Austin Weekend

This last weekend I traveled to Austin for the marathon. Did the half last year--and wished ever since that I had run the full. Running this marathon may become an annual thing--I at least need my Austin fix once a year! I'm debating going back for the Austin City Limits Music Festival later this year.

This time around I decided to take Bart Yasso's advice and run negative splits. I ran the first 4-5 miles just under an 8-minute mile--letting people pass me all along the way and resisting temptation to speed up too soon. Around mile 5 I threw off the jacket and gloves and slowly crept towards a 7-minute mile. I took mental note of all the people (who passed me earlier on) that I would pass later on. About three miles from the finish my friend Shelby started cheering me on and running with me alongside the course. I kicked it into overdrive for the last few miles (maybe a 6-minute mile). At no point did I slow down--but I never quite managed to catch up with the 3:10:00 pace group.

This marathon re-assured me that a 3:10 Boston qualifier is definitely attainable in the next "regular" marathon I run--later this year.

Official result: 03:12:26

On-on to Salida next month...