Hey guys! We wanted to give you guys a real quick overview of our latest race, the Dallas White Rock Half-Marathon. Hope you enjoy.
THE EXPO
We happened to catch the expo late on Friday afternoon because we were taking part in the Fort Worth Urban Dare on Saturday. (Yes, we had a race before a race.) The expo was fairly empty, but we expected a light crowd with the main expo day being on Saturday. The best part of catching the expo on Friday night was the ability to really meet the vendors at the expo and find out what their product was about.
The only vendor we didn’t get a warm fuzzy from was the Clif Bar team. Two runners were in front of the booth asking about the Clif Shot Bloks. When the representatives could not answer the questions, Lee (the researcher) stepped in and gave all the specs on the product. Even the reps were listening in!
We did talk to a lot of great vendors and got to meet the faces behind their Twitter accounts. A big shout out to some of our favorites: Athlete’s Honey Milk (@athletesmilk), The Cowtown Marathon (@thecowtown), Luke’s Locker (@Lukes_Locker), KT Tape (@kttape), The Austin Marathon (@austinmarathon), SPIbelt (@SPIBELT), and BeeCause (@Lolashoe1).
RACE DAY
We were WAY more rested for this half marathon due to going to bed at 7pm and having our race gear/bib/shoes laid out. Our pre race routine is charted below:
- 4:30 Woke up and walked around aimlessly for a while. Lee was mentally preparing for the day and any Isis melt downs.
- 4:45 Ate a batch of Lee’s favorite pre-race fuel (steel cut oats with some peanut butter and honey) and a small glass of orange juice.
- 5:00 Downed some water, stretched, and applied KT Tape to shoulder (Isis) and shins (Lee).
- 5:30 Got dressed, put on our “The Running Couple” shirts and took out our dogs, Roxy and Pepper.
- 5:50 A warm-up run to the DART Station to get the blood flowing and boarded the train to Victory (it’s the name of the station).
We arrived at the American Airlines Center around 6:30am and headed to Section 105 to “tweet up” with some of our fellow runners from Twitter. We had a blast meeting up with @SeeKrisRun, @triboomer, @bemadthen, @krystheilen, and @spamboy, but race start was creeping up on us. At 7:50 we all decided to head to our corrals and get ready for the race. Before heading out the door we made sure we all hit the bathrooms. Isis did not take the bathroom break…this will play out a little later.
The weather was perfect as we headed out to the starting corrals. As soon as the gun went off, it took us about 10 minutes to cross the finish line. Just short of a mile in, Isis suddenly had to go to the bathroom. She insisted the line was too long at the AA Center and that she could sweat it off…WRONG! Now in most races this wouldn’t be a problem as there is usually a bank of port-a-potties around the Mile 1 marker. This race had four…for 20,000 runners…YIKES. Fifteen minutes and an empty bladder later, we headed back onto the course. Mile 1 down…in twenty-five minutes. Needless to say, we were a little off our pace. No problem, we were here to have fun.
Mile 2 and our first aid station is approaching. We loved that the race was serving up Gatorade Endurance Formula and couldn’t wait to down some. Lee usually advises runners to ignore the pile up in front of the aid station and hit the third or fourth table, but this was not an option. As we approached the aid station, there were no cups of Gatorade available. You basically had to grab an empty cup and stand there as they filled it up. We were hoping that this wasn’t going to be a trend…
One of the things that we love about races is the awesome costumes that some of the runners sport. As we ran through the downtown Dallas streets, we found the first of our three favorite costumes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That’s right…Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Check out our video with the “Heroes in a Half Shell”.
Miles 3 through 6 fly by as many residents made it out to the streets to cheer on the runners. It was during this stretch we met our two other favorites, Mrs. Clause and Forrest Gump. Didn’t get a picture of Forrest, but it was classic! As we approached mile 7, Isis was losing a little motivation. In miles 7 through 9, the course goes down Matilda Street and then turns around and comes right back. Really hope that they change that next year as it is really tough to stay motivated during that kind of stretch. Nothing like passing a point that you know you are going to have to come back to.
At mile 9.5 we stop at the aid station (the most organized) and take a little break for a picture with our good friend Tyler. After a couple of Black Cherry Shot Bloks, we head back onto the course. At mile 10, we get onto the Katy Trail and are feeling pretty good. Only three miles left and we know this stretch. As we start down the trail we see our tweep, Krys Theilen, and join in to finish the race. The spectator crowd began to grow as we neared 13.1 miles. There is nothing like the shouting from thousands of family, friends, and fans to push you to the finish line.
We crossed the finish line with a chip time of 2:33:59. About ten minutes slower than San Antonio, but we had that little mishap at mile one. We grabbed a technical tee, finisher’s medal, mylar sheet, and headed over to the after party to refuel.
Overall, the race was great and we are looking forward to our next race…The Cowtown in Fort Worth. Hope to see some of you there!
*Check out our Flickr and YouTube Pages to see our photo and video streams from Running the Rock!
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