11/09/09 Runnin'

[Mythmere]

On Thursday, my wife and I make tracks to San Antonio for the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. Since one of her knees is acting up, we'll be running pretty slowly, but it ought to be a lot of fun.

However, it means that I won't be on the net much, if at all, between Thursday and Wednesday. I probably won't answer any emails during that time. But I will run 26.2 miles (unless my wife has to break off and just run the half-marathon, in which case I might stay with her instead of doing the full marathon).

[The Red Priest]

Wow.. marathons. My hat's off to you. My limit was 10Ks, and now, my limit is 0Ks. Can't run a block w/o my hip acting up. You young'uns, I tell ya.

Run 'em while you can, man, and run this entire one if you're up to it. Your wife'll be fine drinking beers, sipping teas or lattes or whatever her poison of choice may be.

[Lord Kilgore]

Good luck to you! I'm in post-marathon mode right now, so I'm taking it fairly easy for a couple of weeks. When you finish, you can do the same.

[Mythmere]

Good luck to you! I'm in post-marathon mode right now, so I'm taking it fairly easy for a couple of weeks. When you finish, you can do the same.

I suspect my "post-marathon mode" will be "drunk as a lord" for a number of days afterwards, wearing my medal even in the shower, and singing songs to which I only partially know the lyrics. Or perhaps not; it's hard to say. Pain might affect things.

[Lord Kilgore]

Pain might affect things.

Yeah, but your "drunk as a lord" plan offers a +4 on saves vs. pain. I'd say go with it.

[Mythmere]

And I finished the marathon! My time sucked, since I was walking for most of it with my wife, who hurt her hip early in the race, but we made it in under the wire to still get a recorded time and a medal!

(my time was 7:13:03)

[tacojohn4547]

Congratulations on finishing, Matt! That's a big accomplishment. As it turns out, one of my co-workers also ran in that marathon in San Antonio. She finished ahead of you, but she runs like a girl.

[Mythmere]

Congratulations on finishing, Matt! That's a big accomplishment. As it turns out, one of my co-workers also ran in that marathon in San Antonio. She finished ahead of you, but she runs like a girl.

Most people who finished, finished ahead of me. I think only 85 or so people finished after us but before the cutoff time. On the other hand, it looks like at least a thousand people didn't finish the race. Conditions were pretty brutal, with 94% humidity and 78 degree temperatures. All our Houston runners were quite familiar with that sort of running environment, and all our group finished ... but not with good times.

[Lord Kilgore]

Holy smokes! I'd looked you up in the results but you didn't have a time when I checked and was afraid you'd DNFed. I was going to PM you and ask, but was afraid you might be too disappointed to talk about it.

Well done on finishing! Anyone who finishes a marathon deserves a huge pat on the back. And that finisher's medal is the same one as those guys who ran in less than three hours got. Congratulations!

That is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time to be out there on a race course.

( doesn't mean "surprised" here, it means "horrified")

That must have been brutal.

[Mythmere]

:!: Holy smokes! I'd looked you up in the results but you didn't have a time when I checked and was afraid you'd DNFed. I was going to PM you and ask, but was afraid you might be too disappointed to talk about it.

Well done on finishing! Anyone who finishes a marathon deserves a huge pat on the back. And that finisher's medal is the same one as those guys who ran in less than three hours got. Congratulations!

That is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time to be out there on a race course.

( doesn't mean "surprised" here, it means "horrified")

That must have been brutal.

We were worried people would think we'd DNFed. As far as we can tell, the sensor at mile 24 was malfunctioning. I guess they hold off giving times to people who don't register on one of the sensors. (since that could indicate cutting across the course, I suppose). None of the runners around us got times either. It got resolved very quickly when they checked photographs (which also tells me they knew their sensor was down -- finish pictures are meaningless if the goal is to catch people who are cutting across the course in the middle of the race).

Actually, tootling about for hours in that sort of heat/humidity wasn't hard for me since I grew up in Houston where the heat and humidity are far worse than this during summer, even at 5AM. But long-haul humidity means blisters (the vaseline-on-feet trick can only do so much), and I got BAD blisters. I do want to run by myself for the next marathon, though, because I think I could clip an hour or more off that time if I weren't running with someone who's injured.