Austin Livestrong 5K Report

I completed the President's Day Duathlon on February 19th, took a quick shower and hauled ass for the airport to fly to Austin. Nora and our good friends Craig and Colleen Marusich and Courtney Rios were already in Austin to do the half marathon on February 20th.  I entered the 5K as a "recovery run." Us big time triathlete-like fellows apparently do "recovery runs" after busting our collective butts in races.  I thought you were just supposed to assume the position and sit on your happy tail but Gretchen (my trainer) thinks otherwise.

Got into Austin about 4 p.m. and we had some good Italian, walked around a bit and went to bed early. Got up at the ass crack (thank you time difference) and staggered down to the Capitol.  They staggered the start so Craig and I got to see Nora, Colleen and Courtney off and then I started my race.  The plan was to "run easy."  Apparently I don't know how to do that when there's 1100 hundred people around me.  I held steady about a 7 to 7:30 mile and ended up in 23:47.  Pretty good for having done a duathlon the day before.

Craig and I waited for the girls to show up and show up they did.  All 3 ladies including my beautiful wife set PRs on a very difficult course. The guy who won the marathon repeated from last year but was 9 minutes slower if that tells you anything.  We all went back to the hotel to clean up and I decided to check the results. Imagine my surprise when I found out I finished 3rd in my age group among 33 guys! I was shocked.  Slowest time that I ever won a medal for but hardware is hardware baby! Cool medal too.