You can tell by the quote marks that it wasn't good.
We drove down to Austin on Saturday morning. Straight to the expo, which was small. Very cool backpack giveaway - complete with waterproof compartment for sweaty workout items or wet swimsuits. I'm already putting this one to good use!
Then over to our hotel, which was very nice (and expensive) since it was Valentine's Day weekend.
Then to Thunderclouds for take-out subs to be eaten in the hotel room while watching the Olympics. This is my idea of heaven. Later that night I sent Preston over to Tiff's Treats for some chocolate chip cookies. Tiff's is one of the things I truly miss about Austin. Best. Cookies. EVAR.
Speaking of miss - we drove by my old place on Rio Grande, and it isn't there any more!! They tore it down and built a new building! Double Daves, which I lived on top of, is still there, in the same place in the new building... but I was *floored*.
Anyways, hit the sack early for an early start.
Preston drove me downtown and dropped me off about 2 blocks from the start. It was fricking cold, and I stood there for about an hour. It was lovely, though, standing on Congress in the dark looking up at the beautifully lit Capitol building.
I lined up waaaaaaay in the back, knowing that between my knee and my boobs, I wasn't likely to be doing all that much running. About 10 minutes after the start, I crossed the line.
The knee started hurting within minutes. The boobs instantly began protesting. And we very quickly found the first hill, which I decided to walk. I didn't really know how many hills there would be, but I knew to keep my HR in a state resembling controlled, I'd need to be walking the hills. And that, my friends, was pretty much as good of a plan as I ever had. Walk up the hills, run the downhills and flats until the knee made me walk again. Rinse, repeat.
I did have a problem, though: baby wanted me to pee. Almost from the very beginning. And the (idiot) race organizers somehow thought that 2 porta-potties per aid station was sufficient for 13,000 runners. Seriously. Every freaking aid station, the line was 20-30 people long. And there was no wooded or bushy area to hide in. I mean, even men were in line at the aid stations. It was awful. I'd stop, go stand in line for a minute or two, see one-freaking-person come out, calculate that at this rate it'd take me 20 minutes to pee, and start running again. I would guess between all my failed attempts at getting access to a pisser, and my one successful attempt (finally found a park restroom that no one seemed to notice: only 5 women in front of me!), I lost over 10 minutes to the bathroom situation. And that, my friends, is unacceptable. Especially to a pregnant woman.
Oh, one other thing that made me grumpy: no gatorade until over halfway into the race. Lame.
Other than that, there isn't much to tell. I was really hurting in my knee. I ran when I could, walked when I couldn't, and hurt like hell for most of it. Oh, and the hill at 12 is a freaking beastie. You round the corner and see it off in the distance and know the sight of evil.
I finished, collected my medal and shirt (btw, it really bothers me that sizes aren't standard. When I order a medium, it is always from a race that is sizing large and I should have had an extra small, when I order an extra small it is always at a race sizing small and I needed a freaking medium. Same thing happens with size small. Basically, unless the race organizers advertise the brand of finisher's t-shirt, it is a crap shoot that I always lose.) Anyways, my preggers breastles look mighty fine in my too-small finisher's t-shirt. Oh yes, they do.
Awesome medal. Love it.
Back to the hotel for a shower, then to EZ's for cheese fries and an oreo shake. Then back to H-town.
And that is the story of my (non)race in Austin.
Baby's first race.
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