Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

I completed my second San Antonio Rock and Roll marathon this past weekend with a fun group of CLFC members. We had a fantastic pasta party the night before the race. Congrats and thanks to Christina, Maxine, Laura, et al for co-hosting a wonderful get together and very filling meal. For the ‘first-timers’ they saw how much fun it is to travel to a destination marathon with the club. We had a blast partying! The rest of the details are in our memories because what goes on in San Antonio - stays in San Antonio.

The morning of the race dawned with temps in the high 60s. Yuck !!! It was definitely going to be a training run since projected highs at the finish were approaching 80 degrees. There were the usual delays with bus transportation to the start of this point-to-point marathon. It took us a little over an hour to get to the starting line area. The only problems encountered at the start point were the very long lines at the porta-potties and the bag drops were lined up on the road with the starting corrals. I was in the 4th of 30 bag drop trucks and the 6th starting corral. The distance between the two was a very long way (26 drop trucks and 24 corrals) with 30,000 people crowded in between. I ended up missing my corral’s start and jumped in with the starters at around corral 15. It’s a chip-timed race so the main problem was dodging runners for the first 10 miles. I went out pretty quick for the temps and cruised through a half marathon in 1:56. It was a total battle from there on. As the temps increased, it turned into a fight against heat, cramps, and dehydration in the latter half of the race. I stuck to my diet of water and ThermoTabs (approx 15 total), supplemented it with 2 PowerBar gels (spaced evenly during the race), and mixed Cytomax (course drink) and water the last 5 miles. Even though I was not used to the gels and the Cytomax, my stomach was OK for the final portion of the race. I knew about the ramp finish at the stadium and was ready for it this year. It was a great feeling finishing the race though I missed Cathy and Vicki cheering at one of the final corners when I was ‘in the zone.’ It was amazing to note that I was able to ‘high step’ to a quick finish sprint even though I could barely pick up my feet a few miles back during the ‘thermal beat down.’ The finish time on my watch was 4:18 (chip 4:18:42). My goal was 4 hours flat or better but very unrealistic given the conditions.

As noted in a previous newsletter, when the heat is on, pick your speed and strategy for completing the race in the most intelligent manner. If the temps are in the 60s at start, it is a really good idea to forget about PRs – Just Finish! I enjoyed the weekend immensely. We had a great time with everyone there. The La Quinta near the Alamo Dome was a perfect hotel location again. The Riverwalk on Saturday night was really nice and not crowded since most of the runners were already tucked in for the evening. I will definitely do this race again but may run the half marathon next year so I can make it to the post-race get together at Chili’s much quicker. Thanks again to all of the CLFC members that made this such a fun weekend.