Keeping Austin Weird (and Running)

I'm rather embarrassed to admit that my main experience of the New York Marathon has been minor irritation at the roadblock I encountered when trying to have brunch at one of my favorite restaurants. But now I'm redeemed: I have a new reverence for marathoners after watching two people I love compete in one.

[Full disclosure: Personally, I only run when chased. Or when trying to catch the subway. I much prefer a pool (as do my knees).]

I just got back from a long weekend in Austin, Texas, where I got to watch my brother Jeff and his girlfriend Mara sail through the Austin Marathon! I am so enormously proud of them and all of the training they did to get to this point. My parents flew down from Nebraska, and we all got to meet Mara's parents, brother, and grandparents. (Her sweet grandfather even gave yellow roses to my mom and me to commemorate the "Yellow Rose of Texas" for Valentine's Day. I was almost more excited to learn that he attended the opening night of Sweeney Todd on Broadway!)

Fittingly, because Austin is one of the music meccas of the world, there were eclectic bands playing at many of the checkpoints. As we waited to watch them complete the home stretch, we heard a girl-guitar band play such marathon-friendly covers as "I Will Survive" and "500 Miles".

We found two great spots from which we could see them -- at the 6-mile mark and then at 200 meters from the finish line (in between we rather guiltily grabbed brunch and kept remembering how they were still running ... and running ...). Jeff finished at 4 hours, 7 minutes, and Mara finished about an hour later.

I love to find the theater in everyday life, and there was no shortage of entertainment from the runners and spectators. At the 6-mile mark, we saw runners dressed up as such random things as a bumble bee and superheroes (pictured). I even saw a 60-ish man wearing nothing but a large garbage bag (or so it appeared). One of the highlights was the man who stopped and did a cartwheel before continuing on (somehow, I doubt that he was cartwheeling by mile 25).

Jeff and Mara were still hobbling a bit today, but I think they're both glad that they did it. If nothing else, in addition to the running festivities, we ate scads of good food. If you're in Austin, I would recommend:

Austin Java: especially the chai latte (home brew), spinach omelette, oatmeal, and muffins (per my parents, who thought the blueberry and morning glory varieties were the best they'd ever tasted)

La Traviata: excellent pistachio-crusted salmon. Even more excellent orange-ricotta cheesecake.

Trudy's: Tex-Mex the way it should be. Chips & salsa galore, delicious fish tacos, expert service. Will someone please bring some decent Tex-Mex to New York?

Lambert's Downtown BBQ: scallops grilled with grapefruit, goat cheese, and radishes? Yes, please!

Pho: excellent bubble tea & friendly waitstaff with cheeky "Go Pho It!" T-shirts.

I'll leave you with parting shots featuring two of my favorite things about Austin: 1) My phenomenally talented, mothering-and-lawyering-and-multi-tasking friend Simi; and 2) The horizon at sunset (even when marred by a Hitchcock-looking tree of birds).