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| With Olivia From Muscle Milk |
The Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon was a great experience in several ways. I was fortunate to be invited by Muscle Milk Houston to compete in the event, and I chose to run the 1/2 Marathon. Everything in my training, preparation, and weather forcast told me that this was not going to be a record breaking day for me, but I still wanted to do the race because it would be great training for the Houston Marathon. Little did I know that I was going to set a personal record and beat my previous time by 2 minutes and finishing with a 2:02:56 which gave me a 9:23 pace. Here is how it happened:
I woke up to a very foggy morning in the low 60s. This was a little discouraging to me considering that it was not optimal running weather, but neither was the first time I had a PR in a 1/2 marathon. I showed up to the parking lot and got on the shuttle bus, and I watched as I went over several hills that got me a little discouraged. I did, however, find a moment of encouragement as I spoke with Amy who sat next to me. I told her about Shawns' Anomaly and my journey, and she also told me about her nephew's illness. I think we both needed to hear what we had to say to each other that morning on the bus. I don't know how she finished, but maybe she will comment and let us know her result.
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| Bag Check-In |
I showed up to deliver my race bag to the check-in and little did I know that it was going to be a UPS truck. Wow, I did not know that "Brown" did that for me too. After checking my bag in, I headed over to my corral to get a good stretch and warm-up. Everything went smoothly and the only thing left to do was the 13.1 miles.
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| Jamie & Maria |
While I was in the corral, some girl (we will call her
Maria to protect the innocent and embarrassment) came up and stood right next to me in what I considered my "force field". When I turned to look at
Maria, she blushed and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."
Maria was actually trying to stand next to her friend (we will call him
Jamie) who was directly behind me laughing hysterically. We got to chatting, and I found out that this was
Jamie first 1/2 marathon, and
Maria's second time to run the 1/2 Marathon. They were both pharmaceutical reps with a very cheerful attitude. I was glad I got to meet them because it definitely relieved my stress level a lot before the race. Thank you
Jamie and
Maria for helping me pass the time away in the corral before the start. If you are ever in the Houston area, look me up.
The horn sounded, and I took off running. I was watching my heart rate, cadence, and pace to make sure I did not go too hard at the first, but every time I looked down, my pace was always below 9:30, and I felt comfortable. I think maybe one reason is I obviously hydrated correctly enough to the point that I was in desperate need to find a port-a-john, but every port-a-john I ran by had a huge line, and I did not want to stop. (*Note to race director-More port-a-johns. The lines were terrible at all of them.) I have to admit that I considered just going while running and washing it off later to avoid stopping, but fortunately I found a port-a-john tucked away behind one of the bands playing on the route that only had a few people in line.
After the pitstop, I continued running, but my pace never seemed to fall off. It slowly started creeping in that I might be running a PR race, and I started watching the time more. By the time I reached mile nine, my body started to react; and I could tell that it would not be long before I hit a wall. Fortunately, GU had set up their regeneration station, and I grabbed a gel just in time to give me the extra boost to help me finish. It was a great race result that I did not expect, but glad it happened. I was also fortunate to get an interview with one of the local news stations to help spread the word about Shawn's Anomaly:
I am now officially in off-season mode where I will be getting ready and prepared for the Houston Marathon, the Ironman 70.3 Galveston, and the Ironman Texas in The Woodlands. This is going to give me a great chance to get stronger in the gym, post more tips I have learned along the way, and promote tell you more about how you can be a part of iRunFor5. What is iRunFor5? What is up with all those pictures with people drawing a 5 on their palm while running? Well, I am glad you asked. Check back soon to be more information and go check out
www.iRunFor5.com for initial details.
Today, I signed up for again for the Ironman World Championship Lottery. I know how much it would mean to raising awareness for Shawn's Anomaly. From the beginning of my journey, I knew that this would be the final chapter to the Shawn's Ironman journey, but I completely underestimated how hard it would be when I first started.
It consists of a 2.4 miles (3.86 km) open water swim in Kailua-Kona Bay, a 112 miles (180.25 km) bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hāwī and back, and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run along the coast of the Big Island from Keauhou to Keahole Point and back to Kailua-Kona, finishing on Aliʻi Drive. The best of the best compete for the title of Iroman World Champion alongside age group athletes that either qualified through another Ironman event, purchased one of the Ironman Foundational Ebay slots (last years went for over $50K), or win a select lottery spot they have every year. 
