Keep Austin Weird

I am fully prepared to recite the Stoops Prayer, say 50 Hail Switzers, and sing Boomer Sooner multiple times as penance for my crime because I know that I am committing a cardinal sin against the sooner nation by saying that I love Austin.  Despite it being the Longhorn Capital of the world and home to some of the world’s most obnoxious college football fans, it is an awesome City. 

“Keep Austin Weird” is the community slogan and no one seems to have to try that hard to make it happen.  Austin is a paradox and maybe I like it so much because it reflects my own personality and interests. It is an eclectic mix of academia, government, rural, urban, commercialism, independence, sports, music, hippies, businessmen, cowboys and artists.   It amazes me that so many different ideas, cultures, philosophies and socioeconomic standings work together to create one colorful community.  In the same restaurant, it is not uncommon to see the cleanest most conservative businessman tables away from an unkempt, free-spirited hippie while a genuine cowboy waits to get a seat.   This is reflected in the shops, the art, and the music scene as well.  I am lucky to have family in the area so it gives my wife and me an excuse to go down there several times a year. 

We took a long weekend last week and went down with some friends to participate in the Austin Marathon.  It felt like we were back in college.  There were six of us going, so we did the most logical thing to do for six adults who have college degrees and good jobs – we shoved ourselves into one vehicle and crammed into one hotel room to save money!  It might as well have been spring break 1999 when 22 of us piled into a 20 person van for a 20 hour road trip to Florida. 

The ride to Austin was filled with loud music, bad jokes, road games and lots of pit stops.  We determined that the passenger in the front had to be the part time DJ, navigator, and full-time Wikipedia resource.  Anytime someone had a question or wondered about a rumor, it had to be confirmed via the Wikipedia iPhone app.  With all of the goofing off and traffic, we barely arrived at the fitness expo in time to pick up our race packets and visit the vendors. 

The rest of the evening was pretty subdued.  We all had to run the next day  and the pre-race jitters had started to set in.  We met up with my sister-in-law and future brother-in-law and ate at a mom and pop Italian restaurant in one of the suburbs so that we could all use “carb loading” as an excuse to pig out on pasta.   We got back to the hotel room and everyone laid out what they would need for their race the next morning and went to bed.  Between other people snoring (you know who you are) and the thoughts of the big race the next day, it was a bit of a restless night.  I finally drifted off to sleep and woke up to the sound of my alarm at 4:45.  I intentionally set my alarm notification to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley so that I could “Rickroll” everyone in the room to start our day.   If you don’t know what” Rickrolling” is, then you really have to look it up here:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling 

 I went through my normal pre-race routine – breakfast finished two hours before the race, coffee an hour and a half before the race and at least five trips to the bathroom.  We were extremely fortunate to get one of the last rooms at the host hotel, so the starting line was literally two blocks away.  We left with about twenty minutes until the start of the race and took our places among the appropriate pace groups. 

When the gun goes off for a race like this, it is one of those moments that seem to happen in slow motion.  There is a wave of emotion, exhilaration, and relief that is hard to explain.  It produces a burst of adrenaline that will carry you through a significant portion of the race.  The excitement is so high that you have to be extremely careful not to start to quickly which will cause you to burn out later on in the race. With 21,000 people in the event I knew that it would take a while to cross the starting line and begin to run, so I took that walk to focus and grit my teeth for the more than four and a half hours of running that awaited me.

 I made a special playlist for the marathon and as soon as the gun went off, I hit play.  Johnny Cash’s dark and powerful “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” really got me focused as I prepared to take those first steps past the starting line.  I strategically placed songs throughout the playlist that would give me the emotional support or boost that I needed at certain points of the race.  A race like this is an emotional roller coaster.  There is excitement, focus, dread, depression, hope, and the exuberance all rolled into one event.  I actually think the mental aspect of a marathon is harder than the physical aspect. 

The race was fun.  It was hot, it was windy, and the hills were brutal, but it was fun.  I felt great for most of the race, but the hills did start to wear me down.  They say that the half-way point for a marathon physically is mile 20 and that seemed about right for this race.  I got some much needed encouragement from my wife and friends at mile 22 and even called my parents to chat during some of the doldrums of the run.  By the time I reached the final few miles, some of which passed through the University of Texas Campus, I was even too tired to show the downward horns to all of those evil UT fans.   The last half mile was awesome.  There was a nice downhill portion that seemed to say “Finish strong, you are almost there.”  I was overcome with emotion as I knew the event was almost over. Tears of excitement welled up in my eyes as I turned the last corner and saw the finish line just 200 yards away.  I used every last bit of energy I had to sprint to the finish and pass as many people as I could along the way.  The relief, the sense of accomplishment and the elation was surreal; it almost felt like I was out of my body watching it from above.  Of course, then I came back to reality and felt like I was going to puke – but hey, you take the good with the bad.  I finished about 11 minutes slower than I had hoped, but that doesn’t really matter to me because the joy of this experience was truly the journey – not the finish. 

The rest of the trip was a blast.  We went to all the assorted shops, tried different varieties of food from mobile food vendors and really took in all the City had to offer.  We ate BBQ, Tex-Mex and saw several bands.  We kept it pretty local and organic with the exception of twice-daily trips to Starbucks.  It was the perfect mix of activities with and was a great trip.  We ran, we laughed, we ate, and we explored.  Despite its one burnt orange flaw, Austin is one of the coolest Cities I have ever seen but the experience was made great by having great friends and family to share it with.  My legs are still sore and my stomach is still full – but I think it is already time to start thinking about another race and the next adventure.