San Antonio - Part II

Now I knew that San Antonio had to be more than the race course that RNR showed me.  So before we left town we decided to go see The Alamo and do a quick tour of some of the historical sights as well as visit The Riverwalk.

I wish we would have gone there at night and see it all lit up but it really was pretty to stroll down the walkway and see all the different restaurants as well as the pretty gardens.

We didn't go on a riverboat cruise but it looked fun.

Don't forget The Alamo.  It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.  I was suprised how short the surrounding walls were.  Crazy enough, I love history so much more now that I'm older, compared to those high school years.  It was interesting to have a reminder course on Davie Crockett, John Bowie and the battle at The Alamo.

We visited a couple of the missions in San Antonio.  I know it's far away in the pic but it was beautiful to see. This one is Mission San Jose, closed for renovations.

This is Mission Conception.  I believe they said it was the smallest and one of the last built.  Everytime I heard the tour guide say Mission Conception all I could think of was Sister Encarnation from Nacho Libre.  So silly.  And I had the tune...'I am a singing at the party...'

  
We did buy some souvenirs for our kids.  Some T-shirts for the boys and jewelry for the girls.  I really wanted to buy a some Nacho Libre masks but the hubby talked me out of it...

My boys would have probably taken wrestling to a level that I don't need in my house.  So, instead, I can just tell them, 'Go...go read some books.'  : )

With that, adios, San Antonio.

So what did this race teach me?  A couple things that I can think of right now.  First off, I'm a tree-hugger.  I will no longer deny it.  I love trail running, scenic race courses and nature.  I don't mind carrying my own water bottle and I want to save the planet.  I even have some old tie-dyed Grateful Dead tees stacked in my closet somewhere.  I don't mind having to run longer on a gorgeous course.  The race directors said RNR SA was flat and fast.  Nothing could have been further from the truth for me.  I learned that I don't love running along freeway frontage roads, along railroad tracks and old worn out residential areas.   And apparently flat does not equal fast for me.  One thing I'm a little unsure about is whether or not having two races so close together played a role in my poor performance.  I felt I was ready for this race but everytime I tried to speed up there was just nothing there.  Hmmm.

Up next...  I'm not sure.  So here's what the choices are for December.  In three weeks I can do RNR Las Vegas - pretty sure that's not going to happen, Death Valley Trail Marathon, or California Internation Marathon (I missed the registration deadline for CIM, so for a mere $300 I can still register - so basically that's out.)  And then the week after that there is the Tuscon, AZ Marathon.  It's really coming down to Death Valley Trail Marathon the first week of December or Tuscon the second week of December.  I'm thinking I'd like the extra week to rest/prepare/train.  We'll see, I've got to decide in the next couple of days before they sell out those races too!  Any opinions out there on which one I should do?  Or maybe one that I should take into consideration for December?  I'm open for suggestions...