Now onto the most miserable part of the marathon- the second half! We passed a few nice homes that were interesting to look at, but those were gone within a few minutes and we were surrounded by industrial areas and fields. The sun was out full blast at this point and the temperatures were climbing. I was glad to have my fully loaded belt and tried to take down water at every stop. Bless the souls who handed out ice cold sponges at this water stop- they were hands down my favorite part of the race. We passed through there again on the way back- as we did 80% of the second half of the marathon on a the same road out/back, which added to the suck factor.
Brightroom offered a special pre-pay for this event, so I gave in and bought the pro-pictures. I didn’t see nearly as many photogs out on the course, but they still took a few good shots.
This collage pretty much sums up my recollection of the race- dry & barren landscape, blazing sun, nothing interesting or exciting to look at as we ran past a golf course, trailer parks, plants and lots of nothingness.
Hubby met me again around mile 18 and I was not a happy camper. I was hot & very annoyed about how awful the course was. I wasn’t feeling good & knew I’d been slowing down quite a bit since I’d finished the first half in 2:13. I’d taken a very necessary bathroom break, but my tummy was still upset and I couldn’t eat/drink enough to stay feeling well.
On the home stetech, we were blessed with a few hundred yards of shade- right in the middle of some small hills! Now in my other races, I’d have bounded right up these & showed them who was boss, but I was feeling like death at this point and questioning if I’d ever run another marathon in my life! Heading into downtown, we got a nice view of the Tower of the Americas and then under the freeway towards the finish line.
Yes- a slight hill before mile 26 as we ran our final stretch in the scorching sun and then another hill at mile 26.1 as we climbed up out of the underpass for our final turn. I ended up walking pretty big segments of the last quarter of the run, only willing myself to keep running so I could be finished with this torture.
Urgh- so there’s my awful time. Now normally, I’d be pretty happy with that, but I was planning in having a great race in San Antonio- hoping to beat my PR from San Diego and even flirt with 4:30. I was clearly on pace the first half, but the heat & humidity just took it out of me the second half. My poor attitude about the course in general disheartened me and I pretty much gave up the last 6 miles. I cleared mile 20 at 3:30 and really only needed to run the last 6 miles in an hour to hit the 4:30′s, but I was drained. I crossed the finish line, grabbed a blessed cold towel they were passing out and stumbled to the nearest curb while calling hubby and telling him to come get me. No cute finisher photos with my medal or with hubby & I together- just miserable the rest of the night as I recovered from the race. The finisher area was well organized as usual, but I’m thinking that parking was a little lacking- they had free shuttles from a (very) remote parking lot, but hubby found a place about 0.5 miles away.
You can see where I met him at mile 8, took a bathroom break, and then again at mile 18 on the pace charts, then all the walk breaks the last 8 miles were what killed my time. All in all, this was an incredibly humbling race and not one I will remember fondly. I love RnR, but the weather conditions and their course were the perfect disaster. On a cool, cloudy fall day, it might be a pretty decent race, but I still think it’s one of the most uninspiring courses I’ve ran. I’ve got several running buddies from Houston who all ran RnR and had similar thoughts about it being just a brutal race. There was even a half-marathoner (young man, Iraq war veteran) who died after crossing the finish line.
I’m undecided on running the full or half in Vegas in a few weeks- I really want to see if I can turn in a great time. I’ll probably watch the weather & listen to my body before decided the week of the race. I would really like to see if I could turn in an PR, but I’ve also got Houston marathon in January too.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: A pretty nice fall day in Brownsville today & one of my last scheduled work trips of the year.
