Friday, March 18th we went to the expo with my mom and my daughters. We picked up our packets which had our shirts, bibs and some snacks and such. The expo wasn't as good as Detroit's. There wasn't very many vendors...they didn't even sell Gu! After we left I had to run to REI to get my Gu for race day. Saturday my cousin had her annual St Patrick's Day party at her house in Dallas. It was fun! We made spaghetti at my house for dinner with Texas toast (carbs, baby!). We figured out what we were going to wear because the weather forecast changed on us. It was supposed to be warmer and we planned on wearing short sleeved shirts and shorts (green, white and orange). It was supposed to be 38 degrees so we had to change our plan. We ended up wearing shamrock scarves in our hair and furry green mustaches that our brother got for us. Lol! We both ended up having to wear running jackets.
On Sunday, March 20th we got up super early, got dressed, ate breakfast and headed out the door. We had decided to take the DART rail from the Rowlett station to Dallas. It was $5 and there was tons of other runners on it. We left the station at 6:30am (the race started at 8am). The DART rail station was so close to the start of the race, it was really convenient! We were in corral 10 but moved up to 8.
The race started and we were on our way. I had no idea what the course was going to be like, I just knew it was supposed to be hilly towards the last 9-13.1 miles. Having the cooler temperature definitely helped during the race. I struggled a bit with breathing and a cramp in my side but having my sister there really helped keep me motivated. People kept saying stuff about our green mustaches and the photographers took a few extra photos of us. Mine fell off after the 5th mile but Maureen's held up the whole race! Ha ha! The course was a bit rough, uneven pavement and slants in the streets made my knees ache a bit which I've never experienced before. The last few miles were SO freaking hilly. Maureen and I picked up a lot of ground here and passed s bunch of people. Apparently I'm not too bad at hills! There was one hill through a neighborhood that was just nuts. I would t even want to drive a car on it because of how steep it is. Lol. We stopped during mile 12 so Moe could pee and I drank some water since it was next to a water station. We were only stopped for less than a minute and continued on our way. It was really cool to run over the Trinity River. It was a fun run and the first half I actually had someone running with me the whole time. Moe and I will be running the half together in Detroit in October, too. She usually runs the full but is running her first 50 mile race in September! Have I mentioned that my sister is a badass? :oD
We finished in 2:26:03! I'm stoked that I did so well with my training all over the place and the hills. My first half was my fastest (2:14:36), my second half I dealt with my femur stress fracture during training and finished in 2:20:29. I was also a few weeks pregnant for my second half!
So here's my goal for this year: I'm going to get a PR in Detroit in October!!! PR means "personal record". I'm aiming for 2:10:00 but REALLY want to get under 2 hours. I joined a gym last month that has childcare included with the membership and have been taking the girls with me. I've mostly been strength training with a bit of cardio for warm up. I've only been able to do a handful of outdoor runs since race day (which is what I prefer, treadmills suck balls). I'll be posting a lot more about my journey. I feel like it helps to keep me on track. Another goal is to build more muscle and lose more body fat. My current weight is actually 5lbs under my pre pregnancy weight but I had a lot more muscle before I had baby number 2 so I'm working on that. That's it for now, I'll recap some other training runs later. Heading to the park with my girls!
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