I Can Barely Walk...aka Dallas White Rock Marathon

I arrived in Dallas in time to meet up with my running group at the Expo, plus a friend I met at Cancun 70.3 who was also running. After making the rounds & buying some stuff, we headed off for a quick tour of the 1st 8 miles of the course since it was mostly uphill. From the car, it didn't look too bad, but we noticed the narrow streets. This would turn out to be interesting with the fulls and the halfers on the same course at the beginning. Then, we headed to the hotel & met up for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Dallas, Patrizio's.

Then we headed back to the hotel & prepped for the morning. In the anticipation of running my first marathon & replacing all my memories of my life in Dallas, I did not sleep a wink on Saturday. Not. A. Second. I got into bed, exhausted, and closed my eyes, but all the thoughts swirling in my head, periodic looks to the clock, etc. didn't allow me to even doze off even once. Definitely not good.

Got up early to go walk around outside & get a feel for the weather: warm & windy. Then back up to the room to get ready for the run, stretch my calves & IT bands, load up the car & check out of the hotel. I saw Gareth running around in the parking lot. Then my parents took me, Panther & Gareth over to Victory Park. After hitting the johns, we then met up with Fitty & David for some nervous banter. A few hugs, handshakes & well-wishes, then it was time to line up in our corrals and/or with pace groups.

I decided to start with the 4:15 pace group. I figured the few first miles at 9:44 for warmup would be great, then I could settle into my pace & finish it out. What I didn't anticipate was how crowded the start would be with the fulls & halfers all going out together in the wind tunnel of Victory Park. It was MUCH worse than I expected with the narrow streets. I also didn't realize how pace groups are: everyone jockeying for the best position next to the pace leader. Within a matter of seconds I couldn't find her & felt myself sort of panicking, running diagonally, weaving in & out trying to get near the group again. Then we hit McKinney Ave, with it's brick roads, reflector bumps, and railroad tracks, people started tripping & falling. Again, I was slightly anxious about all of this, still trying to stick with the 4:15 group, and I started getting a side stitch. This never happens to me. I always hear people talking about side stitches, but I never get them. I guess in my panic my diaphragm decided to seize. It was so painful & lasted until about mile 6. I also caught sight of my Garmin & the pace group, supposedly going a 9:44 pace, was at 9:30, 9:22, etc. which was faster than I wanted for a warmup pace. So, I just decided to forget it & focus on getting the stitch to stop, otherwise this was going to ruin the day. My friend Mark's words were in my head "run your own pace and don't be afraid to leave the pace group" and so that's what I did.

I had not wanted to walk the water stops, but they were a real cluster. But I managed to drink both Gatorade & water at every stop except one, but I had been handed 2 bottles of water by different people along the course. I took an eGel at miles 3, 8, 13, 18, and 22, and took Thermolytes throughout the course, as well. My plantars started really hurting at mile 10, but no amount of Tylenol or Advil was making it go away. I adjusted my stride to save my foot, but that caused other problems by mile 14 when the IT band on the opposite leg decided to punish me.

The headwinds, gusting horribly around 36mph around the lake, were tough. At top gusts, I also walked, since trying to run through those was futile, with one hand on the head keeping the hat from blowing off (which it did about 5 times). One of my contact lenses blew completely out of my eye and landed on my cheek. A nice fellow runner with some eye drops stopped & helped me by blocking the wind so I could clean my lens & put it back in my eye. The wind was making my eyes water and it was so full of salt that my lenses were all fogged up. It was also warm, near 72 degrees, so sweat almost immediately turned to salt on the skin. I walked part of mile 17 with my parents, and had to cry a little bit. I was really in pain, and emotional about a lot of things, and I am so thankful they were there. I saw them 5 times along the course, and they yelled words of encouragement.

From 18-23, as I ran through Lakewood, I imagined myself today meeting myself from 1995 & giving her a huge hug. Telling her that she is a wonderful person, strong & beautiful, loved & worthy of so much happiness. I wept openly through these miles, and rid myself of painful memories from my past. My pace had slowed so significantly, I probably could have simply walked faster, but I kept on shuffling through. I mean, at the end of the day, this race for me was not about time goals. And I made a point to high-five every child's hand raised in support of everyone running. I acknowledged every volunteer or spectator who called out my name or "way to go first-timer" along the course. It was simply amazing.

Then, with less than a mile to go, I saw Panther, David, Gareth, and my friend Rodrigo, and they all ran me in. I cried and laughed, and pulled out everything I had (which wasn't much) to push through to the end. I am so thankful they were there, cheering for me, allowing me to feel good about myself & encouraging me, recognizing my hobbling and unsteadiness in the finish corral and clearly seeing I endured a lot of pain on that course. And I'm not even sure how, but it seems I passed 156 runners in the last 10K. And all of my teammates did well with 4 PRs, and 2 BQs. Gareth even managed to PR/BQ after being hit by a truck on the course!

Today, I can barely walk. And I can feel in every muscle how lopsided I probably looked toward the end of the race. I think my triceps are probably the only muscles that do not hurt. But all that said, I absolutely loved this marathon experience, and will carry with me the memory and significance of this race with me forever.

Thanks to everyone who supported me in various ways over the last few months, and sending me well-wishes in my final days & even the morning of. Thanks to my coach for being my friend and leading such an amazing group of thoughtful athletes. I'm glad you encouraged me to not have a time goal for my first marathon & told me to just take in the whole experience. I can save time goals for any other run, and this one didn't need that to make it a memory of a lifetime. Thanks to my fellow athletes who waited FOREVER for me to finish & ran with me in the end. You are a great group and I'm so lucky to know each one of you. I feel a very cool bond with my fellow Dallas runners. Thanks to my parents, who after a night before of no sleep supporting one of my other sisters, still drove up to Dallas and gave me & my friends so much support. You guys are absolutely amazing.

And now I'm officially a member of the club.