Get Ready For The Big Race

The marathon that has been renamed more times than Austin has been called the “Live Music Capital of the World” will kick off with a 7AM start time. Founded in 1992, the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon (this year called the AT&T Marathon) is expected to draw 11,000 runners, 30,000 spectators and is the 15th largest marathon in the U.S. One of the more well-known runners (no, it isn't Lance) will be our own mayor Will Wynn who made a promise during his last campaign that he would run the 2007 race.

What does this all mean to lazy asses among us who will wake up hung-over as can be sometime Sunday and want to head out to our favorite greasy dive for breakfast tacos? STREET CLOSURES. If you live pretty much anywhere in the Central Austin area, you are sure to be affected by Sunday’s Marathon events. Since the race course stays open for seven hours, you will more than likely have to deal with your fair share of barricades and blistered feet.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Photo by spamboy on flickr. Race map from Austin Marathon website.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By austinist_keb in Other on February 17, 2007 9:36 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

sls

tambaralyn, please move.

cvo, you're bitching but it was your friend that was inconvenienced? Maybe you should pick up running to release some of your bitterness and stress.

Wake up people! It's named the AUSTIN Marathon NOT, Surrounding Neighborhoods of Austin Marathon!

anon

tambralyn -- The police are not there to stop the runners and keep vehicular traffic flowing. They're there to allow traffic occasional passage when runners are not present, as an alternative to putting up a blockade and closing the road all together. The runners have the right of way during the race.

anon

With every large local event -- whether it's a foot race, a concert in the park or SXSW -- there are always complainers who don't consider the amount of money these events bring into our economy or the fact that these events are a part of what makes Austin such a great, diverse city to live in.

The complainers also don't consider the extreme amount of organization that event planners and city officials take on to make these events run smoothly and have as little impact on the city as possible. If you felt inconvenienced by traffic, it could've been a lot worse.

I've always been very impressed with the speed and thoroughness of the clean-up after the races. Those courses are littered with cups and trash during the race, but driving around at 2pm or 3pm, you wouldn't know there was even an event that day.

Grape Ape

You know, I had a hard time getting through the parking lot at Northcross the other day. Damn idiot protesters that didn't give any notice of how to get around it. I had a very hard time getting into Schlotzsky's.

Its one day a year people and its hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy. Boo hoo, you couldn't get to Taco Crap (I mean Shack) for your mediocre breakfast tacos. Just think, if you let in the Wal-Mart you may have more taco stands that you could just walk to. At least that's what the racist members of RG4N say will happen.

solman-ATX

Yeah Marathoners! Boo whiners!

I must say that I had a frustrating experience last year picking up my sweetie at Northcross Mall after the half marathon. But, if I'd consulted the route map before heading out, it wouldn't have been a problem. There was only one way in and out, if I'd looked at the map, it would've been easy.

This year, the route pretty much encircled my neighborhood. But, you know what? It was great! My 4-yr-old and I walked down the street to cheer on my brother. It was so exciting to see all the folks running, the helicopter, the fireworks, the live bands. It was cool. That's why I live in Austin.

mdahmus

Personally, I am so very tired of tales of people who couldn't get to/from church due to the marathon (which have infested both the rosedale and allandale lists). When are we going to hear from the person who was trying to get to Sugar's or The Yellow Rose but had to return home, I ask?

mel_b

Interestingly enough, we were in the middle of the fray (I was with a band that played along the route) and had NO problems getting around at all. When we left, we were able to get out of the downtown area as if it was a normal day. No complaints at all. It sure was inspiring to see all of the runners as well. I think that ONE DAY out of the entire year to hold a marathon is more than okay, and the folks that complain are rather self centered. Next year stay home on the ONE DAY that it's on.

eliz.s.

My complaint is that streets that were not marked as part of the route or closed on the map were closed anyway. We spent 30 minutes trying to figure out a way out of downtown after church, even though we had looked at the map and tried to figure out a route earlier. Drivers were ignoring traffic laws, there was no way to get west, it was a huge mess . . . and this was after noon. It was very frustrating. What's the point of putting up a closure map if it is not ACCURATE?

/and that's all I have to say about that.

Patrick

who's the asshole now? that would be you, patrick.

Please. I think most people, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, would probably assume that any given person isn't handicapped. I'm sorry your friend was inconvenienced, but A) I had no way of knowing that, and B) they still had advance warning about the closures, as we all did.

Not saying the marathon couldn't have been made to run a bit smoother, but in the end it's a temporary thing that everyone knew about and had plenty of time to prepare for. Pretty small price to pay for a cool event that brings millions to the local economy and I'm pretty sure has a charity component.

And I'm sorry about the comment posting twice -- the comments system here can be a little wonky sometimes.

cvo

patrick before you jump the gun and start making assumptions about who is an asshole, you might want to know that my friend has a handicap.

who's the asshole now? that would be you, patrick.

cvo

patrick before you jump the gun and make assumptions, you might want to stop talking out of your ass that you seem to normally mistake for your mouth, i see. my friend is handicapped you asstard so she couldn't walk to the gym. so bend over and keep trying to find that thing in your ass you call your brain. good luck, moron.

Patrick

Yeah, damn those runners and their temporarily inconveniencing residents who have known about the marathon and its associated closures for several weeks. I mean, what, is that poor friend of cvo's supposed to walk to the 24 Hour Fitness that's three minutes away? The nerve.

What a bunch of assholes.

Patrick

Yeah, damn those runners and their temporarily inconveniencing residents who have known about the marathon and its associated closures for several weeks. I mean, what, is that poor friend of cvo's supposed to walk to the 24 Hour Fitness that's three minutes away? The nerve.

What a bunch of assholes.

cvo

no freaking kidding. my friend just took an hour to get home from the 24 hr fitness gym to her house off of ave d, which is only about 3 min away. AN HOUR. whose brilliant idea was it to hold segments of this race in central austin and fark up roads already congested with additional unnecessary traffic??? i'm thinking if i were driving around i'd do a Crazy Taxi. :D

tambralyn suhler

The AT&T Marathon makes me want to MOVE away from Austin, not come to it. The route blocked traffic EVERYWHERE and the police were not stopping runners at major intersections to keep traffic flowing. It was a total cluster ****!!!!

Someone, somewhere needs to seriously RETHINK the length of this and route and be considerate of peole who LIVE in AUSTIN trying to get around on a Sunday.