Since the Austin Marathon’s inception in 1992, there have only been two years when the exact same course has been used. Some races have had mere tweaks to the course and other years, such as ‘06, there have been major redesigns to the existing framework of the north-to-south course.
But the new ’07 course for the marathon will be the most radically different course in the race’s 16-year history. For the first time, a loop course will be utilized which will start and finish on Congress Avenue north of 7th street in the shadow of the State Capitol.
The traditional mid-February race date—February 18th—has been retained as has the 7 a.m. starting time. But just about everything else from title sponsor to the course layout has been altered for 2007. Even greater changes are in store for ’08 as the Austin Marathon makes its move from the south side of the river (expo, official race hotel, pasta party, etc.) to the north with more of a downtown feel with easier access to the start, better parking, greater convenience to downtown hotels, roomier expo and hopefully, an improved marathon.
Certainly, any changes to the marathon course are ripe for controversy. In most ways, the ’07 course is a vast improvement; in other ways, maybe not.
What is not controvertible is the nature of the new course. It’s a hilly bear of a course, but since it’s a loop the ups are balanced out plenty of downhills. If anything, this is a negative split course as most of the tough running (but not all) is in the first half of the course with plenty of downhills in the second half.
The fact that it is a loop course is the result of the feedback—i.e., complaints-- the marathon received last year when getting to the start in north Austin proved difficult if not impossible for many runners. The inclement weather had something to do with it, but getting 10,000 runners anywhere for a point-to-point race was always (and would always be) a major hassle.
In addition, the executive race committee—Paul Carrozza, David Doolittle and Jeff Hahn—urged race director John Conley to come up with a loop course which started and finished on Congress, north of the river. Conley had been working on another north-to-south, point-to-point course (not unlike last year’s), but switched his efforts in April to producing a loop course that met the criteria of the exec committee.
The new course has received approval by the Austin Police Department and the city, but still needs to be measured and a few other details need to be ironed out. Nevertheless, this is going to be the new course with some possible minor adjustments. The course will be open for seven hours (rather than eight).
Both the half and full marathon will start and finish at the same spot on Congress. And both the half and full-marathon fields will share the first nine miles of the course. (It hasn’t been determined yet whether the half-marathoners will have their own starting corral on Congress but they probably will.)
Will the new course be faster or slower than the last few courses? Obviously, that is to be determined on February 18th but in essence the new course runs in the opposite direction of the old course--south to north. In the previous seven or eight marathons, most of the downhills were in the early part of the race with several tough, gruesome miles in the final six. This year, the hardest running comes early.
The ’07 course will utilize many of the same roads as the old course (especially in the northern parts), but it will be run in the other direction. So where you went down before, in ’07 you’ll be going up. Especially on Great Northern.
Another big difference is the half-marathon course. The ’07 half course will not be as fast as prior years. That much is a certainty.
The other certainty is this marathon will be much prettier to run—and watch.The course will go through some of Austin’s most attractive (and shaded) neighborhoods—although there won’t be many leaves on the trees in February. Still, the course is much more scenic than the industrial feel of previous years, especially in the north part of town.
I drove the course last week and although we measured it with the car’s odometer some of the mileage may differ slightly than the official mileage. (The course may also change slightly.) But the mileage included is fairly accurate.
The first six miles:
The course will start on Congress north of 7th street and plunge south toward Town Lake. The first mile marker will be south of the river near where Congress begins its gradual climb. After going up the South Congress hill, the course takes a right at Mary Street (1.8 miles) for a short downhill where the runners will then take a right turn at La Reyna Restaurant and go north on South 1st.
For the next mile, the course will go down the Mexican Mile past some of the best places in town such as El Mercado where race director Conley hopes to station some mariachi bands. There is a steep downhill on 1st Street past the Texas School for the Deaf football field (2.7 miles) where you’ll have to apply the brakes slightly.
At the bottom of the hill, the course heads west on Barton Springs Road (3 miles) for a flat section. Just before Lamar (at a small side street named Lee Barton), the course veers right for a very short stretch which takes the runners onto Riverside (headed east). The four-mile mark comes at the traffic circle outside Palmer Auditorium, right near the old finish line.
From there, the field will cross over Town Lake on the South 1st Bridge (opposite RunTex) and then at City Hall, head west on Cesar Chavez. This familiar stretch of road to Austin-area racers will be welcome because of that nice downhill, but without the painful ups like in last year’s marathon.
The five-mile mark is at Sandra Muraida where the course follows the Dog Pound Loop under Cesar Chavez before it hangs a right at Stephen F. Austin, along the lake and the Austin High School track. The six-mile mark is at the far corner of the track, near the parking lot.
Miles 6-10:
After the nice flat section along Town Lake, comes the first of the tough hills—the short, steep uphill at Magnolia’s which takes the course up to Lake Austin Boulevard (around 6 ½ miles). This has always been a downhill on the latter part of many of the previous courses which was so steep it was tough to run on already fatigued legs. Fortunately, this uphill comes early enough in the race that it shouldn’t be a huge issue for most runners.
The course then heads west on the mostly flat Lake Austin Boulevard (seven-mile mark is at Exposition and Lake Austin) past Lions Golf Course and Hula Hut. Just beyond the Hula Hut, the course heads right up Enfield (about eight miles) on a tough climb that is mercifully short.
Here, is where the course begins to roll up some doozies. It follows the rolling hills up Enfield a short way to Pecos where it goes left through the beautiful Tarrytown neighborhoods. The road is smooth and even though it’s hilly, they aren’t especially tough.
At nine miles, the course goes right on Windsor for another flat, scenic stretch. The marathoners and half-marathoners have been running the same course up to this point, but at Windsor and Exposition (about 15-K), the half-marathoners split off and head east toward the UT campus (and downtown). The marathoners continue north on Exposition up and down a series of monstrous hills that will be the first big test of the race. The 10-mile mark is at the Casis School.
Miles 10-20:
The course then goes left at 35th Street and has a nice set of downhills outside Camp Mabry, but the respite is short-lived. At Balcones (about 11 miles), the course goes right through the high-rent district of spectacular mansions—and unfortunately—entails major climbing.
The first hill will get every runner’s attention with a very tough 3/10-mile climb up to Edgemont. There are some downhills here too that will give you a chance to recover. The 12-mile mark is the corner of Edgemont and Glenrose where the course goes on Glenrose for just a short stretch before going back on Balcones until a right on Hancock.
Here’s where you get a short breather and after the overpass up and down MoPac, you can be pretty confident that most of the heavy lifting is over and done with. Most of it. But not all. Halfway mark is on Hancock near the corner of Bull Creek.
If there ever was a course that demands a negative split, this is it. You must have plenty of life left in your legs for the second half which is much easier—except, of course, for the fact that you have already put in plenty of hard, hilly miles.
After going left on Shoal Creek, it picks up the neighborhood roads that the course has used for the past several years. But it is going in the opposite direction. The course heads left on White Rock (near mile 15) and then right on Bullard before going right again on to the familiar asphalt of Great Northern. You might not have noticed the downhill grade on previous courses, but in ’07 you’ll be headed up this slightly uphill grade which is part of the IBM Uptown Classic 10-K course. Mile 16 is near the corner of Great Northern and Foster.
The Northcross Mall, where the half marathon finished last year, is the northern-most point on the marathon course. It picks up Northcross Drive (which switches street names along here), but the 17-mile mark is where the course crosses Burnet.
At Woodrow Avenue, the course goes right and follows a gentle downhill for more than a mile. The course is a little unsettled here because of its proximity to several churches—it might go down the appropriately named Payne Avenue--but it will continue down Woodrow until it follows a short stretch along North Loop where it crosses Lamar (at about the 20-mile mark) and goes down Guadalupe past the UT Intramural fields.
Miles 20 to the finish:
After passing the huge grass intramural fields (at the 21-mile mark) the course takes a left onto 46th Avenue and goes through the northern edge of Hyde Park along classy tree-line roads. There are a few turns along this stretch at Avenue H and a right on 51st before taking the turn south on Red River (at about 22 miles) for about a mile. At 38th (23 miles), it goes past Waller Creek and then heads down Duval on a sweet downhill (24 miles) which was such a nice part of last year’s course. If you have anything left in the tank, this is the spot to capitalize on this downhill portion because it’s the last real downhill left.
At 24th and San Jacinto, the half-marathon field merges with the marathoners for the final 1½ miles of the race. This is also a familiar portion of the course as the 25th mile is right outside the UT football stadium.
But on San Jacinto will come a major test in the final mile--the worst possible part of any marathon. The same three-tiered hill on San Jacinto (right outside Scholtz’ Beer Garden) still rears its ugly side as it did last year. But last year, the San Jacinto hill came at around 20 miles. and was manageable. In ’07, the moment of truth will come with less than a mile to go in the race when nearly everyone is struggling with inner demons and lactic acid.
On an ordinary training run, the San Jacinto hill isn’t particularly arduous, but after 25+ miles of running anything higher than a manhole cover sucks. A word to the wise: Finish several of your long training runs on a good-sized uphill to replicate what you’ll face on San Jacinto on February 18th.
But after San Jacinto, you’re home free. Just a short jog down 11th and then a great finish on Congress with a gentle slope toward the finish line.
With huge crowds expected along Congress and with the Capitol looming in finish-line photos, this should be a terrific way to close ouot the marathon.
Bottom line: This probably isn’t going to be a faster course than last year’s. For marathoners, start training now to run a negative split race. In order to run well, you’ll have to run a faster second half than first. Without a doubt, the half-marathon course won’t be as fast as it has been in the past.
But the greatest advantages to this course are vastly improved logistics (for race organizers, runners and spectators), much nicer scenery which shows off some of Austin’s great neighborhoods and an easier start/finish to get to (with huge parking lot availabilities). Once the race is over, there will be fewer traffic hassles leaving the finish area.
The downside is clear: There are at least five or six sets of significant uphills and downhills. Some of the ups are very tough and the downsides are fairly precipitous. But almost all of them are stacked up in the first 12 miles.
Clearly, the second half of the course is faster with several long straights with gradual downhills that you can fly on. But it will take great patience (and specific long-runs that duplicate the nature of the course) to make sure you have enough left in your legs to run the last six or seven miles well.
Almost all major marathons have loop courses (New York City and Boston being notable exceptions). This race badly needed this type of course. It isn’t a perfect course. But the ’07 AT&T Austin Marathon course, designed by John Conley, is as good as anyone could possibly come up with in Austin.
If nothing else, it should be a memorable marathon.
