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| Sent this to Adam to let them know I was about to start..Reunion Tower in the background...it was the inspiration behind the medal! |
I will say that this was a mental race for sure. Not having a girlfriend to talk to made it a very lonely race and listening to music was a good distraction but not anything close to replacing one of my running buddies.
The only positive thing about running solo was that I KILLED it. I did my own pace for the whole trek (besides getting behind some people who decided to walk mid race and not follow race etiquette of moving to the edges...hhmmm) and finished with a killer time of 1:53...a PR for me..I think :). I told myself that if I got a SUB 2 time then I would head to Roots to celebrate. Roots is a local coffee shop that makes a killer Carrot/raisin/walnut/cinnamon muffin that is to die for..but since its made with regular flour I allow myself these awesome HUGE muffins as a treat! I also got a honey latte...OH YUM!!! Anyways, in order to not drive myself insane I made a plan. I set my Garmin when I first crossed the starting line and made myself not look at my splits until mile 12. I figured if I was on track to run a SUB 2 then I would know my mile 12. At mile 12 I realized that I was KILLING it and decided to give all I had for the last 1.1 miles and get a great time!!!
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| Started in Corral 5...my time could have put me in 4 but I was pleased to start this close to the front! |
Some memories from the run are.....
DANG THE HILLS. I never knew Dallas was so hilly but my thighs and hips were burning as we went up and down. We even ran up an exit ramp...OUCH!!!
The bridges....AHHHHHH. My worst memory from the Tour De Fleurs race was the awful bridges. You don't feel it when you are in a car but when you are on foot you feel every little bounce in that bridge and to make things worse the WIND...it feels like you can't get your bearings and lots of other runners felt it too as I saw many put out their arms in an attempt to balance themselves. We did however run over the new suspension bridge in Dallas...that was the only picture I took on my phone...it was a neat view. The other views were nice but not worth wrestling with my headphones, turning off my music, etc, etc.
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| The only picture I took during the race...coming up to the suspension bridge! |
The homeless people. I hurt for them. They lined the first mile heckling us, reaching out for us, laughing at us, grabbing at us. They were almost like animals and laughed like hyenas. It was sad. The Dallas police did a good job standing watch but I was jittery and screamed when a mom stepped out into the race to get a picture of her daughter...They were everywhere as we ran through Deep Ellum and the way they acted was really hard to watch.
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| From the race photographers....I look like I was struggling :) |
The Dallas police...with all they have been through over the last year, they were out there smiling the whole time. Many people wore shirts or made signs thanking them and almost every runner told each one thank you as we ran past them.
The Michelob inflatable sign .....it deflated as I was running under it. Hehe, the generator was lifting off the ground and two men ran to sit on it. I just kept running, when I looked back it was touching the ground.
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| CHUGGING water after..I wouldn't even stop for the photographer :) |
The weather..it was hot. Many people dressed like they lived somewhere other than TX and I saw A TON of sweat pouring off of people who were in long sleeves and full pants. I on the other hand wore my Team Collins tank top and shorts that I had planned to run in for the Disney Marathon (until that blizzard happenend :)).
I loved running through a lot of historic Dallas and the spot where Kennedy was shot it. I defintely looked up into the red building as I ran, not sure why but I did as I hit the grassy knoll.
My favorite moment was running past a JACKED up dude. He had more muscles than I had ever seen and was running without a shirt on. I just flew past and mentally high fived myself.
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| FINISHED!!!! I was super happy to reach this line! |
Overall I was soooo happy with myself after the run. I did get a pounding dehydration headache later in the day (even though I drank tons) and had to cancel movie plans but I took a pill of pepperint and frankincense oil and it was gone after I had a full meal of sausage, turnip greens and cabbage...YUM!!!
I had a chest cold that morning but put breathe on my chest and feet and felt fine. I did cough a little during the race but nothing uncontrollable.
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| My stats were #834 out of 8,312 runners. I was #35 out of 749 female runners in my age division. I was #213 out of the 4,821 females who ran. My fastest mile was mile 11 at 8:11 and my slowest was 9:43 in mile 1-of course, I jostled around walkers and ran from homeless people!! |
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| My final times were an 8:35 minute mile...THATS so great...i can normally only keep that pace for 5-7 miles..I really think mentally telling myself to push was what helped me get my time of 1:53...you will notice I ran farther than 13.1...i always jostle to get in front of people and it adds on distance :). |
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