Ok here goes nothing….
Per usual, I layed out all my gear the night before the race.
I had 2 outfit choices and ended up deep sixing the red. Just wasn’t feeling it.
The race started at 8am, and our hotel (Adolphus) was very close to the start so I didn’t have to get up until 6am. If you can, stay near the start of a race! So much less stress and worry race morning.
I had 2 cups of hotel coffee, forget my Starbucks VIA, and then had a peanut butter Clif bar at 7am.
I stretched out and messed around for awhile and then we headed to the start at 7:30.
I got into corral #1 with plenty of of extra time. It wasn’t crowded at all and I had a sweet view of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.
I was a little nervous about the race because I was sore from yesterday’s kickboxing class. Nevertheless, I was ready to run and hoping to PR.
We started on time and I took off in the first wave pretty fast. During the whole race I didn’t look at my garmin much so I didn’t really know what I was pacing. But when I start with faster people and get into a fast pace from the start, I normally run faster.
I passed the 5k mark at 23:23, a 7:32 pace. I felt good but worried that I might have started too fast. The course was very pretty, the weather was perfect, everything felt good.
I hit the 10k at 46:55, a 7:33 pace and took my first GU at mile 6.5. That was the first point I felt a little tired.
6.5 to about mile 8 were the hardest. They were uphill and the headwind was brutal. It was pretty windy the whole race but this section felt like a massive wind tunnel.
The course wasn’t really hilly per se, but there were rolling hills, the kind where it doesn’t even look like a hill but your legs can definitely feel it.
I hit 7 miles at 52:52, 7:34 pace. That was my slowest pace of the race.
10 miles at 1:14:48, 7:29 min/miles. They were giving out Gu’s and I took my second at mile 10. After mile 8 everything went downhill, in a good way. The course literally went downhill. Like the hills it was pretty subtle but felt fast and a lot easier.
I think because I’ve been more focused on marathons lately that this race felt really short and almost a little easy. Mentally it was so much easier thinking, I’ve only got a couple more miles left… instead of 16.
The last 2 miles I pushed hard because I was hoping to finish under 1:37. The last 3/4 of a mile was pretty tough, but the last miles of a race always are. If not, you’re not running hard enough. With a marathon, it’s like the last 5 miles instead of 3/4 mile.
I finished in 1:36:51, 12th in my division, 55th woman and 319th overall.
Normally after a marathon, my whole body aches immediately, and I was expecting that today but I felt good afterwards and relatively pain-free. a little sore but not bad at all.
I found my personal Dallas cheerleader and we headed to the car after grabbing whatever free stuff I could get my hands on and taking a couple pics.
We went back to the hotel and I got cleaned up and had a chocolate milk drink that I got at the race.
Overall, I’m again surprised at how fast I ran; I was hoping to PR but not by 3 minutes. With this qualifying time, I’m hoping I can get into NYC Marathon… I already entered the lottery and I can’t change my registration. So I emailed them yesterday but the cutoff is today and I haven’t heard anything yet. Oh wells.
