Sunday Sept. 30, I ran the Austin Marathon Relay. It is meant to be ran by a 5-man team with legs of varying distance. I ran it solo as a training run for the Warda Cardiac 50 miler in November. First off, I couldn’t register as a single person, so had to fill out five registrations and wear five chips and five bibs. Also had to pay the five person entry! That makes for five very expensive t-shirts. (I have 4 kids so now we can all be matching.) 8 am is a late start for a marathon when Texas temps are still high. Only water was provided at the aid stations. I carried some shot blocks with me and wore a camelback with diluted powerade for the last 5k as it was 91 degrees and I was thirsty! The loops took you around the capital and it was a little hillier than I expected, though nothing really bad. During the 4th leg I realized that this was going to actually be an ultra event. My polar distance thingie was giving me higher mileage than expected. Officially the Austin Marathon Relay is a 28.1 race! Somehow one of my chips didn’t register the final lap- I think I doubled back to my pile of stuff too soon and didn’t exit out the full finishing chute where I would have passed another pad. Anyway, I know I completed the full race, as my polar had me at 28.4 miles. There was only cookies left at the end (not even a single bruised banana)… it took me longer than the average five man team to run it solo. While it was depressing to run with folks who were on fresh legs running a 5k while I was on mile 22, it was also cool to think I can run 28 miles faster than five people can do it! The race packet stunk- a bunch of ads and a small foam guitar with the race logo. What am I supposed to do with those? Play with them in the bathtub??