Dallas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

We ran the Dallas Half Marathon this past weekend and had a great mini vacation. We dropped off the furry children at the vet's office on Saturday morning and hit the road to Dallas. We checked into the hotel and went to the expo on Saturday. We picked up our packets and I bought some compression socks for race day.  I see so many people wearing them now so I thought it might help me. My husband made fun of them but I will bet he buys some within the next couple of months. I don't know if they really helped or if they just tricked me into thinking they helped. Either way, I will take any advantage I can get when it comes to running!





We carb loaded at the Spaghetti Warehouse in the West End Saturday night and woke up early Sunday for the race. After our traditional race morning breakfast of Gatorade, Starbucks frappucino, peanut butter cliff bars, and bananas, we were ready to run! The hotel was only 1/2 of a mile to the start so we were lucky to be so close!

We started out in corral #7 and all of the runners around us set a great pace and I felt like we were surrounded by runners with a comparable pace. Sometimes we end up in a corral with slower folks who decide to walk the first mile or with people who try to trample us (well, me... no one will trample the hubs since he's 6'4") so I was thankful to be in the right corral for this race!
The course was awesome! It went through the Highland Park area in Dallas which is AMAZING! It also passed the houses from the CGB show. (Is anyone else watching it? I think it's hilarious!) There were tons of volunteers handing out water and Gatorade and the weather was WARM quickly so I was dousing myself in water while drinking it.  I ran through someones sprinklers at one point because I was so hot. I felt pretty good for most of the race but I started to feel like I was getting too hot around mile 12 so I slowed down and took a walk break. The course ended at the Texas State Fair and they had ice cold towels at the finish line! It was a great race and I was proud of my finish time! I ran it at a 9:41 average pace for a finish time of 2:06:45.  I was pumped with that time especially since it was so hot! My husband was just a couple of minutes behind me and I told him I was only fast because of my socks! Ha!

The medals were nice! I liked the boots but I did feel a little ripped off since my medal is missing the 'N' in marathon. How funny is that? 

This run was a test of our training for the Madison, Wisconsin Marathon in May. We're about halfway through our marathon training plan so the Dallas run was at a great time in the schedule! I really hope we can break the 5:00:00 marathon time in Madison. We've been adding 2 miles to all of our long runs on the training plan to make sure we get to do a 22 mile long run before Madison. The last couple of miles of a marathon always kill me so I want to be better prepared for this one. 

This weekend, we're doing a slow 12 miles since we both pushed it for the Dallas race. 

What's your next race?