In January of 2009, I was talking with my good buddy Tex and we decided right then and there that we were going to really start living life!!! Since that day I have traveled to amazing places, such as the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands to name a few, I have set a pr in both the 5k and the marathon, ran in the Boston Marathon, got in the Guinness Book of World Records, been to a World Series, and even made it to Disney World. So, I said I need to start blogging about these adventures. Below I will tell you about my trip to San Antonio.
I had been training pretty hard for the Rock and Roll San Antonio Marathon, which was Nov. 14th. I headed down a couple of days early and stayed in Austin. It was fun, because I got to spend time with my friend Lorena. BTW she ran the half and set a PR! She must have a good coach! It was great seeing her; she even took me out for fish tacos. I wasn't so sure about them at first, but now they are one of my favs. I met up with Tex at the expo on Saturday. He had been injured so he decided just do to a long run instead of racing. Look for him to light up a marathon very soon! I woke up Sunday morning feeling pretty good and loving the fact that our hotel was so close to the start. We walked out of our room 15 minutes before the race and walked out of the lobby and got in line about 5 minutes before. It was pretty nice! The only way the start could have been closer is if it started in the hotel lobby.
So the race starts and the plan was to come under 1:15 at the halfway mark. I had a couple of goals that I would have been happy with; a PR, sub 2:30, and a top 20 finish. I had people to run with up until about 9.5 then the half marathoners turned off. Then it was just me and it did get a little lonely! I came through the half in 1:14.51 right where I wanted to be. The next couple of miles were tough, because there was not much crowd support. With 10k to go I hit the hills. They weren't to bad but it was just enough to slow me down about 10 secs per mile. With a mile to go I knew I was going to be close to sub 2:31. About that time I saw Tex and his girlfriend Rebecca and they were yelling like crazy! I needed it because I was about to hit a big hill right before the finish. At that point my arms started tingling and I was praying that the line would get there fast. When I turned the corner and had about 50 meters left I could see the clock. I was going as hard as I could!!! My official time was 2:31:01. I wanted to get under that 2:31, but it was a new PR so I was happy. I guess with all that running that my legs forgot how to walk, because I could barely stay on my feet. A man came over and helped me make it down he finish line corral. He told me "you got 5th". I said "no I didn't". He said "did you not hear announcer?". I responded with "he said 15th". To make a long story short it took him a while to convince me. So, he was right I did get 5th. I got so caught up thinking about time those last few miles that it didn't even hit me that I passed several people in the last two miles. I got to go to the awards ceremony and they game me flowers and a check is in the mail for 500 big ones! To celebrate we got some great Mexican food on the riverwalk. Now, to recover and get ready for a spring marathon.
See you on the roads,
Matt
