San Antonio Trip Part 3

On Saturday, Kyle finally got to enjoy some hole in the wall texmex, literally his only request for the trip was to eat some really good texmex. I took him on quite the trek and when we walked in at lunch, it was packed, which was a great sign. The food was delicious. Wife points: 1.

After lunch we headed to the Alamodome to watch the Rangers play the Indians. I've only been to a couple of professional baseball games in my life, so it was a lot of fun. While I was bummed that I wasn't in an open stadium to work on my tan, in hindsight it's probably best that I wasn't exposed to excess sun the day before my race.

After the game, we had to hustle to get ready for Kyle's conference dinner and concert, and I had to pick up my race packet. I got ready super fast and hustled over to the hotel for the out of town pick up. I had planned to go to the regular packet pickup earlier in the day to check out the expo, until I realized it was a 25 mile/$30 uber ride (one way!!). Uh... hell no. The packet pick up was incredibly unorganized. I arrived 5 minutes after it opened and I was in a line of 30+ people that didn't move in an extremely hot room. My version of hell. I think they had some issues with their workers showing up, because as I was in line, a few more people showed up, and finally the line started moving. 30 minutes later, after I had sweat through my dress. For real.

We went to Kyle's conference dinner, ate some great food, including some steak, shrimp a giant salad and steamed veggies. This might be a variation off of my new favorite pre-race meal, as I had zero stomach issues on race day! After dinner and the presentation, Big and Rich performed for the bankers. We hung out for a bit, sitting because... race eve.... double fisting waters.... so boring.

We went out on the balcony before we left to try to take a picture overlooking the River Walk, and then the couple we asked to snap a pic of us, literally turned their shoulder to give me the cold shoulder. Selfie it is! Where's the southern hospitality?!

When I got back to the room, I immediately put my compression socks on and observed some legs up the wall. My feet were so swollen and squishy.



Sunday morning was race morning.

And immediately after my ice bath + shower, we headed to Chipotle for lunch. Guacamole dreams right here.

And then it was FINALLY time to catch some sun by the pool. The real reason for the vacation. For me, anyways. We got to soak up vitamin d for about 2 hours before we had to head to the airport to make our trek back north. :(

But not before eating one more time (we ate a lot on this trip, thank goodness I had to run 13.1 miles at the end of the trip. For a hotel bar, this Margherita pizza was to die for. My only regret is that we were going to the airport and I felt lame bringing a to-go box to the airport, so I gave it to our uber driver. I miss that pizza.

San Antonio Trip Part 2 AKA Austin St. Patrick's Day

Friday we made our way to Austin to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

I've heard that Austin is pretty crazy, but add St. Patrick's day and SXSW into the mix and whoa. In small town news, the first person I talked to while I was there, his mother lived in Sioux Falls. Small world, immediately.

While we were in Austin we spent some time at a bar just people watching.

And then we realized we needed to get some food if we were going to sustain our pace. We found a great Mexican place, and I'm fairly certain that I ate my weight in chips, queso and guacamole. If I were to eat one meal for the rest of my life it would be chips + queso + guac. <3

After dinner, Kyle's boss was ready to leave, so we made our way back to SA. We spent more time getting to and from Austin that we did there! But I think we made it out of town before it got even weirder!

We spent some time dancing and sweating profusely at some bars in San Antonio before heading to bed. I think it's safe to say, that will be the wildest St. Patty's day we'll have for a few years.

Race Report: Alamo 13.1

All week long, I kept refreshing race day weather for San Antonio. It was cooler than normal all week long (really reducing my planned pool and tan time; at one point I had to leave the pool because I was covered in goosebumps! Me! Who never gets cold!). The forecast remained the same: Sunday would be the nicest day of the trip. 67* at the start of the race and 99% humidity. I decided to adjust my game plan dramatically.

New plan: long run at my higher end of the long run pace. My current long runs range from 10:20-11, so in the 10:45-11:00 pace. Long run with a medal at the end! yes!


Our hotel was super close to the race start so I hung out there to have access to a bathroom. My stomach was the best it's EVER been before a race which was so exciting. I'm not sure if it was because I had adjusted race goals/expectations or if it was my meal the night before. TBD. I spent all day Saturday hydrating in preparation for a hot and humid run, and drank a bunch before we left our hotel. By the time we got to the race start, I had to pee. And I couldn't find portapotties anywhere. I snapped a quick pic with Kyle before venturing off to find some a bathroom.

I kept venturing around looking for portapotties and no one seemed to know where any were. When someone finally pointed me in the right direction, it was 7:15 and the race was ready to start! Sometimes I have to nervous pee when I don't really have to pee, so I hoped that was the case, and stayed in the corral. My cheeks already had sweat building up on them. The race started about 10 minutes late (grrrr) so I could've used the bathroom. And we were off!

Very quickly into the run I realized that I wasn't experiencing nervous pee symptoms and started looking for a portapotty. I was very uncomfortable from the first step. We ran around near the River Walk until I spotted a Starbucks during mile 2 and quickly ducked in (this isn't the first time that Starbucks has come just in the nick of the time during a race; it's why I'm okay spending so much money there :P) I spent about a minute in the bathroom before making my way back to the race.

1. 10:54 
2. 11:40 (bathroom break 1 minute) 

All of mile three and the first half of mile 4 was the one uphill in the race, but boy did it feel like we were going up, up, up!! I really didn't pay attention to the race elevation at all, so I didn't realize that was the only hill. Ignorance is bliss sometimes, I guess.

3. 10:52 
4. 11:02 

Around mile 5 I started to notice that I was feeling pretty good, and that my heart rate wasn't going too crazy. At this point I was staying in that slower end of the long run range, and my heart rate was staying in my long run range as well. I decided if I still felt good, I would try to pick things up a little at the halfway point. I feel like 6 miles is a sufficient amount of time to suffer in a half, right?

I distracted myself for awhile planning out the last six miles. My plan was to drop to 10:30 for two, then 10-10:15 for two, and then the last two as hard as I could.

5. 10:39 
6. 10:40 

By the time mile 7 hit, I was ready to turn up the effort level, and we were running through a really cool nature preserve/foresty type area. And the path was gravel. Not exactly ideal for picking up the pace. I concentrated on upping the effort level but not being too concerned with pace. The next surface we encountered can best be described as cement that someone has taken a jackhammer to, and then left all the little destroyed bits to dig into your foot and cause for uneven terrain. Harumph. Then back to the gravel. And then I started to get TIRED.

7. 10:39 
8. 10:45 
9. 10:38 
10. 10:35 

The last 5k I was ready to be done. I tried to pick up the pace, and while my paces don't reflect it, I was working HARD. In comparing my heart rate data from this race to the Dallas half in January, my heart rate was almost identical for the average and the maximum, and I ran a full 10 minutes faster there! Craziness. I cranked up my music and just put my head down. With a half mile left I tried to kick in to my final sprint....ish. Based on my horrific finishing photo, my form went to crap somewhere in the end of the race. Heel striking like a crazy fool (no wonder I was SO SORE after this race + all the random surfaces, I suppose).

11. 10:15 
12. 10:29 
13. 10:34 
.26 2:22 (8:56 pace)

13.26 miles in 2:22:04 (10:43 pace)

Average HR 160 Max HR 175

I crossed the line, grabbed a medal and Kyle found me immediately. I made him play paparazzi briefly before we headed back to the hotel. I had big goals of hitting Chipotle as soon as it opened (there's no Chipotle in SoDak), so I was hustling.

Race Result

Overall852 / 1905 (44.7%)

Ages 30 - 3474 / 168 (44%)

Gender351 / 1060 (33.1%)

San Antonio Trip Part 1

We started our trip to San Antonio bright and early on Tuesday morning. It was Kyle and my first flight together (!!!) but because of my forgotten ID we didn't get to sit together. Well. Scratch that. I could've went to sit with him, it was a half full flight, but the flight gods gifted me with an exit row. And even though my legs are short and I don't need the extra leg room, I felt like it was rude to turn it down.

We had a teeny tiny layover in Dallas and then arrived in San Antonio. And it was warm! Ahhh.... 

We were all starving when we got there, so we headed out to one of the closest restaurants, which was a terrible idea. Terrible service, not great food, and all the beers on tap weren't actually available. At one point I had to give a top 5 list of beers that I would drink and the waiter came back and needed more because they didn't have any of them on tap. Eeps! Note to self: restaurants in the main touristy area may not be the best choice! 

We found a mall to pick up some items we had left behind, and happened upon a Tex Mex restaurant with great margaritas. When in Rome, right? Debauchery consumed the rest of the evening, as one would expect when you start drinking mid-afternoon.

The next morning, the guys went to register for the conference, and I tagged along. Then we hit up some fancy steak restaurant for lunch. 

My new favorite filter is the goth one, I definitely think I need a nose ring and a plum lipstick. Yessssss.

The Spurs were playing, so we went to the game expecting to buy tickets when we arrived. Uh...no. Essentially sold out, unless we all wanted to sit separately. Fail. We ended up buying standing room only tickets. Uff.

Kyle and his boss snuck to some actual seats, so I hung out with his co-worker and wife. I'm such a rule follower.

After the game we tried to go to the tower for drinks, but it was closed. Bummer!

After an obnoxious amount of standing, I had to give my legs some TLC before bed.

Friday it was St. Patrick's day, and I convinced Kyle to join me for cheesecake before we left town to celebrate the holiday. Somehow a martini made it in to the order too. Weird.