Dallas Half Marathon Recap (or…That Time I High Fived Meb)

This past weekend was the Dallas Marathon, Half, & Relay. This was a big one. A sold out event. Live TV coverage. Huge city. Running royalty like Meb, Deena Kastor, Ryan & Sara Hall.

I ran the half. I was hoping to PR, and maybe break 1:40, but it wasn’t in the cards. I still had a decent race and a great time!

Big state, little medal…It’s all good in da hood.

It all started the day before at the Expo. I had carpooled down with three female friends…Mistake!!! They treated it like a shopping outing, hahahaha! We were there for hours. At least it gave me plenty of time for red carpet photos.

White sunglasses.

Red sunglasses.

After that, it was time to rest up for the race! But like most pre-race nights, I didn’t get much sleep (kept thinking I’d miss the 4 am alarm). But luckily I made it up early to carpool down with another friend. I was glad we were there early to avoid the stress of running late. We chilled for a while before heading to the corrals.

On the way I bumped into Meb! The Meb! But I let him alone so he could focus on his race. I’d see him again later…

I also ran into a bunch of non-Olympians…

Some runner friends before the race.

When I got to corral A, I ran into a bunch of members of the WRRC who I trained with most of the summer/fall.

I thought we were supposed to wear our grey t-shirts that day.

Then it was time to race! After some fireworks and confetti, we were off!

The elites waiting at the starting line.

There was about a 15 mph wind, and it was in the 60’s and like 90% humidity. There was mist in the air and the streets were wet with slickness. The first 9 miles were generally a long steady incline.

Da course & elevation

Conditions weren’t great for a PR, but I gave it a go anyway:

5k ~ 25:08 ~ 8:06 per mile

10k ~ 49:15 ~ 7:46 per mile

Halfway and so far so good. But then the humidity and hills took its toll. I started to slow.

15k ~ 1:14:12 ~ 8:04 per mile.

Finish ~ 1:45:01 ~ 8:01 per mile.

Final Results ~ 501/8441 Overall & 75/510 Division

I was hoping to break the PR I set in October, but wasn’t happening. I was still happy because this was my 2nd fastest half to date!

On da course.

I haven’t always viewed this race in the best light. But I gotta say, the changes they made this year were great! Except for a few bail bond and pawn shops, the course was pretty scenic. I like how we went through many Dallas landmark neighborhoods.

And the energy was terrific! In particular the crowd support was AWESOME! And it was great to see so many friendly faces along the way, like my pal Tory who went all out with his cheer station…

Tory, the sign master.

There was definitely a lot of creativity by the spectators.

After the race with my pal David, and his malfunctioning umbrella.

It was also cool during and after the race, where I can’t even count how many racing friends I ran into…

My friend Sylvia..I’m pretty sure that was her first half!!!

Another cool thing was my local elite friends had a good showing too. Our friend Brent got 7th place overall in the marathon! And my buddy Logan came in first place overall in the half, with a time of 1:08:20!!!

Logan at the finish!

After the race, it was time to celebrate!

Group shot 1.

We had a rotating group of some really strong runners join us for some craft brews.

Group shot 2.

But I gotta say, the COOLEST thing that happened that day was Meb giving me a high five! He was running the first leg of the relay. After he passed the baton, he hung around to support the runners. When I saw him, I made a detour to hit that opportunity (literally)! So cool! And what’s even cooler, later on I got to meet him formally!!!!

Me & Meb. Like peas and carrots…or maybe tortoise and hare.

All in all it was quite a whirlwind. I’m still processing it all. I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed this race. I may have to sign up for next year already!!!

How bout you? Did anyone else race Dallas? Hang out with any Boston Marathon champs recently? Seen any creative race supporters lately?

-Scott

Interview with someone who runs really fast.

A buddy of mine here in Dallas recently qualified for the US Olympic Trials in the Marathon.  He did so by running a 1:03:55 half marathon.  His goal in the 26.2 is to run right at 2:15.  I know a lot of people who have a goal of breaking 2:00 in a half marathon.  So that gives you an idea of how fast these people are moving.

My fastest ever mile was in high school at 5:04, he was running faster than that for 13.1  If you want to know what goes through the head of someone running sub 5 minute miles in a half marathon, here’s the link to an interview he just did about that race.

I bump into Enoch on the roads, trails, and at races around town.  He’s always very supportive of us non-elite runners.  And we are supporters of him as well.  So congrats to him for this accomplishment!

How bout you?  What are your thoughts on running that kind of pace? 

-Scott

Running with Elites – Get Ready to Work it!

This weekend was meant to be an “easy” one in my Disney Dopey Challenge training.  It was supposed to be a laid back 10 miler on Saturday and cross training on Sunday.  Well, the laid back 10 miler turned out to be not so laid back.  That’s because I ran part of it with an elite runner.  Lemme splain.

I can’t wait to get Dopey, fo realz.

I was running by myself.  Enjoying the cool 50 degree temps.  Maybe because of the weather, or because I knew I didn’t have to run back to back days this weekend, but my pace was getting faster and faster as the miles passed.  Working on that negative split, yo!

Then I came to the appropriately named Arbor Hills Nature Preserve.  There I first ran into my buddy The Dancing Runner.  We had an brief chat, wished each other luck, then I went for a loop in the preserve.  It was hilly, but pretty.

Views from the AHNP.

When I came out, I then ran into my Elite runner buddy – Logan Sherman.  We had a quick chat and determined that we were both heading the same direction after leaving the preserve, and so he said he’d run with me.  I thought, “How in the world is this going to work?!?”

Recently profiled in Competitor Magazine.

This guy runs 5 minute miles when he wants to.  His next goal is running a sub 1:05 half marathon at the USA Half Marathon Championship in Houston this January.  That would qualify him for the Olympic trials.   My last half marathon I ran a little over 8:00 minute miles.  I didn’t want to hurt his workout too much, so I picked up the pace the best I could and we hit the road.

Yes, that’s him running with Kenyans.

Obviously, he had to slow down his pace a to run with me, and we ended up going around 7:00 minute miles.  That’s normally my 5k pace, not normally the last few miles of a 10 mile training run.  But I’m glad to say I held up alright.

The whole time we ran, we were talking.  It was hard for me to get words out while breathing that hard, but I did manage to make a few complete sentences.  One cool thing is every other runner/walker we passed, he would yell out words of encouragement to them.  He did the same to me.  Saying stuff like, I was looking strong and relaxed.

When it came time for our paths to split off, he gave me some more encouragement – saying he was proud of me and that the pace was easy for me.  I thanked him, wished him luck on the rest of his run, and told him to keep up the good work.  Then he was off in a blur.

With Logan and Friends after a recent social run.

I’ve run with other elite runners before, but usually as part of a large social group, and at a casual slow pace – not one on one.  So this run was a fun and inspiring experience. It gave me some confidence knowing I can really pick up the pace at the end of a run.

I want to continue to become a better runner, and continue to get faster.  I’ve got some work to do, but hopefully sometime in the future I’ll be able to hang for more than just a couple miles.

What about you?  Have you ever run with a crazy fast person?  How’d did it go?  Would you find it inspiring or intimidating?

Running Sick and Elite Help

So apparently I’m still sick, not so that I have to take of of work, but so that I’m having a hard time being myself.  I’m tired, sore, and gots no energy.  But I’m still trying to fight through it as the Rock n Roll Half Marathon is next week.  Problem is, every time I try to run, it really saps my strength.  And I definitely am more sore and take longer to recover.  It’s crazy.  I’ve had a hard time finishing my last couple long runs all together.  But I’ll keep on carrying on.

St. Pats is coming up and maybe some Guinness will do me good.  It always has before.

But other than that, the peeps we’ve been training for the half marathon have been doing great.  However we wanted to offer them some extra info, and to our luck, local elite runner Logan Sherman agreed to speak to our group.

Some of these folks are training for a race. Some are training for St. Pats Day!

Whenever I see Logan at a race, no matter the distance, I know pretty much everyone else is running for second place. Just the other week he won the Cowtown Ultra Marathon.  But he is also about to graduate as a chiropractor.  He’s very in tune with athlete’s bodies and has certifications in all sorts of treatments like ART.  So it was very cool that he came to talk to us.  He shared lots of tips about nutrition, proper warm ups, general health, and injury prevention.  He also took the next couple hours to answer any questions we had.  Very interesting and informative.

Getting some Q&A time in. Also, when I look at people, I don’t see color.

Why do I tell you this?  Cause I think we all need to take advantage of educational opportunities that are around us.  If you’re interested in something, seek out some experts and pick their brain marbles.  You never know what you might learn and how it may help you in your endeavors.

Sláinte!