
Friday am we did our last training run prior to Sunday's Marathon. Unconventional getup, but effectively keeps the sun off my head. Doug says I looks like I'm running around in my underwear.
Jim runs with his Bike "specific" Garmin and a custom wrist mount that would make Opa proud.
The beautiful Turkey. Ready for the big day. Her best friend, her iPhone always at the ready.
Saturday night we got our equipment ready. The "timing chip" was interesting, basically a piece of paper that you looped thru your laces.
Disturbing picture yes, but hey you all have to see all aspects of the big day!! Vaseline is used to prevent chafing. We paid the extra money to park at the Alamo Dome and were bussed to the starting line on Broadway on a charter bus.
We were given a bag which we could leave at the start and pickup at the finish. You'd think that might be risky with 30,000 runners, but as with everything they had this down. A "bag-tag" was torn off your race number and there were 30-40 UPS truck waiting accepting these bags alphabetically at the start.
The racers were assigned to "corrals" based on their projected finish time/pace. We were in corrall 15. This meant our projected pace of 10 minutes per mile (4:20 finish time) was the average expected pace. There were 30 corrals of 1,000 runners each.
We had made it to the start line in time and were waiting our start, so Terri was all smiles. She had been nervous the day before.
Matt was around downtown and wished us well at the start line.
It took 90 minutes to launch all the corrals (3 minute gaps) so we were standing at the start line for 45 minutes prior to our start. Terri has by now fallen asleep. The guy to the far right looks like he's next.
Finally we were at the true starting line and almost ready to Git 'er done.
I was confident, course I love pain and suffering.
The map of our day, pretty much seeing the highlights of San Antonio downtown, the missions and the San Antonio "river."
People were able to track our progress live at the
Race website. Notice that we started out near our project pace of 10 min/mile, and slowly fell off from that, but not too badly. We were happy with our effort.
My heart rate data and the course profile. Consistent thru the day. The spike at 7 miles was when I stopped to pee in the porta potty and had to chase the Turk down. The spike at the end was when we picked the pace up to finish off the day strong. Terri was not pleased with the last 100m climb just before the finish so I grapped her hand and dragged her up it.
Notice the consistent downward "spikes" in HR each mile. These were our 1 minute walk intervals.

You can tell by our pace (in aqua) that we were consistently yet gradually slowing down thru the day.
Another view of the day. The markers indicate the 1 mile intervals.
One of the top highlights of our day. Jaime's kids Easton and Saris with custom signage - "Go Turkey" for Turkey, and "Go Diego Go" for Jim.
Terri's phone died during the race, but a very kind couple at the finish line took our photo and emailed it to us!!
And a nice picture of our Team Mate Juan Salazar crossing the line.
Safely home, with our finishers medals and our smiles.
The Turk scored one of her coveted "Space" blankets.
Now she's ready for the evening festives.
The Cult are the headliner band at the Alamodome. after all this is the ROCK AND ROLL Marathon.
Jim's got the C&W concert sign going. Hey I don't get out much, gimme a break. A concert is a concert you know.
And after Terri's "Prosecco" bath and a nap we made it!!
What a great, great event. This was my 10th marathon and 4th for Terri. It was the largest, most fun and best organized, by far and away. 30,000 runners for the inaugural San Antonio Rock and Roll marathon. This contrasts to 1,500 or so that Jim ran with at his first marathon, also the San Antonio marathon, 10 years ago.
We woke at 5:45 and didn't get out of the house til 6:30 for our 7:30 start. Traffic was at a standstill nearing the Alamodome, but we got there in good shape. We had paid the extra money (well worth it) to park there, the finish line. We were then bussed to the start. There were hundreds of busses taking runners to the start - most coming from the AT&T center which was the official parking spot. We hit "bus gridlock" about 1 mile from the starting line and the start was 5 minutes away so the bus let us all off. We ran to our "corral" and Terri wants credit for 27.2 miles of running, not just the 26.2 miles of the event.
I quickly dropped off our bag at our designated UPS truck and hit the portolet 1 last time and we made our way into our corral. We still have 30-40 minutes to wait til we were to start, so calm fell over the land and I wasn't in trouble for getting us there late.
The start and first 10 miles were amazing. A virtual sea of people as far as you could see ahead and behind you. At many spots so many spectators were lining the road you felt as if you were pushing thru throngs on the Alp d'Huez. Each water stop had water, Cytomax, and hundreds of volunteers. There was never any letdown in race support.
Lining the course were a dozen or so bands and the were all excellent. There were 5-6 "medical" stations which all were equipped with whatever ails a runner. I took advantage of the Vaseline after a few miles, as I had missed an area which was chafing.
After 10 miles I noticed Terri slowing ever so slightly, no biggie. The 1/2 marathoners split away from us so our crowds were lessened. Still, there were so many people to run with and we were constantly passing or being passed by other runners that the miles were ticking by. I remember my first marathon, where there might have been 1500 runners. I was all excited, was running a little late, didn't eat breakfast (figured there would be all sorts of support on the road.) After 8-10 miles I saw few runners behind or in front of me. A small boy (randomly on the roadside) handed me a lifesaver in a wrapper at mile 16. That was my race support!!
We mentally divide the marathon into 2 races - a 20 miler, then a 10 k. Terri was doing well and I was encouraging her (we had great time training and running together contrasted with the last marathon we ran together 8 years ago which was probably the closest we've come to divorce.) She was really starting to tire when lo and behold at around mile 23 Kim and Ken showed up on the MTB's and rode in the last 3 miles with us. That was just what we needed and allowed the last few miles to pass quickly.
The last special thing for us was about 1 mile from the finish, Jaime and his 3 kids Saris, Easton and Baden were on the side of the road with special signs for us. Terri went to give the kids a hug so we stopped for a minute (Kim commented to her "you just lost 15 places!!") :->
Great day. Perfect weather (cold and clear started running in 40 degrees, finished in 62.) Great course and event. Now we may attempt to tackle next year's version in under 4 hours to qualify Terri for Boston. Please join us next year!!