5K, Marathon & Laps

Marilynn and I got back from San Antonio this evening. I ran the Kats for the Cause 5K in Huntsville Saturday morning and finished in 32:33. We then drove to San Antonio for the Inaugural Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon on Sunday. We visited some old Army friends, Jim and Diana Webb, who live in Cibolo, on the north side of San Antonio. They had us over for a very nice dinner and visit. Even though we have stayed in touch over the years, it has been too long since we have visited. Hopefully, we can get together more often. The logistics of the marathon with 30,000 runners was what I expected - a big hassle. By the time I got to the start line Sunday morning, I had already walked for miles and climbed so many steps. We got caught up in traffic in downtown San Antonio Saturday afternoon getting to the Expo in the Alamo Dome. I ended up parking on an upper floor of a parking garage and we walked a long way to the dome. It was wall to wall runners, but I managed to get my packet and visit with some friends, Jon Walk, Bill Dwyer, Debbie Tripp, Loren Sheffer and others. We got up at 5 a.m. Sunday and drove to the AT&T Center at 6 a.m. to get shuttle busses. I had a long walk to the bus there. I got on a bus to the start line in Breckenridge park, but they let us out blocks from the start line. Marilynn waited at the AT&T Center and caught a bus for the finish line (Alamo Dome) at 8 a.m. With all the walking and climbing stairs, I was tired at the start line. They started in waves of about 1,000 runners each, starting at 7:30 a.m. I was in the 24th waive, so it was nearly 8:30 before I started the race. The temperature was in the 40's at the start, but it warmed up quickly. At 2 miles, I threw away the headband over my ears and my gloves. Later, I wished that I had run in a short sleeve shirt, rather than long sleeve. I ran in a crowd for the whole 26.2 miles. The aid stations were great, there was a rock 'n' roll band every mile and plenty of high school cheerleaders along the way. The course was relatively flat. I finished in 5:48:07 (compared to 6:03:52 in Waco last month). I was okay with that. Marilynn and I stayed over in San Antonio Sunday night and drove back this afternoon. We stopped in Houston to visit Kenny and got home about 6:30 p.m. Later, I went to the track and ran a mile. As usual the day after a marathon, the first lap was bad, but after that it was okay.