running past other runners. However, there were other strong runners around passing me up as well. Turning back into town, the band was playing music with a very slow tempo. Slow enough that I actually complained to the runners around me, "Can't they play anything more upbeat? We're not going as slow as the music, are we?" These were the miles where I finally hit my target pace. In the neighborhood, there was a stand for "FREE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES". No thanks! Going across the Longhorn Dam, I switched between running in yesterday's rocks to running on the pavement. I saw a woman holding a little dog offering high fives. Cute. But not cute enough to give in. I had miles left to go! I also loved Runnin' Horn's sign of "Run like you stole something!" I wasn't sprinting like a thief, but I was running blazingly fast compared to those walking.

Running uphill and still feeling strong, I at last gave in to tradition and yelled out "I love hills! We can do this!" I'm sure the runners around me thought I was insane. One runner happened to be Carter. He introduced himself and we ran together quite awhile! "We're almost to the last mile! Yeah!!" I had no idea he'd been having issues earlier as he matched my speed for quite a while up and over I-35. I was thrilled to meet a new-to-me RunTex Forum person whose name I recognized well. Somehow I lost him at the top of the hill, but kept on running down the lovely hill. As it flattened out, I thought I'd never get to the end and reminded myself it was just a little further. Up ahead, I spotted the HHH beer stop, so I yelled out (offensive or not) "Where's the G** D*** BEER?!?" Everyone pointed right ahead to the stand and yelled that I was almost there. "That's what I'm talking about!!! FREE BEER!!!" As I ran by, they stared in disbelief and said "but you're not taking any!"

In the last half of the mile, the running field narrowed as the spectators on each side closed in and I just yelled and cheered all the way through. It's such an awesome way to finish a race!! People staring, laughing, cheering and yelling right back at me. Then the fence divided them and the course widened. I could see the finish line ahead. I picked the right side and started cheering and high-fiving folks as I ran by. I saw my boy effendi and gave him a hug and kiss and then kept running on towards the end. I heard the finisher announcer yell out my name almost as well as Evil and stopped when I saw I was high-fiving the Texas Rollergirls. After cheering excitedly for them, they handed me a bumper sticker. Woo! I was a little sad that the race was over, but I was pretty jazzed that I'd had such a great race and PRed! I redeemed myself from my NYC finish and beat P Diddy!!! As if that weren't enough to keep me happy, a guy asked me how I liked my Mizunos, and I exuberantly told him how much I loved Mizuno. He handed me a sweet Mizuno t-shirt in my size!

Then, because someone else must have been just as suprised as I was at my finish time, I got pulled aside to give a blood sample. Actually I knew ahead of time to expect it. The Texas Iron Tri-A-Marathon group was invited to participate in a study on the effects of a marathon on the human body. The study sounded quite interesting, so I happily volunteered. The people drawing my blood asked me how my race went and one guy was in disbelief that I had actually ran 26 miles. (Great, not only are they testing my blood, but they're now questioning if I cut the course short!)

After the race, I hung out with Jay at the Austin Triathletes tent. We chatted with tons and tons of friends (ultra-athlete Mark and his sister, cam_ray, Layne, gosh. tons of people and I'm forgetting them now.) and then went to lunch at Fuddruckers (with Amanda, Jay and friends) where I let my hamburger sit in front of me for quite awhile as I nursed my big ol' beer belly. Jay made me eat pickles. Mmmm... eventually I felt okay enough to eat my burger. At home, I had an e-cap and then hit the bathroom a LOT. At last, no more beer belly or tummy pain.

After mile 2, I took ClifShots with water every 3-4 miles and Powerade at the other aid stations. I had some very minor and brief heel pain a leg pain as I was warming up, and then about 3-4 times during the race I had a sharp lower back pain. However, for the most part, my run was pain free. As I hopped in the shower, it felt like there was A BUG BITING MY BELLYBUTTON!! I looked down and realized it was just chafing from my shorts... also got some on my back from my HRM strap. My right pinky toe was SMASHED yet again. The first time it happened in Buda at the 30K but hadn't happened since. When talking about it with my massage therapist, Steve (who got sunburned giving massages after Motorola!), he thought it might be from running on the right side of the curved roads for so long. I think he's right.

I liked how it was put in a livejournaler's race report that "I had to look hard to find complaints." Seeing that the only complaints are of bandits, a few cyclists, aid station locations and not bottled Powerade, long lines at the finish, finisher's jackets, and poor food... I'd have to say this was the best organized Motorola I've run yet. My Texas Iron training really paid off. Not only am I a much faster marathoner than I had hoped to be, but I'm a better swimmer and cyclist, too!

The day was finally complete when Jay and I headed to NXNW to celebrate our marathon experience with other runners. Ultra-runner Mark gave me his Mizuno neck band which held an "Elite Athlete" card, and a supercute keychain with little mini-Mizunos. I must also mention... I got a pair of 2004 men's Mizuno Wave Riders in my size, a SWEET volunteer Motorola Mizuno jacket with very cool pockets and air vents, and RunTex Forum BobJ promises to give me a freebie Mizuno fan he got at the Expo. I cleaned up good.

Mile   Elapsed     Lap
1      10:04.3 10:04.3 
2      19:14.1  9:09.8 
3      29:00.7  9:46.6
4      38:25.5  9:24.8
5      48:06.0  9:40.5
6      57:48.5  9:42.5 
7    1:07:22.9  9:34.4 
8    1:16:45.4  9:22.5 
9    1:26:19.6  9:34.2 
10   1:35:53.8  9:34.2 
11   1:45:13.5  9:19.7 
12   1:54:45.8  9:32.3 
13   2:04:10.6  9:24.8
14              9:36.7
15              9:36.7
16   2:33:00.7  9:36.7 
17   2:42:33.9  9:33.2 
18   2:52:04.7  9:30.8 
19   3:01:41.2  9:36.5 
20   3:11:24.8  9:43.6
21   3:21:08.5  9:43.7
22   3:30:55.8  9:47.3
23   3:40:50.9  9:55.2
24   3:50:21.9  9:31.0
25   3:59:59.9  9:38.0
26   4:09:35.8  9:35.9
26.2 4:11:57.8  2:22.0

Notice that during the last .2 where a lot of people push it, I slowed down to a 11:10 pace... and it was the only split without a water stop!

Actual chip time: 4:11:57.4 I PRed over last year's Motorola by 5 minutes, 50 seconds!

In honor of my accomplishments, I am changing my not frequently used LJ icon:
From to

Check out my mad bodymarking skillz and a great photo of the J-Fo gang. Jenn's boyfriend was hanging out with us at the start and taking pictures. What a great guy!