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As time permits, in-depth musings on myriad subjects will be posted. Abbreviated adages will be announced via Twitter.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Holy Half-Marathons, Batman!

Good gravy, was it cold this morning.

While not exactly alone in the dark, there was no one around me I knew. Still, as at triathlon races, you just can't help but make friends with everyone else who is there to suffer along with you. True, I didn't get any names, but I did meet a trio of guys who were decked out with 625x HRMs, complete with foot pods. We chatted about the 625's accuracy, training in general, and so on, and I felt justified in not running with my 625x, opting, instead, for a Nike Speed Triax 100 Super watch. Yes, the 625x would have given me every one of my splits (I missed several), but the times (most likely) would have been off. All the same, I felt free on the run. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Just for the half, more than 6,000 people signed up, so you can imagine the confusion when the gun went off at 7:00 AM. I missed the first mile split, hit the 2-mile, and missed every split again until mile 4...or was it 5? I dunno, but I was moving at a good clip until the full and half distances split. From there, it was one challenging hill after another. One guy completely deflated after seeing the climb we had to go up at mile 11; he uttered an expletive before dying.

Despite my lack of training (due in large part to injury), I still managed to finish the half -- and in pretty good time, too. According to my watch, my finishing time was 1:35:19; official time was 1:35:18, placing me 200th over all. N--- finished her half a few minutes later, crossing at 1:39 and change -- a new PB for her, too. The girl rocks.

If all goes well, I'll run the full Austin marathon next year. In the likely event the course remains the same, I know I've some serious training to do -- those hills are killers! Until then, it's focus, focus, focus on triathlon; PlayTri is just over two months away. I'll do my best to keep you, my avid readers, abreast of how training progresses, as well as if I'm ever able to get back out on my bike. Thanks for reading.//d

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