The Inaugural Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon - Part 1 - Pre-Race

This was going to be my marathon. My training had stayed closer to schedule than for my previous races. In the 2 months leading up to the race I had averaged 44 miles / week. Everything was going according to plan!

But part of the adventure of running are the little things you don't plan for. And who a person is deep down inside is revealed by how they handle those things. Or, in my case, it is probably just stubborness.

I met up with my good friend Amy at the hotel on Friday evening. We used to work together about 20 years ago. She now lives near Houston. We ran a Disney Half Marathon together (her first, my second). This was her first marathon and she was running it for Team in Training. Staying with her meant I got to tag along with the "team" by just paying for dinner, some of the hotel room, and the bus transportation.

Friday night, we did a lot of catching up and probably went to bed a little later than we should - but it was great fun.

That is when it struck! Post nasal drip. My sinuses were pretty clear but that annoying drip was there. By Saturday morning, I was hoarse.

I was a bit concerned but I felt pretty good, so in the morning I headed down to the workout room and did 2.5 easy miles on the treadmill to "prime the pump" for the race. My heartrate was slightly high, but remained in the aerobic zone for the run, so I was optimistic. We headed to the expo after that to pick up our packets and stroll around.


Me with the Star Wars Runner

While at the expo I hooked up with the Star Wars Runner! He was running his first marathon! I didn't have much of a voice so we didn't talk for a long time, but it was fun to meet yet another running blogger!

After walking around the expo for a long time, we decided to head back to the room. The TNT folks were meeting for the bus to the pasta dinner at 4:30 pm. I was still feeling kind of puny so I decided to forego the dinner and rest up with some good cold medications. I also prepped all my stuff for the race the next day and got my bags ready for checkout in the morning since we couldn't get a late checkout for the afternoon. I was determined to get a better night's sleep and be ready for the race the next day.

Part 2 - The Race