Meghan's Adventure Blog: Austin, Texas and the Bandera 50K

This past weekend I flew down to Austin Texas to visit my good friend Jen. She has been living there for almost a year now but will probably be moving back to Colorado soon. I had never been to Austin and wanted to make a visit before she moved away. We decided to incorporate a running race while I was visiting too! Thus, most of the trip was revolved around running the Bandera 50K in the Hill Country of Texas and was about 2 hr drive away from Austin. Jen had never run this distance before and it would be my second time. I had a day before the race and a day after the race to explore Austin. The first day we went on a mellow 3 mile run down by Town Lake and near Zilker Park followed by a rather large yummy breakfast at Magnolia Cafe. After that we headed downtown, did some shopping and spent a good chunk of time at the flagship Whole Foods store.

Town Lake Run.

Yummy breakfast at Magnolia Cafe!

Inside Whole Foods. They have there own Dessert Bar! This place is huge and have every type of prepared food you could think of!

Then it was off to San Antonio to be closer to Bandera. We stopped at another Whole Foods in San Antonio before checking into the hotel to pick up our spaghetti pre race dinner.

Sunset on the way to San Antonio.

It was early to bed and early to rise to get to the start of the race at 630am. We just barely had enough time to park, pick up our bib number, t-shirt, wait in line for the port-o-pottie, figure out what clothes were appropriate and get our butts to the start. The above picture is right at the start 730am. There was also a 25K and 100K race and the 100k race was a 100K National Trail Championship.

The sun was just coming up as we started the race.

The course was mostly single track with a mix of dirt roads. Much of the single track especially in the beginning was very technical and rocky. The course had some hills but nothing too significant. Jen and I stayed together the entire race which helped keep the motivation and legs going.

Looking ahead to a minor climb. Jen in front.

It was very desert like with lots of cacti.

With large needles.

At aid station. Mile 15. Looking good. Aid stations were very well stocked with anything and everything. This aid station had ramen noodles and waffles. Jen had a waffle with peanut butter.

This guy in the cowboy hat was with us off and on for most of the race! We did however pass and beat him in the last mile.

At aid station mile 20.

The vicious sotol cactus. They were everywhere and were overgrown on the trail and unavoidable. My legs got quite torn up from hip to ankle from these guys. Jen told me a lot of runners from Texas where these guards to protect there legs from them.

More sotol cactus.

Mile 23

Almost to the end!

We finished in one piece. Little disappointed in the activities at the finish however. The race commitee seemed to be more focused on the 100K runners. There was an aid station at the finish because it was the turn around for the 100K runners to head out for another lap. We were not allowed to have any of that food which was ridiculous as there was plenty. And the only food they had for us 50K runners was a can of pringles, water and a few orange slices. Pretty sad. We would have stayed longer to hang out but we were starving and had to go find food.

Battle wounds included holes in socks, blisters and scraps all over the legs. But we both managed to stay upright the entire run although there were some close calls.

The trickster dog that was near our car before we left. His owner was squirting water in the air for him and he was doing leaps to eat it. Shortly thereafter, we left to start our two hr drive back to Austin and find food. The town of Bandera was about 10 miles away and we ended buying 12 tamales from a guy on the side of the road and just inhaled them. They definitely hit the spot. We got back to Austin and both were very slow in getting out of the car. We showered and headed out to dinner in downtown Austin. We feasted on a giant pizza, salad and a bottle of wine. It was a perfect celebration dinner. The next day was pretty mellow and unfortunately it rained all day. We did manage to get out for a short walk and Jen took me to the highest point in Austin. See pictures below.

It took a bit of an effort to walk up the steps with sore legs.

The views.

A little deary but a great view.

We stopped for coffee and scones to warm up afterwards. The day finished with a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we had authentic Mexican food (no tex mex) and avocado margaritas! I flew out very early the next morning back to Denver where I was greeted with lots of fresh snow!