Marathon #29: Austin, TX

I just completed my 29th marathon, the 2024 Ascension Seton Austin Marathon in Texas! This was my first marathon after my 2023 injury where I had a full training cycle, and I was able to shave 4:37 off my previous marathon time, finishing with an official 3:13:05 overall result.

• C Goal: sub 3:17:41
• B Goal: sub 3:15:00
• A Goal: sub 3:10:00
• Stretch Goal: sub 3:05:00

The weather was quite cold on race day, starting off at 33°F at 7:00am, with a wind chill that made it feel like 27°! Through the course of the race, the temperature rose to about 42°F, but this chilly race-day conditions were certainly unexpected. It kept me cool, but also burned energy as my body worked to keep me warm, even outside of the exertion from the race. My fingers and ears were numb for the first half or so, until the sun rose enough to provide some direct warmth.

The course had gentle hills of up to about 800ft, meandering all around Austin in a route that kinda looked like an outline of Texas itself!

After starting off a bit slow due to crowded corrals and the cold, I was able to find a relatively event pace for the first 8 miles, making up the lost time on the downhill sections. Over time, I settled in to a 7:28 average pace, which was a bit slower than my target 7:15 pace, but still within reach of my A Goal.

Alas, nature called at mile 15 and I had to make a pit stop, which cost me about 3 minutes. I think perhaps I ate something funny the day before, or maybe it was just nerves, but my stomach was not feeling well at all. Nothing happened earlier in the race, but likely 90 minutes of running stress triggered my GI tract to become quite active.

I got back to it, trying to pick up lost time but never quite recovered fully despite a few speedy miles. I pushed myself a little too hard and had to walk a few times after mile 18, which was disappointing. But I was able to finish strong over the last 5k and push through, resulting in a 3:13:05 finish time.

And of course, I went out the same day and incremented my tally!

During the race, and during training, I had a slight heel pain that I was worried about. Post race, I got an x-ray and found that I had quite a large bone spur in my heel! Though quite surprising, it was a relief to know that it is very common, and actually NOT the cause of my pain. My orthopedist believes it is a mild case of plantar fasciitis, due to improper stretching of the achilles tendon, which pulled it tight under my foot and put pressure upon the connection in the heel. I was given a stretching regimen to follow and we will see what happens!