Dallas White Rock Half Marathon

Saturday I took the DART rail to Fair Park to pick up my race packet and check out the Health and Fitness Expo. There were a ton of booths and a ton of people, even though I had gotten there early to try to avoid the crowds. I got a few free samples, bought a pack of Honey Stinger Chews and checked out a few of the booths. I had been thinking about signing up for the Rock & Roll half marathon on March 27 so I stopped by the booth to get some info. They were offering a discount and free t-shirt for signing up, so I did! Guess I'm going right back into training.

Sunday morning started early, traffic was ridiculous getting to Fair Park. We made it at about 7:45 and I found my assigned corral, L. I knew they would be starting us in waves (22,000 participants, so it made sense!) but I had no idea how long it would take for my group to be able to start! We didn't get started until almost 8:45. I normally try not to start out really fast, but I tried to push ahead really early to get ahead of the crowd.



It was so cold when we started, about 33 degrees! I wore long pants, a t-shirt, my favorite thumbhole jacket and gloves that I didn't care about losing. There were tons of discarded clothes along the course, good thing the race organizers get them picked up and donate them. It took several miles for my muscles to warm up, my legs felt like blocks of ice for a while there.

Course support was great, there were people all along the course with signs, live bands and a lot of great scenery. Our names were on our bibs and so a lot of people would call our our names as we ran by. There were plenty of water and Gatorade stations and Run On even had Kleenex stations. What a great idea! I drank water and Gatorade at miles 3, 6 and 9 and took ate some chews at miles 5 and 10.

My goal for this race was to be able to run the entire way. At Hills and Heels in May, I ran up until about mile 9 then had to alternate running and walking. But when I got to mile 10 this time, I knew I was going to be able to make it the entire way! I did stop right after mile 10 to stretch and of course I had to stop for the water stations (has anybody mastered running and drinking at the same time?), but I felt so strong when I was near the finish! In fact, once we hit mile 12, I pushed myself to pick up the pace in the hopes that I would really beat my last half-marathon time.

I didn't beat my time as much as I wanted to. My official finish time was 2:19:27, only 29 seconds faster than my first half-marathon. But, hey, faster is faster! I will take it.

Next up: Rock & Roll on March 27, 2011! Let's see what I can do!