Long AT&T Reconnaissance Run

Today, we turned our scheduled 18 miler into a tour of the new AT&T marathon course. The course was only recently revealed, and this modification of the original new loop course for 2007 is going to be much better than the first version. Remember that the first version had a really awful stretch up and around Balcones Woods, which was truly rough. The new version is much improved.

After a few words of encouragement from the Boss, who's nursing a cold that's hammered him for a week, we were off. It was a pretty nice day, with temps starting in the mid-40's and rising to maybe 60 degrees by the time my group finished the whole 18.6 mile run. That'll work for me. There was a pretty huge pod of people running along at our pace for quite a while, and the first water stop was a lengthy one as a result. So far, so good, at just about 4 miles into the run. That first stretch was the very standard trail/Veterans/Lake Austin Blvd. piece. Except for the steep little hill on Veterans, that stretch should prove to be a nice one on Race Day. Mostly flat to gentle downhill.

After the water stop, the course turned tough. Some rolling hills on Enfield, then the rolling hills on Exposition. They will come early in the race, so the key will be to run smart there, easing back the pace just a little to save precious energy for later in the race. The 15-20 of us strung out a bit on Exposition, but I was running along, minding my own business, I suppose. The pace was solid, and my HR numbers were very good. I figured that's how it is supposed to go on a long training run, so I settled in to enjoy the ride. I was sort of the navigator today for the group at large, so I did some course corrections to those who were running ahead of me ("Right!" "Left!"). The course settled down once we got over the Mopac bridge, and we rolled along to Bull Creek, then Hancock, into the sun, negotiated that hill on Hancock, and then turned north onto Shoal Creek. That's where the next water/Powerade/GU stop was, almost exactly 8 miles into the day. After we took our fluids, a sizeable group peeled off to cut across and rejoin the AT&T course for a 16 mile day. The rest of us motored up Shoal Creek. So far, so good.

It was sort of weird going "backwards" on Shoal Creek after all those years of coming south on that street, but it was a pretty nice stretch today. On Race Day, this should be a nice part of the race. After crossing White Rock Rd., we continued north for a bit, leaving the marathon course for our own cross country journey to rejoin the course a bit further East. We were sort of two different groups by now. There was a lead pack of maybe 6 guys, running just ahead of me, and then the rest of the crew was hanging out with me. Amy had long ago left us to run ahead, but the group that ended up running with me the most was Jennifer, Sue, Eric, Javier, and Diana. I'm pretty sure that's the list. We skirted Lamar Middle School, cut across Burnet, and then went east on Romeria, rejoining the marathon course after Arroyo Seco. This was another nice stretch, flat to gently downhill. A series of turns ensued, and we ended up finally on North Loop, which was familiar turf from last year's course. Again into the sun, we cruised up the fairly modest hills on North Loop, and then enjoyed another downhill/flat stretch across Lamar, down Guadalupe, and into the parking lot at the intramural fields, where Gilbert and Staley were waiting on us with the next water/Powerade/GU stop. Just over 12 miles down, and I was still feeling really good.

The next stretch featured more turns, but not too much in the way of tough terrain. There were some uphill stretches, but they were manageable. The general trend of the course was still downhill. We rolled along, generally enjoying the day, although some fatigue was setting into our legs. HR-wise, I was still cruising, but it was starting to be a long run. Duh. The guys ahead of us made a few false starts or missed turns, but managed to stay more or less on course. The rest of us made it across 51st Street to Red River, and now we were finally heading south for good. All those turns up and down and across made it seem like we were never going to get back downtown, that's for sure. In the marathon, these miles will be pretty late, certainly at least mile 21, so this was turning into a really good training run.

Going down Red River, we passed by where the old MARS music superstore was located, before the inevitable bankruptcy, that is. There's a 24-Hour Fitness place in that location now. The guys ahead made a wrong turn and went down 41st Street, but soon figured out their mistake. We were starting to stretch out a bit, ourselves, as we all went within our own space and found a good finishing pace. Didn't mean to rhyme, there. Honest! Anyway, the last really fun part of the run today was along 38 1/2 Street and 38th Street, where we ran on a dirt trail that tracked alongside 38th Street. It had a few extra hills than the marathon course, but we still had to climb the same elevation in the end. Reaching Duval, we were finally on familiar turf again. At this point, Eric and Sue were officially on their Longest Run Ever, so congratulations to them today! Duval to San Jacinto and through the UT campus, the course was a relaxing downhill trend after the grind up 38th Street. The last water/Powerade/GU stop was at the edge of the UT campus, and after tanking up there, it was time for the "Fast Finish," if we were doing one.

I checked to make sure everyone knew the way home from where we were, and then it was time to finish this thing. I took off through the UT campus, remembering many races and training runs in which I've had to cover those same miles. Sue caught up to me by the end of the UT campus, and from that point on, we pushed each other to a pretty good fast finish. Except for one minor traffic light annoyance crossing MLK, we had a free run from the last water stop, and that helped to keep the pace up. That hill up MLK wasn't as bad as I remembered, but the little bit on Congress after MLK will demand some focus on race day. By now, we were in the last mile of the marathon course, but we had about a mile after the marathon finishing line for our training day. Sue and I cut around the Capitol, weaved around and through some sort of big catering operation on the south side of the Capitol, and enjoyed police barricades blocking all the side streets leading to Congress for the rest of that stretch. Very nice. There's some sort of parade and celebration happening today, but we managed to finish our use of Congress Ave. before the parade caused us any difficulty. I was a little nervous about the freshly powerwashed brick pavers on the sidewalks, but we didn't slip today. Powering home, we zigzagged over across Cesar Chavez, onto the First Street bridge, down the steps on the other side, and finished at the water coolers at Auditorium Shores. Done! Sue and I were once again a pacing team, fresh off of our performance last Sunday at Motive. It's been nice to find a new pacing crew, that's for sure.

The numbers? 9:55, 9:19, 9:14, and 0.74 miles at 8:43/mile pace. 2:29 water/Powerade/GU stop. I started my GU-Day with a half pack I had left over from a previous training run. Now, the hills of Enfield and Exposition at 8:48, 8:52, 8:56, 8:50, and 0.54 miles at 8:44/mile. Another water/Powerade/GU stop, long at 2:54 while we figured out who was going 16 and who was continuing on with us. We had some stoplight issues for the entire next section, which was sort of a drag. But, the splits worked out as 0.67 at 8:58/mile pace, 1 mile at 8:49, 0.86 at 9:02, 1 mile at 8:41, and 0.44 miles at 8:29/mile pace. Another water/Powerade/GU stop, this time 2:40. Then, 8:56, 8:39, 9:03, and 0.9 at 8:33/mile pace. Our last refreshment stop was 2:38 at UT, and then it was fast finish time. Sue and I clipped the finish off in 7:52, 7:46, and .5 miles at 7:30/mile pace. Not bad after a very long run.

Grand totals were 18.6 miles of running. Running pace was 8:47/mile, 9:25/mile with all stop time included. Both numbers were quite good for so long a run. This was a big step up for most of us, with the last continuous long run in the 15.5 mile range, but everyone seemed to do pretty well.

Sue and I caught Amy right at the end, and we did our striders grudgingly. I never really loosened up in the striders, but I felt a bit better having done them. By the time our group got over to the stretching, everyone else had started. So, we established our own little group, and knocked out the full stretching routine. I needed it today, that's for sure. By now, the weather was really perfect. Sunny and in the mid-60's, which felt really good as we stretched.

I hung out and chatted with Brad, Jan and Alex, and even took the time to peruse the latest Gazelles gear. I purchased the nice warmup pants that feature our logo, and before you accuse me of buying every new piece of Gazelles Gear, let the record show that I've been looking for just this sort of item. :-) Gilbert was sporting the extreme Orange Gazelles running hoodie, but I resisted that cool piece of apparel.

What a day! My HR numbers were really great today, so I know I was running at the proper pace, and I had plenty left for a fast finish, even though my legs were sort of dead by the end of the run. From here, it's a much smaller jump up to 20 miles, the next long training run, so we've made it past the biggest hurdle we'll likely face. Still lots of hard work before the marathon, but after seeing the course today, I'm hopeful that with some strategic running, a PR is still within reason.