San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon
San Antonio, Texas
Sunday, November 16, 2008

The rock & roll music played along the course in San Antonio, Texas as I race walked the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon on Sunday, November 16, 2008. The first year event attracted 30000 entries in the marathon and half marathon before the event was closed to further entries. The weather at the 7:30 start was unusually cold at 35 degrees. However, by the time my wave, 23 of 32, started 40 minutes after the gun, the sun and lack of wind warmed the temperature to where I was no longer cold. When I crossed the finish line, the temperature had climbed into the middle 60’s. The course was relatively flat and featured a route highlighting the sights of San Antonio, including the Alamo, two other Spanish Missions, and many grand old houses. The event was very well organized as are all of the Rock & Roll Marathons promoted by Elite Racing. Water stations were space every two miles and were manned by plenty of enthusiastic volunteers that could handle such a large field. The course was closed to traffic and designed to minimized traffic congestion. The police did an outstanding job. $70000 in prize money was awarded to the outstanding elite field the featured athletes from throughout the world including 5 that represented their countries in the 2008 Olympics. Meschack Kirwa of Kenya (2:14:36) and Nuta Olaru of Romania (2:28:54) won the Marathon, while Brian Sell of USA (1:02:50) and Melissa White of USA (1:13:05) won the Half Marathon. I had a chance to talk with my friend Bart Yasso of Runner’s World at the pre-race Exposition and hear the famous British, 80’s band, The Cult, at the post race concert. I had a wonderful weekend.