I am starting to believe that Cowtown has a grudge against me. I'm not sure why, I have never done anything to make the city of Ft Worth mad at me...at least, anything that I can think of. Saturday came early, 4:30 to be exact, and Erik and I headed out to Ft Worth. It looked like a beautiful morning, there was a huge moon low on the horizon as we drove towards the wild west. The drive was uneventful and we even ran into our fellow runners, Liza and Vi, as they made their journey to the race. However, I can pinpoint one moment when things started to go wrong...Liza and Vi went straight on the highway and we veered off to another highway. There was a HUGE line of traffic for our exit. "Calm down" I told myself, "it is 6:30, the race is an hour from now....we'll be fine." I shot a text to Liza and found that she and Vi were already parked and ready to go. Daylight came and we were still sitting in this line...when it got closer to 7:00 I insisted that Erik get out of the car and walk. He was running the full marathon and I felt that it was more important for him to be there and mentally right for the race.
I made it off the highway and by some miracle found a parking space...problems solved, right? WRONG! This was the one lot that was charging for parking that day, $3.00 to be exact....and there was a line of about 30 people waiting to pay the one machine there in the lot. I was so tempted to just bail and pay later, but I knew that this would be the ONE time that the car would be towed. So...I got in line with all of the other folks. Current time...7:35. The line was going nowhere and time was ticking and someone finally said that we could just go. While in line I met a girl named Laura, we talked about how this wasn't as big of a deal as we were making it out to be and how we should just settle down. Easier said than done, it felt like a pretty big deal in that moment! Laura and I took off to find the start line, which was a good 5 blocks from the parking lot.
We made it to the start area and found that they had delayed the race start a little bit, which pleased me. I was not pleased to see that I was at the very back, behind the 2 hr 50 min half marathon pace group. I was also stressing out as I was unable to complete my pre-race restroom rituals.
The race finally got going and it felt good to just be running. The beginning was challenging as I had to work my around many walkers and slower runners. I didn't see any mile markers until mile 3, so I had no idea how my pace was setting up. I must have done okay, because my watch read 27:00 on the dot when I saw mile 3-a perfect 9 minute mile. However, I had to make a restroom stop early in the race--which meant lines at the restroom--so I lost 3 minutes off my time. I tried to make the time up, but never really caught up. I wasn't too upset at that point, I was still happy that I made it to the start line!
It was a beautiful day for running and I really enjoyed the sights along the Cowtown course. I have to give a big "shout out" to Diane, who was there watching for her dad. I saw her at mile 6.5 and again around mile 10--it was such a boost to see a familiar face and hear someone cheering for me! Thanks Diane! You rock!
Overall, it was a good race. I could have done without the pre-race stress, but in the end it was okay. I finished in 2:02:26. I was hoping to be closer to a 2:00 hr finish, and if you subtract the 3 minutes for the restroom stop I would be in at 1:59:26. The 1+ miles of uneven brick streets are pretty uncool too...uneven surfaces are so hard on the body. I do think that my quest to chase last year's ghosts away was a success--it was a pain free race and I took about 15 minutes off of my time.
Stay tuned for part 2 of the Cowtown Report...hear about Erik's 2nd marathon, a proposal, and great friends!
That pre-race stress can definitely wreak havoc on your finish time. And those bricks are awful - I hugged the concrete curb or jumped up onto the sidewalk after learning the hard way at last year's race. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think your finish time was awesome, even with all the kerfuffle! :-)
You know, you would think that I would have learned about that street from last year. However, I thought that much of the pain was caused from an injury that I was feeling in my hip. It was better than last year, but next year I'm taking the sidewalk!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support! I am one of those crazy, early people at races so this threw me a bit. I'm afraid that Erik suffered too as he left all of his gels in the car and had to make do with what he could find on the course.
I was worried about that brick road but to tell you.. I loved it. I felt like I got more traction on it. The grooves helped me push and I was flying. I must say I really loved the brick roads.
ReplyDeleteOverall it was a great race and a great day. hanging out with everyone and wonderful weather.
Good job Michelle to you and Erik! Vi too!!