I first heard of Decker Challenge (13.1) in 1997 when I was training for the Austin Marathon. It was then, as it is now, part of the Distance Challenge organized by Austin Runners Club. It’s taken me 19 years to get up the guts to run Decker. And I’m glad I finally did!
The hills of the Decker Challenge are legendary in Austin running circles. I remember hearing my running buddies of the late 90s talking about the relentlessness of the course. I’d never bothered to look at a course profile. Once you run Comrades, hills on a sheet of paper or computer screen don’t mean much.
Decker Challenge Race Report
I got to the race site on the foggy, cool morning. Like the hilly course, the Decker Challenge is also known locally for its reliably poor weather on race day. I wanted to hang out in my car and enjoy my heated seats just a little bit longer, but it was time to warm up in the damp elements.
My plan was to run well within myself. I wasn’t going to race; I knew the course wouldn’t deliver a fast time. I just wanted to finish feeling like I’d had a solid-effort training run. As I was warming up, I realized the weather was surprisingly favorable. I lined up at the start feeling good.
The first mile flew by, and I was well under my anticipated pace at 8:45. There were some gentle rollers in miles 2 and 3, and I pulled back a bit, hitting both splits in 9:12. That was more what I was anticipating, so I felt positive.
Mile 4 came up on me quickly, and I had to whip my baggie with my PB&J quarters out of my running bra in a most inelegant way. I shoved a bit of sandwich in my mouth, grabbed a cup of water from the aid station, and walked for 20 seconds to make sure everything went down the right pipe. I also hit my watch for the split to find I had sped up again.
There was a bit of rain in the next few miles, but I was running steadily around 8:45s. I felt good. I welcomed the hills. I thanked the volunteers. It was all going really well.
I remember turning on to the highway service road at about 7.5 miles, and there’s a nice downhill followed by a long grinder of an uphill. About half way up the hill was the 8 mile mark. And a pretty strong crosswind. But I was still feeling strong, so I kept on running.
At the top of the hill, the course makes a right turn and there’s an aid station there. I saw a friend I have known since high school handing out water. She gave me a good cheer, and that boosted my spirits. I ate another quarter of my PB&J, downed some water, and chugged along.
The next two miles were the most difficult. The course has several long hills, with the most challenging one right at the 10 mile mark. I decided that I would walk for 100 steps up the steepest part of the hill. (This is a strategy I used at Comrades, and it served me well.) I was only about 70 steps into my walk when I noticed a race photographer on the side of the road. Not wanting to be caught walking, I started my run again early.
At the top of “quadzilla” we made another right turn, and then I felt a headwind. I wasn’t looking forward to running the next nearly three miles into the wind. Fortunately, the course has several turns in the last stretch, so the wind turned out to be not such a big deal. My legs were still feeling strong, and I was holding pace well.
I got my bearings between mile 11 and 12, so I knew that there were only the tiniest rollers left on the course. I decided to hold steady to mile 12, then run in hard. I made the last mile in 8:18 and the final 0.1 in 40 seconds. It’s always nice to finish a race strong.
In my head, I was planning on running around 2 hours…maybe a little more because of the difficult course. My finish time was 1:56:04, feeling GREAT!
Thanks to the excellent volunteers who staffed the aid stations. As is usually true in running, the weather that is great for runners is lousy for volunteers. I appreciate you standing out in the cold, wet weather to support us.
So that’s the Decker Challenge Race Report. Three distance challenge races down, two to go!
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