White Rock Half

Yesterday i raced the White Rock Half Marathon. It took place in Dallas and was expected to be great weather however when i woke up to rain and temperatures around freezing i knew it would be miserable.

I did a little run warm up trying to stay warm, also some stretches and drills and i went to the start line to do a few strides before the start because i didn't want to miss the start off the race. When i arrived there we were thrown into a Penn and not aloud out. Only the athletes with elite numbers where aloud to further continue warming up. So i had to sit shivering watching the Kenyans and all the Brooks Hanson members stay warm. Just as i was getting frustrated they delayed the start from 9 to 915. So now i was looking at 25Min's of waiting while it started to rain. I stayed positive but note to self sign up as an elite even if its questionable about having elite running status. I am not an elite runner so i didn't even think about it but its worth the benefits.
When the gun went off, i ran a fast 5min mile or a tad faster and i knew i was in trouble running off the back of the lead group. My body wasn't ready to run that speed and was still cold. So the hills settled in and i ran the first 5miles at 5:38pace but i was slowing down because of the hills, that and i was out in sub 16Min's for the 3mile so my pace was starting to worry me. I went through some mental ups and downs but i tried to deal with it because it was my own fault for my lack of warm up and fast opening miles.

Needless to say as everyone was out there it was a tough go, lots of good hills strong winds and lots of rain. I went completely backwards in the race and ended up running 1:14 which is very slow for the paces that i was training. The last few miles i ran in 5:09 pace so i had a little in the tank i guess i was tired of being cold, and wanted the pain to end. It was a good end of the season race, but i wish i could get my motivation back during the middle where i was running at 6min pace.

Regardless it was a good race, i am taking the next few weeks to train and hangout and let my body recover before i start building up the base mileage for next year.

It will be some must needed downtime. I look forward to racing a couple of half's later in the new year where i will pace properly and run my goal of sub 1:10. I was on pace but i got carried away. Oh well so a few lessons learned this weekend.

Dont run the first mile of your half fast just so you can be on t.v.

A proper warm up is essential so warmup away from the start and sneak in at the last second.

A mustache is kewl, but still makes you look dirty, and plus i didnt run any faster.

Thanks again to great fans that cheered on the thousands of racers this weekend.

Cheers