San Antonio

San Antonio Rock n Roll marathon - the last run in the year of Rockin n Rollin'.  I have never been to San Antonio and was kind of excited to visit some of the sights.  We flew in on Thursday and went to the Riverwalk in the late afternoon.  Wow, that is great.  You could gain 10 pounds in one visit going from restraurant to bar, to bar, to bar, etc.  We took the boat ride that goes around the Riverwalk.  I love these kinds of tours.  The tour guide is usually some retired guy who is a native and can tell you stories from long ago.  It is a great way to learn the history.

We ate at Dick's Last Resort.  If you have never eaten at one of these restraurants, I would highly suggest it.  The staff are extremely rude!  It's their trade mark.  

On Friday, we went to the expo for the race.  We went to some of the lectures they provided.  John (the penquin) Bingham was there.  He is very funny!  His wife was also lecturing and she was great.  We spent about 5 hours there.  That's a pretty long time at an expo but we had lots of fun.  

As you can see from the photo above, we went to the Alamo.  You would expect the Alamo to be this great big, gigantic fortress out in the middle of now where.  Well, it is right in the middle of downtown and it's about two blocks in size.  In fact, right across the street, you can go to Ripley's Believe it or Not or to the Wax musuem, really - believe it or not!

On race day morning, we left early, thankfully, because the traffic was backed up on the freeway for MILES.  They bused you to the start and it was crowded.  I can't believe how many dorky people I saw wearing their stupid blue capes....

It was very cold and of course you have to stand around for what seems like hours and by the time the race starts, your feet are little chunks of ice that take about 5 miles to finally thaw out.  The course travels by the Alamo and of course Ripley's and the Wax musuem, the missions, and then out in nowwhere land.  It was hillier than I expected but I like the rolling hills.  I tried to stay on an even pace but I felt like I was slowing down.  On one of my walk breaks, the 3:50 pace group came charging up.  Crap, I wanted to run around 3:45 so I tried to stay ahead of them.  Eventually, I ran with them for a few miles but pulled ahead around mile 24.  I rounded the corner to mile 25 and ran parallel with Roos on the half marathon course.  He ran with me for awhile but then returned to a walk.  If I wasn't so stubborn about getting my goal time, I would have walked with him.  At mile 26.1 is this huge frigging hill.  It was short but steep - very cruel.  Once you get to the top and turn the corner you can see the finish line.  I finished about 15  minutes ahead of Roos.  I waited for him and we had our photo taken together, kind of cool.  I might actually buy that one!

 I finished 3:46 and Roos finished 3:11 ( a new PR for him).  Anita and Andy finished together in 4:48.  We waited in line for the shuttle bus for almost an hour, hit the hotel for a shower and then some much needed food.  We had a great time.  

The series of rock n rolls was fun because of all the traveling.  I enjoyed that part very much.  I got to go to Nashville, Virginia Beach and San Antonio.  

I won't ever do those series of runs again, or even another rock n roll event for that matter.  Those Elite racing people must be bathing in tubs of money!!!!

Run fun.....