OT: Austin Marathon

[geo3 at earthlink.net]

Hey everyone.

Just thought I'd give y'all an update.

The half-marathon went great.  I fininshed in exactly my goal time of 2:00.
I has hoping to finih with a couple of minutes in-hand and was on track at
mile at with 3 minutes in-hand.  That is where the course turned brutal.  A
series of nasty hills, one right after the other, culminating with a single
75' climb at mile 12.  It about broke my heart.  But, I kept running all
the way up it (if you can call it running when it's that slow).  That took
out anything I had left for a sprint to the finish.  

Somehow I managed to kick just a bit at mile 13 for the 0.1 mile left. 
That was at the start of the finishing shoot.  Thankfully I was able to
find that last little bit of kick.  I finished with 2 seconds left to spare
and still make my goal.  Yeah, it was THAT close.

But, I made it.  And that was big.  I was told by my coach and an elite
runner that on any other course I'd probably finish 7-13 minutes quicker. 
This puts Boston in sight.  It's way off on the horizon and barely visible,
but it's there.  Now I begin more serious training.  I need to increase my
weekly miles by 50% at least.  Also, my workouts will become more
disciplined in that some days will be very slow, some will be at target
pace, and some will be significantly faster than that.

Not bad for a formerly fat old man.

George Roffe
Turd Rex
Dead 91 SE-R

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