This content originally appeared on text/plain and was authored by ericlaw
Austin Half
On January 19th, I ran the newly-renamed “Austin International Half Marathon” (formerly 3M). The night before I had spaghetti and meat sauce with the kids, and the morning of, I woke at 5:15 and had a cup of coffee and my usual banana. My trip to the bathroom was not very productive which worried me a bit, but my belly felt okay so I didn’t worry too much.
I left the house around 6:35 and parked in my usual spot around 6:50, early enough to get to a Porta-Potty without a line. It was bitterly cold that morning, with a stiff wind blowing southward, making for a rough start to the first northbound leg of the race. But since most of the race was southbound, we had a tailwind for most of it (not that I noticed).
I wore my trusty tights from last year, a $2 pair of disposable gloves I bought at the expo, and (luckily for me), my hoodie from the 2014 CodeMash conference. I assumed I would discard the hoodie and gloves along the way, but it was cold enough that I kept both for the entire race.
Just before starting, instead of my now-customary stroopwaffel, I had a “Salted Watermelon” gel pack (the first time I’ve tried them). One of my two earbuds failed with a low battery (it’s always something) but the other stayed alive for the whole race.
I kept a solid pace for the first three miles, right around 9 minute miles. Alas, as I expected, I couldn’t keep it up and slowed down; last year, I’d managed to keep that pace for the first 10K.
Still, by mile 7 rather than feeling depressed and dying, I was actually enjoying myself a bit. My body felt good overall, my plantar fasciitis was quiet, my legs felt okay, and my greatest annoyance was a slight chafing I felt on my inner thigh (as I forgot to apply Body Glide as I usually do). A cold orange wedge offered by a kind spectator around mile 11 seemed like the most refreshing thing I’ve ever eaten. I particularly enjoyed jogging through the UT Campus on the tree-lined brick path around mile 12.
A big upside to my third run is that the course felt more familiar, and I was no longer surprised/dismayed by the two short uphills in the city blocks at the end (although I didn’t even try to run them). I didn’t go all out at the end like I usually try to do, figuring that shaving tens of seconds wasn’t worth the risk that I’d hurl at the end (my near-miss in 2023’s Turkey Trot top of mind).
All in all, I finished in 2:18:35, nine minutes slower than last year’s race, which was itself nine minutes slower than my first effort.
While I’m not loving the direction my times are going, this race was (allegedly) 27 minutes faster than my glacial Dallas Half last month. I’m not entirely convinced that the Dallas numbers are legit (I was pretty sure I was around a still-slow 2:35.)
Spectator signs included a few copies of my favorite (“Seems like a lot of work for a banana”) and I was a bit annoyed to discover that they didn’t even have bananas at the end this year. What a scam!
The most topical spectator sign was “With TikTok banned, I’m so bored I’m watching this Half Marathon!” Two people had signs: “This isn’t that hard– even boys do it” which I’ll confess annoyed me more than amusing me. But that’s another post.
Alas, my failure to apply Body Glide was a worse mistake than I realized, and I spent the next few days (on a work visit to Redmond HQ) walking and sitting gingerly as the chafing turned out to be a lot worse than I realized on the run. Other than that, and a gross-but-routine blister on one toe, I was no worse for the wear. Still, the coming full Marathon in Galveston in just three weeks loomed large in my mind… will I be able to finish?
Galveston Full
Way back at the end of 2023, I ran the London Marathon on my treadmill, but I’ve not approached that distance since. Over a decade ago when Jane was training and running full marathons, I’d decided it was just a stupid distance — training was too time-consuming, and there was too high a risk of injury. When I finally started running myself, I decided that 10Ks would be my main target, with one half marathon “just to see if I could.”
Still, in the afternoon after 2024’s Galveston Half Marathon run (my fourth real-world half), I ended up walking for about 7 miles on the beach, so when it came time to sign up for the 2025 race I decided that I’d sign up for the Full. I expected I’d run as much as I could (maybe 20 miles or so) and just walk the rest.
Alas, between my treadmill being broken for the fall of 2024, weight gain, my ongoing problems with plantar fasciitis, and a lengthy cold after my mid-January trip to Redmond, I was not feeling very ready for the Galveston Full. I had a nice spaghetti dinner the night before and went to bed early, around 10pm. I woke at 4:30 and dozed in bed until 5:30. Alas, my bathroom trip was unproductive, although my belly felt fine and I figured I’d probably visit a porta-potty after the first half.
Race morning was cool and extremely humid (~97%) and clouds kept the morning sun at bay (although not quite as foggy as 2023’s race). A light wind felt nice along the beach for the 7:30am start:
The sun broke through the clouds after a few hours and I had to apply more sunblock around mile 15, an effort that was not entirely effective 
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I’d expected to finish the first half in around the same time I’d achieved last year (~2:15) leaving me as much as 3:45 for the second half (the course officially closes in 6 hours). Alas, knowing that every step in my first lap was going to be repeated on tired legs did not help my motivation, and I finished the first loop in a glacial 2:39, almost as slow as my run in Dallas.
My optimistic plan of breaking down the full race into a Half, walking to mile 14, then running a 10K, then walking to mile 21, then running a 5K, then walking, then running a final 1K immediately fell apart when they made contact with reality. Both of my watches were being weird (they weren’t configured right and kept “pausing” my workout) so I solely relied on the distance marker signs — the Half Marathon signs and Marathon signs were .1 miles apart, and I quickly settled into running between them and walking the rest. All told, I ended up running only about 2 miles of the second half, although my walking pace was a respectable 16 minutes/mile, so I didn’t feel too bad about things. I did spend miles 16 to 23 worried that I wasn’t going to finish before the course closed (I didn’t have the energy/motivation to really check my watches), and I watched with dismay when the final pacer passed me.
Between the humidity and the sun, I was increasingly dehydrated through the second half of the race, eventually refilling my water bottle at every aid station and emptying it before the next. Fortunately, sweating so much meant that I barely needed to pee (this race has almost no porta-potties). Having eaten two packs of Sport Beans in the first half (100 calories each), in the second I consumed 4 GU Liquid Energy packs (also 100 calories each). I probably should’ve had a couple more.
While I was tired and uncomfortable, nothing was really painful (a side/back cramp worried me for just ~1/3 of a mile, and I knew my feet were starting to blister). I felt strong each time I forced myself back into a run. All in all, I wasn’t working nearly as hard as I could’ve, and finishing 15 minutes faster probably would not have been all that challenging. As it was, my final results were… not great.
Still, I finished and I didn’t get hurt, so I’m counting the effort as a win. I figured I’d be immobile for the rest of the day at least, but managed to make it out to grab dinner and my first two drinks at the brewery before watching the Eagles trounce the Chiefs (40-22) in the Super Bowl. My feet are sore, I’ve got some sunburn, but no meaningful chafing, and blisters only on toes #2 and #9.
I do not plan to ever attempt a marathon again, but I’m excited to do more half marathons, and hope to start getting some faster results in the upcoming Capitol 10K and 10K Sunshine run in April and May.
Onward!
This content originally appeared on text/plain and was authored by ericlaw
ericlaw | Sciencx (2025-02-10T18:33:07+00:00) Winter 2025 Races. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/02/10/winter-2025-races/
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