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Nicolas Descazeaud
Austin Motorola Marathon February 17, 2002 | |
| It's a long way to mile 26.2... I have always wanted to run a marathon, that great but frightening race. And guess what, I had to cross the Atlantic ocean and come to the US to achieve that dream! As I arrived at UT during the summer 2001 I found an awfull team full of nice people. The training was well organized (congrats to Erin, Jen and Anna), people are fun and you always find somebody to run at your pace. In short every thing was perfect! During Christmas break, I flew back to France and kept running to stay in shape. Unfortunately, during a 30K run I twisted my foot and I was not even able to run back to my car. I had to stop and wait for o good 20 minutes before I was able to walk, not to say to crawl, to my car. My doctor told me I shouldn't run for one month and a half. That is to say don't run before mid February....Bad luck! Nevertheless I run 10 days before the marathon and decided to do it! Time was not an issue anymore, I just wanted to cross the finish line! My plan was to run with the 3:20 pace group. So on Sunday morning I tried to find my pace group...in vain, the place was crowded and I didn't see the 3:20 pacer! I finally start running at my own pace and around mile 3 I saw our famous Professor Doug and the 3:10 pace group. A few miles later Stephanie joined the group. She is amazing, during 20 miles she kept talking to every one who was around her. While I was only able to give short answer (not to say only yes/no answers...) she managed to talk about..just everything!! I stayed in the group, and I was OK (understand that OK has a very different meaning when you are running) until mile 20. During the race I heard a wise buddy saying that half marathon starts at mile 20...That's true!! At mile 22 I was just "strengthless", "breathless", and "sorefull" :-)) I don't know what happened during those four last miles, I was feeling so bad that I didn't recognize Doug and Stephanie who were at the end!! The end: joy and happiness. Once again thanks to all of you who were on the road side cheering and supporting us, you were awesome!! Now, the only question remaining is what next?? Nicolas |
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2002 UT Marathon Team | |