The Alamo Marathon — Sun, Humidity, Sandals, and Blisters
Alamo Marathon — March 1, San Antonio, Texas
My 125th Marathon
Some marathons you plan carefully.
Some you sign up for because the medal looks cool.
And some you run because you decide your 125th marathon should be memorable — even if that means doing something completely stupid.
This one turned into all three.
🇨🇱 Back to San Antonio
San Antonio isn’t new territory for me.
I ran two Rock ’n’ Roll San Antonio Marathons back when they still offered the full distance.
• Marathon #70 — 4:49:38 (December 2018)
• Marathon #84 — 4:42:59 (December 2019)
2019 was a busy year. Becky and I ran 14 marathons that year, so San Antonio became one of those cities that sits in your running memory bank.
When I saw the Alamo Marathon online, though, it looked like something different.
And for marathon #125, I figured it deserved a race with some personality.
🎉 A Race That Actually Still Feels Like a Race
If you’ve read my “When Did Marathons Start Costing Like Airline Tickets?” story, you know I mentioned something that’s happening across a lot of races lately:
Cost cutting.
Smaller expos.
Fewer aid stations.
Basic medals.
Minimal race support.
The Alamo Marathon did the exact opposite.
This race delivered.
The expo was solid, the start area was great, and the medal is one of the coolest medals I’ve seen in a long time.
They clearly didn’t cheap out.
The tech shirts were great too:
- One shirt for the Marathon (26.2)
- One shirt for the Half (13.1)
- Both with The Alamo design
They even did separate medal ribbons for the half and full.
Little things like that make a difference.
The race started at 7:00 AM sharp with a cannon blast as the sun came up over San Antonio.
That was a pretty cool moment.
My only small complaint?
I would have loved a slightly earlier start.
But the race directors didn’t want runners starting in the dark, which makes sense.
The tradeoff?
Texas heat. Texas humidity.
It warms up fast.
Especially when you live near Albuquerque, where zero humidity is basically a feature.
🏃 A Really Good Course
The course itself was excellent.
You start on the roads of San Antonio, then eventually move onto the long river trail system that runs along the famous River Walk.
That section goes on for miles.
Flat. Scenic. Smooth running.
The first 9 miles are shared with the Half Marathon, which worked out great because Becky ran the Half.
That meant we were able to run nine miles together before the courses split.
After that:
Half-marathoners head toward the finish.
Full marathoners head out for the rest of the grind.
🐺 The Lone Wolf Moment
Around mile 13, something completely unexpected happened.
I came down along the river trail and spotted a huge German Shepherd — honestly it looked like part wolf — just wandering out there.
There wasn’t a house in sight for miles.
This thing suddenly came booking down a hill straight toward me.
A woman running just ahead of me turned and said:
“I’m vaccinated.”
I laughed as this giant dog ran up next to me, matched my pace for a moment, crossed a bridge with me… and then darted off chasing what I assume was a duck or something to eat.
Totally random.
Totally memorable.
And honestly pretty cool.
Some of my friends call me a “lone wolf,” so it felt like the universe decided to throw a little running irony into mile 13.
🧃 Aid Stations Done Right
Another thing the race got right:
Support.
This race had everything:
- Water
- Gatorade
- Gels
- Pickle juice
- Pickles
- Fully staffed aid stations
- Tons of volunteers
It was honestly St. George Marathon–level good, which is saying a lot.
If you’ve run St. George, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
From start to finish, the race felt well organized and runner-focused.
🩴 The Sandal Decision (Where Things Go Off the Rails)
Now we get to the questionable decision.
For weeks I had been seeing ads online for toe socks that supposedly prevent blisters.
Around the same time, I remembered something from my running past.
Back in 2014, I ran marathon #24 in Seattle in Luna running sandals.
That happened after running the Leadville Marathon the week before.
At the Seattle Rock ’n’ Roll Expo, I bet my friend Mark $1 that I would run the marathon the next day in the brand-new sandals I had just bought.
I did it.
Finished in 4:20.
Also destroyed my feet.
Massive blisters.
Could barely walk the next day.
Mark and Becky both called me an idiot.
But you know what?
It was memorable.
So naturally, preparing for marathon #125, I thought:
“Hey… I should do that again.”
What could go wrong?
I threw the sandals and the toe socks in my bag for the plane ride.
Decision made.
No turning back.
🌴 Miami Training (Sort Of)
The week before the race we were in Miami for our son’s wedding.
While there I ran nine miles in the Luna sandals.
No socks.
They felt great.
Which gave me just enough confidence to make a bad decision.
This time though, I decided to try the toe socks with the sandals.
Big mistake.
The socks just amplified an already bad idea.
🔥 When a 2:18 Half Turns Into a Survival Marathon
At the halfway point I crossed in about 2:18.
Which felt fine.
But the conditions started stacking up.
The temperature climbed into the low 80s.
The sun came out.
Humidity kicked in.
The socks started rubbing.
And the blisters started forming.
Bad ones.
Worse than Seattle.
Somewhere in the second half, the race shifted from running a marathon to managing damage.
At mile 20, I looked at my watch.
3 hours and 57 minutes of sandal pounding.
Meanwhile the runners I had passed earlier started cruising by me.
You can’t exactly switch to a heel strike in sandals.
The goal changed from pace…
to just finishing the thing.
By the end it became a brute-force marathon.
If you watch the finish-line video I posted, you can see that moment.
(Fast forward to about 19:10 if it doesn’t start there.)
That’s not a runner gliding across the line.
That’s a runner negotiating with his feet.
I was getting light-headed and dehydrated, and Becky was standing there with the camera ready to capture the moment.
Fortunately they had chocolate milk at the finish line.
I was officially done with Gatorade, pickle juice, and water.
⏱️ Chip Time vs Race Time
One thing some non-runners may notice in the video:
My race time and chip time are different.
The race started at 7:00 AM, but with thousands of runners in the corrals it took until about 7:12 AM for us to actually cross the start line.
That’s normal for larger races.
Your official chip time begins when you cross the start line.
🤯 A Random Runner Reunion
Here’s a crazy moment from the start line.
We’re standing there waiting for the race to begin when this guy squeezes between Becky and me.
I glance down at his shoes.
Ultra-marathon shoes.
Backpack.
Something about him looked familiar.
Then it clicked.
I said:
“Wait… I know that guy.”
I told Becky:
“That’s the dude we ran with in Galveston.”
Sure enough.
It was him.
His name is Alfred.
Becky said:
“Hey! Remember us?”
He looked over and said:
“Yeah! Wow… you’re here too?”
Out of thousands of runners, the guy we ran miles with at the Galveston Marathon just happened to walk right between us at the start line in San Antonio.
Even crazier?
He had run another marathon the day before somewhere else in Texas.
This was marathon number two in two days for him.
And he had the right shoes.
🦶 Post-Race Reality
I’m still recovering a few days later.
Blisters like this take time.
This morning Becky and I went out for a 3-mile walk, but my feet have made it very clear:
No running until Friday.
Which is fine.
I’ve got long runs planned this weekend, but they’ll be done in actual running shoes.
Probably Sauconys or Altras.
The sandals will come back eventually — but without socks and after rebuilding the calluses that make sandal running possible.
That’s the real trick.
You can absolutely run marathons in sandals.
You just have to build the feet for it first.
I skipped that step.
Amateur move.
🏃 What’s Next
Marathon #126 is coming up soon.
And this time it will be right here in Albuquerque.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be wearing running shoes for that one.
At least until the blisters heal.
🧠 Lessons From Marathon #125
A few reminders I’ll probably ignore again later:
- Don’t experiment on race day
- Texas heats up fast
- Humidity hits harder than elevation
- Build up if you’re running in sandals
- Toe socks don’t magically fix everything
And maybe the biggest one:
Milestone marathons sometimes become memorable for reasons you didn’t plan.
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