I got Zach to run a marathon!! A full one! This was a couple weeks ago, April 21st, but we just got the email over the weekend that the race photos were up and online, so it reminded me that I hadn't shared yet.
The Army Marathon was a point-to-point race between Temple and Killeen. Pretty interesting race in itself. Kinda crazy planning your long runs thinking about running to the next town over...
Good luck! I posted both pictures, since you can't really read the sign in the picture with Zach in it :)
The grins are still nice and big at the starting line! We ran into a coworker of Zach's whom we see at a lot of the races in the area and got him to take our picture. A nice "before" shot, y'know?
The race planners had done a great job for timing. The race start was 0630, so it was still dark when we all set out. It was a little cool at the start, since we'd had a cold front move in. But had it been normal spring weather, that early start would mean that even the pokey runners like myself would be done before the sun started being miserable. The extra bonus to the early morning start is that we were on the course as the sun came up. Made for some pretty skies!
But really, we couldn't have asked for better weather! It's Texas in the spring, so goodness knows what sort of weather you're going to get. We lucked out ROYALLY!! 65 and overcast the entire race! It had been in the 90s the week before, and climbed back up after Sunday, but the race day itself? Not too sunny, not too windy, not too hot or cold. Very Goldilocks - juuuuust right!
How'd we do? We actually finished about 6 minutes apart. Zach took it out a little fast and his knees started objecting about halfway, so he did a lot more walking than planned. I dropped about 20 minutes from my Long Beach time - new PR! I seem to have come up with a training plan that works: get sick the week before the race. This isn't the first race that I've been sick right before, and then run a strong race. As best I can figure, it forces you to rest (mandatory taper!) and it knocks off the nerves and pressure. After battling a bad cold all week, I was debating up until Saturday morning if I was going to run on Sunday or not! So, at the starting line on Sunday morning, my whole goal was "FINISH!" With less pressure on myself, I relaxed and just ran as was comfortable. Kept my goal pace up until about mile 14, then had to slow down a little. By mile 17-18ish (my usual wall) I had pretty much reversed my walk and run intervals, doing a lot more walking than running. That was the point I could tell I had been pretty sick the week before. But I finished! And with a very strong first half, I dropped time!
And how was the race itself, being its first year and all? Very well done! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the central Texas area, or anyone who wants to come in and visit (kinda an odd destination race, but you meet all types). Minor changes and suggestions to make, but really, the important stuff was covered. Packet registration went pretty smoothly. Plenty of water and sports drink stations through the race, and port-o-potties on the course regularly. Intersections were always staffed to direct runners and any cars passing through. The shuttle back to Killeen from the finish line didn't have too much of a wait (veeeery much appreciated on tired legs). Good shirts and a pretty decent finisher's medal, too. And a side note - being held the weekend after the tragedies in Boston and West, TX (only an hour and a half or so from us), it was handled very well, considering the enormous impact those events had on the community represented at the race (both runners and central TX residents). You could tell the security had been upped a bit - a lot more patrol cars on the route than a race this size might expect, and K9 units noticeably at the start and finish. But the event still ran very smoothly. For being a first year race, that's pretty impressive. So yup, definitely a recommended race if you're in the area.
I know when I ran my first one, I wasn't sure I'd ever run another. But hey, I'd finished at least one, which is a heckuva lot more than many people do. I thought I'd pretty much stick with half marathons and shorter, now that the big box was checked off. Unless of course, there were special circumstances...
Which lead to Long Beach. A few days before a friend's 40th birthday, and with a handful of folk from post also running. So, yes, plenty of reason to make an exception for another one, right? The power of peer pressure!
And then the standard was set - if there is a good reason, I'll consider that crazy distance again. Ta-da: Killeen decides to co-host a marathon with neighboring Temple. And since I needed motivation for spring runs, I was signed up again (and managing to talk Zach into it too!)
Killeen is a kinda nondescript town. It's not miserable (i.e. not like our last post!!) and civilization is available and not horribly inconvenient. But it's not a place that really has any character of it's own. Just kinda a large bedroom community for the post here. And with Austin and Waco being so close with so much going on, it's very easy to write things off, "oh, I'll just go to Austin for that." With races though, that's kinda hard, even though both Waco and Austin have a lot each year. For a big race like a half or a full, traveling an hour and a half or so away means hotel stay, meals to consider, lots of travel after a very long race... makes an already expensive and time consuming race a lot more work. Having a race right here in our own back yard is a chance you can't pass up!
So, yes, supporting a marathon that is actually close to home was important. And it supports some close-to-home causes, too, to ice the cake. It was the inaugural race this year - if there's a good turn-out and positive reviews, they'll keep having the race. Which means something positive for the community. Definitely one to run.
The funny thing is, Zach had that "first-and-last" marathon attitude when we finished too. And then yesterday, he said he might run another, just to earn a time he'd be happier with. Who knows? We'll see what we think next year!
(PS - sorry I didn't get any finish line shots - we were both exhausted and just wanted to get home to a nice long bath!)
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