Fini!

Well, Gentle Reader, it's all over but the limpin'. And I did it. I f'in did it, which evidently makes me a real Austinoid since the guy who runs RunTex claims that all Austinoids have run at least one 10K. (Yeah, right.)

If you're curious, Gentle Reader, yes, I met my goal for this race: I ran/jogged the whole damn thing. I didn't stop to walk once. I didn't stop for water once (I carried a bottle of Aquafina with me the whole route and didn't once remove the cap for a chug, even to clear my throat). I didn't run through the sprinklers/showers set up along the route to cool ya off. I just ran and kept running until I was across that finish line.

How long did it take me? Just under 101 minutes. Yeah, I know, not my greatest pace ever, but do I care? Somewhat. It would have been really nice to do this puppy in an hour or so. Was that realistic to hope for? Maybe. Maybe not. But I paced myself--which was the true challenge of this race--and I never stopped running. Hooray for me.

Things I Learned From My First 10K

• Running up real hills sucks. That 3.0 incline on the treadmill is nothing compared to some of the hills I climbed around downtown and the UT campus. That said, I've amped up the incline on the treadmill enough times to prepare me for some of those steep babies. All I had to do was remind myself to relax my shoulders and slightly lean forward, and I kept going without getting winded.
  
• Running downhill really sucks. I lost time on those declines because there was no way in hell I was going to let myself get taken over my momentum and blow out my knees. Crazy, non?
  
• Running a 10K is actually easier than a 5K. Believe it or not, Gentle Reader, but I found it easier to "settle in" to the run this time because I knew I had miles to go before I crossed that finish line. With the 5K, I'd barely made it to a place where I could run at a comfortable pace without running into people and discovered I was more than half-way through.
  
• Austin is really not a remarkable town. Really, it isn't. What's the big deal about downtown? About the campus? The buildings aren't terribly unique or picturesque. I guess if you aren't a Texas Ex, the route doesn't hold a whole lotta charm.

By the by, for you star-struck Gentle Readers, our "celeb" runners were Lance Armstrong and, I think, Matthew McConaughey. Naked Bonger Player was for sure there, dragged along by pal Lance, but whether or not he ran I'm not sure. But no gub'ner: Perry backed out to deal with the impending doom that is Gustav. (Nothing like declaring a disaster days before the storm approaches.) No mayor either: Willy Boy was otherwise engaged.

I got the hell outta downtown as quickly as I could retrieve my bag, turn in my timing chip and hike back to Republic Square Park, where the husband and I had agreed he'd pick me up. (The boys went to Central Markup and Half-Price Books while I ran. The husband scored some recent comics that were on our look-for list. Rock!) I noticed a bit of a twinge in my left knee when I first headed out for the rendezvous, but a little stretching removed it before I got into the car, where the boys presented me with a lovely bouquet of miniature red roses. How very sweet of them, non?

Here I am at just after 9 PM, writing up this blog and enjoying some fabulous green chile sour cream enchiladas (yup, I got 'em made long before we headed out for the race). Is that a great post-10K refuel meal? Dunno. But it's damn yummy!

I'm too lazy to insert the photos in key places, so enjoy 'em in a slideshow.

UPDATE
While I didn't spot myself in any of them, check out the photos from the Statesman. News8 also has a brief article and video up on its site. You can also see some nice stuff on Nike's page for the Austin run. Enjoy!

By the way, hot damn wahoo, Gentle Reader: I did complete the course in just under an hour. I checked my official results on the Nike site, and I clocked in at 59 minutes and 50 seconds. I reiterate: hot damn wahoo!


That time put in as the 90,379th-place finisher in the world! Woohoo! I'm in the top 100,000 runners!

And here's my result among the Austin runners. Hey, I'm in the same field as Lance!

Granted, not all the Austin runners had their timing chips on, but, hey, their loss.