The pace group leader had mentioned the first mile or two might be a tad slower due to the crowds, but that they'd strive to keep an even 9:08 or 9:09 pace. After we crossed the start line they immediately got 4 or 5 people deep, ahead of me. I figured that was okay especially considering the 20,000 people around us! I kept them about this distance for the first mile, bobbing and weaving around the masses of people. I ran Mile 1 in 9:14.

Mile 2 the pace group got a little farther ahead and I kept getting stuck behind packs of slower people. I tried SO hard to get around them and the pacers kept getting farther and farther away. I was literally sprinting to keep up with them! I didn't think I would be able to keep this pace but tried my damndest. I didn't know it at the time, but I ran Mile 2 in 8:45! No wonder I couldn't keep up with the pace group - they were running faster than 8:45s! Booooo.

After that, the pacers got so far ahead of me I couldn't even see them anymore. Got pretty discouraged at that, but just decided to do my best from this point forward. I slowed down at the aid stations to grab some water or Gatorade - kinda difficult to grab anything since people would literally stop right in front of you. I almost tripped over some people more than once!

Don't remember a whole lot of details from Miles 3 till about 9 - except that I had to pee and my stomach felt really full. I think eating my bagel right before the start was too soon; usually I eat it 2 or 3 hours before a race. But anyway, I had just decided to enjoy the race, look around, soak in all of the big-race atmosphere; high five the kiddos and smile a lot. I was reading all of the signs and posters out there and LOLing at a lot of them! Lots of Tiger Woods references and even a Chuck Norris one! Funny stuff. Never too the GU I had in my back pocket since my tummy was still feeling "full" even 2/3s of the way through the race.

Around mile 9 I heard someone say "Go Kansas!" and I thought "did they mean me? How do they know I'm from Kansas?" and figured it was just a fluke I'd heard that. Found out today it was a few BTers! How coooool!

I think it's around mile 10 there is a longish out and back section where on the first part you can see people ahead of you coming the other way, and when you turn around you can see people behind you. On the "out" part, I noticed the 2:00 pace group WAAAAAY ahead. They were almost done with that stretch! This depressed me a little. I made the turn around and noticed the 2:10 pace group was a little ways behind me. Oh good... as long as I can stay ahead of them I will feel better about this race! They passed me about half a mile later :(. Damn I really did not think I was going this slow and even according to my Garmin I was surprised to see the 2:10 group passing me already! I picked up the pace and really tried to stay with them, and I did for maybe a mile.

Now my bad knee started hurting as it usually does around this time of a half marathon. Sometime in Mile 12 it twinged so bad I limped and hopped around a little and I know I made some audible squeals. Baaah! Run through it. Mile 12 seemed SOOOO long. Incredibly long. It just wouldn't end.

OK now I'm on the last mile! I can do anything for a mile - even though my legs were hurting pretty bad at this point I picked the pace up as much as I could. I looked down at my watch after it seemed like forever and it said 13.12 miles and I wasn't done! I had noticed the mile markers seemed long the entire race but assumed it would catch back up eventually - guess not.

Coming into the finish chute there were TONS of people and it was amazing! Boogied it to the finish line and I was done. Garmin read 13.28 miles and I finished in 2:08 despite the 2:10 pace group having ran completely out of my sights more than a mile before the finish line. A big "WTF" to that!

9:14
8:45 (trying to catch the 2:00 pace group)
9:19
10:01 (gave up on catching the pace group)
9:59
9:58
9:51
10:07
10:00
9:32 (trying to keep up with the 2:10 pace group)
9:49
9:48

Just run faster :)

Wished I would have grabbed a space blanket but the line was so long and the volunteers were really struggling to open the boxes so I just went to the shirts and medals. Yay for a women's cut size XS technical tee! Found Tom in just a few minutes since we had a pre-designated meeting place. He gave me his space blanket thank goodness - I was REALLY cold.

Got some Gatorade but Tom told me there was no food I could eat in the food area so we just left. I felt bad about leaving since it was such a big cool race and I'm sure there were big cool things going on in the AA center and at the finish line, but we just kinda wanted to go back to the hotel.

After an awesome hot shower we headed to a sports bar to watch the Bronco's game. Somehow I got talked into wearing a Bronco's jersey along with Tom. We were cute, I promise. :) On the way to the sports bar, someone felt it was necessary to roll down the window and yell some obscinities at us while they drove past... and shortly after that a huge truck almost ran us over (pretty intentional "close call") as we crossed a parking lot on the sidewalk! Boooo crazy people in Texas! I know they are not all like that because the first bar we went to didn't have the game but the bartender actually directed us to another bar with the NFL ticket - my faith was immediately restored in Texans :)

After a great time at the bar and some greasy bar food and a bunch of beers, we took a nap at the hotel, wathed a bunch of TV, completely relaxed, and then headed out for some really fabulous sushi. Had a great night's sleep, slept in a little Monday morning and then headed back to Kansas. What an awesome weekend - I'm so glad I got to spend it with Tom :)


My slow-ness.


White Rock is a huge race! I really enjoyed it this year since we were able to walk from the hotel to the start line and didn't have to park or deal with traffic. Tons of crowds and live music makes this a really fun race, if you don't mind bobbing and weaving around the other 20,000 people on the course.