We love Austin!
No time for a full post today because we plan on walking/waddling around the city (yes, we are all that sore…) to do some shopping and take in the sights. Here are some quick recaps from each of us:
Lara | finish time: 1:42.19 (7:49 pace)
Such a fun race! Thanks to some great pre-race advice, I started out with the 8:22 pace group for the first couple miles during the uphill climb to mile 5 and gradually picked up my pace until I passed the 8:00 pace group (negative split goal, check!). The course was much hillier than I expected but the crowd support was fantastic and pushed me through the hardest parts of it. Everything was really organized and I can’t wait to see the finish line pictures (still waiting to see how they are going to organize those for runners to find them?!). But according to our friends who came from Dallas to watch us run, “If there’s one thing this city knows how to do, it’s how to put on an event.” I couldn’t agree more!
Brandi | finish time: 1:50:02 (8:24 pace)
Wow! This is one of the tougher races I’ve run. While it was a tough course, I ran a PR, so I was definitely pushing it. My favorite part of the race was around mile 9, which was decked out in Livestrong yellow. I was cheering, high-fiving, and pushing it as the lively crowd cheered and jammed Black Eyed Peas. The other memorable part of the race was the huge hill at mile 12 – imagine you’re gleefully running down a hill for about half a mile, then you see this little beauty emerge from around the corner:
Yeah… you could hear a collective groan ripple through the runners – and a few expletives. 
After the race, we enjoyed VIP treatment at the Intercontinental – post-race food, drinks, massages (totally amazing), and we even got to see the race winners. It was awesome!
Amanda | finish time: 2:21:58 (10:50 pace)
As we walked up the hill towards the Austin capital building at 6:30 a.m. yesterday morning, my stomach twisted and I began to wonder if I could really do this half-marathon. My sisters and I were completely surprised by all the hills that we would have to conquer, and considering there are barely any hills where I trained in Wisconsin, I couldn’t even remember the last time I had to attack one hill-let alone 10! But with words of wisdom from a running legend at the expo, Bart Yasso, I decided that I would simply do my best, not think about all the obstacles or the fear that my hip pain might flare up from the intensity of the race, and just have fun and finish the best I could. And that is what I did! Having that positive attitude really helped; I did not PR, as I expected from taking time off training weeks ago for my hip injuried, but I felt strong and ran as fast as I thought I could – even with all those hills, which to me, is a win!
Here are some pictures – more posts to come!
Lara
Amanda
Brandi Heinz Brown
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