Staying Fit Running The Austin Marathon 5K 2026
I was a decent athlete back in High School. I Wrestled, ran Cross-Country and Track. That’s why I’m a little disappointed that; physical fitness wasn’t more of a priority in my life.
It took getting divorced to get me motivated to get back in shape! I can honestly say I haven’t been this fit in years. Now I can’t imagine a week!, without some kind of workout regiment. Aside from going to the Gym; I Mountain Bike and take a Boxing class.
My daughter recently got into running. She had just completed the Honolulu Marathon and told me that she was interested in running in the Austin Half Marathon. I saw it as an opportunity to go spend some quality time with her and do a little family bonding.
Then it dawned on me. If I’m already driving up there to see her; why can’t I participate in the event, myself? I’ve been entertaining the idea of running in a 5K for some time. So why not now? The Austin Marathon has three divisions. The Marathon, The Half Marathon and the 5K (which is roughly 3 miles). So, I signed up to run in the 5K.
My personal goal in the 5K was to run the whole thing without walking. I figured that was a good way to keep me motivated as I prepared for the upcoming event. My plan was to use my Boxing Class to help me train. We do a lot of cardio work there, so it synergized perfectly. Between that and my normal gym and biking days, I didn’t see any issues being ready.
With my plan in place, I registered to enter the Austin 5k and made my travel arrangements. I live in Houston which is only a few hours from Austin. So, I decided I wasn’t going to need a rental car. Just the hotel room. Since this was my first time running in an event like this; it was bound to be a learning experience.
The race happens on a Sunday. We got to Austin on Friday evening. I ended up getting a room on the north side of Austin near, “The Domain”. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s basically a gigantic outdoor mall that takes up several city blocks. It was cool to walk around.
We met and had dinner there. With the Marathon happening, and it also being Valentine’s Day Weekend; I’m glad me made reservations ahead of time. All and all, it was nice to see everybody together and we had a great time!
In hindsight it would have been a better idea to get hotel accommodations closer to the starting line, downtown. Considering the mass of humanity descending into the Austin area that weekend. I believe it would have just made for a smoother overall experience, logistically. All things considered though; the traffic and parking situation was very manageable.
The day before the race, it is required that you do go downtown anyways. They have a Runner’s Expo at the Convention Center. It’s where you must pick up your Registration Packet and Race Bib.
If you are passionate about running, it’s worth checking out. They have booths with a lot of the latest running gear, tech, and performance nutrition. As well as the race maps and photo opportunities related to your specific race.
Saturday was cold, wet and ugly. I’m so glad I remembered to bring a jacket. Austin is still a little chilly this time of the year. The wind kicked things up a notch and to make matters worse, there was a storm coming through. They said things were supposed to clear up by Sunday. I had my fingers crossed.
I was having a little bit of anxiety trying to figure out what time to be at the starting line. Each division has a different starting time. I didn’t want to show up too early and be forced to wait in the cold for hours. I didn’t want to fight traffic or struggle to find a place to park and miss the race either.
The morning of the race was still cold and windy, but the storm did pass. Traffic didn’t prove to be a factor as much as I thought it would have. Finding parking wasn’t an issue either but to be fair we did park a pretty good distance away. It was hard to gauge just how far into downtown we could drive before encountering problems. I just didn’t want to risk it.
We ended up getting there just as the runners in the Half Marathon were starting their race. Trying to find my daughter with all those participants was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I did have a few take aways from the experience though. Some kind of tracking app set up would have come in handy to track her in real time. Also making some signs to cheer and support her wouldn’t have been a bad idea. Lastly, there were some people that were running in costumes just having fun with it. I thought that was awesome!
It was finally my time to start making my way to the starting line for the 5K. If you ever decide to run in the Austin Marathon, I’m just giving you a heads up. There will be hills involved. In the end I did manage to run the whole course without walking and in decent time too. Not bad for a 52-year-old. I even had enough time to see and cheer for my daughter as she completed her race.
After that it was all about showing off our completion buckles and taking a lot of pictures. I had a blast preparing and running in the Austin 5K. It was an awesome way to spend a weekend with loved ones. The best part is, it’s healthy for you.
-Sean Cusp
