Austin Will be 1st Green Marathon

[Chuck]

Marathoning is a great way to become fit and a major tourist attraction in cities including NYC, Boston, Chicago, to name a few. Now the Austin Marathon is going green in ways including using email over snail mail when possible, providing carpooling and biodiesel buses, donate/recycle old running shoes, police/volunteers ride bikes, t-shirts and food is organic.

About.com - Feb 10, 2008

Trivia question: Which CleanMPG member is going to run his first ever marathon Sunday?

Organizers of the 2008 AT&T Austin Marathon, which takes place on Sunday, February 17, are saying that they'll be the first green marathon in the country. The race is part of the Greenteam, a group of races that are making environmentally-friendly changes to their races.

Austin Maraton is doing things such as:

• Keep Austin Beautiful & Austin Out House are working with us to recycle all cardboard and plastic bottles (water bottles and POWERade bottles) on the course and at the expo.
• All Austin Out House units will be serviced with Dyna-Bact Environmental Toilet Deodorizer and they will also provide toilet paper manufactured with recycled content.
• Solar-powered generators at start and finish lines.
• Farmer’s market at the finish line.
• 100% Organic cotton half marathon finisher’s t-shirt.
• Official race vehicles and trucks on racecourse will be using Bio-diesel fuel.
• Racecars & trucks will be discouraged from idling while working race day.
• Commuter offsets will be available for purchase online soon!
• Composting & MORE!
• ...[Read More]

[pumaman]

I can't take the suspense, who's running the marathon? And which one? I did a half marathon in San Diego last weekend. It was a nice break from the midwest winter.

[Chuck]

I will say no more than he posted in What *else* do you "hypermile" in life? before Sunday afternoon.

_________________________

Organizating a marathon is quite an undertaking. For the Austin Marathon, there will be around 15,000 runners that paid $100....that pays for the logistics of making sure the course is exactly 26.2 miles long, has police escort to protect them from traffic (like we hypermilers dream of ), setting up computers that read the timing chips in the runner's shoelaces (to avoid Rosie Ruiz-type cheating), have tables well-stocked with water, Gatorade, fruits, jelly beans, medical support, medals, t-shirts.... One of the ways the larger marathons make money is to require you to pick up the runner's bib and timing chip at an expo with perhaps 100 or so merchants to sell running gear, sports foods, health related items, etc.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by pumaman

I can't take the suspense, who's running the marathon? And which one? I did a half marathon in San Diego last weekend. It was a nice break from the midwest winter.

Congratulations on completing the half in SD! 2hr 8min is my best time for that run....bet you did it faster.

Temperatures in Austin will be around 52F at 8am - 62F at noon...perfect weather if today's rain is gone....leads me to a question - my car's FE gets a boost just after a rain, does it help in running too? Seriously, temperatures under 60F are better because you don't dehydrate as much.

[pumaman]

Originally Posted by Delta Flyer

Seriously, temperatures under 60F are better because you don't dehydrate as much.

You don't overheat either. I finished the San Dieguito Half in 1:50:23. That's a few minutes off my best for the distance, but I was very happy considering how very hilly the course is and that I wasn't acclimated to the warmer temps. It was 65 degrees at the end of the race, and 25 degrees at the end of my 8 miler today in St. Louis...

[Chuck]

...is mparrish, who minutes ago finished his first marathon in 4hr 34min 59sec (chip time) - about 55% better than other runners in his age group! Clock (gun) time was 4hr 38min 48sec, but if you have been to a big race, it's takes awhile just to reach the start line - about three minutes in Austin! This may be Texas' biggest marathon - 5132 finishers and in the Top 25 of marathons nationally.


Excellent time for a 1st marathon - 33 minutes faster than my 1st - must have better "lean burn".

[mparrish]

Thanks Chuck.

I'm nursing my wounds as we speak. It was a tough day out there on that hilly course, and I'm really pleased I was able to run the whole thing from start to finish. The right calf gave way just before the finish, so I must have run it just about right.

I was hypermiling those hills, that's for sure.

FYI............Chuck is running an ultra marathon (30+ miles?) in Fort Worth. Good luck!

[Chuck]

Marc,

I fully expect you to be in recovery mode - always nursing something....blisters, ingrown toenails - something. I ache 2-3 days after a marathon - how on Earth did Dean Karanes do a marathon a day until he did all 50 states!?

Saturday, Cowtown will have their 1st ultramarathon - a 50K (31 mile) run....about as crazy as driving 4000 miles with a couple of people.

[bomber991]

I never got how these marathons work. You just pay money to run for fun or what?

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Congratulations, Marc! I know it is a bit late, but I was uh... driving 4000mi with 2 other people in a car.