The weather sucked. We had some freezing rain overnight and the whole race was overcast and in the low 30's. I was not looking forward to racing my first marathon in those conditions.

The start was pretty cool. The very front of the start corral was blocked off for the elite runners AND for the Distance Challenge runners. So there I was right up with the guys that were going to win the race. I felt like such a poser.

When the gun went off, I started out too fast, especially considering how lazy I had been in the prior 2 weeks. I was okay temperature-wise until about mile 16. I started to fade then and so my HR dropped and I cooled down. From 18 to 23 or so, I was freezing. I really wanted to run through to the finish from there and about 2.5 miles from the finish, the 4:15 pace group came by me. I latched on to them like a life-line and let them drag me through the line. They were on pace, by the way, despite my 4:19 finish. Remember, I started at the very front of the 10,000 or so people. They started well back. The 4-minute gap is how long it took them to actually cross the start line after the gun went off.

See the limiter section for this.

The finisher's area was great. They handed out mylar blankets and those things work amazingly well. The Distance Challenge had a private area with sandwiches, chili, fruit, water, and even wine and beer. I had a bowl of chili and that really hit the spot after the cold. They were supposed to have free massages for the DC finishers, but apparently only one of the masseuses showed up, so no massage. I got the marathon finisher's medal and shirt. I like the fact that the finisher's shirt is a race shirt, not a t-shirt. I also got the DC medal and the DC finisher's award. It's a very cool Mizuno race top and makes the whole DC worthwhile:

http://www.austindistancechallenge.com/newscolumn.asp?id=20

It has the DC logo on the front and the back says Austin Distance Challenge Finisher. It's slick.


I really feel like I could have run this in the 3:45-3:50 range. I was just lazy. I didn't run at all the last 2 weeks and so my legs were tight and my joints weren't up to the pounding. I also started out too fast, especially given the lack of training. I think my nutrition and hydration were pretty good.


This is a really great race, despite my own experience. There were plenty of volunteers and well-stocked water stops and the post-race spread was really good. They had the same stuff outside that I had in the DC finisher's area, I just didn't have to wait on line! The delay in the start time was due to the freezing rain we had overnight, so they pushed back the start time by 30 minutes. It wasn't due to the organizers. It was hard to enjoy the rest of the finish area because it was just so cold.