White Rock Marathon 2007 [Entered 12/13]

This year’s White Rock Marathon would be a return visit for me. It was the site of my first marathon way back in December 1992, which is ages ago. Mostly, I remember walking a lot in that race and being really cold. My time was 4:24 and change back in 1992. I hoped for better results this time.

I drove up on Friday, carrying pretty much every combination of running gear for the marathon. Being Texas, we might get almost anything, so I was ready for all those possibilities. The forecast on Friday said that we would get rain, starting temps in the low 60’s, and dropping temperatures during the race. I could be okay with that, but I was hoping for a little better. Oh, well. Nothing I can do about that. I inhaled an entire pizza for dinner on Friday, and slept the sleep of the overserved runner Friday night. Bliss.

After a great night’s sleep on Friday, I was awakened by Randy and Frank, who in separate phone calls maybe 5 minutes apart, both called to inform me of the wonderful race day forecasts that were coming up on TV. Okay. And after I hung up with Frank, my alarm went off to wake me up. Funny, that. They were right, though. Now, the weather dudes were saying rainy conditions and temps in the 40’s to 50’s, coming as early as noon on Saturday. With that in mind, I put on shorts and a singlet, and met Randy and Frank for the ritualistic EZ 3 miler on the race course.

We walked over towards the nearest race course intersection (Ross and Houston), and on the way, we checked out the Dailey Plaza area and the Texas School Book Depository building. I’ve never seen that, despite living in Dallas for a couple of years long ago. It all looks much more compact than it does on the TV reenactments and shows, but it’s still a sad memory. Anyway, we had a nice jog going backwards along the course, and turned around at about the 2 miles to go mark to head back. We finished at the finish line area, so except for the fact that it was still so warm, we felt good about our reconnaissance run. The finishing stretch for those 2 miles is 3M type downhill terrain. Except for some occasionally uncertain footing, it would be a great finish. On the way back to the hotel, we received a very quick and informative presentation from a guy who just hangs out at the JFK site. He was really good, and we all felt bad that we didn’t have any money with us for his gratuity. We tried coming back later to actually pay him a little something, but he wasn’t visible to us at that time.

A shower and a quick trip to get some bagels, and then Frank and I headed to the Expo. Randy had taken care of that on Friday. We did a little light shopping at the Expo, sailed through the packet pickup, sampled some food and drink goodies, and then got out of there. Chores done, we went to our respective corners and chilled out for a while, awaiting the arrival of the other Gazelles.

The three of us drove the race course later in the afternoon, and except for some confusion during the area after the hills coming off the lake, we pretty much knew what was coming on Sunday. I had forgotten just how big White Rock Lake is, but I had correctly remembered that the hills coming off of WR Lake weren’t all that steep, but they would be a test coming that late in the race.

We met up with Larry and Ava and their friends Tim and Rita, and had a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill (I know, why didn’t we go local? Hey, I was quite content with my dinner. Food exploration could wait for a non-marathon trip to Big D.). By the time we left the Mac at 6:30 or so, we could tell that the long-promised cool front was arriving, which was a relief.

Everyone went to their rooms after that, and I puttered around, pinning my bib on my long-sleeved Gazelles shirt, getting all my stuff laid out, my chip in my shoelaces, my gear bag loaded with post-race stuff, and generally staying off my feet. I played some guitar, working on AT&T songs, kept drinking and snacking, and finally turned out the lights at 11:00. All I had to do now was run the race.

I’m not sure how well I really slept, but it didn’t feel like I got as deep into slumberland as I did the night before. I even woke up at 5:00am, way before my alarm was going off, but I just stayed in bed until the beep, gently stretching my legs. Once the alarm went off, it was time for Accelerade and a banana. I put on warm clothes over my race gear for the walk to the start, and met up with Larry and Frank in the lobby. Now I was finally getting a little nervous. We were a bundle of conversational chatter as we strolled over to the start/finish area, sipping our Gatorade and babbling about the race to come. The weather? For me, it was perfect. It was maybe 50 degrees, heavily overcast, even weirdly misty, and the temps were predicted to drop during the day, so this was as warm as it was going to get.

It was pretty exciting at the start/finish area, as the buzz of the runners filled the air. We found the Gazelles/TriZones tent (thanks, Tracy!!) and hung out there for a while. The rain came down a bit, starting maybe 40 minutes before the start, but again, that didn’t bug me too much. Finally, about 25 minutes to the start, I got out of my warm pre-race clothes, put on my custom-made black plastic trash bag and throwaway t-shirt, and packed up my stuff to be dropped off at gear check. Having wished everyone a good race, I sidled into the crowds and waited to run. The rain fell up until maybe 10 minutes to go, and then it stopped. Nice. Wheelchair start, then elite women started, and then finally, we were off!

Oh, yeah, goals? I mainly wanted to finish with dignity to erase the nasty memory of AT&T 2007, where I walked most of the 6 miles between 19 and 25. Time? Maybe 3:50 if things broke just right, but I planned to go out comfortably, stay away from stupid pacing early, enjoy the trip around the lake, get up the hills, and then see what I had left for the 5 mile downhill finish. Time wasn’t a big deal to me. This was more about style points for me, I think. I wanted to enjoy a marathon for a change.

And they were off. I was lined up near the 4:00 pace group, and I kept their pace balloons in sight for quite a while…sometimes I was ahead, sometimes I was behind. The first couple of miles were spent watching my footing on the sometimes uneven pavement, but the crowds were not an impediment. I was able to run like I wanted all day. The race organizers had permitted exactly the number of runners that the course could handle. The half marathon started an hour later, so we didn’t have the issue of massive crowds to the half marathon cutoff point like many races do. I enjoyed the handbell choir at about mile 1.5, playing “Deck the Halls.” From there to about mile 4, where we were on Turtle Creek Blvd., the streets had a curious combination of bricks, streetcar tracks, and asphalt, sometimes all at once. I kept to the asphalt as much as possible, given that the other options would be slick with the morning mist and rain.

I ran with an ultramarathon guy from about mile 2 to mile 10 or so, although we wobbled apart a few times at water stops. It was amusing to have someone to chat with a bit. We deciphered the bib colors, which were thoughtfully done. White bibs were pre-registered marathoners. Blue bibs were pre-registered first time marathoners, which I thought was a nice touch. Gold were the late registrants. The bibs had our first names on them, which is great, but it does freak you out a bit when you’re in a strange city and folks are yelling at you late in the race (“Go, Jay, Go!!”).

The course was pretty once we got to Turtle Creek, and for many miles, we cruised through neighborhoods that were almost shockingly loaded with money. Many of the houses were obviously rebuilds on lots that formerly held normally scaled homes. The newer ones were easy to spot, because they were built absolutely to the setback limits of the lots, and all towered skyward from there. Amazing, really. And the Christmas decorations that the homeowners had contracted for were stunning as well. Okay, that’s the end of my social commentary.

I was making good time through this portion of the course as it gently eased uphill to about the 7 mile mark. I was doing a good job of pacing, and I felt fine. I took my gloves off at about mile 5, and tucked them into my waistband. I would need them later. I stayed on my GU schedule of every 4 miles, and took Gatorade on the water stops between the GU stops. The Gatorade was regular strength, but as the race went on, I started diluting it with water to make it better for my tastebuds. Once we reached the peak of the early uphill section, it was time to settle in for a long stretch of gentle downhill or flat running.

When we reached Greenville Avenue late in mile 7, I finally got the first live music of the morning. The band there at the corner was blasting out the inevitable “Sweet Home Alabama.” What is it about that song that it is seemingly played at every marathon? Right after that, we turned onto Ellsworth for a couple of miles, and we had a bunch of bands right in a row on that street. I was pleased with that. It was mostly bands with members who looked to be suspiciously close to my own age or above, but that was okay with me. That just meant they would be playing tunes that were in my wheelhouse! I heard “Gloria” and “Summertime Blues” from full-out bands, a solo acoustic tune from a young woman, and an unidentified rock tune from a band that was literally a “garage band,” in that they were set up in someone’s garage, playing to the street and those of us running by them. After those bands, we drifted down a downhill to the lake and the long journey around it. Good running here.

Around mile 8, I chatted with a guy who was a first-time marathoner, and it turns out that he had lost some 140 pounds last year, and then threw himself into fitness events, doing three 100 mile bike rides, some sprint triathlons, and now the marathon. I cautioned him to run nice and easy since it was still pretty early in the day, and then eased away from him once we hit the lake. I hope he had a good day.

Mile 9 was the last mile split before we really got going on the lake, and then we popped onto Lawther, and started that journey around water. The wind kicked into action on the lake, but it never bugged me all that much. I enjoyed its cooling effects since I was feeling a bit too warm right before that in the neighborhoods. I put the gloves back on around mile 10, and they stayed on for the rest of the race. The temperature was dropping, but the rain was staying away. Awesome! Mile 10 came and went, and it was time to check my numbers. Phase One complete.

Splits miles 1-10: 9:34, 9:10, 9:17, 9:06, 9:07, 9:15, 9:12, 9:04, 8:59, 9:04. I was taking short walks through the water stops, especially when I was taking a GU. Overall pace through 10 miles was 9:11. I could see the 4:00 pacers just ahead, so I was content with where I was. Onward.

For about 3 miles on the lake journey, it seemed like there wasn’t any live music, but it was okay. I was enjoying the trip, and I just took in the sights and sounds of the race as they came. I seem to remember that a drumming group was somewhere around mile 12, and then we found ourselves on an actual big road for a short distance, as we hit Northwest Highway. There was at least one band set up on NW Highway, and they finished up “I’m A Man” as I was running towards them. They started up “Down On The Corner” by Creedence as I passed them. Good job, boys!

After that, it was back on the road along the lake, and although there were more bands along that stretch, as well as some radio stations with their music playing, it was a fairly fallow portion of the course for memorable music. But, then again, I was supposed to be about running, right?

The half marathon point came and went, and I was pleased to note that I was at 2:00:15 at the half. Crowd support was okay at this stretch, apparently because it was easy for folks to park and stroll down to the race course. More running, more pavement, and somewhere in there, I passed Gayle, who was working out a muscle issue. Quick greetings exchanged, I moved on. About at the mile 17 mark, I started thinking about the hills ahead, and made a mental note that it would be okay to walk up the steepest portion of the hills, especially if we had made a navigational error the day before and the hills were steeper than we had seen. The 30K mark came and went, and finally we passed under a big banner proclaiming that the hills were coming…or something to that effect. I was still passing people, and I enjoyed the band right there at mile 19. They were cranking out a Creed tune, I think.

I was relieved when I saw that the hills ahead were indeed the ones that we drove the day before. And it turns out that I was able to get up them without too much agony. I shifted into a hill-climbing gear, and just chugged up them. All that Gazelles hillwork came into play there, for sure! At the 20 mile marker, we had pretty much done all the climbing that remained, and I was pretty happy to be moving along. Okay, Phase Two was complete. 10K to go.

Splits miles 11-20: 9:11, 9:06, 9:06, 9:08, 9:06, 9:31, 9:36, 9:27, 10:00, 10:17. Pace was slipping, but I was just chugging along. Water stop walks were getting a touch longer, but that was still all the walking. Overall pace down to 9:19.

At that point, I reset my goals to focus on keeping the walking down to a minimum, and to find a running gear that I could sustain. My only issue was that my legs were just hurting a bit. No bonking, no other issues, my legs were just very tired. That’s a big issue, of course, but you can handle that sort of thing.

I saw a friend of mine after mile 20, where his band was playing on the course. That was a lift to see and hear them. From there, it was a long long journey down Swiss Avenue and Lakewood. A band played “Proud Mary” at about mile 21, and another band played “Hey, Jealousy” about a mile later. It kept me going, that’s for sure. I was walking a bit here, but still mostly running. A couple of ambulances came through the runners in those last miles, which was sad to see.

Finally, mile 23 came and went. I got sick and tired of a relay runner who popped into action after the hills, though. He was one of those “Hey, runners, let’s go! Almost there! Pick it up!” guys….even though he was only 2 miles into his day, and we were at mile 23. If I could have caught him, I fear that I might have caused him bodily harm. True words.

The half marathoners merged with us after the 24 mile marker, and at that point, I decided I needed to pick it up for the home stretch. The half marathoners merging at that point were, what, 3:10 half marathoners? It wasn’t hard to get around them, that’s for sure. My mile 24 wasn’t pretty, as I think I succumbed to the Walk Daemon a bit more than I’d have liked, but from there, it was better and better.

I had a final surreal moment going under the big overpass after the half marathon merge. We went into the darkness under that overpass, and my eyes started playing tricks on me. It felt like they weren’t adjusting to the darkness, almost like they were switching on and off, flickering. I was happy to get out from under there, that’s for sure! Now we were on the portion of the course that we had run the day before, and I was once again convinced of the usefulness of such a reconnaissance run. I really knew what was coming, and that helped a lot. I enjoyed the downhill nature of the finishing miles, and I was really happy to see that final corner come up at Ross and Houston. I was passing people again during those last miles, and that’s always a confidence booster. I thought I was really moving along, but later split analysis showed that my sense of speed was perhaps distorted. At any rate, I picked it up as best as I could, and finished with a smile on my face (I think). I was done, and I didn’t even hate it!

Splits miles 21-26.21: 10:17, 10:15, 10:35, 11:45 (ugh!), 10:09, 9:34, and 0.21 miles in 2:00 (9:31 pace). Overall, I had dipped to 9:34/mile pace, and a 4:10:51 finishing time. I’ll take it.

I really needed the space blanket after this race, and I found my way to the baggage check without too much trouble. I saw David Vance at Baggage Claim, and heard about his amazing marathon debut! Post-race bag in hand, I went into the American Airlines Center for warmth and a change of clothes. The walk down to the floor of the arena looked daunting, so I found a spot in the stands to change clothes. I checked in with Frank and Randy, and found that they had left the building already. After mixing up my Endurox and changing into warm and dry clothes (how awesome is the simple warm and dry clothing thing?), it was time to head to the hotel. Oh, yeah, the band inside was really good. They were one of those 12 piece bands with horns and everything, and they were slamming on some funky tunes. Very nice.

The walk back was quite refreshing. Sure, my feet were a bit tired of things, but the walk helped my legs. I checked in with my family as I walked, and by the time I was back at Reunion, I was very happy with my day. I’ll skip the details of the interminable wait for the valet folks at the Hyatt, but I will say that Frank and I had a wonderful post-race pizza and adult beverage before hitting the road.

Frank decided to ride back with me instead of dealing with the airport, and I was grateful for the company. We had an amusing stop at a 7-11, though. I filled up the car (and it was quite cold by now outside!), and then wandered in for a Big Gulp Dr. Pepper. Yeah, boy! Anyway, we looked at snack foods and candy, and couldn’t find anything that cried out to us, so we went to check out. The girl at the counter looked up from her phone call and said to Frank and me, “Is that all you’re getting?,” meaning our drinks, and when I said yes, she said, “Okay, go on.” So, I take that to mean that her phone call was more important to her than actually waiting on customers. We laughed for 10 miles about her. Good conversation was had on the drive home, and finally the long day was over. I was happy to be home, and another marathon (number 17) is in the books.

Final thoughts: I think I got about what I deserved from the race on Sunday. I had been doing the Gazelles workouts, but I haven’t been very diligent about the recovery runs between workouts. Those extra weekly miles are important, and I will make sure I take care of that once I start back. Also, I’ve been terrible about getting to the gym for that important weight work. That will be my December project, to get back to the gym and make it a full part of the process. Other than that, I have no complaints. My nutrition was good, my long runs were good, my pacing was good, and I was rested. So, lessons learned, I’m going to enjoy my recovery time, and I’ll be back Gazelle-ing in a few weeks.