Dallas Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

Sunday March 24, 2013.

So far this year my training has been sidelined with injuries and bad dieting. After the 3M Half Marathon in January, the inside of my left shin was shooting with pain on every run and I think it had to do with the old running shoes I wore. I took a couple weeks off and the pain wouldn't go away. Saw a chiropractor in Austin who did treatment but I still felt pain when I landed. Took more time off until I could somewhat run well and ran a 10k 3 weeks ago. For the past 10 weeks, I took a total of 6 weeks off from running and focused more on strength. (I got a little bulky, whoops). My plan going into this half marathon was to run comfortable the best I could because I had no idea how I was going to feel.

Sunday morning the winds were blowing and it got cold compared to days before where it was up to 80 degrees. My dad and Adrianna went for support and dropped me off at the start line. I warmed up for 2 miles, hit the porta potty, and since the wind gusts was up to 25mph, my plan was to target a 1:30 finish:

Miles 1-9:      6:50 - 6:55 pace
Miles 9-13.1: sub 6:50 pace

Miles 1-3 (6:48) (6:44) (6:55)
Lined up to the back of corral 1 waiting for it to clear before I crossed the start. After the first turn, BAM! Headwind going north. It was tough with gusts at times, but I felt pretty good though and managed to hit the 5k at 21:29.

Miles 4-8 (6:52) (6:54) (6:51) (6:48) (6:50)
The scenery of these miles were through uptown of Dallas and the Highland Park neighborhoods (huge mansions). The sun came out for 2 minutes and went away for good covered in clouds. Great crowd support all along the course so far which is one of the reasons I don't listen to music during races. I enjoy hearing the cheers from spectators and volunteers to keep the runners going. They come out to support you, why tune them out and ignore them? I slowed my pace down to adjust to the winds and the uphills in hoping to run faster after mile 9 on the downhills. I noticed my garmin was off a little bit even though I was taking the tangents well. A little frustrating with the watch off by .1 of a mile but I managed to pace with 2 other runners during these miles as we slowly picked off others on the way.

Miles 9-12 (6:33) (6:32) (6:39) (6:43)
After mile 9 I knew it was literally all downhill from here. I decided to pick up the pace early this time instead of waiting until mile 10 or 11. I probably should of waited because I slowed down after mile 11. Legs were feeling like rocks even though there was a slight tailwind. Swiss Ave felt like an eternity! I could see well over a mile ahead of me on the straightaway and my mind was going crazy hoping a turn was coming soon. I finally made a left turn on Haskell and realized how close I was to the finish. Kept telling myself only 2 miles left...then 1 mile left.

Miles 13-13.26 (6:24) last .26 (6:02)
After mile 12, I turned on the jets and closed my eyes thinking, "The faster I run, the less time on my feet." Started doing the math on how long it will take to run 1.1 miles and how close I will be to the 1:30 time. I entered Fair Park and the crowds got me going to a dead sprint. Turned the corner and saw the clock under 1:30. HAPPY! Looked at my garmin and literally finished 1 second under 1:29 with 1:28:59. After the finish, another runner yelled, "Yea! Sub 1:30 group!" I smiled back and took a sigh of relief to know I haven't lost too much training in the past 10 weeks. (Also I didn't feel sick to my stomach this time).

This half marathon is my 4th fastest compared to the 3M (1:28:15), Alamo 13.1 (1:27:47), and White Rock (1:27:19). Looking back on this race I realized I need to be more photogenic when I get close to the finish line! Most of my pictures it looks like I'm crying or struggling to move my feet with a frown on my face. lol I still enjoy running in Dallas and plan on running more there since I'm moving to Austin this May. Looking forward to finally building a better running base and get more miles in (with no injuries) before marathon training starts in August. Next race is the Chaskis 8k this Saturday followed with a couple more small races building up to a warm Orange Leaf Half Marathon in July.

Overall: 110 out of 10682
Age Group: 18 out of 514

3M Half Marathon

Sunday, January 13, 2012.

It has been 5 weeks since the Dallas Marathon and I came into this 70%. I took a lot of time off from running and did lots of traveling to Austin, Houston, and Dallas visiting family and friends in the meantime. It wasn't until the 1st when I started to really prepare for this race so it gave me less than 2 weeks to be ready.

 Race morning I made sure to eat some toast before to get some food in me and we were on our way for an early 6:45am gun time. Temperature was around 38 degrees with NW winds up to 15mph. Since I didn't feel my best, I planned on running with the pace group for a 1:30 finish time until 10 miles, then pick it up depending how well I felt. Plan:

Miles 1-10: 6:50-6:55 pace
Miles 10-13.1: under 6:50 pace

Miles 1-6 (6:35) (7:25) (6:46) (6:45) (6:40) (6:37)
I lined up with the 1:40 pace group because there were so many people jam packed that it was impossible for me to move my way up closer to the 1:30 group. I ate some orange vanille Gu Roctane (taste like sherbert!) 5 minutes before the horn and I felt awesome after the 1st mile. So awesome I was running too fast. I slowed down to a 6:54 pace and noticed I was 10-15 seconds behind the 1:30 pacer. As I was turned down Burnet Rd, I had the urge to pee again. I felt frustrated and got it over with behind a bush which took off time so now I am a good 45 seconds behind the 1:30 group. I wanted to catch them and settle in their running rhythm before it was too late.

Miles 7-9 (6:55) (6:53) (6:54)
I finally caught them on Shoal Creek Blvd during the 6th mile. The pace leader was entertaining and kept motivating the group as runners kept drifting off his pace falling back. He discussed the hills after mile 11 and about a training group in Austin led by Gilbert Tuhabonye. I thoroughly enjoyed running with them because the spectators kept screaming, "Yea 1:30!!!" At times I noticed I would run ahead of the group, but I slowed down the pace to stay with them.

Miles 10-13.21 (6:43) (6:39) (6:13) (6:33) last .21 (5:57)
When the group got to mile 10, this older runner decided to pick up the pace for the last 4 miles. When I say older I mean at least over 65, white hair and all. His name is Doug and he wants to run Boston in 2 years. He was great to talk to because he kept joking about how it's easy for him to qualify because of his age. We chatted more until I noticed there was a long downhill stretch on Duval St. I told him good luck and nice meeting you and booked it. Mile 12 was my fastest split and I thought back to the San Antonio Half Marathon where I was suffering at this mile of the race. This helped give me the drive to keep pushing up and down the hills on Red River St. until I turned on MLK to see this nasty-long-uphill-headwind finish.I kept driving my legs and using my arms running to a 1:28:15 moving time finish. My official time is 1:28:45 with the pit stop at mile 2.

I was happy because I finally hit a time goal I wanted. I was realistic with how I felt and stayed true to my plan. Adrianna also PR'd by 13 minutes!! Looking forward to the Rock 'n' Roll Dallas Half Marathon in March!

Overall: 164 out of 4998
Age Group: 23 out of 195