Dallas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon 2012

Well, I did it, half marathon #8 complete! And I was back at where it all began, the Dallas Rock 'n' Roll half marathon. This was my very first half marathon race, one year ago, and it was great to finish it a second time!

It was an early morning, as usual, to catch the 6:20 am train to the race. The train was quite full and we had to stand the whole ride into town. I was fortunate enough to get stuck under the armpits of 2 different men! It wasn't the only train ride of the day where I had to hold my breath (more on that later).  We arrived in plenty of time and let ourselves inside the convention center for some pre-race stretching, relaxing, and indoor bathrooms. Our moments of zen ended shortly after seeing a large cockroach scuttling across the floor.

Sporting our 13.1 "tattoos" and debuting my half fanatics shirt!

After the roach incident, we hiked our way over to the bag drop and went to get pre-race snack. There were supposed to be bananas, bagels, and water available to runners, but by the time we arrived, only bagels were left. They were good enough for me!!

I still haven't heard an official number of runners, but the corrals were packed. I think there were over 15k runners last year and I would guess this year was about the same. This race is well organized, but, interestingly, our bibs did not have a corral number on them. So we could have picked any corral we wanted without so much as a second look. We were honest and went to corral 10, as assigned.

Rockin' Corral #10!

All the people ahead of me.

And all the people behind me!

The starting line!

 The familiar course took us through some of the nicest parts (and worst, we did run by the jail) of Dallas. One of my friends was at mile 3, we almost missed her, but I went crazy when I saw her. It means so much to a racer to have supporters out there. I had another friend show up around mile 7, but I didn't recognize her at all (she and I ran the Rock 'n' Roll together last year). She even made signs that said my name--and my name does not have a traditional spelling. My running buddy pointed it out and I thought to myself, wow, someone else spells their name that way! When I saw the sign that had her name and my name on it, it finally dawned on me that those signs were for us!

Just after the halfway point, I completely lost my running partner at a water station. I actually had to stop for a second to grab a cup of water and by the time I came out of the crowd, I couldn't find her anywhere. So I ran ahead a little and kept turning around and running backwards to see if I could spot her. I thought that she might have passed me, so I sped up a bit, hoping to catch her. When I realized she had to be somewhere behind me, I gave up and ran on without her.

Along the way, I passed a Marine, in his full gear of combat boots, fatigues, and completely full pack. He was struggling, but I wouldn't have been able to take one step in all that gear, let alone finish 13.1 miles. He was definitely an inspiration. I also came across one of running's rarest beasts, the barefoot runner. I smoked him, but did give him some words of encouragement and clapped in his face. He had headphones on, so I'm sure he thought I was nuts!

The spectators, and not just the ones that I knew, were great at this race. Lots of cheering stations and some really funny signs. I think my favorite one was right at the start: I'm proud of you, complete stranger! Some others were: Run faster, i just farted! Or Hurry up, my arms are hurting!

This was a hot race, similar to the temps I experienced at the Ft Worth Marathon. The high was in the mid 80's today. I would guess it was mid 70's by the time we finished, with blazing sun. It was a gorgeous day, but a bit warm for running.

Even though we got separated during the race, we were all able to meet up afterwards. I was feeling great, no foot pain and all smiles for completing #8! We hitched the train back home and it was packed again. One of the other racers in our car wasn't feeling quite as well as me and puked his green Gatorade up on the train. He did get down in a stairwell, but I couldn't have been happier to get off and switch lines shortly thereafter!

The finish line!

Post race beer!

Even though we got separated during the race, we were all able to meet up afterwards. I was feeling great, no foot pain and all smiles for completing #8! And the ice cold towels they were handing out, made everything else just fade away! We hitched the train back home and it was packed again. One of the other racers in our car wasn't feeling quite as well as me and puked his green Gatorade up on the train. He did get down in a stairwell, but I couldn't have been happier to get off and switch lines shortly thereafter!

Miles logged: 13.1