Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio Marathon Race Report

Bill and I were up shortly after 4 a.m. as our plan was to leave for the shuttles at 5:15 a.m. I just couldn't see, however, why we couldn't leave for them at 6 a.m. With that decision made, I tried to sleep a little bit more but that really didn't happen.

We met Russell Meyer and Debbie Tripp in the lobby of the Red Roof Inn where we were staying. Russell agreed to take Bill, Debbie and I as close to the start area as we could get. Getting out of downtown proved to be a little bit of a challenge and at one point we were headed east on Interstate 35, which is where we saw a long line of traffic trying to get off to go to the AT&T Center to catch one of the shuttles. Luckily, we were on the feeder road and were able to make a U-turn over the overpass and head back to the west.

We quickly pulled out a map and where did we end up? In the parking lot of a washateria ... right at the starting line!

The three of them ventured out to survey the scene. (Elite was still going over with volunteers about how the corrals would work just under an hour from the scheduled start.) Meanwhile, I stayed in the car and tried to stay warm.

I got out at one point - when I saw a police vehicle pull up past the start line and got runners out - and saw Governor Perry being interviewed by one of the local San Antonio TV stations. (It is at these areas where I watch, listen and learn how different events and organizations handle different things. I thought the public address announcer was a bit hokey and damnit, it should be a Texan - not someone talking about soccer from over the pond. No offense to my British friends, but this is a Texas event!)

As things were getting closer to the 7:30 a.m. scheduled start, I made my way over to the other side of where the corrals were.

I talked to John Hill of Kingwood before the race. He was in great spirits hoping for a sub-2:40. (Which he got ... barely!) I saw Sean Wade and Luis Armenteros, and then a few minutes later, I was at the start line watching the elite runners come out - including Liza Hunter-Galvan of San Antonio and Brian Sell. Shortly after this, I turned to my left and up walked Chevron Houston Marathon race development director Steve Karpas.

We had a really good conversation. He then jumped into the corrals (and was standing by Doug Schroeder.) A few minutes later, I saw Texas Independence Relay co-race director Jay Hilscher.

Before I began to move back and get in my appropriate corral, I saw Governor Perry get down on one knee and visit with a couple of the wheelchair athletes - one with the C.A.F. and the other with the Warrior Rehab Project. He appeared to be very genuine; however, and oddly enough, he has a little "W" to him. (Alright, no chortling, Anna!)

As I moved back to my start area, I saw Joe Martinez from Montgomery. I stopped and visited for a little bit. During this time, you could tell that buses were dropping people off at the back of the corrals as people were streaming as quick as they could to get to their appropriate corral.

I saw Bill at about corral 15. I was continuing to chide him as to whether he was going to jump in or not. (He did. Check his blog later.)

I stood in corral 19 with Missy Graham-Baugh and her friend, whose name I do not know. Missy was doing her very first marathon and was a bit nervous. My advice to her was: to have fun!

In the corral, I had somebody ask me about how I got a blue bib number. My reply was "because I'm special." (A day earlier, I was claiming to be a "maverick" wearing my USA 10-Miler shirt at the Ten For Texas water stop.) Seriously, those that registered the first weekend or at last year's marathon got special blue bibs in the 40,000 and greater range. It meant a very, very short line at packet pickup!

Mile 1 -- 10:32.41
Mile 2 -- 10:39.97
Mile 3 -- 10:22.40
Mile 4 -- 10:53.80
Mile 5 -- 11:08.71
Mile 6 -- 10:47.96
Mile 7 -- 11:12.79
Mile 8 -- 11:04.15
Mile 9 -- 11:22.23
Mile 10 -- 11:28.50 (1:49:32)

I was really feeling pretty good about things and then my left leg started to bother me. As I started into mile 11, I realized that I could make a choice to finish for the day and do just the half. I really, really didn't want to do that because my time for that would have sucked - and it would have meant that I wimped out.

Mile 11 -- 12:35.95

So I soldiered on. It was about at this time that I began to see runners coming the other way. As I passed the mile 24 clock, I saw that it was 2:33 and change and I didn't see John Hill and Jay Hilscher, which was a good thing.

Mile 12 -- 11:49.99
Mile 13 -- 11:57.80 (Half way was 2:27:13)

During the next two miles, I saw a lot of runners from the greater Houston area and that kept my mind off of how much my leg was hurting. I saw Wilmer Bustillos and Fernando "Paco" Garza. What's insane is that Garza won Rocky Raccoon 50K eight days earlier and Bustillos was second in the 25K just a week before. Unreal.

Matt Berman with Fort Bend Fit and Matt Wright with the Houston Striders were the next two that I saw. Lee Harlicker with The Woodlands Running Club was starting to cramp and was walking. (He ended up with a 3:09.) I also saw Ian MacDougall of TWRC. (Actually at the one water stop, I leaned over to cheer him on.)

Somewhere in that stretch was HARRA president Anna Sumrall Helm. I didn't realize that she was running with Jen Brown. Anna was looking good, moving fast. Before I reached her, a pace team leader was telling a guy, "You're on a 3:08:50 pace. So I knew that she was close to her 3:10 goal." [So in that one spot were three people on the HARRA Board!]

I later saw Leno Rios and Doug Schroeder before the course split off.

Mile 14 -- 12:59.32

This mile was getting to be pretty painful so when I got to the mile marker, I said it was time to brisk walk it as fast as I could. I did the math at 15 minutes times the number of miles remaining to figure out where I would be close to.

Mile 15 -- 14:29.72
Mile 16 -- 14:58.96
Mile 17 -- 15:22.22
Mile 18 -- 14:53.10
Mile 19 -- 14:32.14
Mile 20 -- 14:41.48

I did fine for six more miles then there were times where I had to hold my lower left back/hip to relieve some of the pain.

Mile 21 -- 16:13.09
Mile 22 -- 16:02.88
Mile 23 -- 16:56.65

Missy Graham-Baugh caught me in here. I think she hesitated about circling back and I told her to finish her race. This was her first one and that should be her total focus: to get it done. She did!

Mile 24 -- 16:39.80 (Missy's friend got me here.)
Mile 25 -- 16:25.83
Mile 26 -- 12:41.21
Last .2 -- 2:38.67

Yes, when I got to the mile 25 marker, I figured the sooner I got to the finish the sooner it would be over. And yes, I ran up the hill -- if it is what you call running at that time. But I didn't walk it!

I saw John Isgren shooting at the finish line. (John shoots for Lance Phegley and raceshots.net) So I pulled up my shirt so he could get my number and tried to put together a good strong effort to give him a chance for a decent picture. Then I had a little fun ... I cheered all the way in, "We are .... Penn State!"

I talked to Jessica Alexander, Dana-Sue Crews (about Bill's 3:32 finish) and Jay Hilscher (a 2:38 and $500) on the phone while I waited for Bill to make his way over to the Red Roof Inn (or where I eventually met him at.)

Bill and I stopped at Schobel's in Columbus for dinner and then got tipped off by fellow TWRCer Althea Caldwell that there was an accident in Sealy. I called Waverly, she got online and we got a re-route (kind of like a jet) to go through some old TIR country - Eagle Lake, Wallis, Simonton, Fulshear and then we turned back north up to Brookshire (where some of the Tour de Donut route was).