Dallas Rock n' Roll Half Marathon Recap

It was a really long weekend, but I have survived another weekend and am stronger for it.  It was a weekend full of airline mishaps, multiple issues, weird weather, and even Troy Aikman!

Saturday Before the Race (Stuck in Airport Purgatory)

I had a nice day of traveling planned.  That is, the PLAN was well laid out and everything was thought of, but then life happened.  I boarded my first flight of the day in Fresno, California, and was settling in for a short flight to Los Angeles where I had 40 minutes to catch my connection to Dallas.  We pushed back from the gates and the pilot started the engines - or at least he tried to.  One of the engines would not start.  He tried again but it wouldn't go, so the maintenance line crew was called out and they were able to get the engine started right away.  Our flight left the airport about 40 minutes late.

On the way to Los Angeles, I was talking to the flight attendant about my connection issues.  I was going to have about 2 minutes to make my flight.  We landed and they let me off first to run to the gate just in time to see my flight pushing pack.  They re booked me on new flights, now flying through San Francisco to get to Dallas.  This had me worried because now I was only going to get into Dallas at about 4:25 and still have to try and make it to the race expo.  I had to make it because the Rock and Roll marathons require that you pick up your race number and packet the day before and they are very clear in all their documentation - there are no exceptions.

So, I board my flight to San Francisco and we push back from the gate.  At least I was on my way and had an hour to make my connection.  Then the pilot told us that, because of bad weather, we had to wait on the ramp for an hour.  Here we go again.  We finally go in the air and we made it to San Francisco just in time to see my connecting flight leave without me - again.  At this point, I finally get re booked on a later flight getting me into Dallas at about 10 p.m. and it was setting in that I was not going to make the expo.  I thought for sure I was not going to be able to run the race.

I spent the next four hours calling and emailing everyone I could think of to try and get some help in Dallas getting my race number.  Many of you know that because you got a call or email.  By the time 3:00 p.m. rolled around in San Francisco, I knew the race expo just closed in Dallas and I was too late.  Several friends and family told me to go home, not to spend any more time or money trying to get to the race.  But, I am hard headed and I was still going to try.

My flight landed in Dallas around 10 and I finally made my way to the hotel, getting to sleep around 11, ready to wake up at 5:30 the next morning (3:30 California time) to get to the start line at 6:00 a.m. when the information tent opened.  I thought it was a long shot, but I wanted to try.

Race Morning

5:30 a.m., 3:30 California time, and after only about 6 hours of sleep I am up and ready to try and beg for the ability to run the race that I flew 2/3 of the country to get to.  Dallas on Saturday got to a high in the 80's, but on Sunday a cold front had moved in and it wouldn't break the 60's.  The morning was even colder and very windy.  Nonetheless, I got suited up in my race clothes, no warm up clothes because I didn't have a gear check bag, and I made my way to the start line.

I found the Solutions tent and felt a twinge of hope as I looked in and saw a stack of race numbers.  Much to my excitement, I found the good people with the Rock n' Roll Marathon series were going to let me run and they had my personal race number there.  I pinned it on, put the timing tag on my shoe, and I was ready to race!

Now what?

It was about 6:20 at that point, more than an hour and a half before the start and I was in shorts and a t-shirt in the cold and wind.  I stopped by the fruit tents, grabbed a banana, and then found several people hanging out inside the tent to stay out of the wind and stay warm.  I hung out there until about 7:30, made several new friends, and made my way to my race corral.

The Start Line

I stepped into Corral #2, my assigned corral that was close to the front of the pack, and was able to see all of the pre race festivities.  Troy Aikman was introduced, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders were dancing, and the environment was electric as usual.  Then the National Anthem was played, something that still gets to me every time I hear it.  It means that much more when it is sung before a sporting event that I am participating in.

The gun went off, and we were racing.  After the first coral left and we waited for our wave start, we were off on our 13.1 mile journey.

The first few miles

The first miles started in downtown Dallas.  Mile 1 took us through Dealy

The race pushed through a couple of underpasses and things were going good.  Then, at mile 2, I felt a snap in my right calf, the one I had pulled.  I filled with dread, thinking my race was over.  I slowed my pace by about a minute a mile, noticing the pain in the calf.  But, the slower pace worked out the kinks and a mile later I was confident that I would finish the race, just a little slower.

The race continued outside the city and the next thing we know, we were in a residential area.

The middle of the race

The middle of the race was frustratingly uphill.  Most of it was a gradual winding uphill run through some very rich neighborhoods.  This millionaires row of houses was amazingly extravagant and the homes were bigger than you could imagine.  It would have been quite enjoyable but for the uphill.  At this point a guy running next to me said "The last 5 miles are all down hill."  That was at least a little comforting, until thinking that I had about half the race to go still.

The last 5 miles

As promised, the last 5 miles was a gradual downhill run as we punched out of the neighborhoods and progressed back towards downtown.  The run felt great at this point.  My calf was not hurting and I knew I was going to finish strong.  The miles ticked by.  Then, at mile 11 a runner was coming up on me from behind.  He nodded to me and said hi.  I ran with him for a while before realizing that I was running with a sports legend.  I was running side by side with the one and only Troy Aikman.  Here I was, running in a sporting event right along side a hall of fame NFL quarterback.  WOW - you can't buy an experience like that.  As we closed in on mile 12, Troy was slightly pulling away from me on his way to the finish.  That was really fun.

We then would towards the cotton bowl, the finishing line at fair park in Dallas.  The environment was amazing and with all the barricades and spectators it felt like I was a pro athlete for a moment.  We turned the last corner, and there was the finish line.

The finish

With the electric crowd cheering, it was great to see that I was crossing that line for another half marathon finish in less than 2 hours.  I crossed under the line with 1:56 on the boards and an official chip time of 1:54:56, in about the top 1/5 of all runners.  Now that is something I can be proud of.

I could have given up along the way at many points, from the flight problems to the calf issue.  But, I stuck it out and there I was, crossing the finish line.

What a weekend.  I'm glad to be home, but I had a great time thanks to all the good people of Dallas and the Rock 'n Roll Marathon team.