The first San Antonio Marathon took place December 5-7. Emerson High School’s AP Physics 1 and C teacher, Robert Landauer competed, beating his previous best by seven minutes, placing fourth overall and first in his age group.

What began as just a way to stay in shape while in college turned into both a serious hobby and a series of goals. Throughout his years of running, Landauer has competed in 22 marathons and 15 ultramarathons.

“I had a roommate who … convinced me I should try to train with him and the UT Marathon Club,” Landauer said. “I really latched on to it because it was something that the more I did it, the better I got.”

Before he got into running, Landauer was very involved in music. In high school he played in the band, wrote music and took AP Music Theory.

“I maintain that what makes me a good runner is a lot of lessons I learned from band, which is that you need to practice every day,” Landauer said. “You’re going to get better slowly [but] just stick with it and work on the little details.”

Landauer took these lessons from band and applied them to his training routine for the marathon. From Labor Day until just a few days before the race, he did an hour of strength training everyday and ran six times per week, varying the types of runs he went on each day.

My secret weapon [was] developing strength, but not like bodybuilder type strength, the type of strength you need for a run and a ton of it is on your core,” Landauer said. “You don’t just run with your legs, you run with your body, so I wanted to make sure every part of me was strong.” 

Landauer completed his fastest marathon prior to the San Antonio Marathon in two hours and 42 minutes. During his preparation for the race, he made it his goal to cut off two minutes from that time. In order to stay on track, however, Landauer had to give up many things such as sweets and lots of free time.

“The hardest part about lots of things is not what you have to do, it’s what you have to give up,” Landauer said. “That’s what makes training hard.”

On the big day, Landauer’s dedication and discipline paid off. He started off the race able to maintain a faster pace than he expected, which in the end, allowed him to finish with a time of 2:35:32 despite a hilly course and a sore achilles tendon.

“I beat my previous best by seven minutes, which as a friend had to point this out to me, at the pace I was going, that was by more than a mile,” Landauer said. “That basically means if I raced my previous best self, I would have beaten [myself] with a mile to spare.”

Despite the improvements he was experiencing during his training, Landauer did not expect such a finish. Thanks to his training regimen and a good diet, he was able to accomplish more than what he thought was possible.

“I didn’t expect to beat my previous best,” Landauer said. “I thought that my days of running faster than I ever have before were behind me because I’m not getting any younger.”

While Landauer doesn’t have any concrete plans to run in a future marathon yet, his time from the San Antonio Marathon qualifies him to run in almost any marathon he wants.

“That was a perfect race, that was my magnum opus and I’m very satisfied with that,” Landauer said. “I like that I ran my best race wearing Maverick blue.”