Austin Toros

A friend of mine was kind enough to give us tickets to the inaugural home game of the Austin Toros, Austin's team in the NBA development league that is affiliated with the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, and the 2005 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs. I must admit that my expectations were very low, but it made for a fun evening. It would be great for kids...I think I'll take my nephew. We had 2nd row seats, and my friends had courtside seats. They left early so we were able to move up and sit courtside for the remainder of the game; the seats were amazing.


Austin Toros first home game.

Unfortunately, the Toros lost 100-95 against the Fayetteville Patriots. Better luck next time.

Motive Half Marathon and Turkey Trot

Last Sunday I ran the Motive Bison Half Marathon in 2:14:35 which is a 10:16 pace and a Personal Record. I could have shaved another 4 minutes off my time if I didn't half to wait in line at the Port-O-Let at about mile 8. Despite the fact that the course has a steep hill around mile 5 that lasts about a mile, I ran the whole distance without any walking (except for the bathroom break) and shattered my February Freescale half marathon time of 2:37 . As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I ran the Motive course about 3 weeks earlier and it did give me some much needed confidence. Unfortunately, I think it gave me too much, and I didn't train the last three weeks as much as I should have. It was a great race, and I met up with some friends afterwards to celebrate at Jardin Corona, a pretty decent Mexican restaurant in north Austin.

On Thanksgiving, I ran the 5 mile Turkey Trot around the UT campus. After running 13.1 miles on Sunday, I thought 5 miles would be a piece of cake. For me it was much harder than running the Motive half marathon. I think it was because my body wasn't fully recovered even though I felt great, the temperature was a warm 73 degrees vs a chilly 53 degrees on Sunday, the course was quite hilly, and I ran slightly faster at a 9:57 mile pace. I finished in just under 50 minutes. It always feels great to get up and run before gorging yourself on turkey and all the trimmings. I think I gained 5 lbs this Thanksgiving week, so I need to hit it hard on Monday.

Crossing the Finish Line

I am only $230 away from raising my goal of $1,000. Your generous donations are welcome and will enable me to cross my fundraising finish line very soon. Unfortunately, I received the email below a few weeks ago; it underscores the importance of finding a cure for cancer.


This is a reminder of why we do it. On Friday, October 14th, one of our old honor hero is now an honor angel. At the age of 6 years old, Justin Rodriquez said good bye to the world of hurt and pain and hello to a new life with his Saviour. He is now free of pain that he had known his entire life battling a form of leukemia. Carlos and Stephanie worked very hard to keep him going but his body could no longer keep up. Justin did have a bone marrow transplant from his sister in I believe 2002 when he became an honor patient for the marathon team.

Hopefully what we are doing this season and for seasons to come, a cure will be found for Leukemia and Lymphoma and Myeloma. Good luck on fund raising and your event if you are active this season. If you are alumni, think about coming back for another season. The fight is a long way from being won.