Ah, yes. An early start to the day on Saturday for what was scheduled to be about 13.5 miles of running along the 2006 Freescale Marathon course. My subgroup met down at RunTex at 5:30am, and we had quite a crew. We had a total of 8 people in my truck for the trip up to the start of our run. The Chicago people had left 15 minutes ahead of us, to start some 3 miles further up the track from us, and they'd add more distance at the end as well for something like 20 miles. We figured that by timing it like we did, we'd catch the water stops provided for the Chicago folks, and it looked like, on the course map, that we'd end up with the aforementioned 13.5 miles of easy running.
We had Rachel, Emily, Sally, her friend Emily (the "Other Emily"), Patrick, Liliana, and Ward, a new Gazelle. It was nice to have such a big crowd so early in the morning. We made it up to Gateway without incident, and started running about 10 till 6:00am. Bernard came up behind us to set up their first water stop within our first half mile, but we just kept on moving. Too early to stop, we thought. My first miscalculation was probably in that first mile, because I think it was an extra half mile to get to the 2006 course. Oh, well.
The weather wasn't bad at all today. It was moderately warm, probably 76 degrees, but it never got awful, and I think the humidity was down quite a bit, which made the biggest difference. Nevertheless, proper hydration was firmly in our minds, and we would take some extended water stops today. Better safe than sorry.
We made it through the stretch along Burnett safely, and wound through the industrial park and under 183, onto Shoal Creek. The water stop wasn't where I thought it was, but it was located at the second possible place, so we didn't worry too much. We were still a tidy little mob as we arrived at the water/Powerade stop, and took our time chugging down ample quantities of stuff. I took a GU there, because I could. Some 3:30 later, we were off again. So far, we were taking it easy, and we were all feeling pretty darned good.
Splits miles 1-5.2: 9:58, 9:34, 9:27, 9:13, 8:57, 0.18 at 8:35/mile.
The next stretch went along the railroad tracks, and back onto Shoal Creek, turning onto Hancock, and up those modest little hills that took their toll during the marathon back in February. The second water/Powerade stop was across from Amy's street, like usual, so once again, we didn't have to worry too much. It seemed that we were in the perfect spot for water, just ahead of most of the runners. We saw a bunch of other training groups looping around during this portion of the journey, including some Team In Training people and some Rogue people. I sprung my Song For The Day on the crew in here, The Knack's "My Sharona," but it apparently was too good of a song for it to be annoying to them. I'll try and do better next time. :-) Gilbert's group of superfast Gazelles rolled through us at that second water stop, and he was quite the taskmaster with them, only allowing them a quick drink before moving on. We took our time, and didn't even feel guilty. I took my last GU here, and was already getting nervous about what the final distance would be today. We were already at over 9 miles, and I knew we had 5 miles to go, at least. Best laid plans and all that...
Splits miles 6-9: 9:19, 9:17, 9:12, 9:10. We took a quicker 2:44 water/Powerade/GU stop here, but it was still pretty relaxed.
When we reached Lamar, Sally and the Other Emily headed south to try and cut off some distance for their day. And, Patrick and Ward finally tired of our relaxed pace and pulled away from us heading over to Duval. So, that left Emily, Rachel and Liliana with me for the rest of the morning. Not a bad crowd to be left with, that's for sure. We took turns leading through the long downhill stretch of Duval, and again saw some TnT runners flooding up Duval. It was a busy morning of training groups. We laughed quite a bit as we rolled along, but I was increasingly worried about the distance we were accruing. As we went through the UT campus, we shared our marathon stories. That's the spot in the course, right about mile 20, where you start questioning your ability to finish in style. Anyway, we turned out of campus, and found the last water stop precisely where we thought it would be, just south of MLK. We tanked up one last time, and we even took a Clif Blox or two. By now, we were certain we were going over our planned 13-14 miles, but to everyone's credit, they didn't whine, but instead figured we'd cruise it in, and enjoy the ride. I appreciate the fact that no one was yelling at me about my miscalculation on the promised route distance for the day. :-)
Splits, miles 10-12.7: 9:20, 9:09, 9:26, 0.73 at 9:20/mile. Our last water/Powerade stop was 2:27.
The last couple of miles started with that nasty little climb along the side of the Capitol grounds. We skipped the loop around the Capitol, because we had plenty of miles without that. We decided that the shortest possible route to the finish was to cross Town Lake on the Congress bridge, and then to cut across the Hyatt and Chamber of Commerce parking lots, so that was our path. It worked out great, and I was actually feeling pretty good as we finished up. So, a successful morning of running, and it didn't even turn into a death march. Awesome!
Splits miles 13-14.7: 9:18, 0.82 at 9:08/mile.
Overall we scored 14.73 miles, at an average running pace of 9:19. That overall pace slowed to 9:54 with three long water stops, but given the time of year, this was a nice run. I hadn't run long in 3 weeks, so I was pleased that it worked out comfortably for me, too.
I grabbed my post-run stuff out of Liliana's van, and went on over to Auditorium Shores to do some strides before I changed my mind. 6 strides later, I felt pretty good. My legs were tired, but I wasn't horribly stiff or anything.
The stretching was fun, and I really needed it today. The Chicago folks arrived right as we were starting the stretching session, but I guess they mostly decided to skip the stretching today. They all looked pretty good, considering the distance they covered.
Stretching done, it was time to pack it in for the day. Liliana took Erine and me up to Gateway to retrieve my truck, and then I took Erine on up to Spicewood Springs to get his car. Sort of like a booster rocket, I guess. It was good to see Erine again after his long post-Grandma's running vacation from the Gazelles.
Well, I got in a speedwork session and a long run, but I wasn't so good at getting the other workouts done this week. I'll try to do better next week.
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