Central Texas in early June is always hot, and the past few weeks were no exception. The real kicker was the smoke blowing in from Mexico. Well, we live and train in the heat so we have acclimated as much as we possibly can to run in it. The key to each of our runs is where and when we have access to fluids. Staying as far away from dehydration as possible, we not only insure a good run but avoid all the risks involved as well.

A cold front blew in just hours before the race, cooling the temperature way down, clearing out the smoke, and blessing us with the prettiest day we have had in months. As much as I dislike running multiple loops, It was nice to have the convenience of one drop bag, not to mention one gathering spot for many of our friends to harass us as we went by each time. Joyce and I had prepared some boiled new potatoes and salt, sat out a cooler with iced down water bottles, coke, GU, ProEnhancer, and some RaceDay supplements for our drinks. I also super-hydrated myself hours before the run with ProHydrater.

There were 50 of us that started shortly after 6am from the RunTex parking lot. We began with a short 1/2 mile loop that brought us right back to the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue and then onto the Town Lake trail for the 1st of seven 4.3 mile loops around Town Lake. Glenn and Greg disappeared with the lead pack as Joyce and I started in the back. Soon, David, and Hollis were gone on ahead as well as we consciously held it down for the 1st few miles. A good sized group collected together as we approached the Zilker bridge. They were going slower than Joyce and I felt comfortable with so we pushed past them. Within minutes we were alone. We crossed under MOPAC and stopped for water, as we had decided to do the first loop minus our water belts. Even though the weather had been more than generous, we still had 31 miles to do and wanted to be careful so that we didn’t bonk. We passed one woman we didn’t know and she quickly surged back past us. Joyce asked if I recognized her but I had never seen her before. We would not see her again as she would go on to be the first woman to Joyce’s 2nd. We continued at an even pace as we saw less and less of the others. Completing the 1st loop, I picked up my water belt with ice-cold water diluted with RaceDay, swallowed a GU, popped a potato with salt and headed out. Joyce decided to leave her water belt and use the water provided along the trail. I was not conscious of the sun rising, but I was aware of the trail filling with all the locals who came down to the trail for their morning run on this uncommonly pretty day. And then there was another race coming the opposite way towards us as we approached MOPAC one more time. The trail was pretty crowded by now and we had to dodge between walkers and runners as we attemped to maintain our pace. It was really odd to see someone else wearing the same number as me going past the other way. I hoped he was fast. Lots of the locals, who were running but not racing, started cheering us on as they passed.

The leader lapped us on our 4th loop and we started looking for Glenn and Gregg to do the same. They finally did on our 6th loop, but didn’t know it. We had pulled off the trail for a potty break and missed their passing. We pretty much held our pace, stopping after each loop for a fresh ice-water bottle and GU, and occasional ProEnhancer and salt covered potato. I felt pretty good. Never did cramp up, although I did start to get tight in the hams toward the end. Joyce and I did manage to run the entire 31 miles together and even crossed the finish line side by side, even though you will see in the results that Joyce’s girlfriend was working the finish line timing and has her listed as crossing in front of me. We both picked up our finisher shirts, which were some good looking polos. We had fun. The weather was fantastic and we got to see lots of our friends. Thanks for Austin’s first ultra. We appreciate it.

joe prusaitis