Perfect Conditions in Dallas!

Well, maybe if you're a duck or a Navy Seal!

Although it certainly could have been worse, the conditions, in a nutshell, for the 2011 Dallas White Rock Marathon were pretty miserable. It was low forties for the entire race, which wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for the cold rain, heavy at times, that we had to contend with, not to mention the large, small and medium puddles that were unavoidable! Throw in about a 10-15 yard stretch of sloppy mud we had to cross and you'll pretty much get the picture of our experience, not to mention how heavy our shoes were from the rain.

The most difficult part was making a decision on what to wear. Didn't want to get wet and cold, but didn't want to overheat either! I opted for my Gortex running jacket, a ski mask that I just used to cover the top of my head and ears, a nice pair of gloves I purchased at the expo (biggest expo I've ever seen), my light weight tights, and a pair of Race Ready shorts to hold my Cliff Blocks, glucose tablets and a couple of Ibuprofen gels.

All things considered, I feel Rob and I were satisfied with our race. Personally, I had three different race times to record. Since it took so long to cross the starting grid after the gun, my gun time was 4:42.55. My chip time was recorded as 4:31: 47. However, my actual running time was 4:25:27. Somewhere around mile 8 or 9 I had to make a serious pit stop and my Garmin stops when I stop.

I had to wait in line behind 12-13 other runners for 5 port-a-potties. By the time I was back on the course I had lost around 6 minutes. My first impulse was to try and make it up, but my better judgement told me to just hold a comfortable pace and get through the race. After all, I felt I was just darn lucky to make the trip and to finish in a respectable time and get a finish medal and another shirt (you received one shirt for entering and one for finishing).

I finished fifth out of 26 in my age group, 17 seconds out of forth place. The third place finisher posted a 4:18 chip time. Probably couldn't have caught him even if I didn't have the bowel problem!

I actually felt pretty good the entire race and ran, what I felt, was a pretty consistant pace averaging 10:02 (my actual run time) and finished strong the last three miles. My fastest mile was mile 25 in 9:13.

Note #1: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th place in my age group were all 65 years old, newbies to the age group. Young whipper snappers!

Note #2: There are llamas in Kansas!.........Mike