Local finishes 12th in Texas

In the best marathon performance by a local resident since Bob Schlau was tearing up the national scene in the 1980s and early 1990s, Mount Pleasant resident Brian Johnson finished 12th overall (10th male) in the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon on Sunday with a time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 55 seconds.

"I didn't know I had broken 2:30 until I got back to the hotel room (after the race)," says Johnson, 33, who serves as an assistant coach for the College of Charleston cross-country team and works as a full-time teacher at James Island Middle School.

Johnson's goal was to run 2:30 or better. His previous personal record was 2:31 at the Flagstar Detroit Free Press Marathon in 2001. His last marathon came four years ago in Chicago.

Since then, he's become a father and has had to juggle training time with his wife, Emily, also a runner. She also raced in San Antonio and finished 21st for females with a 3:12:43. More than 7,500 runners finished the marathon, including 4,015 men and 3,511 women.

The Johnsons were part of an 11-week feature series in The Post and Courier following 11 runners, from various backgrounds, as they trained for the 2005 Cooper River Bridge Run.