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White Rock Marathon - Run


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Dallas, TX
United States
35F / 2C
Sunny
Total Time = 4h 20m 30s
Overall Rank = 1531/3076
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 235/367
Pre-race routine:

Woke up about 5:30am. Ate a banana, power bar and drank some gatorade. Drove to the AAC, parked, and walked around a bit. Went back to the car, shed the warm clothing and went inside the AAC to wait for the start. Never did find any BT'ers, but there were 5k or so people running around and Aaron(JeepFleeb) is the only one I might have recognized.

Event warmup:

Walked around the AAC until start time.
Run
  • 4h 20m 30s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 56s  min/mile
Comments:

Weather could not have been better. It was about mid 30's at start time. Cold to just stand around in, but great for running. No wind. Bright sunshine. It just warmed up from there to probably low to mid 50's by the time I finished.

Started out with the 4:30 pace team but quickly lost them in the massive sea of people. First 3 or 4 miles were pretty congested but it kept me at nice slow pace to start off with. The Half runners broke off just before mile 7 and the course really opened up then. I did not keep track of my pace per mile. Due to a serious lack of training over the past month I was just running on feel and not worrying about time. The first 7 miles flew by and I was holding a sub 10 minute pace for sure. Had a gu pack, enduralytes, and advil about mile 5. The next 6 flew by also and next thing I know I am half way home. 2:05:05 for the first half. At this point, the 4 hour devil started talking to me. He was saying "go for it." "What's the worst that could happen." But I thought better of it. I still had a long way to go and I had not trained properly for a 4 hour marathon. Had another gu pack, some more enduralytes and advil and just kept cruising. 14, 15, 16, 17 all flew by. Still cruising through mile 18 though I felt as though my pace had slowed a little bit. I ran with the 4:15 pace group through most of this stretch but eventually nudged ahead of them. Mile 19 was were the miles started to seem longer, but still no real issues until mile 21. The spasms in my legs started and this point I started walking the aid stations to allow them to calm down a little bit. The last 4 miles were pretty long but again, nothing too bad. At mile 22 my wife called my cell phone and said she had a surprise for me. She, my daughters, my brother, his wife, and their 3 boys were all waiting for me at the finish line. I had not expected anyone to be there. We have a 5 week old baby and we had decided it would be too much for Renee to try and come down to the race with the baby and try to keep up with our 2 1/2 year old at the same time. But she did it anyway! So that gave me a little extra motivation to get to the finish line. I rounded the last corner and was coming down the straight away to the finish line and I saw them. My oldest dauther came out and ran to the finish line with me and put my finishers medal around my neck. Very cool.

I was pretty happy with my performance given the circumstances. It was a fun race(I guess, as fun as running 26.2 miles can be). Lot's of people along the route, bands, parties, great spectators etc.
What would you do differently?:

TRAIN! My longest run was 16 miles way back on November 6th. Since then I had runs of 3.2, 5, 5, 13.2, 4, 3 , 1.7, 8, and 3 miles. So I went in somewhat unprepared. But the 2 half ironmans I did this summer really helped get me through it.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around with family.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of training.




Last updated: 2005-07-05 12:00 AM
Running
04:20:30 | 26.2 miles | 09m 56s  min/mile
Age Group: 235/367
Overall: 1531/3076
Performance: Good
Course: 1 loop out from AAC(American Airlines Center) in downtown Dallas out around White Rock Lake and back. The first 9 miles is through Downtown and some of the high toned areas(Turtle Creek) of Dallas. 9-19 or 20 is around White Rock Lake. 21-26.2 is back through downtown Dallas.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2005-12-12 1:31 PM

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Veteran
282
100100252525
Dallas, TX
Subject: White Rock Marathon


2005-12-12 1:35 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Queen BTich
12411
500050002000100100100100
,
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon

Congrats Gary! You survived and definitely got lucky on this one, it could have been ugly. So sweet for your whole family to be there. What a way to finish!

Too bad you didn't find us before the race.

2005-12-12 1:38 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Regular
97
252525
Robinson, TX
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon
Great job! - There is always time to improve and go for that sub 4 hours.  Isn't it great to have "little fans" waiting for you at the finish!
2005-12-12 2:09 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Got Wahoo?
5423
5000100100100100
San Antonio
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon
Nice race!!!
2005-12-12 2:43 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Champion
6931
5000100050010010010010025
Bellingham, Washington
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon
Congrats on a Marathon Finish..
2005-12-12 4:06 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Master
2052
20002525
Colorado
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon
Nice! Glad it didn't kill ya Can't wait to see how you do once you train!


2005-12-12 7:44 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Master
2381
2000100100100252525
Frisco, Texas
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon

Gary,

Great race.  I'd like to see what you can do if you had trained properly!  Sub 4 possible?  That is really cool that your wife and kids showed up. 

I looked around the AAC for you and Jeep but to be honest, I was so cold all I wanted to do was stay warm and get the race started. 

TJ

2005-12-12 9:26 PM
in reply to: #303853

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Elite
2777
2000500100100252525
In my bunk with new shoes and purple sweats.
Subject: RE: White Rock Marathon
Great race and a great report. Can't wait to see how you do when you're prepared. Good job.
2005-12-13 11:05 AM
in reply to: #303853

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