Where to start? The wind at the starting line was ice f*cking cold, and you could hear everybody groan each time a 20mph gust whipped across the crowd. It didn't help that the race was starting late. I don't know why, my guess is they needed the extra time to make sure the horses leading the group had completed a solid line of horse sh*t across the street(there was a lot of 'pie' dodging going on at the beginning). I started talking to this girl next to me who was here from Arkansas, I think we were talking at least. It could have been random teeth chattering that just sounded like words, like the hypothermic equivalent of hearing your dog bark "I RUVV OOH". They finally sounded the horn and off we went.

The first 3-4 miles I watched my HR like a hawk. I knew that we were going into the wind and uphill the first 6-7 miles, so i let my pace slip some to keep my HR closer to where I wanted it. The wind wasn't that much of a factor as I was in the middle of the pack...plus I learned the invaluable lesson about fat people and wind shields during the Turkey Trot. I'm sure I looked like a complete jackass because I'd dart 3 feet to the left to hang behind somebody large if the opportunity presented itself; I wasn't being even remotely subtle about it. If anyone asked, I'd just say I'm an ass man and ME LIKEY THEM BIG.

I kept to my mantra of the HR zone, which meant my pace was slower than I intended early but it paid dividends when we turned south about 6.5 miles in. The hills were gone(it was actually downhill almost the entire last 6.5 miles) and the wind was at our backs, so I was feeling way better. As you can see by my lap times below, my time started dropping too. Between my legs feeling fresh and the crowd...OK I have to mention some of the crowd before I go further.

My favorite sign said "Hurry up, the Cowboys are on @ noon", to which I yelled back "That's the most motivating sign I've seen all race" and followed it by screaming "I HAVE TO GET HOME AND SET MY FANTASY LINEUP!" which the whole group enjoyed. It always makes me feel good when people get my sports nerd jokes. There were great signs done by the runners too; probably my favorite of the runners was a pair of 40-somethings, a male & female running with each other. The woman had a shirt that said "This is my brother Dave", and Dave was wearing a shirt that said "I'm Dave. My sister talked me into this". It was greatness, and their support was greatly appreciated.

Anyway it was somewhere in here that I started seeing Marcie(and her husband, who was also great about cheering people from his bike) off and on. We were playing an unofficial game of tag; or more accurately Marcie would run ahead of me for a couple miles, I'd catch up, then she'd run off again. This went on throughout the race, but she wasn't my rabbit. No, I was stalking someone else entirely. You see, there was a guy wearing a '12th man' Aggie basketball jersey. He's at least 20 years older than me and passed me about 3 miles in, but he wasn't going a lot faster and I figured I'd keep an eye out for him as the miles passed. Sure enough, every couple miles I'd see him again, and I kept wanting to pass him more and more every time I saw him. I restrained myself enough that I kept to my overall plan, but I knew if I saw him in the last 2 miles I wouldn't be able to resist trying to take him down.

Guess who showed up about 11 miles in? :)

Marcie actually showed up right about then too, and I passed her yelling "I'M TAKING DOWN *THAT* GUY" as I made my move. Of course I say I made my move, but that's really an overly dramatic way of saying I passed a guy who never knew I was stalking him. He probably never even noticed me, but for the sake of my ego I'm going to say it crushed his spirit to see how fast I flew by him. I WAS SIMPLY TOO MUCH RUNNER FOR THAT 65 YEAR OLD AGGIE. I never saw him again, I don't know how far behind me he finished because I didn't catch his race number.

The last mile and a half was a blur. I definitely broke through 'the wall' and was booking it down the course. If I could run this speed the whole way, who knows what my time would have been? (OK I'm sure somebody could do the math. In fact I'm sure there are some 3rd graders who could do the math easily, but I'm being lazy.) I crossed the finish line, fist pumping, and amazed I made it. My longest run before this was just a shade over 10 miles, so I was breaking new territory and still hitting my stride. I felt good enough to go another couple miles if necessary, though there's no way in hell I was volunteering for that. I was more than happy with my time, more than anything I was happy that I made it the whole way without walking(I did make one pit stop to, uhh, change out my oil, as it were).

Here are my laps, I set it to 1.3 miles per lap which is roughly 10%.

Lap #: Time - Pace - Ave HR
Lap 1: 15:04 - 11:35/mile - 159bpm
Lap 2: 15:13 - 11:42/mile - 165bpm
Lap 3: 14:39 - 11:16/mile - 169bpm
Lap 4: 15:10 - 11:40/mile - 170bpm
Lap 5: 15:00 - 11:32/mile - 171bpm
Lap 6: 14:49 - 11:24/mile - 172bpm
Lap 7: 14:35 - 11:13/mile - 173bpm
Lap 8: 14:24 - 11:05/mile - 174bpm
Lap 9: 14:16 - 10:58/mile - 178bpm
Lap 10: 12:24 - 9:32/mile - 186bpm
Lap 11(.26 miles): 2:00 - 7:43/mile - 193bpm

Zone 1 - 118 - 152 49s
Zone 2 - 153 - 162 12m 32s
Zone 3 - 163 - 171 56m 16s
Zone 4 - 172 - 178 44m 49s
Zone 5a - 179 - 183 11m 03s
Zone 5b - 184 - 188 07m 40s
Zone 5c - 190 - 198 02m 44s

Maybe start pushing a little sooner, given that it was mostly downhill and my legs were feeling pretty good.

I wrapped myself in a giant Reynold's Wrap, picked up my medal, took the finisher's photo, and went to give Karen an enormous, sweaty hug. Seeing her at the end was almost too much; between finishing a half-marathon & her support, I pretty much lost it when I found her. None of this would have been possible without her, and I don't know how to even begin to adequately thank her. She's a walking inspiration.


It would have helped to have one of those moving walkways you see in airports lining the entire course.


Hey Race Directors, I just burned a couple thousand calories on your course. Do you think maybe your post-race food could come in something larger than Auschwitz helpings? I'm friggin' starving over here. I got as much food in one nachos helping from the Dallas Athletes tent as I did from any 4 booths I visited in the AAC.