Saturday saw another fun tour of the new AT&T marathon course. Sure, it was Christmas Eve Eve, and sure, lots of folks were off travelling, to Grandmother's house we go, and all that. But, the weather was nice and crisp, perfect for long distance running, and there were just enough folks of all sorts of pacing to make for a companionable trek through Austin.
A good-sized mob gathered at 5:45am at the Austin High School track so that we could visit the late middle chunk of the course that we've been skipping in our previous two AT&T checkdown runs. That's the part that goes up Shoal Creek, and then backwards against the old Freescale/Motorola course that we knew so well, turning behind Northcross Mall, and then finally dropping back into the previously scouted course on North Loop. It was dark (duh) and stayed dark for quite a while. It wasn't light enough to get good vision until well up Bull Creek, but that was pretty much okay.
My crew turned out to be Amy, Sue and me. Missy joined us for the first 8 miles or so, but then turned off to cut the run shorter on Burnet. More on that later. The four of us rolled along, easing into training pace by mile 3, going up Exposition. We all skipped the portion of the course that went down Lake Austin Blvd to Enfield, just so we could get in the full tour later in the course. We were having fun, and after carefully getting across Mopac on 35th Street, we had gotten through the worst traffic spots for the day. I threw down Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen" on them for the Bad 70's/80's Song of the Run, and it did get to them, so that was a score! :-) First water/Powerade/GU stop was along Bull Creek, and we were all feeling pretty good. So far, a successful run.
Splits, miles 1-4.4: 9:40, 9:18, 9:03, 8:51, and 0.41 miles at 9:23/mile pace. We might have had a traffic light issue during that last bit, but what the heck. I took a GU at each water stop today, just as I will during the race, and whether it helped or not, I don't know, but I like to practice that sort of thing on these long runs. Average pace so far, 9:14/mile. Water stop 1:31.
Up Bull Creek, into the brightening sun on Hancock, then up Shoal Creek we went. We got caught and passed by the tribe of fastest Gazelles as we turned on White Rock/Bullard/Great Northern. Gilbert and his crew were smoothly by us almost before we could say "howdy," but it was nice to see them, even if it was for a flash of an instant. We noticed that the course's slight uphill trend is an annoyance, but I'm trying to tell myself that this isn't altogether a bad thing. The incline is ever so subtle for the most part, at least after Exposition, so hopefully, I can do well on this course just like I usually do at Decker's more notorious hills. The 8 mile mark was almost exactly at the second water/GU/Powerade stop, and we tanked up. Good, consistent running.
Splits miles 5-8: 8:57, 8:56, 8:59, 0.64 miles at 8:39/mile pace (we got caught up in the tailwind of the Gilbert group as they went by us). Average overall pace dipped to 9:05/mile. There were oranges and bananas at the water stop, which was a very nice surprise. Merry Christmas! Water stop slightly longer at 2:34.
We cruised behind Northcross Mall, and Missy cut down Burnet, leaving Amy, Sue and me to handle the rest of the day. More modest but real inclines followed as we dealt with a long straight stretch over to Woodrow Ave. The sun was pretty bright on this stretch, running right into the East. We covered a good number of conversational topics, of course, none of which I can share with you. It still made the run go by quite nicely. Turning down Woodrow and winding our way down to Romeria and then finally hitting North Loop, we got the benefit of some gentle downhill running, which is only fair, right? The hills on North Loop were not terrible, but they'll be challenging on race day, around mile 20 or so. The sun was tough, though. Across to Guadalupe, and then down towards the Intramural Fields, we got a little nervous looking for the next water/Powerade stop, but found it in the parking lot at the fields, just a little further along than we had expected. Just over 12 miles done, and except for feeling a little bit of early muscle fatigue, everything was fine. Tank up and go!
Splits miles 9-12.5: 8:56, 8:53, 9:21 (thought we had dropped a key and searched for it a bit - and of course, we didn't drop one...oh well), 9:06, and 0.5 miles at 8:47/mile pace. Average overall running pace 9:04. Water stop 2:28.
As we dipped across on 46th Street, I finally succumbed to my need for hydration adjustment, and took advantage of the construction facilities available along that street. Amy and Sue ran on, and after my quick stop, I had to crank it up a bit to catch them just before 51st Street. I'll just consider that a hill climb simulation. My HR dropped back down to long run rate after I had caught them, maybe by the time we turned onto Red River. We were taking turns leading the pace, and that was good to see. I finally ran on the actual 38th Street hill this time, and it wasn't too awful. It'll be tough on race day, though, at about mile 24 or so! The last water/GU/Powerade stop was on Congress, going towards the Capitol, and we saw Missy again there. She had made a wrong turn and had wandered a bit, but ran in with Amy from that last stop. It was time for a fast finish of some sort, since we had only 3-3.5 miles left. My last GU consumed and fluids taken aboard, let's go!
Splits miles 13-17.3: 9:14, 8:54, 8:36, 8:48, and 0.84 miles at 8:52/mile. Overall running pace had dipped to 9:01. I was a little weary, but nothing terrible. My legs were just getting a little bit tired.
Sue tagged along, and she and I raced home from that last stop. We eased into the fast finish thing at first, and then picked it up a little more each mile after that. Once we hit the trail, we took turns pulling ahead of the other and then getting caught. A couple of times I thought I was going to let Sue get away for good, and then I'd find a little more reserve to catch back up, and I'm sure she felt the same when I'd go ahead a little bit. We rolled up to the finish at Austin High School, and it was another long run in the books. Nice fast finish, too.
Splits miles 18-20: 8:00, 7:39, and 0.7 miles at 7:23/mile pace. Overall running pace dropped way down to 8:50/mile. With all the water stop time included, we were still at 9:16/mile, so it was a really strong running day.
Gilbert had already started the earlier finishers on stretching, so those of us finishing later did our strides (4 x 100m), collected our warm and dry clothes, and made our own stretching pod. We got started with stretching about 9:20, and it felt great out there with the sun beaming down, snug and dry in our warm clothes. Ahhhhhh... I brought Christmas fudge and Chex mix for my fellow Gazelles, and they took full advantage of the snacks.
Once we were done, I was lucky enough to find a group who wanted to do breakfast at Magnolia Cafe, and so Brian, Alex, Jan and Brad joined me for a monster breakfast. Hale and hearty, as they say. With the combination of running afterglow and massive caloric intake, we were quite happy both during and after our meal. It was really nice to spend time with my running friends on the holiday weekend. We're sort of an auxiliary family for each other, and it's only right that the holidays included this sort of gathering.
For the week, a measly 37 miles of running, but at least they were all quality workouts.
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