Snips and Snails and Puppydog Tails

Well, remember how nervous I was two days before the race? It turns out, I was worried for nothing!

No, wait, stop. That’s entirely untrue. I was worried – terrified was the word I believe I used (more than once) – for very valid reasons. I had slacked off in my training: motivation and time just went out the window. I did not respect the distance – 13.1 miles is a LONG way, and one must really build up to that mileage. I had not made it over 9 miles in a training run – 4.1 miles short of the distance. So, yes, I was very nervous, as I should have been. And I was not looking forward to the race; I was upset with myself for being at the point I was because I knew I had no one to blame but myself. It’s not like I was training unsupported – Bryan was always willing to take on kiddo-duty, prep fuel and hydration for my longer runs, etc. So my lack of preparation fell on nobody but me. And I. Hate. Feeling. Unprepared. I may procrastinate, but I end up prepared…no such luck when training for a long-distance race.

As it would happen, the race gods would smile on me! Thanks to Granny being willing and able to come spend the night with Sam, Bryan and I got to stay at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas (yes, the one with the big ball on top), which was just about a half mile from the start of the race. After a week of highs in the 80s, a cool front blew in Saturday night, so the temperature was in the 40s and it was overcast at the start of the race. It was cool enough, actually, that I bought a navy blue “Dallas” sweatshirt (on sale) in the hotel gift shop to wear at the start of the race, and discarded it about a mile in. (Lest anyone fuss about me littering, I’m told it’s standard protocol for race folks to go along the course afterward, picking up discarded clothing which is then donated to those less fortunate.)

Still, in the corral before the race started I will admit to fighting back tears. Everyone around us was excited, happy (way too many women in full makeup – I will NEVER understand that), focused, or some combination thereof. I was afraid I was about to die, or humiliate myself in some other way. Plus, my Zune hadn’t synced like it should have the day before, so I had no tunes (yes, I realize the irony there, since this was a ROCK N ROLL race). Thankfully, Bryan was once again my savior – he gave me his zune and made the sacrifice to run without – if that’s not love, I don’t know what is!

I won’t bore you with details of the entire route, but it was pretty cool to go under the triple underpass in mile 1 – to run past the white X on the road that marks where President Kennedy was when the fatal shot was fired. It was somehow fitting to be passed by Elvis as we rounded the corner by the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe. At the 5K mark I thought, “hey, I feel pretty good!” I also then immediately thought, “yeah, but it’s WAY early – you have 10 miles to go still.”

The course wound through the Turtle Creek area; we ran through Oak Lawn – it was gorgeous. I was running easy, enjoying seeing parts of Dallas I’d never seen before, not paying attention to who was passing us or who we were passing. Bryan would remind me at times to drink from the cytomax we had on his fuel belt, and he’d also get me water from the water stations if I wanted, so that my klutzy self didn’t have to get into the crowds around them. The bands on the course were kickin’ – playing fun, upbeat hits that everyone could enjoy. There were great spectators and cheer squads cheering us on.

We marveled at the homes in Highland Park – seriously, WHO lives like that? At one point, Bryan pointed out several newspapers on a driveway and said, “they’re out of town.” I laughed and shot back, “or they’re just lost inside that house!” (A man running next to me at the time thought it was funny.) One home had a for sale sign in front that extolled the best virtue of the house – “poo”! Yes, the “L” was missing off the “pool” sign, and yes, I made the boy-humor poop joke.  The course was pretty quiet through Highland Park; we wondered if maybe Highland Park okayed the race route through their area, but on the condition that no bands would “disturb the peace” there. Somewhere in Highland Park, I thought it had been a long time since I passed a mile-marker sign, so I looked at my Garmin for the first time, expecting it to be close to the 4-mile mark. Guess what??? It was at NEARLY 5 MILES, and I still felt great! Yay for me – confidence increasing.

At the 10K mark there was a timing mat and Bryan let me know that I had JUST missed a 10K PR. I told him to hush, that I was just happy to still be running. Between mile 7 and 8, we passed by part of the SMU campus. Now, this was one area where I WAS prepared for the race. I knew the course went by SMU, so I made sure to wear as much TCU gear as I could. There was a photographer at that part of the course, so I made sure to give him my Horned Frog sign and yell “GO FROGS!” as we ran past.

Somewhere just past mile 9, Bryan said to me, “you know that 4-mile loop through the neighborhood? The one we do all the time?” I said I did, to which he said, “You’ve got less than that to go. You’ve got this!” I smiled, gave him 5, and told him not to jinx me. 🙂 I still felt great, but was also still worried that I might still bonk at the end. We continued to admire the homes we were passing, and laughed at some clever signs. One we saw more than once said, “Don’t stop now, people are WATCHING!” Another said, “Don’t stop, Brett Michaels is waiting!”  Our favorite, though, was held by a lady sitting in the median of Swiss Avenue and read, “Run, Complete Stranger, Run!” Just past mile 9.5, we passed by Bryan’s Uncle Rocky’s book store, Paperbacks Plus.

At one point after mile 10, Bryan asked me how much I had left in me, did I want to try to break 2:15? I said I wasn’t sure I had that in me, and he joked that it would “only” take finishing at 8-minute miles (hahahahahah – I’ve never run an 8 minute mile). We turned a corner and Bryan pointed ahead, “See that bridge up there?”

“Uh-huh”

“Know what that is?”

“No…”

“That’s 30. Know what’s on the other side of that bridge”

I took a wild guess, “Fair Park?”

“Yep!”

“Awesome!”

We ran under I-30; for the record, I didn’t much like running under the freeway. It was a little creepy having the cars go zooming over my head. As we were coming into Fair Park, Bryan said something else, to which I replied (again) “Awesome.” Then I heard a familiar female voice say, “NO WAY!” Somehow, Bryan and I had caught up with my friend Kim and her running buddy. Kim was rocking her 4th (I think?) half marathon and was looking strong. We chatted through the rest of the course, picking up the pace a bit as we went. Right at the end, Bryan and I kicked it (for the record, Kim and her friend kicked it harder, and she crossed the line a few seconds in front of me) to finish in 2:18:58.

I was ELATED. I couldn’t believe what my watch said; I couldn’t believe I had made it – RUNNING, no less – the whole way. I. WAS. THRILLED. We went through the finishing chute, got our medals, had our pictures made, grabbed a snack and a water, and headed to the concert area to figure out our next step. It was still cool and overcast and we were sweaty-wet and I was COLD (remember, I threw off my sweatshirt after mile 1?). So, we decided to walk over to the DART station and catch a ride back to our hotel to get cleaned up. I felt a little bad for anyone actually trying to use the DART train for a regular commute, because there were LOTS of stinky-sweaty runners on the train. We got back to the hotel room, got cleaned up and headed back to Fort Worth, to Sam and Granny and (for Bryan anyway) baseball games.

It was a FABULOUS race. It was exactly what I needed to get out of my running funk. It was what running should be – it was fun, it felt great, and it was truly some quality time with Bryan. Thanks again, baby, for having faith in me and for being my personal “sherpa” during the race. Let’s do another one. . . someday. 😉