The Austin Marathon took place Sunday morning, and for many Austinites, that meant bad traffic and blocked off roads. But for select Mac students, it meant a perfect day to get out for a long run on the streets of south Austin. 

For one of those students, senior Kenta Asazu, that meant the difference between a great day’s race and a $280 hole in his wallet. 

After he competed in the 3M Half Marathon on Jan. 23, Asazu decided he needed a pair of Nike Vaporflys, the carbon-plated super shoe that has clad so many professional runners. The only problem: the shoes don’t come cheap. At around $250 on the Nike website, if it can even be found in stock, buying a pair of Vaporflys requires quite the financial investment.

Luckily for him, Asazu’s mother was willing to take on that financial investment, under one condition: he breaks the 3:40 mark in the marathon. If he went over that mark, by even one second, he would have to pay her back every penny of that investment.

Last weekend, Asazu had the chance to break that mark. Asazu was joined by four other McCallum seniors, Elle McRae, Carly Johnson, Alex Kim and Jordan Kuzmich, who all competed in the half marathon. 

The fivesome, lost in the crowd of almost 12,000 other runners, gathered on Congress Avenue to kick off the annual event.

A little after 7 a.m., the runners were given the starting signal, and they all took off, shoes on feet, water bottles in hand.

As they started to roll through the finish line around 10:30, all five Mac runners looked at the time clock and realized not only had they finished what is a bucket list item for many people, but they had done it with times they were all proud of.

In the half, Kim finished in just under two hours, with a time of 1:56:56.  He also placed 34th in the men’s 19-and-under age group out of about 100 runners. To Kim crossing the finish was amazing.

“After certain hills, I was really just considering walking,” Kim said. “My last mile was much slower than any other ones in the race, but I found it in me to spring to the end. It was just a lot of pride.”

Johnson came within 20 seconds of breaking 2:00, finishing with a time of 2:00:18. She finished 21st in her age group, also out of around 100 runners. 

Johnson and Kim both finished in the top 2,300, putting them in front of 5,000 other half marathon runners.

Kuzmich came through just inside the 2:30 mark, finishing with a time of 2:28:28. She finished 75th in her age group, and just cracked the top 5,000 overall by only two spots.

McRae finished barely over 2:30, coming through with a time of 2:35:48. She finished 79th in her age group. She also beat out almost 2,000 other runners in the half. Like Kim, McRae felt like she had transcended when she crossed the finish line.

“It was absolutely surreal,” McRae said. “I got runners high when I started sprinting towards the line and then I teared up and balled my eyes out.”

When Asazu came through the line, after his 26.2 mile journey over the hills of Austin, he looked at the race time, and breathed a sigh of relief. He had completed what he had been telling all his friends he was doing for months, a full marathon. But it wasn’t just that. From start line to finish line, Asazu’s race took 3 hours and 36 minutes. That’s just four minutes under his goal, but those four minutes made a world of difference.

While Asazu was more than happy with his time, earning him a $280 voucher and successfully completing the run that he had been bent on doing for so long, he’s not sure he wants to do it again anytime soon.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done,” Asazu said. “It was also one of the most satisfying moments of my life when I finished, but I’m not sure if I would want to do it again any time soon.”

He’ll be back eventually though.

 “Definitely won’t be my last time,” he said with a smirk.