Tuesday, November 13, 2012

San Antonio 2012 Race Report

We rocked it!  That's one way of describing the great time we had at the 2012 San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon.  San Antonio is an awesome city to visit and the over 50,000 visitors there all seemed to enjoy themselves.  We went to the Riverwalk Friday night and had drinks at MadDog.  Saturday morning we found Starbucks and then breakfast at Blanco Cafe, very yummy.  We headed to the expo to get race packets, check out the booths, and shop for running must haves. We talked to booths about our upcoming Jingle Bell Run and asked for participation.  We had reservations at Roses on the River at 7 pm and had some great Mexican food and Ritas.  Saturday night was an early bed time, so we could be ready to wake at 6 am.  We walked to the start line around 7 am and wished each other luck while we separated into the designated corrals. There were 33 corrals going off every minute.  I lined up in Corral 8 and stretched what little I could with a mob of people all around.  Our corral moved up and by 7:38 we were off.  The first mile was congested and slow as my garmin told me my pace was a 9:41.  The runners around me were not going the 9:10 pace I was hoping for.  I gentleman in his 70's came flying by me in a red ball cap and a red race shirt from 2009.  I decided to tuck in behind him and visualized a rubber band that encircled the two of us.  Mile 2 was a 9:24, mile 3 and 4 was a 8:56, and mile 5 was a 9:10 pace.  Somewhere after mile 5 I lost my running hero at a water stop and felt the heat and humidity affecting me.  Mile 6 and 7 were around a 9:25 pace, but after that I slowed even more.  Mile 8 and 9 were at 9:47, mile 10 picked up to 9:27, then mile 11 and 12 were 10:06 and 10:09.  I found Suzanne and we ran the last mile in together at a 9:43 pace, then the last .2 miles we attempted to sprint in at a 8:36 pace.  Overall time was 2:05:47.  I had hoped for my first sub 2 hour half marathon but new that the weather wasn't cooperating.  It was 80 degrees when I finished the race.  I got my medal, my food, and my free beer and headed to find my friends.  I videotaped some of the awards ceremony, and listened to country music star Jo Dee Mesina sing on stage.  She had run the half marathon and followed it by performing as the headliner at the concert just minutes later.  Fantastic.  I had a blast with the 14 friends that traveled to this race.  I think I prefer the smaller races with less participants but I had a great time overall.

  

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Ready to Rock San Antonio

The San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon is this Sunday.  I will be running the half marathon.  I am really looking forward to a fun weekend with my gal running pals.  I've ran this race in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  It's a fun course with lots of crowd support and great stuff to see.  Running in front of the Alamo is amazing.  I ran the full last year which wasn't great as it got hot and boring, but the half is a good race.  I'm hoping I can break the 2 hour mark and PR at this race.  I don't think the weather is cooperating with that plan though.  I run much faster in very cool temps, if every race was in the forties, I'd be one happy runner.  So far the high this Sunday is the eighties, so it may kill any chances of a PR, but we will have to wait and see.