That felt really good to say. In case you missed the title, I’m a runner again. At least, that’s how I feel. I did 21.3 miles in 4:37 - hardly a world’s record, but that’s only 15 minutes more than it took me to do the 18.6 mile race two weeks ago. I’m feeling much better afterwards, too.

Where to begin. The weather was, well, a mess. It could have been worse - it could have been a lot worse, actually - but it was certainly bad enough. When I got up it was raining, and raining hard. Hmm. I added my “waterproof” $65 jacket to my wardrobe (shorts and a short-sleeved shirt), grabbed my waterbottle, and headed off. Have I mentioned yet that it was still before 6:00am? We were supposed to meet at 6:15, and run at 6:30. If anything, its raining harder now than it was half an hour ago.

So, at about 6:10 I’ve parked the car at Hooter’s and am heading for the RunTex parking lot. Everyone is huddling under the awnings. And I do mean everyone - Round Rock Fit was joining us for this long run. They were also all commenting on the fact that it wasn’t raining in Round Rock when they left. Ah, well. I start stretching as soon as I get there, trying to work all my leg muscles but with an ITB stretch every other time. Eventually, Debra started her little pep talk and we went into formal stretching. I was ignoring this for the most part, and just continuing my own flexibility and warm up work.

After all that was done with, we headed for the stage to meet up with the rest of our pace group. Anthony and Chris were there, ready to guide us on our way. All told, there were at least twenty people in the 10:30 group, a really nice size for the day. It was while standing around waiting to head out that I realized that my jacket was only water resistant, not waterproof as I had previously thought. Oh, well - I can live with it. At least it kept me pretty warm. The rain started to let up a little, but it was still coming down at an impressive rate when we lined up to leave.

I remembered to start my ForeRunner when we headed out. Several people were checking it out - its a nifty toy, all right. We headed out of the parking lot onto the South side of the trail heading towards MoPac. This is normally a 2 mile jaunt, but it took us a little over 4 miles this time, since we did a loop around Zilker park. Unfortunately, to get there we took a cut through the train tunnel, which was slippery, muddy, and hard to navigate in the dark. I had to stop and stretch a couple of times, but was able to catch up with the group fairly easily each time.

Once at MoPac, we were able to refill with PowerAde (I did more stretching) and head over to the boat docks, and our first scheduled staffed water stop. I should have Gu’d at MoPac, my plan was to do one every four miles, but it wasn’t until the stop that I actually did. Maybe this means that I should do every six at the marathon as well, since its been working out fine during training. Anyway, the stretch of road out to the docks was where my ITB flared up on me six weeks ago, so it wasn’t without trepidation that I ran there today. I will say this, I don’t think I’ve ever been more aware of road grade than I was during that stretch. Still, made it to the docks without much difficulty. I dropped my jacket at the stop, and instantly got colder, but much more comfortable overall.

My right knee was a little sore, but definately manageable. It was probably just that I was hyper-aware of it rather than it feeling any different. When we headed back East towards MoPac, I took the opportunity to run through a deep puddle. Made a bit of a mess, but the cold water really felt good (and the nice running socks I wear did a great job of getting my feet dry again in record time). We made it back to the bridge, and I did some more stretching and refilled with red PowerAde (I had been drinking blue) and ran after the group.

My right shoe came untied twice between MoPac and Lamar, and I stopped to stretch one of those times, so I was pretty happy that I got to the water fountain before the group headed out again. Anthony was being very efficient, and didn’t wait for long before trekking on, so the group became somewhat strung out for a while. We had one more stop along the way, and I managed to do at least some of the run at a 9:15 pace while I was catching up with the group after a stretch, and then we met up with our second staffed stop. They claimed that it was at mile 12, the reality was about mile 10.7. It wasn’t the first time that I wished that the people manning the stops had accurate distance information! Managed to get a second gu in as well, since we were stopping.

They were almost out of PowerAde by the time that we came through, but had plenty of gummi bears. After more stretching, and a refill of water (making my bottle about a 50/50 mix, which was fine), it was on to Longhorn dam. I was still staying on pace with the group, stretching at the waterstops, until we were almost at the bathrooms before the dam. At that point, I had to stop about 200 feet early for a brief right ITB stretch, and then ran down to meet the group (and use the facilities). I felt a little odd stopping within sight of the “proper” stop, but I’ve learned to listen to my joints and to give them what they need.

Out we go again, up and over the dam - impressing a couple of the Round Rock Fit people who had only heard about it being on the course - and then back under the hill to the tunnel. For the record, this tunnel stinks when it rains. Phew! I had a brief chat wiith Eliza at some point, since she was also “running wounded” with some very tight hamstrings, and told her my “finish” theory - that you should always decide to go the distance. That way, finishing becomes a foregone conclusion and the only thing subject to debate is the time, which doesn’t matter on a training run anyway.

Running on the trail material was easier, and we moved along towards Riverside. Ever since we’d hooked up with the trail at MoPac we were retracing the steps of our 15 miler from five weeks ago, so this was at least familiar. Up the trails to the road, up the road to the nice, steep hills. About halfway out to the turnaround point, I had to slow down and do some more frequent stretching. This was about 15 miles into the run, so I wasn’t too disappointed (much better performance than Buda just two weeks ago). My group headed off, and I followed on gamely, catching up with them at the 16.7 mile waterstop (which the people runnng it referred to as the “15 mile” stop - really made me lose confidence in my little GPS (which turned out to be right all along)).

Out we go. No more PowerAde at that stop, so I’m on pure water at this point. That’s not a huge deal, just a little disappointing since I like the constant but slow energy boost from the sports drink; I ended up taking a final gu at this point. Feeling a bit sore in the knees, I’m definately taking it slow and easy from here on in. Its odd though - ever since I finished the loop out to the boat docks and back, where I got hurt last time, I’ve had no doubt whatsoever that I was going to finish the run and do alright.

Anthony (at least his day-glo green hat) was still in sight as we hit the trail, but soon outdistanced the two of us running a little slower. Thanks to the ForeRunner, I was able to figure the one-mile spot for our next walk/stretch break, and then we were off again running about an 11:30-12:00 pace. I started paying closer attention to my watch, because I wanted to make sure to hit a new lap point when we got to 18.6 (30k) to see how I was doing compared to my 30K race two weeks back. It turns out that the last staffed waterstop was exactly at the 30K point (although they didn’t realize it), and I got to see my lovely wife who was volunteering there. What a boost! Anyway, we made it in 3:48, or 34 minutes faster than my “race” time, and still had plenty of energy left for the last 2.5 miles. Some more stretching, and a few more gummi bears, and we headed out again.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. Lots of stretching - only once per mile but I was taking 2-3 minutes each time - and we all made it in. My time was 4:37 for 21.28 miles according to the GPS, for a quoted “21.2 mile” distance. Looks like I was right about the waterstop locations! It turns out that I was less than 10 minutes behind my pace group, so that was pretty good. My legs felt good too - certainly a little sore, but nothing like they were after the 18.6 miler. Lots of stretching followed, and then I drove out to Stephanie’s waterstop and availed myself of some of the leftover candy and pretzels.

After this, doing the marathon in three weeks should be a blast. By then, my ITB will hopefully have healed itself to the point that I can keep my speed up and not have to do so much stretching during the race itself. My speed goals are more modest now, I’m really just hoping that I can stay under five hours, but I’m not worried about completing it any more. This run was a really welcomed confidence boost.

Calories burned: about 2,900
Calories comsumed: about 500
Miles remaining: 66.2
Days remaining: 22

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