Leading up to the Dallas half, I had given myself the green light to have a fun day of running. I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A RACE GOAL BLOG POST, DID YOU NOTICE?!?
I have ran all of my races in 2018 with a goal in mind, and I was excited to take the pressure off and just enjoy a little victory lap for my training for this year, and celebrate my last race in the 30-34 age group. I had thought a really great feeling day might be around 2:05, and thought that a 2:08-2:10 would be a-ok if my legs were feeling not so great.
We woke up at 5:30 a.m. and made our way toward Dallas at 6 a.m. We got to the start area pretty easily and eventually found where to go for parking. We were there with almost 90 minutes to spare which was great. We hit the bathrooms, I did my glute band work, and we made our way to the start to find the bag drop. It took us awhile to find the bag drop and then it was time for another bathroom stop. Once that was wrapped up, our leisurely morning had disappeared! It was time to enter Corral B and no time for our warm up jog. oh well.
While we were waiting in our corral, I had the tiniest inkling that maybe I was extra well hydrated and should hit the bathrooms just one more time, but I hoped it was just a nervous pee feeling and it would disappear. The start was awesome. Great announcer, awesome pump up music, and fireworks to start each of the corrals. We were off before we knew it and into a
cold wind. Brr. My hands were ice cubes!
We were really congested for the first two miles so I barely looked at my watch because I knew we weren't going out too fast, and that's usually my only concern for the start of races. Dominique wanted to run under 2 hours but didn't want to start too fast, and I just wanted to feel good and strong. A couple of miles in we were already running .14 miles over the mile markers and I mentioned to her that if she was close to coming in under two, to remember that our watches are reading long, and plan to make up that time.
My legs weren't feeling very peppy and my bladder was FULL. She asked if we were on pace for sub 2, and I said we were around 2:05 pace and I had planned to hold that through 5-6 miles, and might even need to duck into a portapotty. I encouraged her to go ahead if she wanted sub 2, because it didn't seem like my legs were feeling up for it.
1. 9:25
2. 9:20
We started to get into some rolling hills when she left me, I saw a bank of portapotties but they were full with a line so I continued on. My stomach was pretty empty from my normal pre-race stomach issues, so I took my first GU around mile 2. Somehow my legs were loosening up from the rolling hills, and I started to feel pretty good.
I caught back up with Dominique and then we lost each other again as she ran ahead. I had envisioned the first 6.5 miles to be VERY hilly with a lot of ups and not a whole lot of down, so I was pleasantly surprised when the route was really comfortable with some ups, but also a decent amount of downs, and nothing that didn't feel gradual. Apparently my legs still remember some of the hill training from this summer (thanks Chris!).
3. 9:13
4. 9:15
5. 9:29
Mile five had one of the biggest hills of the day, and the pace reflects that but I was still saying pretty darn comfortable with my running. It was somewhere around mile 5 that I thought maybe I could run close to 2 hours if I kept feeling good. I realized I'd have to average 9 or faster on the second half of the race, and I knew I was going to be at least .2 miles over based on my crappy tangent running. I also realized that I might as well just attempt to skip the bathroom and see if my pee would disappear. It didn't, but I did kind of forget about it when I was running harder. So....win?
I took another GU at mile 6 and some water shortly after. I saw Dominique out of the corner of my eye, but she was on the opposite side of the road as me and I wasn't willing to tack on my distance, so I kept plugging on.
6. 9:21
7. 9:13
With five miles to go I tried to speed up a little bit, shooting for ~9:10 pace, so imagine my surprise when I started seeing sub 9s on my watch. I started letting myself calculate my finish time, and I kept landing at 2:00 or 2:01. I kept running along thinking maybe I'd have a magically fast final 5k. Who knows! Crazier things have happened. The sun also started to come out at this point, and I desperately wished that I was wearing a tank top. I half considered ditching the shirt and tying it around my waist but knew that unpinning and repining my bib would slow me down quite a bit. I yanked up the sleeves as high as they'd go instead.
8. 9:00
9. 8:54
With a 5k to go, I calculated I needed to run an 8:30 pace to run a skin of my teeth sub 2. It was also around this time that my power song, Til I Collapse, by Eminem came on. It was like someone shot me out of a canyon. I looked down and saw an 8:40 and thought, sheesh, maybe I can split some 8:30s! Lol, spoiler alert: I didn't.
10. 8:55
11. 8:56
I started to get pretty tired and knew that I could hold my slightly sub 9 pace, but didn't think I could push much harder. Around 1.5 miles to go I calculated that I needed an 8 pace for the remainder of the race to break 2. That seemed like an awful lot of work for a "fun run race". Haha. There was a cool sign that said 800 meters to go, so I pretended I was doing an 800 meter repeat on the track. Eventually there was a 400 meter to go sign as well. With Eminem spitting my mantra, I tried to pick up the pace to finish strong.
12. 8:52
13. 8:54
.29 2:21 (8:08 pace)
I didn't have my usual sprinter's kick, which I think just shows that I ran pretty hard. I was really proud of my effort, my negative split, and how strong I felt. I may have been lacking that second gear necessary at the end, but given how my training has been going since the marathon, that's not at all surprising. I'm actually surprised at how strong I did feel, which just goes to show that all the endurance work paid off and is still hanging on.
Another photo angle of my finish (yes I bought the pictures, there were so many gems!!)
I ran 13.29 miles in 2:01:10. For a pace of 9:08/mile. Of course my Garmin/strava have me at 1:59:33 for the 13.1. I think the first time I ran this race, I was at 13.34 so this was an improvement. Technically that race back in 2009 was the fastest pace I've ever ran for a half, but I ran so over that its' not my PR. Crazy.
After the race, I spent some time looking for Dominique and slowly grabbing some post-race goodies. I still desperately had to pee, but didn't have my phone and I didn't want to miss her in the bathroom. Eventually I saw her, and she was only 2 minutes behind me. For someone who pretty much logs lots of miles for fun, I'm beyond impressed with a 2:03 out of her. Someday she'll let me coach her and throw some workouts her way to get back to her PR paces. :)
The organization after the race was amazing, extra bags for all the post race goodies, super organized bag drop, a beer tent with two free beer tickets. So awesome. We hung out for awhile, soaking up the sun and enjoying our beverages before heading back to Fort Worth.
