Big D Half Marathon 2011 Race Report

On April 10, 2011, I ran Big D Half Marathon in Dallas, Texas. This was my 5th year to run the race. I have now run it in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. It was my first half marathon in 2005, it was my second half marathon and my first after I'd had my daughter Marissa in 2008, a PR in 2009, my first half marathon while pregnant in 2010, and my fifth race of half marathon or longer for the year in 2011. Phew. The race has always been significant in my memory with all of that. I'm also friends with the race director so each year for the last 3 years I coordinate, recruit volunteers, supervise, and work packet pickup at the main location in Dallas to make sure about 1500 of the almost 5000 total runners get their packets and are greeted with a friendly face over those three days.  This of course means I've just spent 28 hours on my feet. Oh, and the day before the race this year, I timed another race for a friend which required me to get up at 4:20 in the morning. Yawn.

So I'm typically not very fresh going into this race. I had my race plan for this one. Since it was my 4th week of races of half marathon or longer, I wanted to just "take it easy". I figured that would end up around where Rock N Roll Half had in good running weather 2 weeks earlier, which was a 2:44 finish.

However, it was super hot this April morning of Big D. 72 degrees...at the start. And it just went up from there. In the 80s when I finished. Not a cloud in the sky either. HOT.

I carpooled down with Marcie to the race. We were there plenty early which left us tons of time to gear up, Bodyglide up, sunscreen up, and walk to the start to find friends. A group of us met up at the Gear Check tent.

From left to right: EW, Dana, Erik, Elaine [kneeling], Michelle, me, Marcie, Lesley, Robin, and Emily.

The race starts, and between "take it easy" and "it's hot", I decided on this... I ignored my watch and just ran comfortable, ran by feel (something many people know is hard for this overly analytical gal). I saw friends, would say hi, they'd pass me or I'd pass them. I had an awkward moment where I came up on 3 "friends", one of whom was talking bad about me. LOL, it was all due to a misunderstanding involving another mutual friend, and lawdy did everyone jump as I literally jumped into the conversation to correct why she was badmouthing me. It was divine intervention and I'm glad we cleared the air because I didn't even know she was thinking like that. But man, what an awkward moment. How much badmouthing of me is happening at paces I could not possibly ever come upon someone at? ;-)

Around mile 4 saw my good friend Elizabeth. She's an amazing runner, and you'd never know looking at her that she has 4 children. And this race was the second marathon of her weekend - her first double marathon weekend! She was trying to settle into the uncomfortability of her body, and I'm glad I spent a half mile with her trying to reframe some of the, while not truly negative, less than happy thoughts she was evoking. :-)

Again, just ran comfortable and enjoyed the sights. I was getting tired the last couple miles. It was becoming truly hot out there and the last couple miles are completely unshaded so we took the full brunt of the sun. I kept a slow jog going the whole time and had to have passed over a hundred people in that last 2 miles who were walking it in.

It was very hard not to try to race it in or give a big kick at the end. Even my pride was hurting a little to continue the slow jog through the spectators and into the finish - I wanted a sign that said, "I have more to give but I'm smarter than that." I know I have 16 more weeks of marathon training and tuckering myself out there would have accomplished nothing.

I finished in 2:45:58, which is only a minute slower than Rock N Roll Half 2 weeks before and in temps 30 degrees hotter. And felt about the same afterward, LOL!

I hung out post-race, saw friends, then headed home to do 3 more miles to bring the day's total to 16.19. A few hours later, the family did a 0.6 mile walk with stroller and tricycle and both kids, so brought the day's total to my highest ever of 16.79 miles!

Splits:
Mile 1: 12:12
Mile 2: 12:37
Mile 3: 11:47
Mile 4: 11:33
Mile 5: 12:29
Mile 6: 12:31
Mile 7: 13:04
Mile 8: 12:57
Mile 9: 12:54
Mile 10: 12:40
Mile 11: 12:48
Mile 12: 13:11
Mile 13: 13:20
Last 0.16: 11:57 pace

2011 Hells Hills 25K Race Report

After hearing other friends making plans to do this race, and a little Twitter pressure, I thought it would be so exciting a month or two ago to jump in with these friends and do my first trail 25K, and my only my second ever 25K (also the longest distance race I've done). Hells Hills had a 25K, 50K, and 50 Mile race on April 2 in Smithville, Texas, about an hour east of Austin.

I was definitely apprehensive. I didn't know what to expect, and while I felt I performed well for my fitness level, "Sandlands" aka Grasslands Half Marathon left me with dread (I was not a fan of the course). But I was with friends, and that makes everything better.

Friday, Corina, Jeremy, Stacy, and I loaded up her little "EBV" (Electric Blue Vibe car) and headed down to Austin. We had dinner at a local Italian/Mediterranean place in Bastrop, TX, which is where we were staying the night, about 20 minutes from the race location.  There was a BIG crew of friends, about 10, doing this small race, and pretty spread out among those doing the 50M, 50K, and 25K.

An early bedtime, then up at 3:30 am. Ugh, this night owl wasn't happy. But recently I'd found that a super early wake-up time gave me a better chance of settling my fickle stomach that had most recently made the Austin Half Marathon an awful experience. With less rushing around with plenty of time to get ready, this helped calm my nerves and my nervous tummy.

At 5 am, Jeremy, Fawn, and Matt started the 50-mile race.

Jeremy (@jldrunner), Fawn (@milanorunner), Matt (@raceforothers)

Hanging out, chatting with friends, then Corina, Julie (First 50K!), Greg (First 50K!), Dat, Kevin, Derek, and Sarah all started the 50K race at 6 am. I had until 7 am to get prepped and would be starting with friends Tracy, Stacy, and also Katie (doing the 10K).

Front row: Katie (@kluper), Dat (@rundatad), Julie (@julie_runs), Corina (@UltraMamaC), Sarah (@EclecticTrixie). Back row: ME (@libbyruns), Greg (@UltraNinjaRunnr), Derek (@trigolfer)

It was just getting light when we started, which meant about 120 runners starting out in a pack in "almost light". A little scary for the first 15 minutes. It took a couple miles to spread out. I was with Stacy for a good bit of this but end of mile 2 I had a good downhill and took advantage of the momentum to get a little speed going. From then on out, I spent most of the race by myself. While 50K and 50M folks were doing multiple loops, I would only be passed a handful of times.

It was a pretty course. We headed up up up hill on switchbacks in the early miles, through pine trees and oak groves. A mixture of soft pine needles, dirt, and loose smooth rocks and gravel underfoot. In the first 5.5 miles before the first aid station, I felt like I had more speed going, but would get nervous when we'd slide and skid down loose rocks on downhill sections, and I was also having to learn quickly how to pick my way around the trail to find the best footing and keep my knees high enough to avoid lots of tree roots. In those first handful of miles was also all of my "almost falls" or "near misses". FOUR times where the front of my shoe hit a tree root HARD and I had a cartoonish arms-windmilling 7 or 8 flailing steps to regain my footing, fingers even brushing the ground one time, and throwing my sunglasses that were hanging from my shirt (lots of cloud cover).

At the first aid station, I hear "Hi, Libby!" Total surprise, who would know me here? It's Kevin, who was running the 50K and started an hour before the 25K folks and had sprained his ankle badly at mile 3.5. :-( I was so surprised and sad to see him that, while I did refill my bottle, I didn't see or grab a small bite of food.

Rocked along for the next 5 miles of switchbacks and gradual uphill into a meadow where we were all expecting bluebonnets. Poor Corina, I thought, she was so looking forward to the bluebonnets and there were a sad few, not a field full like we had hoped. The official race photographer was stationed here and I tried my best to lift those knees - so tired of always looking like a racewalker in these photos. No offense to racewalkers - it's just that I want credit for running if that's what I think I'm doing!

The next aid station was right after this meadow, and I feel like I'm starting to lose my mind. I know this aid station should be at mile 10.7, but my Garmin shows mile 10. I hadn't watched my Garmin much at all - I had been looking at my feet and watching for race markers on trees and branches, but it kinda threw me. In about a mile I catch up to a woman. She says we just passed a marker that said 12. My Garmin is now feeling way off. It starts to mentally break me. With no course map, now I start to feel like around every corner could be the finish. I'm just not liking not knowing how far along I am. :-( I guess between being in the groves of trees with possible lose reception and the Garmin smoothing all the switchbacks to shorten the distance, overall I was coming out quite short.

Then a fellow who had caught up to me a couple times during the race before I would sprint ahead each time caught up again.  A woman's with him.

He has run this course before and says to both of us, "Oh, we have the Grind and the Wall coming up."

I say, "I saw that on the course description. What does that mean?"

He says, "You'll see..." and then he and the woman run off ahead of me.

Consider me officially broken. I spend every turn of the forest now asking, "Is the Grind or Wall around this corner?" and wondering what that could be! How bad could it be? I'm a little freaked out.

And then I get to the sign "THE GRIND" with arrows pointing down and on approach, it feels like a dropoff. I edge up to it, and it's a steep downhill of rocks and gravel. Oh, goody. The Grind. I'm worried about surfing down and hurting myself or the more scary falling forward and doing a bad roll down it. I traverse my way slowly to the bottom. Then I look ahead, and I'm standing in front of a steep steep uphill. Like have-to-put-my-hands-down-to-help-me type of uphill. Idiot, this part is the Grind. The last thing was just the downhill to get to the Grind. Total forehead smack there in the middle of the woods all alone. Turns out the Wall was basically the same thing.

And still, with total Garmin distrust now, every turn comes with "Are we done yet?" feelings. I slowly run / walk my way to the finish. And I just want that darn medal. They've just finished a box of medals and there's a lull. I'm practically begging for a medal as I appear to have fallen through the cracks for a split second. Someone gets me a medal. I have my momentary cry. Don't worry, good cry. I'm amazed at how hard I've been able to push myself with a baby at home who is exactly 4 months old and a C-section scar that's still bright red and hasn't faded yet across my abdomen. I never would have thought I'd do my first 25K PREGNANT, and my second one on a pretty decent technical trail only several months postpartum. I was happily stunned at the finish of that race.

I finished in 3:56. Turns out that my road 25K last July while 5 1/2 months pregnant was only about 30 seconds faster. A weird coincidence that the times were so close.

I drove back to the hotel and showered. I'm always looking for things to get me out of my comfort zone, and trail running fits the bill. I'm not crazy about being dirty, and man, the trails make you dirty!

I returned to sit and relax with all my running friends and we were there the rest of the day until the very last finisher of the 50-mile. So great to cheer every person in, especially to cheer in my friends.

Lessons learned:
1) Ignore Garmin mileage! I did better at Grasslands about timing my energy gels but need to change data fields to focus on time instead of distance and time gels that way. Now with one trail 25K under my belt, I'll also have some general idea how far I am into the course based on relative difficulty to this one and what time I finished this one in.
2) Get used to the "Are we done yet?" around every turn the last couple miles. Other trailrunners told me that feelings not uncommon.
3) Don't sweat the obstacles. Grind and Wall were way worse in my tired brain 12 miles in after that guy had to throw out that remark.

Splits (for what they're worth with a Garmin who didn't register all the distance):
Mile 1: 14:42
Mile 2: 14:33
Mile 3: 15:06
Mile 4: 15:48 (Energy gel - I walk through taking GU so I don't upset my stomach)
Mile 5: 16:18 (aid station)
Mile 6: 15:32
Mile 7: 15:22
Mile 8: 15:18
Mile 9: 16:18 (Energy gel - I walk through taking GU)
Mile 10: 14:18
Mile 11: 16:50 (aid station I think)
Mile 12: 15:16
Mile 13: 18:57
Mile 14: 20:47
Last 0.8 mi: 14:40 pace

March 2011 Monthly Running Mileage - Back to 100 Miles!

March was a good month. After being released 6 weeks post-C-section around January 15th to begin running again, I ran 50.1 miles in January, then 57.8 miles in February. By the end of February, I had run my first half marathon postpartum, so I turned my attention to quickly acclimating back to where I was a year ago before the pregnancy - to the ability to run half marathons every weekend, basically a base long run of 13.1 miles.

So here's how March shook out...

Mileage: I hit 100.5 miles for the month.  In 2010, I was thrilled to hit my first 100 mile month, and then did it 3 months out of the 12 in the year.

Long Runs & Races: I started March with my 3rd year captaining an all-female team for the Texas Independence Relay - 203 miles in 34 hours with 11 ladies! I hosted an 11 mile training run mid-month. The next weekend, I ran my first trail half marathon, Grasslands Half Marathon (half #22), and then I ran Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon (half #23) one week later.

Goals: I've achieved the goal of reestablishing a solid base of 13.1 miles for a long run. In March, I also decided and declared publicly my new goal to run my first marathon at the San Francisco Marathon on July 31st. As part of that, this month I completed my first 3 of 20 weeks of guest posts on the SF Marathon blog as a first-time marathoner-in-training!

Moving Forward
April will bring 4 more weeks of marathon training and a new high for monthly mileage at a planned 121.6 miles (previous high was 110.5). It will also have 2 races: Hells Hills 25K on April 2, and Big D Half Marathon on April 10.


Here's hoping for continued health in this journey to my first full marathon!

Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon 2011 Race Report

This morning I ran the Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon. It was my first Rock N Roll event. I'm typically a big fan of supporting local races (of which Rock N Roll is not) and races which afford more opportunity for running outreach through lower entry fees (again, Rock N Roll is not known for low entry fees), and I'll add I'm a pretty no-frills racer. Disclaimer: So take that all into account when reading my opinions on this event - different people will see different things at an event and feel different ways about it.

Before Sophie was born in December, I needed a race around this time to get myself motivated to get running again post-baby, so when they offered $20 off on 10-10-10 if you registered that day, I said, "Sure, that makes the entry fee reasonable." ($65) Ironically, this was actually my 3rd half marathon of the year - I was back running the second the doctor cleared me 6 weeks post-C-section.

Photo courtesy of Stacy McKinney about 5 miles into the race

I wasn't excited going into this race because time is already at a premium as a mom, and I hadn't thought ahead to the fact that a 14,000 person race means maneuvering through crowds, carefully reading all the race details online, having to go an hour down to Dallas Convention Center to go to their expo Saturday and get my race packet, and then having to get to and from downtown Dallas race on race day. This race took a lot more time than the time to run it! So again, it just left me a little unexcited going into race day.

Then for small and medium sized races, and races with reasonable entry fees, my expectation level for race swag and frills will be diferent than that of a big and/or more expensive race. The expo wasn't as big as Dallas White Rock Marathon (the hall in the Convention Center was much smaller and half of it taken up with Brooks merchandise, so I think it looked fuller but the count of booths, it didn't really appear to be), but packet pickup was very quick and well-organized. The shirt design was super cute on the front and back - however, it was a unisex shirt and a white shirt (not a fan of white shirts at races, especially if you have the connections to afford to do something else). The bib was colorful, but for signing up 5 1/2 months ago, it didn't have my name printed on it, which I believe Dallas, Houston, and Austin all do (and I do for races I direct because I love that perk).

Look, at the end of the day, as a race director myself, I envy the resources and connections Competitor Group has with their race series and their volume of race entry fees to spend on the runners - and so when I feel like they aren't using that to their advantage, I'm sad about that. If Brooks is a huge sponsor, I'd love to see some gender-specific non-white shirts. I'd love to see the extra $0.02 per bib and a couple hours of a staffer's time spent on bib personalization for early registrants. It's that simple.

A cold front came in overnight and it was cold race morning. About 48 at start with wind chill of 40. I'm glad I wore running tights. By the end of the race, my hands felt frozen. And it had just started to drizzle. Luckily though, no rain!

I got down to the start line in a great time, about an hour before the race, and the race site was laid out spaciously so it didn't feel too crowded. However, there was never a map of the start line village on the website or much signage in the area, so people were asking around about where Gear Check was. I have to say Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon does a fantastic job of giving you a race site layout and amazing race morning signage. Austin Marathon this year had a detailed finish line site layout, of which Rock N Roll also didn't have online.

I saw and said hi to many friends, met some friends for the first time (@SarahStanley and @ShannonRuns), and through some phone calls and texts, connected with Elaine and Meagan (visiting from Houston) to hang out for a few before heading to the start corrals.

Plenty of room in the corrals. Wave start was handled very very well. I started about 16 minutes after the gun for being in Corral 9 - felt reasonable and not like we were waiting forever.

My plan for this race: I ran my first trail half marathon last weekend, and have my first trail 25K next weekend. Plus I've struggled to figure out my post-baby pace which really shouldn't be close to my pre-baby pace. My PR was set in Feb. 2010 at Cowtown Half Marathon and was approximately 11:06 pace. So I decided to set out at a 12:45 pace which should be pretty maintainable over the distance. If I felt good at miles 8-10, I could decide anywhere in there to ramp it up.

Spectators on this course were great. I never encountered an aid station that was out of either water or Cytomax (can't be said for some other big races where volunteers find themselves overwhelmed by the time someone my pace gets there). I felt like there were big stretches of time without any bands, but I liked that when we did encounter a band, they were actually playing. I've commented before that at some races, they are always on break when I come by! [Amendment: I've now heard that it sounds like the city of Highland Park wouldn't allow bands through that section of course, which would explain the big segments without music! Very good to know if this is indeed true!]

12:45 min per mile pace went well, in fact I was a little fast early on. I saw more friends than I can even name, both on the course and cheering. Heels and Hills had our hot pink tent at about mile 7.5, and I was happy to see Paula and Sarah at the top of that tall hill! I was surprised there were no split time callers - Dallas Running Club Half Marathon has them, as does Dallas White Rock Marathon. While we're all in different waves, it's still nice to hear a ballpark figure.

About mile 10, I fell in with Traci, who I had just met at Grasslands Half Marathon last weekend. We stuck together until the end, and I started increasing my speed each mile a little. In the end, I felt like we kicked too early (my gosh, running through Fair Park took forever, when will we get there?!?). But I'm very proud of the 8:42 pace I managed that last 0.17 miles!

In the end, 2:44:29, a 12:29 pace! Nailed it!

Finisher medal seemed a little plain but was solid and heavy, but the ribbon wasn't printed which I think is a nice touch for finisher medals. I will say I really liked their design from last year that looked like a sheriff's badge.

Post-race: I am COLD! Ready to go home and warm up!

I'm a bad one to render too many opinions on finish lines. I'm a no-frills girl. I rarely eat or drink much after crossing the finish, don't drink beer, didn't have much interest in the Bret Michaels concert, didn't have to meet up with family. Picking up my gear was easy once I figured out where the school buses we had checked the gear onto were parked. I did see the start of the Bret Michaels concert, and it was cool how close you could get to the stage if you were really into it.

Next up: Hells Hills 25K is only 6 days away!

Splits:
Mile 1: 12:09
Mile 2: 12:36
Mile 3: 12:15
Mile 4: 12:24
Mile 5: 12:55 (walked through taking my Gu)
Mile 6: 12:49
Mile 7: 12:41
Mile 8: 12:32
Mile 9: 13:25 (walked through taking my Gu)
Mile 10: 12:42
Mile 11: 12:30 (ramping it up!)
Mile 12: 12:16
Mile 13: 11:51
Last 0.17 pace: 8:42 (bring it home, baby!)

Motivated By March Madness

I don't know if this is motivating or stupid, and maybe it's both! I use Dailymile as a way to log workouts and connect with and be inspired by other runners. While I know nothing about basketball and care about it as much as the amount of knowledge I have about the sport (zero!), Dailymile was having a Men's and Women's March Madness Challenge. Basically, Round 1 was open to all, and we had 6 days to log as many miles as possible. 150 women participated. They took the top 32, of which I was one (!), to Round 2.

In Round 2, the 32 women had 3 days in which to post their fastest 5K. So Friday night I went out and ran a hard 5K, with a slow slow warmup and cooldown to meet my miles needed in that workout. Yes, not my smartest move since all miles in this training schedule should be run at a slow pace, and not smart with a half marathon on Sunday, but it sure did motivate me to get outside and get those miles in.

Now I've advanced to Round 3 with the top 16 women. We have 3 days to log as many miles as possible again before they narrow it down to the top 8 for the next round. I had an advantage since the challenge started today and I ran a half marathon this morning.

It also will probably determine how I schedule my runs for the week. Frontloading slow miles this week won't be a bad idea since when Saturday comes I'll be running 15.5 miles at my first trail 25K! So this Round 3 is still motivating me, and because the pressure is on to log miles, it's forcing me to make sure I run them very slow to keep myself injury-free, and that's always a good thing.

Wish me luck! Round 4 is based on 10K time and I'm down to some very fast, high mileage ladies, including my friend Blanca, who have this in the bag. While I know I can't win the whole thing, it's been fun, and motivating, to make it this far.

Marathon Training Plan Clarifications Part I - Pace

I recently wrote up and shared my training plan here with others, and realized there were things I'd left out. One big one: pace for my runs. I was focused on sharing the structure, the total weekly mileage, and the progressive overload of hard (longer) versus easy (shorter) runs during the weekdays along with the long runs on the weekends, that I never ever talked about what my plans were for what speed I was actually planning on running these 600+ miles until San Francisco Marathon.

My plan focuses on basebuilding. There's not really speed focus anywhere in that plan I've put together. I've got to get my long run up up up to meet the challenge of the marathon, and, to keep me less likely to get injured, that means I need to get my weekly mileage way up too to handle the physical stress of those long runs better.  So my working sole on basebuilding, every single run in the training plan is intended to be run at the same pace - an easy pace. Trying to get that VO2Max to go up up up, train my heart and lungs, keep me feeling strong and fresh as I add more and more miles each week.

I've actually had some problems grasping at what a good pace is since I did have a baby by C-section 15 weeks ago, which means I've been back running for 9 weeks. For sure my post-baby pace is NOT the same as my pre-baby pace.

The pace I'm going to go with is about 12:45 to 13:15 min/mi. RRCA run coach certification class taught attendees to go with about 80% of intended race speed. Train slow, race fast.

I plan to reevaluate what's an "easy" pace as the season goes on and my fitness and post-baby body improves and adjusts.

And let's get real. There will be days I don't follow this. I think most runners would go a little mad to be told to run the same pace for every mile of every run for 19 weeks! I'm sure I'll pull some intervals on the treadmill to break the monotony. I'm sure I'll occasionally run one evening faster than I should. But the goal is to have the majority done at this easy pace and get to the starting line trained up and injury free!