Dallas White Rock Marathon - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Dallas, Texas
United States
Total Time = 1h 53m 2s
Overall Rank = 808/5788
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 102/421
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 5am, took a shower, and headed to the Dart station for the ride to the race.

My goal was 1:45 and the plan was to not worry much about the first mile but try to get it in around 8:30 and the next 4 miles in the 8:00-8:10 range. The next 4 around 7:50-8:00 and whatever I had left for the 5k.
Event warmup:

Walked around a bit inside the AAC, found bag drop off and the starting line. Short and easy warmup jog to the bathroom, then made my way back to the starting corrals.

I was in corral A, but not real sure where I should have been in the A corral. I looked at the people around me and thought I was about in the right spot, so I just hung out. The wheelchair racers went off first, then I noticed I was about in line with the 4:30 marathon pacer. By now, the corrals were packed and there was no way I'd make my way up to the 3:40 pacer where I thought I should have been.
Run
  • 1h 53m 2s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 38s  min/mile
Comments:

The mob had started and it took about 5 minutes for me to get to the start. We finally get going and it's absolutely elbow-to-elbow, toe-to-heel for miles it seems. First miles ticks off and my Garmin shoes 9:03 and I start making a better effort to pass people. I zig-zag through people and even jumping on the sidewalk here and there. I'm constantly passing people and I'm feeling good.

Somewhere between mils 5 & 6, I'm finally in the group where I probably should have started. I also found a good pacer and we are still passing people, but not nearly at the rate I was before. I'm still feeling good, although the climbs are taking a bit out of me. We branch off from the marathoners to an out and back (Matilda?) and this is where I begin to realize I'm not going to be able to hold my pace and I walk my first aid station. I realize that I've not gone under 8:00 on any miles and I've completely dismissed my 1:45 goal. At this point, the plan was to try to hold 8:30 miles to the end. Around this time, I got a nice charge from Doughboy & jcagg90 who were riding the course yelling out encouragement.

Well, that didn't last too long and I started realln hurting. There wasn't really any one thing that was unbearable and my legs were okay. I was getting side stitches and cramps in both shoulders. I tried a few things to deal with these, but ultimately, I cracked mentally and had to take a few 30" walk breaks over the last 5k. I was never so relieved to see a finish line in my life.
What would you do differently?:

I should have thought to find the pacers when staging in the corral.
Post race
Warm down:

Grabbed my stash from the food tent, sat on the curb, took off my shoes and vegged a bit. I don't know why, but my feet hurt tons more than they ever have before and for the first time I got a few blisters.

Then, wandered over to the marathon finishing line with my parents to cheer on those finishers.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

It just wasn't my day.

Overall, I'm happy with the results and have learned alot about running a HM.

Event comments:

This was my first big race and half marathon. I really wasn't experienced or prepared for all of the little things involved. The only thing I can think of that I did right was taking the Dart rail from Plano to downtown. I would have been stressed sitting in traffic to get to parking.

Overall, this was a good race and things were run well. Improvement needs to be made on the event shirt pickup (45min wait after I had my bib) and I was disappointed with the post-race food.




Last updated: 2008-11-11 12:00 AM
Running
01:53:02 | 13.1 miles | 08m 38s  min/mile
Age Group: 102/421
Overall: 808/5788
Performance: Below average
Lap-Time--------Dist-----Pace----------AHR--MHR 1----09m 03s---1.00mi---09m 03s/mi---163---177 2----08m 07s---1.00mi---08m 07s/mi---182---185 3----08m 05s---1.00mi---08m 05s/mi---184---187 4----08m 14s---1.00mi---08m 14s/mi---186---188 5----08m 09s---1.00mi---08m 09s/mi---189---191 6----08m 06s---1.00mi---08m 06s/mi---189---191 7----08m 11s---1.00mi---08m 11s/mi---188---190 8----08m 25s---1.00mi---08m 25s/mi---187---190 9----08m 34s---1.00mi---08m 34s/mi---187---190 10---08m 31s---1.00mi---08m 31s/mi---187---189 11---08m 56s---1.00mi---08m 56s/mi---186---188 12---09m 38s---1.00mi---09m 38s/mi---183---186 13---09m 47s---1.00mi---09m 47s/mi---182---185
Course:
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]