What better way to get away from one of North Carolina’s coldest winters
than a quick trip to Texas for a race?
Over the past few years I’ve been lucky to make some great friends,
several of whom are on board with traveling to a race (and some who are on
board with traveling to and running the race). I
couldn’t have picked a better group to travel with to Austin. When I look back on the trip I remember
the race, but the highlights of the trip go beyond the 13.1 miles.
As this is a running based blog, I will start with the race
itself. First and foremost, if you
are like me, you think of flat farmland and ranches when you think of Texas,
right? It’s full of wide-open
space with no hills and a sky that goes on forever. Apparently Austin is not in that part of Texas and I soon
learned Texas has a “hill country.”
Needless to say, my training on flat ground was not entirely appropriate
for the hills we faced on the course, but you live and you learn. Despite the hills, the race organizers
did a great job designing a course that wound through and gave a tour of the city. We started at the Capitol building,
which is huge and a prime example of how everything is bigger in Texas (I run
the 0.4 miles around the NC Capitol regularly, it’s nothing compared to the
mile around the Texas one). The
course headed south and across the river.
We wound (up and down and up and down) through a variety of neighborhoods (commercial,
residential, and everything in between) before crossing back over the river,
skirting the University of Texas campus and finishing back at the Capitol. Like many of the races I’ve run, I
enjoyed getting a tour of the town and seeing sights I might not otherwise
see. All in all, despite the hills
and heat, I would do it again.
Along with running, we did get to do a few other things in Austin. Here are my top 7:
1) Run the trails along the Colorado River (and if your legs feel like mine the day after the race, stop to soak your feet in the cold water for a bit).
2) Give yourself a tour of the UT campus, I enjoyed the turtle pond.
3) Rainey St-It’s a residential area being converted into more of a business district, great bars/restaurants (including The Blackheart, a quiet whiskey bar with a great spot to people watch)
4) Hopdoddy’s-Delicious burgers (this coming from the almost vegetarian…my black bean burger was awesome)
5) Bike Share-They have the “B-Cycle” bike share system. We used it for a day and were able to get everywhere we needed without going over the 30 minute (I think) limit.
6) Wright Bros. Brew and Brew-Great coffee/beer spot in East Austin.
7) Handlebar-A fun (mustache themed) bar complete with a grown up sized seesaw, bouncy animals (those giant ones on springs), and giant Jenga.
I’m happy to say that the trip was enjoyed by runners and non-runners as
well and that I’m looking forward to the next one.
