Going into Sunday I had several goals. My first was just to beat my previous PR of 1:58:15. My second goal was to finish under 1:55, and my "best case scenario" goal was to finish under 1:50. Beyond finish time though, I wanted to finish with a negative split-a faster second half than first half, getting stronger and faster as the race went on. As I planned out my race strategy the week before, I realized 1:50 was probably not a realistic goal to shoot for. Instead, I planned out my splits for a 1:53 finish.
My post-Austin training had gone well and I went into the race feeling strong and confident. But I was concerned that the warm weather might slow me down. I just started running in September so I haven't done much running above 60 degrees and the forecast called for a starting temp in the low 60s increasing to the low 80s by late morning.
As usual, I set out all my gear the night before and ate my spaghetti dinner. In anticipation of the warm temps the next day I also drank a chia fresca as the chia seeds retain water. Sunday morning I got up at 5:15, dressed, ate, and was out the door by 6.
This race, unlike the others I've done, was a point to point race, starting in one place (downtown Dallas by City Hall) and ending in another (Fair Park). So, all racers were instructed to park at Fair Park then take a shuttle bus to the start line. I've consistently found I-45 to be the best way to get to Fair Park, but for some reason that day I decided to try I-30. Bad idea. Traffic was backed up for that exit for at least a quarter mile. After waiting about 10 minutes and barely moving I decided it would be faster to turn around and head back to 45 so I did and got parked fairly quickly. Then the bathroom and bus lines were long once I parked. All told, I wound up making it to the start village with just enough time to go to the bathroom and get to my start corral with a few minutes to spare. While I was otherwise quite impressed with the race organization, this definitely needs improvement for next year.
The race started and off I went. I set my Garmin for an 8:35 average pace and as the early miles ticked by, I was hitting my splits almost to the second and it felt like a comfortable pace. My plan was to stay at or slightly over that pace for the first 5 miles, hold it through about mile 10, then speed up for the final 5k. As it turned out, I did just that, though in consideration of the heat I ended up stopping at several water stops and one salt packet handout in the second leg. And when a stranger was handing out dixie cups of beer around mile 10 I thought, well why not?
As the miles went on I kept looking down at the Pacetat on my forearm showing the splits I needed to finish in 1:52:30, so I knew barring the unexpected I was looking at a PR and then some. The final stretch of the race takes place within Fair Park, so once I entered the Park area I knew the end was very close, and that Kevin and Daniel were waiting there to cheer me on. What's cool is that we also passed the area where the White Rock Half was staged, so I remembered back to that cold, rainy day in December when the finish line drew close and I got a lump in my throat as I realized I was just seconds from becoming a half-marathoner. It made for a nice inspiration at the end of this race almost 4 months later.
I crossed the finish line at 1:52:54, besting my previous PR by more than 5 minutes. I didn't achieve my reach goal of 1:50, but I felt strong throughout the whole race and paced myself better than I have in my prior halfs. In fact, I only missed an even split by 5 seconds-take out one water stop and I might have negative split. I feel confident that I ran the best race I could that day and didn't leave much if any time out there.
One of the most rewarding things about running is that all the "measurables" provide lots of benchmarks to see improvement. My average pace Sunday was 8:37/mile, more than a minute/mile faster than my White Rock pace and almost 30 seconds faster than my 10k pace in November-a race less than half the distance.
Heading into the spring (I almost said "the rest of the spring" then realized it's only technically been spring for a week-it just feels like it's been spring for months) I'm planning to tweak my training a little bit to add more speedwork during the week. And, I've got 2 triathlons on tap too so I'll add in some swim and bike workouts. It's too soon to know what my time goal will be heading into future races, but I do plan to work more on my pacing, shooting for even or negative splits. RNR was a great experience, and definitely gives me confidence going forward, but I hope sometime in the next few months I'll be writing about the day I beat my RNR time to set another PR.
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