So this was supposed to be my second time to run the Dallas Marathon but the first one was iced out and forced me to go south to run the BCS Marathon in College Station in 2013. So this is now my first official time to run the Dallas Marathon.
First let's start with the thing that got my irk up. I had to pay $15 to park for packet pickup. Oh I tried to stay in there for a long time to get my money's worth but in the end I basically paid $15 for one hour of parking. There just wasn't much at the expo worth hanging around for sadly. And here I thought cities like Chicago and Boston were expensive. But enough with the bad. I hated it but I have moved on or at least now I will be moving on from it.
Race Day comes early like 3:50AM early. I got up and started to move around and finally after eating and changing I head over to the hotel to meet with the Luke's Lockers runners. Once it started to get closer to the time to leave the warm room I looked at the weather. Oh great temps are to be in the 50s which means it is too warm for cold gear and too cold for not wearing it as well. So I decide to take Nick's advice and wear what I want to be wearing middle of the race instead of the beginning of the race. And I fought the temptation to put on more clothes. I went out of the hotel and in, out and in and once again out and in before deciding short sleeves was going to be gear I would wear.
At the hotel I met up with Robin and Karthik. I lost Robin during the meet up for the runners but Karthik and I started together until that is when I had to go to the restroom for one final time. But we found each other again and I don't know how during the first 5 or 6 miles. Until he finally had to pull back.
My run was great for the first 15 or so miles. I kept my pace at the pace that I kept for our training runs. I was on pace for a 4:40 or so finish. It was feeling great although the first part of the race I felt some pain but ran through it. I didn't allow myself to speed up and I tried not to slow down. I kept drinking water and gatorade and kept with my fueling plan as well. Didn't miss any of those. Kept my race plan on par with how I planned it. But then like when you hear a pop in your car and you know it is trouble something happened to me that I knew was going to be trouble for the rest of the run. My legs started to feel tired, my feet started to hurt and then the real problem. I felt the cramps coming on in my legs. But still I kept going although this time it was a bit slower. That became a little bit slower still and finally to even slower than that. Heck people may have been looking at me and wondering if I was even moving but yes sir I am moving.
Now during my last 6 miles I almost got hit by a car. Thank you officer for sending me and the car at the same time. And if that wasn't bad enough I also almost got hit by a stroller. How can a stroller hit the only person in front of you. You had many directions to go to avoid me and yet you went for the only thing in front of you. Yeah real smart there. But I am a survivor I tell ya.
Finally I cross the finish line after running for 5:39 and yes I said 5 hours and 39 minutes. Hey I want to get my money's worth just like the parking fee. And boy did I get my money's worth on this race.
So this race was faster than Cowtown 2014 but about an hour slower than my first marathon with the BCS Marathon 2013. So it wasn't the worst I ran that is for sure but I can see that I need to improve on the back half of these races. Both the BCS and Dallas Marathon's I ran the first half as good as I could have expected only to fall back on those paces during the second half of the marathon.
Next goal is to do either Flying Pig 2017 or 2018, Cowtown Ultra 2018 or Chicago 2017 or 2018.
