The Dallas Running Club's Half-Marathon ("The Half") is one of the oldest half-marathons in the country, and also one of the 50 largest ones according to an article I saw in Runners World. The
DRC Half hit its registration cap of 4,000 runners more than a week before race day and there were about another 400+ people running the 5K.
I had to arrive early at Norbuck Park this morning to do race day packet pickup. Nice long-sleeve technical shirt and various samples and coupons in the bag. No time to go through that now, however. I jogged back to my car (and along the way ran into and said a quick hello to my new friend Serena - who I met last month on a flight back from India!) to get ready for the race.
The weather was already warming up so I decided to run shirtless - into the trunk it went. From the packet, I hooked the bib number to my race belt and attached the
Chronotrack "D-Tag" chip to my shoe. A few most last-minute prep items - sunscreen, FuelBelt with 2 flasks of recovery drink powder (half-teaspoon of Glutamine and 2/3 scoop of Accelerade mix in each 8-oz container) and 2 flasks with water (backup/emergency hydration for the run), and reset my Garmin 305 and put on the heart rate monitor strap - and I was off.
As I recrossed Northwest Highway to get to the race site, I groaned at the long lines forming at the two sets (10-11 total) of portolets and thought to myself - that's all they have for a race with 5,000 people (plus volunteers). A helpful fellow runner pointed out that there was a huge bank of additional facilities near the finish line - and he was right - two rows of 25+ each. Looks like the Dallas Running Club and race organizers were prepared in this area.
I met a few fellow Fort Worth Runner's Club members before the race - just chatting and did a half-mile warm-up jog. After that I started heading over to the starting line to meet with Derek and Jarrod. Along the way, I ran into Lee and Fiona who were right at the front of the pack and ready to go. It's always nice to see familiar faces at these events.
The run itself went okay for me. The weather for today's race was deceptively hot - about 60 degrees at the start; 75 by the end of the race. And the humidity was approximately 70% as well. I had about an 8:30-8:35/mi pace (per GPS) through the first 8 miles. Miles 9-11 were slow and painful with the pace slowing to 9:30-9:45/mi at times. I tried to speed up for the last mile or so with limited success for an overall pace of 8:51/mi per GPS. During the last third of the run, my legs got really tight. (Thankfully) they never completely cramped up, but they did feel like heavy "cement legs" ... due to the warm weather, taking the entire week off from running, or both.
My official chip time was 1:57:40.64 for the 13.1 mile course (13.27 miles per GPS) - which is about 4 minutes slower than last year. The 8:59/mi pace was a lot slower than I would have liked, but it was still under 9:00/mi so not a total meltdown. 936th place out of 3,299 half-marathon finishers and 123rd out of 270 in my age group.
Although the weather was warmer than normal, I can't really use that as an excuse since many of my friends had personal records today. Derek and Jarrod finished only a minute behind me with their 6/1 run-walk strategy - I could have stayed with them and done the same time with less pain and suffering! After the race (and food tent :-), I ran into Fiona, who told me that she got second in the Masters and won $200! I missed Lee after the finish line, but he told me on the phone that he got 3rd (out of 250) in his age group - and I saw later in the results that he was 40th overall! Kim and Roberto also PRed and so did a few other FWRC runners. Congrats!
I was a little disappointed that the post-race food was pizza instead of burgers on the grill that they had last year, but it's understandable given that the number of runners was nearly double from 2007. Overall, a great day and a great race.
Finally, the Dallas Morning News has a gallery of some nice race
photos.
In other news, I have all but signed up for the 21st Annual Lake Benbrook Half-Marathon - to be held January 31. I know I have a long way to go before being able to do 13.1 miles, but I am confident that I can make it over the next 7 weeks.
The Dallas Running Club's Half-Marathon ("The Half") is one of the oldest half-marathons in the country, and also one of the 50 largest ones according to an article I saw in Runners World. The DRC Half hit its registration cap of 4,000 runners more than a week before race day and there were about another 400+ people running the 5K.
This morning, I participated in my second Monster Sprint Triathlon with its 300 meter pool swim at the Keller ISD Natatorium, 12 mile bike, and 5K run. I finished the race in 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds for 10th out of 52 in the men's 35-39 age group ... and 59th out of 463 total finishers overall (actually 58th because I assume the person in 53rd place with a 29.3 MPH average cycling speed only did one loop of the bike course :-P). With 512 entrants (the race was supposed to be capped at 400), turnout at this year's race was much higher than last year (when there were only 230 finishers).
Elevation (2,396 ft - not flat!)
Looks like I had a 9:19/mi pace at 3.04 miles when I made the U-turn at the end of Park Vista Blvd. Although it appears that my running speed slowed down for the next 6.59 miles, the time/pace numbers are misleading because as you can see from the chart below, the second "lap" of 3.31 miles included one walk/gel/water break (at time=0:31) and the third "lap" of 3.28 miles included two breaks (at time=0:59 and 1:28). So my speed actually increased as I went along.
My heart rate was consistently below 160 bpm for the first half of the run, but ratcheted up considerably as my pace and the mileage total increased along the way to the finish.
Discretion is the better part of valor. Similar to Benbrook Half-Marathon when I walked 4.65 miles back to the finish line rather than reaggravating my IT Band Syndrome, I decided to end this ride early rather risk a freak ailment only one week before Ironman Longhorn.
After getting back to our vehicle and loading up my bike, I wandered over to the finish area at Indian Springs Park to grab some cold beverages. I also took a walk over and around the Waco Suspension Bridge and enjoyed the music and cooled off by the misting fans.
I finished the Tour Des Fleurs 20K race this morning and had my best running outing since the Cowtown Half Marathon. I finished the 12.4 mile course (12.5 miles per GPS) in 1:46:16. I placed 48th out of 104 in my age group, 254th out of 610 men, and 259th out of 1279 total.
The slowdown at these points make sense since at Miles 8.5-9.5 was uphill and there was the steep hill at Mile 11.5. Also just before Mile 12, my Patt Straps were getting loose so I stopped to take them off and stow them in my Fuel Belt pocket. 
You can see my heart rate spiked just before Mile 9 due to the hill climbs - hence the slower pace for Mile 9-10.
After the race, I grabbed some refreshments from the various booths and met back up with Lee who introduced me to Jack from the Grapevine Runners and Walkers and afterwards Lee and I talked about doing some open-water swim practices in the area. Over by the Stampede Light tent, I ran into Randy from the Keller Running Club and Roberto from the FWRC. Had some good conversations on upcoming marathons and then I headed back home to enjoy the rest of my Saturday.
