I left work Friday afternoon and stayed with my friend Kristen throughout the weekend. She ran the race with me (she did the full 26.2) so we planned on having a nice, relaxing weekend to rest up for the race on Sunday.
We went to bed early both Friday and Saturday night. Saturday morning, we headed to Ft. Worth for the packet pick-up and to explore the Expo. The venue itself was crowded because they had just finished the 5k, 10k, and Kid Fun Run that morning. We got there right at the end of the races, so it was a little chaotic. However, the lines to pick up our packets and t-shirts were really short. We stopped by a few booths and sampled a couple various products before heading back to Dallas.
Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early at 5am. By 5:30 we were in our cars for the 30 minute drive back to Ft. Worth. The weather was close to perfect at the beginning (around 50 degrees). We had about 45 minutes to kill before crossing the starting line, so we walked around looking for her group of running friends. Unfortunately, we were only able to find one of them and couldn't locate the others. We lined up in Corral 5 and were off running around 7:15.
I knew going into this race that it would be a slower one for me. I was not familiar with the course, I hadn't trained properly, and I wanted to run my portion of the race with Kristen to keep her company for her first portion of the full 26.2. Pacing yourself for a full is much different than pacing yourself for a half, so I knew my time would be a bit slower than if I was running alone and going at my normal half marathon time. But I was completely fine with it!
The first 3 or 4 miles our pace was anywhere between 10:00-10:30. After that, we picked it up a bit and got closer to 9:30-9:45ish until mile 8. Somewhere in between there we ran through the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Let me just say, the cobblestone streets were not my friend! My knee was killing me on the uneven pavement.
So you see what happens after mile 9? I could see that hill from a ways back and I knew it'd kill me. So I stopped at a hydration station for some water where Kristen and I got separated. It was okay though because the half and full marathon courses split off at mile 9 anyways. I was on my own for the remaining 4 miles. It was so hard going from having a running partner, to tackling that hill alone, and trying to pick the pace back up. Let's just say it didn't happen!
Miles 9-11 were terrible and I walked for a few minutes of it. I knew at this point there was NO way I would PR or even break 2 hours, so I really didn't even care. I just wanted to finish. My hips and toes were hurting and at this point the weather had warmed up a bit.
Thankfully after mile 11 there was a huge downhill that I basically sprinted down and by that point I only had 1 mile left. I crossed the finish line and I wasn't upset but wasn't happy with myself either. This was one of the hardest races I've done and by far my slowest time ever. Which, as I said earlier I expected that going in...but 2:11...yikes! That's close to 20 minutes slower than my past half marathon times.
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The best part of this race was having my first experience running a race with someone. I've only done half's alone, so it was pretty awesome to have a partner...Kristen is so amazing and kept me entertained the whole time. I also really like the finishers medal. It's so country!
Even though I'm not overjoyed by my finishing time, it was a fun day and I know there are more races coming up where I can try prepare more ahead of time and push myself a little harder.
My next race involves Kristen again, as well as my friend Brett. We are doing the Bearathon Half in Waco, TX on March 22nd. This is Brett's first half so I'm excited to see how he does and what he thinks. Apparently this race is known as the "hardest half marathon in Texas."
8 days later, I have the Biggest Loser Half on March 30th in Austin. Back to back race weekends should be interesting!
I just signed up yesterday for the ZOOMA half in April in Bastrop, TX. I think that will be the last half I do until the fall, because I know the Texas heat will soon be kicking in!
A full recap of Gluten-Free February coming up soon.
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