Austin Marathon 2016

Since I have a decent race schedule this year I figured it was time to start blogging again. First big race of the year was yesterday at the Austin Marathon. It was my eighth stand alone marathon, and 13th overall marathon if I count my Ironman races.

My second Chicago Marathon.

Chicago 2005 - 4:27:10
Vermont City 2006 - 4:19:08
Chicago 2006 - 4:08:08
Austin 2007 - 4:18:22
Austin 2008 - 4:13:51
(IM) Lake Placid 2009 - 4:05:58
(IM) World Champs 2009 - 4:11:11
(IM) World Champs 2010 - 4:02:42
CIM 2011 - 3:51:46
(IM) Louisville 2012 - 3:59:56
Austin 2013 - 3:47:15
(IM) Texas 2014 - 3:58:16
Austin 2016 - 3:28:43
 
Overall it was a pretty good race. Austin is one of my favorite courses. The temperature was a bit warmer than I was expecting - mid-50s at the start - and slightly humid, but at least it meant I wasn't freezing. And it stayed cloudy for the entire race as well.

My goal was 3:30, and I have been training fairly consistently since September aside from a couple weeks around the holidays when I went to Hong Kong and then got sick. I knew that if I stayed within myself and didn't overpace at the beginning then my goal was achievable. I was averaging around an 8 minute mile for the first 20 or so miles, and then decided to pick it up the last 10km (my motto: the faster I run the sooner I am done!). Annoyingly, the course was slightly long (~0.2miles) so I didn't hit my secret goal of 3:27:xx, but I was close!

However, I did win the Full Track Distance Challenge (a super-secret stretch goal), which consisted of six races starting in late September through February and their cumulative total race times.

Distance Challenge magnets

Run Free Back to the 80s 8km - 33:56 - 5th female, 2nd age group
Run for the Water 10 miler - 1:13:07 - 23rd female, 10th age group
Decker Challenge Half Marathon - 1:37:37 - 5th female, 1st age group
Rogue Distance Festival 30k(+some) - 2:28:25 - 3rd female
3M Half Marathon - 1:34:46 - 22nd age group
Austin Marathon - see above - 24th female, 5th age group

This gives me confidence for my two Ironmans this year, but I will definitely need to be better about pacing and fueling during the IM marathons. Next steps are to start training for IMTX with Team Marsh and plan my 30th birthday!

2016 Goals:

1. Get my PMP certification - Complete, January 2016.
2. Run a sub-3:30 marathon - Complete, February 2016.
3. Turn 30 - In progress.
4. Learn SQL - Not yet started.
5. Complete a sub-11 hour Ironman - Not yet started.