Herewith a more detailed report of the 1/2 Marathon in San Antonio this weekend. We drove down there on Saturday in order to get there on time to pick up Eelco's registration pack. After an uneventful trip with a tourist stop at THE road side stop in Texas called Buc-ees (about which more some other time), we arrive in the Alamo Dome just in time for the mad last hour Rush. With the full support crew we took to the red carpet.
The location for registration & runners Pack pick-up also tends to host a whole running fair with stands to buy gear, speakers, tourism booths, info from local running clubs and other upcoming marathon events etc. Fan no 4, the proud Son, was happy to assist in finding some last minute new gear.
After a Marathon-Pasta dinner (also with Dirk, Sietske & Mees - as Sietske was also running) we went to the hotel early for gear preparations and an early night.
With a 7.15 am start the support & fan club also had to be up bright and early. Fan no 1, the proud wife, was in charge of keeping track of the route, the 'cheering locations', the emotional factor (hormones!) and carrying around (future) fan No 5. Fan no 2 (the proud Mom) was in charge of our support signs, proud smiles and additional cheering vocals.
Our first 'cheering point' was @ Mile 3, right across from the Alamo. Fan no 3 (the proud Father) had as a primary role to be the official event photographer and hence does not appear in too many pictures himself but did an outstanding job on action shots. As you can see (the white top with the arms up), Eelco appreciated the support!
After Location No 1 we were off to the next. At 5:45 Fan no 4 (the proud son) had woken up with more enthusiasm then any of us. By 7.45 however that had faded somewhat and was saved for the moments his dad came running by.
Eelco all the while was running fast.
And the cheering got better (1h39 was the aspired target)
and Eelco would run on re-energized (Mile 8.4)
and still looked fresh enough at Mile 9.8
and still able to smile at Mile 11
whilst Eelco made his last spurt to the finish and we waited to cheer on Sietske Fan No 4 called it quits and decided to make up for the hours of sleep lost earlier that morning.
By the time we finally had made it to the Family reunion point Eelco had had some time to recover and was ready to report to a the very proud fan no 2 & 3 (1.5 hrs after he had finished).
Eelco finished within the top 2% of all participants in the 1/2 Marathon (just over 20,000) and also did very very well in his age & gender group. He achieved his target for a new Personal Best and had 4 1/2 of those near & dear to celebrate / experience it with him so all in all a very successful event!
We finished off with a nice celebratory Steak Lunch along the River Walk and then started back the 3 hr drive to Houston. Fan no 2, 3 & 4 had threatened to throw quite a party on the backseat and cause some mischief but ended up snoozing most if not all of the time instead -;)
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