The first mile was a lot of dodging since they hadn't organized the start by predicted times. I missed the first mile marker so didn't really know how fast I was going (I seem to do this a lot). Lots of uphills so I was zipping my sleeves off sometime during mile 2, which is always tricky while running. I had to pee *again* which really ticked me off since I'd already gone twice. There was no way I could hold it for the whole race though. I really envied the guys peeing in the trees. And then... I saw a chick run behind a very unsubstantial tree, hold her shorts to the side, and pee standing up! I've never seen any woman do that before... I was both disgusted and inspired.

But no.. I just couldn't go there. I forced myself to stand in line for the porta potty and lost 2 minutes (at least) in the process). My time at mile 2 had been 18 min something, but at 5k it was 34 min ,which really confused me. This would continue for the rest of the race.. I strongly suspect that the mile markers were a little sketchy. (Evidence- they had markers for mile 7 on both sides of the street, but they weren't lined up across from each other!?.. hello?).

There were an impressive amount of people out cheering, it was cold and rainy but there were groups of folks out throughout the beautiful upscale Dallas neighborhoods. One guy was out with a box of kleenex, runners would grab one and blow as they ran by. Had to be a runner. :)

At mile 6 we passed the half/full split but since the marathoners had started an hour earlier than the half we were on our own. Lots of people cheering here. One woman yelled "6 miles! Almost done!!"... I was like, "um... *half*way is not = to *almost*". My legs were pretty tight but I kept chugging away.

The back half was more downhill and more industrial. Lots of bigger streets. At 7ish I took my jacket off completely, stuffed it in its pocket and strapped it around my waist. Again, a little tricky while running. At 8 we did a weird turn around and my right ITB started to bother me (of course, it'd been my left durning training...). Whenever it started hurting I started taking shorter steps and trying to land on the iniside of my big toes. This became my strategy for the remainder of the course... lots of little steps.

By mile 9, my watch said 1:31 or something so I started swearing because not only was I not going to beat my Detroit time, but it looked like I wasn't even going to break 2 hours!! I wanted to cry and give up because as my 4th half marathon of the year, I was looking for a *better* time, not a worse one!! My legs pretty much hurt nice and good by this time and the temps were clearly dropping. By 10 my hands were starting to freeze up. I could see downtown, it just wasn't getting any closer. I didn't know whether to keep pushing or just jog it in due to my crappy predicted time. I couldn't slow down so I kept going.

The rest is kind of a blur except when we merged with the marathoners at mile 12 plus.. there were 4 or 5 little teeny guys who came blowing by us... one guy cramped up and had to walk.. but these were the under 3 hour marathoners, so they were cool to watch. The other motivating thing was that I'd looked at my watch at mile 12 and it said 1:46 something... clearly I had PLENTY of time to finish under 2 hours. I was pretty annoyed that the mile markers seemed so far off. I couldn't really speed up but kept plugging away. 12 seemed eternally long... and then there was the finish line THANK GOD.

Probably would've felt better with some gloves and tights, but there was no way to know. Friday & Saturday were 80s!!

Wanted to cry immediately after the finish. Grabbed a space blanket and wrapped it around me as tight as possible. Started coughing. Had to pick my medal out of unattended boxes and then pry it out of its plastic bag (not impressed there, folks), while tons of volunteers were handing out crappy, tacky yellow floppy visors instead. WTF? Grabbed water (again, no volunteers) then found the beer tent. WOW! Free beer!

Oh wait, I'm FREEZING. Spent a couple of minutes looking for Tom but figured he was too Hawaiian to be outside anymore. Found him in the AA center again where the post-race party was going on. This was WAY impressive, tons of food and more beer... but I was so cold I couldn't stretch or anything... just shivered and chattered. We were so cold we actually jogged to the car even though it hurt like hell.


The cold, the training.

My goal had originally been to get closer to my PR (1:52) on this race as it was only 6 wks after Detroit. After Detroit my goal was just to beat my Detroit time (1:56). Then I forgot to train over Thanksgiving...oops. I'm pretty happy with this time considering that if I subtract 2 min. for potty time I beat both my Detroit time and my Indy mini time from May (1:55). Now if I could just figure out what my H20 intake limits should be!


I was dissapointed with the organization (traffic, start line, finish line), but impressed with the course and the use of the AAC. Nice enough, but we've checked it off our list and won't do it again.