On March 1, I ran the Run
the Alamo Marathon in San Antonio, TX. I’ve
never been to San Antonio before, so this was a chance to not only experience a
new race but also see a new city.
I flew to San Antonio on
Saturday. I had originally booked a
direct flight, but Delta changed their flight schedule, eliminating the only
direct flight that would get me there in time for packet pickup. I was able to rebook on flights that would
get me there in the early afternoon, but I had to leave Minneapolis at 5:15
AM. That meant getting up way too early.
I was at the airport at
3:45. After I got through security, I
found out my flight to Atlanta was delayed.
They had to get a new plane, and the new departure time was 7:15. I had a two-hour connection in Atlanta, so a
two-hour delay meant I had no chance of making my connection.
I was able to get on a
different flight to Atlanta, but it only left 15 minutes earlier. That gave me a very tight connection, but at
least I had a chance. Just in case I
missed it, they also reserved a seat for me on the next flight from Atlanta to
San Antonio. As I was waiting to board
my 7:00 flight, I really regretted waking up so early.
After that, my luck got
better. My flight to Atlanta arrived
early, and my next flight departed from the same concourse, allowing me to get
to the gate while they were still boarding.
Despite all the drama, I arrived in San Antonio by 12:30.
The host hotel for the
race was the Menger Hotel, which is one of the closest hotels to The
Alamo. I’m sure it’s a fine hotel, but I
chose to stay a few blocks away at Hilton Palacio del Rio. This hotel was closer to where the race started
and finished. It was also right on the
San Antonio Riverwalk.
I needed to take a taxi from
the airport to the hotel, but after that I could walk to everything, so I
didn’t need to rent a car.
My first order of
business after checking in at the hotel was to pick up my race packet. Packet pickup was at the Intercontinental San
Antonio Riverwalk. That was about a 15-minute
walk from my hotel.
If there’s one thing you
need to see in San Antonio, it’s The Alamo. That was my next stop after dropping off my
race packet at the hotel. You need a
ticket, but it doesn’t cost anything.
You just need to go online and book it.
When you see pictures of
The Alamo, the building usually pictured is the church, which was originally a
Spanish mission. This was my first stop.
After touring the church,
I visited the Long Barrack and the various monuments and battlements around
Alamo Plaza. Other sections were closed
for a private event.
I had been up early, and
I never had lunch. By the time I got
back from The Alamo, I was starving. I
ate an early dinner. Then I did my best
to catch up on sleep. It was best I
slept before a race in months.
The race started at
sunrise, which was at 6:59. I was
dressed and ready an hour before that. I
couldn’t figure out the fancy coffee maker in my room, so I went down to a
Starbucks in the hotel lobby to get a cup of tea and a muffin.
The start/finish area was
in the plaza in front of the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center. It was basically across the street from my
hotel, so it didn’t take long to get there.
In particular, I didn’t have to bother with port-o-potty lines. My hotel was close enough that I didn’t need
to make any additional bathroom stops after leaving the hotel.
The weather was on the
warm side. It was 66 degrees at the
start. The forecast high was in the 80s,
but I only expected it to get into the low 70s by the time I finished. I started out with a goal of four hours. I expected to be comfortable with that pace in
the first half. I had to wait and see
how the heat affected me in the second half.
The race started with a
cannon blast. I was lined up with the
4:00 pace group. As the people in front
of me started moving, I had to pay close attention to keep from getting
separated from the leaders of the pace group.
The first few miles were
through the downtown area. There were
several turns, and it was congested. I
had to keep an eye on the pace leaders, while also watching my footing. In the early miles, we ran on a variety of
surfaces, including cobblestones. I also
had to watch out for reflectors on the lane lines.
In the downtown area, we
were running between tall buildings.
That always causes GPS watches to give misleading distances. Often, our watches didn’t have a direct line
of sight to the GPS satellites. The
signals would reflect off the buildings.
There were mile markers,
but they were small. The pace leaders
were able to spot them, but I didn’t see the first few. I just followed the group and trusted them to
keep us on the right pace.
For the first mile or
two, we were going a little faster than our target pace. When the pace leaders noticed that, they
eased up. I had to ease up too, to make
sure I didn’t get too far ahead of them.
Although the pace felt
easy, I was already feeling the humidity.
I had doubts about how realistic this pace would be as it started to
warm up.
I was frequently talking
to two other runners in the group. We
were often running in front of the group, so we kept an eye on each other, and
we’d occasionally look back to see where the pace leaders were.
When we got out of the
downtown area, we started running through the river valley. Early, the course had been fairly flat, but
now it was rolling. A lot of the course
was out-and-back near the river, but occasionally, we would turn onto a shorter
out-and-back segment before returning to the river.
Near the river, we were
sometimes on sidewalks, and it wasn’t really wide enough for a large pace
group.
At about nine miles, the
marathon and half marathon courses diverged.
Without all the half marathon runners, the course was no longer
congested.
About this same time, we
started a long downhill segment before crossing a bridge over the river. I asked one of the pacers when we would have
to go back up that hill. He said we’d
reach that hill in mile 22.
There were a few sections
where we took a different route going out than we did coming back. One such section was running through Mission
San Jose around mile 12.
Our watches were all
giving us different distances, and nobody’s watch agreed with the mile
markers. My watch seemed to consistently
read lower than anyone else’s watch. By
my watch, we were a little bit behind schedule at the halfway point. Others felt we were on schedule or ahead of
schedule.
From 14 to 16 miles, we
were running along one side of the river.
We had a slight headwind, which helped offset the heat and
humidity. From 16 to 18 miles, we were
on the opposite side of the river, and we had a tailwind. The tailwind did nothing to help cool us
down. I immediately noticed the
difference after we crossed the river.
Up until now, I had no
trouble keeping up with the group, but I had to work harder on the uphill
segments. Without the cooling effect of
the breeze, I had serious doubts about whether I could stay on pace for the
rest of the race. If I couldn’t, my
backup goal was 4:05. That would still
be a Boston qualifier.
Most of the aid stations
had water and Gatorade. I was drinking
whichever was easier to grab from a volunteer.
A few aid stations had pickle juice, and a few had Coke. At one of the aid stations, I accidentally
grabbed a cup of pickle juice, thinking it was Gatorade. I immediately followed it with a cup of Coke.
There were a few people
in our group running their first marathon.
At 17 miles, one of them told us he would need to drop back and continue
at his own pace. We all gave him advice
and words of encouragement. I considered
dropping back to stay with him, but I still felt like I had a good chance of
breaking 4:05. Two other first-timers
were still with the group, so I stayed with the group too.
We were almost to 19
miles when the sun came out. Up until
then, we had cloud cover. I had been
hoping it wouldn’t get sunny until after I finished. Now that I could feel the sun, I found the
heat more challenging. Soon, I began to
fall behind the group.
We reached an aid
station, and that gave me a chance to catch up.
While everyone else was walking through the aid station, I drank my
water on the run. That allowed me to not
only catch up back actually get ahead of them. It was only a matter of time, though, before I
fell behind again.
In mile 20, I was on my
own, but I was still running at a pace that would bring me in under 4:05. Then,
I started to feel pressure building in my intestines. At first, it forced me to slow down, so I
could hold it in. As I continued, it
became apparent that I would need a bathroom stop.
As I started up a small
hill, I saw a picnic area at the top. I
walked up the hill, hoping I could make a bathroom stop, but there were no
bathrooms there.
After cresting the hill,
I resumed running. Then I saw an aid
station at the top of the next hill. I
walked this hill as well. When I reached
the aid station, I asked a volunteer if there were any bathrooms there. He said there were, but they were somewhat
off the course at the top of a hill. I
detoured off the course and walked up the hill to reach a set of
port-o-potties.
When I was done with my
bathroom stop, I felt much better. I ran
back down the hill to the aid station, where I drank a cup of Coke and a cup of
Gatorade.
Shortly after the aid
station, my watch gave me a split for mile 21.
It was more than three minutes slower than the previous mile. At this point, I no longer had a realistic chance
of breaking 4:05.
The next mile had the
long hill that we had run down much earlier in the race. I ran most of it, but I had to walk the
steepest section. There was no longer
any point in fighting for a faster pace.
Now, I just wanted to keep moving and eventually finish.
I ran that mile and the
next one in 11 minutes each. I felt like
the heat had broken me. At this slower
pace, I would break 4:15, but not by much.
Then I spotted another
runner who had dropped back from the pace group. His name was Aaron, and he was one of the
runners doing his first marathon. I ran
with Aaron for the rest of the race, so he wouldn’t have to do the toughest
miles by himself. I knew those miles
would be slow, but I had a renewed sense of purpose now.
Aaron was having leg
cramps, but he soldiered on. He ran when
he could and walked when he had to. I
stayed with him at whatever pace he could manage.
As we came back into the
downtown area, we ran on the San Antonio Riverwalk, right alongside the
water. In the last mile, we left the
Riverwalk and made multiple turns on streets I didn’t recognize. I could recognize some of the buildings,
including my hotel, but I didn’t know all the turns.
It wasn’t until the last
turn that we could see the finish line.
Aaron sprinted for the line. I
didn’t have a faster gear, so I followed at the best pace I could manage. I finished in 4:16:11.
The finisher medal was
huge. It’s shaped like a stagecoach, and
it flips open to reveal additional artwork.
After I got my medal, I
turned around to look for Melissa. She
was another runner who had been with the 4:00 group for at least half of the
race before falling behind. I spotted
her on a short out-and-back segment with about three miles to go, so I knew she
wasn’t too far behind us.
Melissa finished in
4:17. Her previous best was 4:30, so
this was a massive PR for her, in spite of tough conditions.
Besides the medal, there
was also a finisher jacket. That’s in
addition to the T-shirt I got when I picked up my race packet. The jacket was a light gray windbreaker with
a hood.
After getting my jacket, I
picked up a basket of post-race food and sat down to talk to a few other
runners while I ate. Then I got my
post-race beer and sat down with a few members of the pacing team while I
finished my beer. I was within sight of
my hotel, so I didn’t feel any need to rush back to the hotel.
When I finally got back
to my room, I took a warm bath and tried to stretch. My Achilles tendons were too tight. They didn’t bother me during the race, but
they both tightened up by the time I got back to the hotel.
Having had pastries and
fruit after the race, I didn’t feel any need to eat lunch. I relaxed at the hotel until it was time for
dinner. Then I went to one of the
restaurants behind the hotel, next to the Riverwalk.
I didn’t fly home until
Monday afternoon, which gave me the whole morning to explore more of the San
Antonio Riverwalk.
