San Antonio Road Runner's put on a race called the Endurathon up in the Hill Country of San Antonio. It's crazy that we live in a city but a 30 min drive puts you out in the country. David and I didn't know what to expect from the race so we toed the line and gave each other a kiss. Gun went and we were off. The crowd seemed to be 300-400 people, not a bad size at all. Mile 1 and 2 I hit below 7 minutes. I knew I was going out way too fast and I was playing tag with a gal that was in front of me for about three miles. Mile five the hills started rolling, and I mean rolling. Here on out I counted an average of 3-5 hills per mile. It was nice to recover on the little pieces of downhill we got but it was major challenge. By mile five, I just set my pace behind tag girl and let her dictate the pace. I knew I was going too fast so I went off of her. By 6, I broke away. The course was rather interesting, we ran out and back miles 5-7 and a different out and back miles 9-12, kind of hard to describe the course. All I know there were hills and hills. The road was also curving in and out throughout the course so I knew I would end up with extra mileage. I remember seeing David by around mile seven and I gave him a big frown as he passed. He knew exactly what I was thinking. Hills. From miles 10-12, I was facing runners going out to a turn around and I decided to smile at each one as I passed them. To my surprise, ALL of them smiled back at me, it gave me the biggest boost. This crowd of runners was just cool and relaxed. The Texas running scene seems more open than other places I have ran. Mile 12 had a HUGE climb back up to the finish and I still kept a pretty good pace. I noticed that by taking a GU at mile 5 and 9.5 during this race, my legs felt fresh the entire time. I usually only take one GU during a race. I also ate each GU slowly while I ran so it didn't hit my system in a big blob. Mile 13 came and my watch already read 13.2, bummer. I finished at 13.4 and the course was long, booo. I was the third female and I felt great about that, David was the third male and the first placed military male. Yes, they even give military an award which I think is awesome. We had a fun day and I lucky to share running with my husband. I also felt like I could still put in another five miles, probably not at that pace.
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