long run with 13,000 runners

the weather yesterday was cold & wet in austin. i had conceded to sticking to my schedule of riding long on saturday & running long on sunday. however, my long ride was going to be in-doors on a spin bike at the gym or the trainer at home.

i was set on confining myself to the in-door trainer because today austin was hosting the AT&T marathon & while i decide a couple of months ago that i wasn’t going to run this race, i still wanted to get the “high” you can get from a race that is promoted as well as this one. last year, the course was re-routed to take runners through more of “austin” & the first ½ of the run consisted of some good hills & sights so i decided i’d crash the race this morning & get my long run in with 13,000 runners.

it worked perfectly because mile 14 was just a mile or less from our home. so kristin dropped me off at the race start right at 7am this morning & i cruised through the heartland of this great city feeling very strong. an hour into the run the sun was shining bright & the temp was warming up. i was feeling so good & getting so hot that i had to pull my shirt off – i love this city!

some really cool sites along the route: south congress (full of cool shops & local restaurants), north on 1st street (more cool shops & local restaurants), across our beautiful town lake, along cesar chavez (borders the lake), up enfield (tarrytown neighborhood), over mopac (main highyway that cuts through austin – no billboards allowed), up bull creek (through lovely rosedale – that’s where we live), & then i bailed out & headed home where kristin & payton (most beautiful girl in austin & coolest dog in austin) were headed too (they were cheering us runners on just past the ½ marathon mark).

this has been my best “long run” yet! next year, i’ll be racing the AT&T marathon – you can count on it!