White Rock Centennial Half Marathon: Runners of the TuTu Sisterhood

Six days, two half marathons? Why not? I learned many lessons during the second race of my half marathon double feature. It is pretty amazing how 13.1 miles run six days apart can feel so different from each other. Where should I begin... ?

I was excited because so many of my friends would be coming out for this one. It was going to be a small reunion for almost half of the Mad Dames of the Texas Independence Relay and our tutus would be out in full force. Liza, Kylee, Vi, Cat, and I were the tutu-ed ones; the only one missing from our van was Mel. I also knew that Beer and Bagels buddy Erin would be in attendance and we saw her on the highway on the way to the race. There is something fun about hanging out a car window on the highway at 6:45 in the morning to catch an unsuspecting friend's attention! Erik had a great time talking to people while wearing his new North Texas Runners shirt and it was so easy to spot him in that bright shade of green. Of course, there were many other running friends at this race--who would miss the 100 year birthday party for our beloved White Rock Lake?


Pre-race with Kylee, Liza, and Vi

It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and temperatures in the 60s--a little warm for running, but better than some of the weather we have gotten lately. The sun turned out to be pretty fierce (hello sunburn) and those cool temperatures were gone pretty quickly. You know that the wind was not going to take a day off and we ended up running straight into it during the last 3 miles of the race.


With Beer & Bagels Friend Erin

You know the story: we milled about before the race, took pictures, and then made our way to the starting area. There were supposedly 2200 runners in this race and I always like the energy that a group that size brings to a start line. There were pace groups, but again I decided to run my own race and see how I came out in the end. I really did not know what to expect as I had just lined up at a starting line approximately 145 hours earlier. That being said, we did place ourselves between the 1:50 and 2:00 groups so that we would be running with others of a similar pace.

The first mile or two was pretty uneventful. There was a decent sized hill at mile two, but my split for that mile was faster than mile one so I must have conquered it with little issue. Somewhere between mile one and two we turned around so that we could begin our full loop of the lake (a White Rock loop is just over 9 miles--depending on how you measure and which paths you take). It was both fun and defeating to run back through the start/finish line. It was fun because there was a crowd there and I got lots of cheers for my tutu (the race announcer even singled me out), but defeating because it was a reminder of just how far away the finish line was.

I think that the fatigue started to hit me around mile 6 and that is also where we encountered a few more small hills. These are in no way unexpected as I do most of my long runs at White Rock Lake--like I said earlier "home field advantage". (More thoughts about that later) The heat was becoming noticeable to me and I was sure to take the water stops very seriously and walk through them, getting full cups of water or sports drink and sometimes both. I knew that I was not on any kind of PR pace, but was still holding on to hope that I could break two hours. I became more and more tired with each mile and told Erik to go on somewhere between mile 8 and 9.


Somewhere around mile 6

I could see that my pace was slowing just a bit and it was not likely that I would break the two hour mark. This is where the race really became a mental battle and my "home court advantage" became more of a disadvantage. The miles themselves were not the issue, it was more about racing the miles. There was no doubt that I could and would make it....but how long would it take me? The disadvantage of knowing this terrain so well is that I know where all my usual "breaks" are--i.e. all of the water fountains, etc. I wanted more than anything to just take a break, just walk for a little bit, something...ANYTHING! I also knew that I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't carry out the race with the effort and intention that I started with. When I signed up for back-to-back half marathons, I told myself that I could use the second one as a training run--not worry about the time and just go have fun. I wasn't totally honest with myself when I thought that, it just isn't my personality to not go all out when the clock is running and the time is published.

Splits:
Mile 1 8:53
Mile 2 8:46
Mile 3 8:41
Mile 4 8:48
Mile 5 9:00
Mile 6 9:07
Mile 7 9:08
Mile 8 8:49 (second wind?)
Mile 9 9:18 (nope)
Mile 10 10:55 (restroom stop--complicated by tutu)
Mile 11 9:47
Mile 12 9:31
Mile 13 9:32
Last .36 8:25
Total time 2:03:23
Total distance (by Garmin) 13.36 (guess who didn't run tangents well)
Avg Pace 9:14
32 out of 164 in Age Group
508 out of 1814 total

I finished up the last 5K into a strong wind and even found a little kick to pass some folks at the very end. Running in a tutu was so much fun--I have never gotten that much attention during a race. I loved hearing people shout "Go tutu!" or "I love your skirt!" or the little girls whose eyes would light up at what they thought was a running princess. Cat mentioned that people were affiliating with certain pace groups (the 2:20 group, the 2:10 group, etc) and that she considered herself part of the "Tutu Pace Group". I LOVED it! You have not seen the last of this running tutu!


At the finish line

This race was staged by the Dallas Running Club and they promised us lots of special treats to mark the Centennial of White Rock Lake....and they did not disappoint! First, we all got great Adidas technical shirts with the race logo and the "old school" stripes on the sleeves. Upon finishing we were handed a beautiful and large finisher's medal and told to make sure to get our "treat". The treat was a pint glass with the White Rock Centennial race logo and the Dallas Running Club logo on it--well done DRC! We were also given a patch with the race logo (definitely old school--I think that I will put mine on the backpack I got at the Austin Half Marathon). The post run gathering was well done too--free pizza and beer and plenty of room to hang out in the grass under some shade trees with live music in the background. Now this is the way to spend part of a Saturday afternoon! It was great to kick back with the tutu girls and enjoy the refreshments, shade, and music.


Kicking back with the TuTu Sisterhood


Erik enjoys his new race schwag

Will I ever race two half marathons in six days again? You bet! I think that I will better know what to expect mentally and physically. I learned that I am more stubborn than I think I am and that the kid who was always a hard worker in school is still there inside of me. Am I glad that there isn't a race this weekend? YES! I have raced 7 half marathons since January 1 of this year. I don't have anything on my race calendar until July, with the possibility of a couple of smaller races before then (5K/10K/15K)--which I should be doing anyway in order to stay true to my goal of "mixing it up" a little. I am looking forward to getting back to some basics--long slow distance, hill repeats, speed work, tempo runs. There are some great adventures waiting in the meantime--social runs with North Texas Runners and more shenanigans with the Beer and Bagels crowd. Summer is coming and things will be heating up around here! Happy Running!

(Huge thanks to Liza, Mark O., Mark L., and many others for all of the great race photos for this blog. You bring these stories to life!)