The White Rock Marathon

Expo – Wowzers. I bought 3 pairs of running shorts for $48 total. They were originally $40 and marked down to $14.50 or $18.50 each. Also, they had 5-pound bags of Science Diet dog food. So even GusGus was a winner! The logistics were good, and it didn’t take much time to park or get our bags and t-shirts.

Night Before – I met my friend Cami for an early dinner at Ravenna’s (an Italian restaurant I found on Urban Spoon). I ordered a penne dish with broccoli, sausage, garlic, and olive oil. It was pretty good (a little bland though – could have used a bit of a kick) and not too heavy. We shared a bottle of wine (and my rationale is that I was consistent with how I prepared for my long runs!). Maureen and I stayed at The Fairmont Hotel, which was really nice. We got our race outfits ready and went to bed at about 9:30. I slept pretty well except for my cough, and I downed some cough syrup at 4:00 am and slept until 5:30 am.

Morning Of – I felt a little groggy in the morning (probably from the Nyquil hangover). Once I got moving and had a small cup of coffee, I felt better. We left the hotel at 6:15, got to the parking lot by 6:30, and sat in the car until 7. Fortunately we made our way to the race site early because the port-o-potty line took about 30 minutes. I came prepared with my TP (thanks to my runny nose). We walked over to the start line and had about 10 minutes until the gun went off. We were on our feet for an hour before the race, and I need to be careful of that before future long races.

Corrals – This is the first time I’ve been seeded in a corral. Since Maureen’s goal was 5 hours, we both entered 5 hours as our estimated finish time (or best time, can’t remember). We were seeded in Corral E, the very last corral. We noticed quite a few people who did not look like “runners” who were in Corral A. They need to do a better job with how they seed the half marathon people. Maureen and I happened to fall into a spot in Corral D (sneaky, sneaky) but it still took 11 minutes after the gun went off to cross the start line. We passed quite a few people, including overweight ladies who were walking the entire half marathon (and that is a great accomplishment, but they need to seed these people BEHIND the runners). Lesson learned: enter a faster best time (or estimated finish time).

The Race – There was a lot of congestion with 20,000 runners. Everyone (half marathoners, relay participants, and full marathoners) ran together for 7 miles until the half marathoners split off. Maureen and I averaged 11-minute pace for those first 7 miles. Then we sped up to 10:20 pace once things thinned down at mile 7, and that felt comfortable. We split 2:21 at the half, and we both admitted to hurting. We figured we could finish in 4:45 though. At around mile 15, Maureen hit the wall. She was pretty happy when I had to go to the bathroom and she got a walk break. I was feeling really good at this point, and I sped ahead to the nearest port-a-potty. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for her) there was no line, so it only took me a few minutes (I’ll leave the details out – you’re welcome). The next few miles were tough. Maureen was doubting herself and our pace slowed down significantly. This was what hurt me the most, because it was really hard for me to try to adjust my stride to slow down that much. We slowed down to 13-something for a mile, and our slowest mile was 15:35. That was the low point. Then we agreed to run to the Dolly Parton hills and then we would walk/run up the hills. I was trying to discourage Maureen from walking, especially because she might be the slowest walker ever (she is only 4’11”, so I should try to be more sympathetic because I know my legs are twice as long). At mile 20, we ran (an easy jog that hurt like hell after running that slow in the middle portion). Maureen didn’t want to walk at all (so she didn’t even grab water at the aid stations) because she knew she wouldn’t be able to run again. So we ran continuously (fortunately I can drink while running), and it was about an 11:20 pace. That was a very difficult six miles for me, but we made it. We were very close to Maureen’s goal of breaking 5 hours. Our Garmins and my watch both said 5:02 or 5:03, but our official time was 5:05:12 (not exactly sure where those extra 2-3 minutes came from, but no big deal).

Aftermath – We had to sit down afterwards (I know that was a bad idea, but the two of us were beat up pretty badly). Finally we got up to find the TNT booth and go to our car. Maureen could barely walk, so it took quite awhile. We ate a yummy PB&J at the TNT booth and then had to ask two different Dallas PD trainees for directions to our car. I dropped Maureen off and went home to my boys. One of them really enjoyed all of the salt on my legs. I got in my swimsuit and got waist-deep in our freezing cold pool (easy ice bath). I only lasted about 10 minutes, because I was afraid I might lose a toe. I took a nice, hot shower and then relaxed on the couch and watched the Cowboys game. I had cottage cheese and a frozen meal to hold me over until dinner (Domino’s pizza and Chardonnay… dinner of champions!) and Cliff gave me an awesome foot massage. I actually feel pretty normal now. I remember after the Las Vegas marathon (where I ran my best time of 4:16), I had to brace myself to go to the bathroom by placing my hands on the floor in order to squat down. It was baaaaad. I can move relatively easily today, except my quads get pretty sore when I get up after I have been sitting for a long time.

The Future – I am excited for the 50K on February 27. It will be my first “ultra,” and I am doing a good job (knock wood) of staying injury-free. I think I can hold a steady 10:20 pace and run the whole 31 miles (with a little walking through the aid stations… I think that walking cuts down on the amount of air I gulp while drinking water). I have a massage tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that. I think I should be able to run again in a few days. Hopefully I will find the time to do yoga a couple times this week to help stretch out my crazy tight legs.