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The Mardi Gras Marathon was a success. From what I hear, the weather in
Austin on race day was like it was New Orleans (overcast, cool, and very windy).
But nonetheless, I finished.
I had previously trained with Houston Fit for several years before moving to
Austin last summer. Despite hard work and valiant efforts, I had a couple of
disappointing marathons due to a knee injuries. After taking last year off,
the urge to run another marathon returned, so I joined Austin Fit. In order
to prevent further injury, I told myself to take it nice and slow and just
enjoy myself. And that's what I did with Jim and the 9:55 group. The entire
training season went well. My knee bothered me here and there, but not as
much as it had in the past. As the marathon got closer, I felt confident that
I could reach my goal of 4:30.
When I arrived in New Orleans and picked up my race packet, I asked if there
would be pace groups on race day. To my disappointment, there was not.
Thankfully, I had packed a pace chart bracelet just in case. I spent the rest of
Saturday hanging out with my husband, his family, and a friend from Houston, who
flew to New Orleans to be a part of my cheering squad. I had all of my things
ready to go for race day before I went to bed. Surpassingly enough, I slept
well but woke up well before my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m.
We arrived at the Superdome about 6:15. I was a little nervous, so I tried to
calm myself by doing some light stretching and a couple of runs to the POP.
At 6:45 my husband and the rest of my support crew left me to find a spot of
the other side of the start line. ; There I was, standing next to several
thousand other runners, none of which I knew. So I said a prayer and waited for the
gun to go off at 7 a.m. ..... 7:10.... 7:20 (uh-oh, I have to pee again, what
do I do?); Finally, at 7:30 a.m. the gun went off and the mass of runners
slowly crossed the start line. I was excited to start, but I was thinking to
myself, "Will I be able to hold it long enough until I find a POP or will I have to
find a place to squat?
The beginning of the course took us through downtown and into the French
Quarter. We passed Jackson Square and Cafe DuMonde (yummy, beignets). A runner
ahead of me fell and cut his head at mile 2. At mile 4, I passed a couple of POP
with lots of people in line so I waited until I came upon a bridge (the only
hill on this course!) and I veered off and squatted alond the side of the
bridge, along with a few others. Ahh! that was better. I finally got into it after
that. My crew handed me some bananas at mile 5.5
Thanks to my handy pace chart, I checked my time at every mile and I was a
couple of minutes ahead of pace and was feeling great. I tried to remind myself
to take it easy during the first half and not to get too ahead of myself. I
got some animal crackers from my crew at mile 9 and a gatorade refill for my
fuel belt at mile 14. By this time we had made it back to the Superdome and
were heading into Midtown on the beautiful street, Prytania. I was still
feeling good at mile 17, when we turned onto Napolean and passed the church where I
married the love of my life just nine months ago. I got all choked up and had
a hard time holding back the tears. I have truly been blessed in my life and
I knew that I could do this. I found my husband and the rest of the family
at mile 18 and again at mile 22, after we ran through Audubon Park. I was
still ahead of pace and knew that if I just kept it strong, I would meet my goal.
Although I had always been a strong finisher, the fierce headwind I
encountered at mile 23 was hard to overcome. But I had worked hard and was not going
to give up that easily. So with less than 2 miles to go, I kicked it in and
crossed the finish line with a chip time of 4:27:49 (new PR)!!
After hugs and kisses from my family, I was ready to enjoy some great red
beans and rice, king cake, and some beer (when in Rome...)!
I want to send my thanks and appreciation to Jim and all of the runners of
the 9:55 group for making this training season so enjoyable and successful.
See you next year!
Cristina de la Isla Wilner
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