Livestrong Austin Marathon weekend is finally here. It’s one of the best running weekends of the year here in the ATX as runners from around the state and all over the country descend on our community for the marathon or the half. The excitement along the trail and downtown at the Palmer Events Center is palpable as the various exhibitors set up this afternoon for the Marathon Expo which opens tomorrow at 3 p. m.
The marathon has been around now for 21 years, and during that time, it has grown from a small regional race with limited resources to a city-wide race which attracts nearly 20,000 runners. The race is professionally managed and its logistics (start/finish areas, aid stations, timing, race expo, recycling, charities, etc) are all first-class, a huge upgrade from when the expo was held in some cold, leaky tents in Zilker Park.
Regardless of what you may think about the degree of difficulty of the Livestrong course, there’s no denying it is our lone remaining national event. True, times are painfully slow and without prize money, there isn’t an elite field anymore, but Livestrong is an event we can all take pride in.
Let the celebration begin.
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O It was a big weekend for Betzy Jimenez, the former UT All American, who is now a first-year med student at UTSA. Jimenez, who somehow still finds time to train, PR’ed at the Texas A&M Development Mile last Saturday in 4:43.84, behind Jackie Areson who won it in 4:39. Even bigger news: Jimenez and man about town, Chad Childers (Mr. Gatorade), announced their engagement. He proposed while they were in Belgium over the Christmas holidays.
O Several members of the UT men’s distance corps were in Seattle last weekend for the Husky Indoor Classic. Joseph Stillin (7:56) and Ryan Dohner (7:58) had the fastest two indoor 3000-meter times in UT history, both beating Jake Morse’s UT record of 7:59.21. Craig Lutz and Austin Bussing also competed in a different heat of the 3000. Lutz PR’ed by six seconds in 8:08 and Bussing ran 8:09. Also competing in Seattle were milers Patrick McGregor (4:01) and Kyle Merber (4:02).
O Next up for the UT men and women is the Big 12 Indoors next Friday and Saturday (February 22-23) at Iowa State. The NCAA Indoors are March 8 at the University of Arkansas.
O Former UT All American Jacob Hernandez announced his retirement from track. A three-time NCAA champion in the 800 with a PR of 1:45.31, Hernandez competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials. But, he’s decided it’s time to “move on to other things.”
O Plenty of Austinites have made the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll a favorite race in June every year. San Diego was the first of the Rock ‘n’ Roll races way back in 1998 (I ran in the first one) and since then 30 more have been added. For this year’s San Diego race—on June 2—the course has received a radical change. The race directors have eliminated the woeful stretch around barren Fiesta Island in Mission Bay and have moved the start and finish closer to down (near all the hotels). The race will now finish at Petco Park and will have separate marathon and half marathon start times.
O The Austin City Council has voted 6-1 to open up the 22 miles of hiking and biking trails (Butler, Johnson Creek and Shoal Creek) to 24-hour usage, beginning June 1. But, the trails will be open only for use by cyclists (and not runners) from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The thinking is that cyclists already use the trail at night for transportation purposes so the lifting of the curfew simply makes it legal. Wonder if APD will ticket any early-morning runners.
O Where are they now department: Former RunTex’er Noah Bernard, who has worked for a variety of shoe companies (Puma, Pearl Izumi, Adidas) since leaving Austin, is now the brand director for Hush Puppies in London.
O One of the highlights of the Livestrong Austin Marathon Expo—at least for me—will be two question-and-answer sessions I’ll be hosting. Three great runners—Arturo Barrios, Steve Jones and our own Dick Beardsley—be the featured speakers on Friday at 4 p.m. We’ll do it again on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Please come and join us and get advice from the world’s best.
O What I’m listening to this morning: “Homeward Bound” (live) by Simon and Garfunkel. Recorded in 1967 in New York, this morning was the first time I ever heard this beautiful album.
Have any juicy news for me? (It doesn’t have to be entirely true.) If you have something, send it to wish@runtex.com.
