David Bacarreza

Austin Motorola Marathon

February 17, 2002

I never thought I would ever try running a marathon.  I had done 5k’s and ran up to 10 miles before but never more than that.  It seemed to me that marathons were just a little too crazy.  This past fall semester I joined the UT Marathon Team, not really to train for a marathon, but just to be able to run with other people who also liked running.  Everyone seemed to be all excited about the Motorola marathon as we started adding more miles to our runs.  I also started getting excited and began to think that I could run the marathon.  Plagued by injuries, it kind of made it harder for me to fulfill my new goal.  (I have a knee problem that comes and goes, no one knows exactly what it is…thinking of seeing that Runtex doctor).  I didn’t run the whole winter break, deciding to rest my legs, my knee for that matter.  When we came back I started running and felt good about myself so I registered for the Motorola marathon two days before the race.  I was excited and looking forward to the big day.

I got up two hours before the race, ate my carbs, and drank my good ol’ Gatorade.  Got to the start and did some stretching, I needed the restroom but saw the discouraging long lines so started jogging to keep warm.  I happened to see Greg at the starting line, we realized we had forgotten our radios so we ran back to get them five minutes before the gun managing to get back in time.  The race was finally underway  and I couldn’t believe that I was actually there.  I knew, since I hadn’t trained as much as I was supposed to, that I would have to start off slow.  I did just that, trying to run 10 min. miles, which was hard to do at the beginning because of all the energy and excitement.  I made sure to drink Gatorade at each mile, even though I wasn’t thirsty at the beginning, so I wouldn’t get dehydrated. 

The first half of the race went fairly well, I  was taking everything in and enjoying the moment.  As we started getting closer to campus an old foot injury started coming back.  I tried slowing down so I wouldn’t make it any worse, seeing that I still had some 16 odd miles to go.  Once I got to campus I saw the UT Marathon team cheering me on (thanks guys), they all looked full of energy, which helped me forget about my little injury.  As I passed mile 13.1 I didn’t realize that I was already half way through the race, I was excited that I had finished 13.1 miles, yey! 

My legs started feeling tight after mile 15 so I stopped and started stretching for a little while.  My foot injury started getting worse, I remember thinking to myself that I had a long 12 miles to go.  Once I got to mile 17 my foot injury had gotten a whole lot worse and I could hardly run; I had to stop again.  I took off my shoe and tried massaging my injury, which didn’t help.  I ended up walking for a while.  As all these people started passing me I felt like I was going in slow motion.  I didn’t want to waste anymore time than I had already wasted so I tried running again with the pain.  Since my right foot was hurting I had to use my left leg a little more, which in turn started getting heavy and tight.

As I passed Congress on 1^st St. I remember looking over the lake at the finish line and thinking how it would be so nice if that was all the distance I really had left, but there were still 6 miles to go.  Once I got to mile 22 my left quad started cramping up really bad, I stopped and poured some water on it (also at every water stop after that), which did make it feel better.  A little while later it started cramping up again, I stopped to stretch for a while.  I tried running lightly but I could still feel it cramping up.  I didn’t want to run too fast that it would make it worse and I wouldn’t be able to finish.  When I got to mile 25 I saw the rest of the team cheering, again, with all that energy.  I forgot about my leg and my injury and started running faster.   I don’t know where my fresh legs came from but just a little past the 40k marker I started sprinting full speed.  I remember seeing the 26mile marker and thinking that the finish line was just a few feet away, I didn’t know .2 miles could be so long J.  I felt so excited passing that finish line, I couldn’t believe what I had just accomplished, I actually finished the marathon!! 

-David Bacarreza

I want to thank God for helping me finish the race and all of you who came out to cheer us on.  You all were great!