Notes
What a weekend. Flew in from Seattle 10:30 Friday Night. Head down to Austin 11:00AM for packet pickup. Despite the perpetual pain in the right hamstring, I was still feeling confident I could pull out a solid race.
Race day morning: Almost overslept! Alarm on my cell phone didn't go off. Kari nudged me at about 5:45AM to get up and go. Fortunately, I had everything packed the night before so I just had to get dressed and grab my bag. Got to the race with about 40 mins left for bag check and other pre-race things when I realized....I forgot my watch! Now what? Quickly, I embraced the idea of running without the watch and decided I'd just hang with the 3:15 group (or just behind). Got to the starting line with about 5 mins to spare and the 3:15 group in sight.
The first 3 miles were more difficult than they should have been. By mile 2 I was already starting to sweat pretty hard and the right leg was just not feeling good. I slowed down to about 8:00 pace hoping to find my stride but it was just not happening. The uphill climb early on and the strong headwind was really starting to hit me hard around miles 4 and 5. I thought to myself...I've got to make a decision soon to either gut it out and risk really messing up this leg, or stop and just head back. I've never not finished a race so this was really not settling well with me mentally. By mile 5 I had decided I would stay with it as we turned back down 1st Street to Barton Springs and then just walk back to the starting line if things didn't improve. Long story short.... I decided to keep going at an easier pace and just do the half instead.
Taking a break from running to let things heal. Hopefully this won't take too long.