Austin Marathon Race Report

This marathon experience was amazing. I want to run every marathon from now on with Scott and Lisa. Here's the scoop:

We left John and Ally's reception at about 9:00pm and started the trek to Austin. We made it to our hotel at about 12:00am. After getting checked-in, Zoe in bed, and my stuff ready for the morning, I think I finally closed my eyes around 1:00am. Mine and Lisa's alarms went off in sync at 5:15am. What?! No! I was so tired. Oh well, I just needed to run 26.2 miles then I'd be able to go back to sleep.

Lisa and I laid our stuff out before we went to bed so that we would have minimum 'need to think' opportunities when we rolled out of bed in the morning. Scott stayed in a room with Dad and Janie...he probably had his stuff laid out too. After all, he's who we learned this from.

Ready to go!

Car ride over to the race.

Action shot. Making sure we have everything.

Shoes!

It was pretty cold in the morning--in the mid 30's. We had on extra layers though so we were kind of comfortable. We snuggled a lot and stood really close to other people at the start line.

Excited, cold, and maybe a little nervous.

Lisa's getting her game face on.

I need to go back to bed.

Scott's ready to have some fun!

Here is what the front of a marathon looks like. Hopefully some day I'll be one of those people.

And GO!

The race has started...but we're still walking to the starting line. It's getting closer. Yay!

Coming through the starting line (I think I was just to the right of Scott).

Miles 1-16 felt good. Surprisingly good. We saw Dad and Janie at mile 6 and gave them all of our extra clothes (hats, gloves, jackets).

Later, As we passed somebody who had a stereo playing "Eye of the Tiger", Scott started singing along...Scott style. At the top of his lungs he sang, "It's the eye of the tiger it's the thrill of the fight!". Lisa and I were laughing....the people around us didn't know what to think about it and just kept running quietly.

A little bit after we split with the half-marathoners we got a phone call from Dad saying they had just missed us and they were going to go wait for us at the finish line. Okay cool. Wait! I had stuffed 3 Shot Bloks into my pockets but had given Dad the rest of my stash to give to me each time he saw me so I didn't have to carry them all with me. Oh no! I kind of had a freak out moment. Scott had his debit car with him and offered to run into a gas station to get some food. I thought about agreeing to it just because it would make for a good story but decided against it. Unless I got desperate. I never did because we passed some really cool people throughout the race who were prepared for people like me. There were spectators who had chocolate animal crackers, M&M's, gummie bears, starburst, pretzels, potatoes dipped in salt, and orange wedges. We were set. Thanks to the awesome strangers!

We saw Dad and Janie at mile 6. We were hot by then so we unloaded all of our extra clothes.

Looking good and having fun.

Talking about the run so far.

Let's get a move on...people are passing us!

This is a really cool moment when the split happens. I think this was around mile 11.

Fuel station!

Miles 16-18: My calves were starting to feel tight but it didn't seem too bad. We saw Mike, Megan, and Zoe at mile 18. We stopped to say hi, took a swig of Gatorade and got a granola bar. That was a really nice 'pick me up'.

Miles 18-23: I was starting to get pretty tired but was still doing okay. I was still high-fiving all the spectators who had their hands out (that's one of my favorite things during my marathons). I was hoping to start taking fewer walk breaks during this time but that just wasn't happening. I was still walking at every mile marker or aid station, or both.

At one point Lisa was a little bit ahead of me and Scott and so Scott yelled (again, at the top of his lungs so everybody could hear), "Lisa, you inspire me daily! Every single day!". Hahaha! Lisa was wearing her Brooks ID shirt. I don't think anybody got it and again just kept running quietly. Except for me who was laughing and Lisa who had a big smile on her face. (Both Scott and Lisa are part of the Brooks ID program. Yep, they are that awesome).

Quick break at mile 18!

Mile 21. I was starting to hurt pretty bad. My legs were really tight. But I was still having fun.

Lisa and Scott were doing great. I think I was fake smiling.

Miles 23-26: I was just done. I walked any time there was a slight incline and sometimes even if there wasn't an incline. I didn't want to run any more. If Scott and Lisa weren't there to push me through this I probably would have walked the rest of the course.

Through about Miles 20-26 I had gotten really quiet because I was concentrating on moving one foot in front of the other. Lisa and Scott started talking a lot about things like the pretty blue house, stuff about UT campus, etc. I think they were trying to get my mind off of what I was going through. It helped.

Running through UT campus.

Please don't make me run anymore!

The finish line was on the other side of the capitol. Please, somebody make it closer!

Mile 25.5: We saw Dad standing on the Capitol steps. Awesome. That gave me a little bit of a boost. We ran around the Capitol. It seemed like it took FOREVER. Then we saw the Mile 26 sign, then we saw Mike, Zoe, Megan, and Janie. Yay! They were so excited and cheering for us!

Do you see us?! That's Lisa with her arms up. I don't know how she had the energy to do that.

We see the finish line. Yessssss!!!!

Less than .2 miles left. Go!

Then we turned the corner and saw the finish line. We started sprinting (relatively speaking) towards the finish line. There were so many people cheering for us. Then all of a sudden Scott started yelling, "Let's hear it for Melanie! Way to go Melanie!". Then EVERYBODY started yelling my name. They were ALL shouting, "Go Melanie!" "Great job Melanie!" It was so awesome. I started choking back the tears and Lisa looked and me smiling and said, "Don't cry!". I think she thought I would stop running and just stand there and cry. Haha!

Earlier in the race we were discussing what we should do as we crossed the finish line. Some things we came up with are: Me and Lisa carrying Scott across the finish line, doing the Monkey's walk (as in "hey, hey we're the monkeys, people say we monkey around"), and doing cartwheels. We really liked the cartwheel idea. As we were racing towards the finish line we realized there was nobody behind us and Scott asked if we felt like we could do the cartwheels. Both Lisa and I said yes (though I was picturing myself doing a 'grandma' cartwheel) so it was a 'go'. We slowed down to let the people in front of us go ahead so we would have plenty of space. Right as we were about to cross the finish line Scott noticed some people sprinting towards us from behind so we didn't have enough room. Scott started yelling, "Abort! Abort!". I heard him but Lisa didn't. As Scott and I ran across the finish line Lisa did a cartwheel. Lisa did a cartwheel through the finish line after running 26.2 miles!!! Hahahaha! It was so awesome. All the people charted cheering and laughing. (By the way, she didn't hit anyone).

Getting a hug from Mike.

Proud Dad.

We did it!

Most disturbing moment: The lady we saw run over to a tree, squat, pull her shorts over, and pee.

Funniest moment: Lisa doing a cartwheel across the finish line.

Best moment: Crossing the finish line with Scott and Lisa.

Worst moment: Miles 23-25.5.

Photos of things that went on while we were running. Thank you Dad, Janie, Megan, Mike, Zoe, Marie, Joel, and Abner for coming out to support us!

Janie. I don't remember running over a bridge.

Marie, Joel, Jane (hiding in the sling), and Abner (well, part of Abner).

Abner and my Dad watching the runners.

Mike said Zoe ran up....

...and down this hill a LOT of times.

Cutie.

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Official finish time: 5 hours 14 minutes 56 seconds (I beat my San Antonio time by about 25 minutes. Sweet.)

Click here for Lisa's race report.

Click here for Scott's race report.

Click here to see my official results.

Click here to see official race photos.