Running Around

So, some catching up...

The expo. The expo was held in the Alamodome, which was by far the largest venue for a Rock and Roll event. It was necessary, however, as 30,000 people signed up for the race. The expo was absolutely packed, especially on Saturday.



There was a long line for our survey (at one point it wrapped around two sides of our booth), and several times there were so many people in the Crocs area you could barely move. We had some record-breaking numbers this weekend, and overall from a work standpoint it was a good event.



Saturday night we headed out for our final team dinner. We walked along the riverwalk for a while, which reminds me a bit of New Orleans Bourbon Street, only with a canal down the middle and a little more tame.



I also walked over to the Tower of the Americas, which is basically a less intesting knock-off space needle. It even has a revolving restaurant at the top.



We got to the Italian restaurant, where we proceeded to have great food and horrid service. We sat waiting for our table, which sat open for a half hour before we were seated. Then we waited for 10 minutes before we were brought water. Another 15 minutes elapsed before our drink orders arrived. The appetizers and salads took long enough that we worried the entrees would arrive before them. And we asked for more bread three times before getting it. Finally, Molly and Lyndsay ordered a pork tenderloin to split, and they were brought a steak. Granted, a really good steak. All the food was great. The service was just so dismal it was almost comical.



I got an entry into the half-marathon Sunday morning, so Molly (who was also running) and I met at 6:30 to go catch a shuttle to the start line for the 7:30 start. The race organizers hadn't planned for the shuttle demand correctly, and we weren't able to board a shuttle until 7:10. We got to the start area at 7:30, and we figured the race had been postponed because there were still many people who were on shuttles behind us. Wrong. I found out the elite wave had just started and I was in corral #1. I proceeded to run the length of 32 corrals to get to corral 1 as the runners left. Good warm-up. With my heart rate at 195 from racing down to the starting line, I got off to a faster start than I probably should have, but overall I ran a very steady race.

My goal time was 1:35:00 after having run a 1:39 in Philadelphia with very little training. I averaged a 7:08 pace after 5K, 7:02 after 10 Miles, and 7:06 overall, resulting in a finishing time of 1:33:03. Success!



The training paid off not only in getting faster, but also in recovery. I wasn't as sore yesterday or today in comparison with after Philadelphia. Still hobbling around a bit, but if I wasn't it would mean I didn't run hard enough.

After the race we packed up our finish line set-up and said goodbye to Lyndsay who flew out to go home before starting her job for the coming winter months at a ski shop.

Then we drove north to Dallas where we got to see the new apartment of Nate and Whitney (his girlfriend). He started work today, so it was an extremely fast turnaround between jobs for him. We said our goodbyes, and this morning Molly and I got started on a long 650 mile drive to Albaquerque, New Mexico. About 300 miles in, my truck started to lose acceleration like it has done many times before, and after several more incidents we were worried that we wouldn't be making it without some repiars. We put some new fuel in the truck and tried to get it going on the road again. Sure enough, we made it the last 200 miles on new diesel fuel without incident. At this point we're thinking/hoping we got a bad tank of fuel from a station in Texas.

Assuming the truck decides to cooperate tomorrow, we'll go to Flagstaff, where I'll get to see my brother for the first time since August!

Food (Movie) Food Food Food!

Yesterday I went with Lyndsay and Molly to a Mexican place for lunch (what else would we be having in San Antonio?) The place was called La Margarita, and fittingly enough we had margaritas and puffy tacos. Yum.



We're staying at the Residence Inn again, so we took advantage of the free dinner food and drink (boxed wine). After dinner - actually, hold that thought. Earlier we decided that we wanted to see the new 007 movie coming out this Friday, so we made plans to watch the previous one first since the new one coming out follows up on the last one. I decided to go to Blockbuster and rent it, and instead came away buying the movie. It was on sale for $9.99, which seemed like a steal compared to $4 for rental, plus having to fill out a membership form to rent, plus having to return the movie. So, after dinner, we watched the movie again. It's a good one, and I hope the next one is as compelling a story and well acted (with some good action and explosions on the side).



This morning Nate and I went for a run and explored the famous San Antonio riverwalk area, which really isn't a good place to run. The paths kind of stop and start, and there were plenty of stairways to add some cross-training to the mix. Regardless, it was a good run and a decent way to see some of the city.

For lunch we had more Mexican. This time the place was Rosario's. I had enchiladas with rice and beans and fajita chicken with fresh tortillas.



Then we went to set up for the expo that begins tomorrow. That went pretty much as normal, except after finishing we worked on the project of moving everything we don't need for Seattle into one truck so that we can leave one truck in Vegas while Molly and I take the other to Seattle. Had I mentioned that both Nate and Lyndsay are done after this weekend? Sad times!

We took advantage of the free snacks and drinks again tonight (pretzels and beer)! I took full advantage, as the bartender was an enabler and kept offering me drinks. Four beers later with a nice buzz going, we went off to find some dinner.



Wanting to make sure we don't wear the Mexican food out, we went for barbeque at The County Line. It couldn't quite compare to Nashville BBQ, but was still excellent, and came complete with a riverfront view and a mariachi band working its way around the dining room.



Why all the focus on food in San Antonio? Partly because I love Tex-Mex, and partly because while the atmosphere in San Antonio is nice, there really isn't a ton to see or do. Not that free drinks and great food and movies is anything to complain about.

Travel Day

Back in San Antonio. Hotel Life again.

Would have been lucky in Vegas. $7.77 airport purchase.

Rode the plane. Three of them. Obligatory token window shot.



Awesome Portland Landing. Big crosswind. Can't normally see the runway out the window while landing. Did today. Examples here. Not quite that extreme. But still. Fun times in a smaller plane.

Complete sentences? Don't need them.