2016 Rock 'n' Roll Dallas Half Marathon Weekend

March 19-20

Second race of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series for 2016, and my 51th lifetime officially recorded Half Marathon (45th totally barefoot). Remix weekend, and bonus for completing San Antonio back in December would net me 4 medals to take home. My last race in January was before my birthday, so the is my first race in a new age group.

Friday Fly

Late afternoon flight at 5:50 pm got me to Dallas near 11 pm, too late for the Expo which closed at 7 pm, but 5k race bib could be picked up on race morning. Posted I was leaving San Diego at the gate, and one of my runner friends was on the same flight. We happened to be staying at the same hotel, too. My original plan was to take the DART light rail, but I would have to walk a mile in an unfamiliar area near midnight. We split the cost of an Uber ride to the hotel, and as we passed near the hotel, I saw the area under the freeway where I would have walked, dark and spooky. Another runner friend was already at the hotel, so the 3 of us planned to share an Uber ride to the 5k race start in the morning. I got to sleep just after midnight, and set my alarms for 4:30 am.

Saturday 5k

As usual, I woke up before my alarms, but didn't feel too tired on just 4 hours of sleep. Blue Elvis for the 5k, with the silver guitar. We met down in the lobby at 6 am, but hardly any runner there. It only took a few minutes for the Uber driver to arrive. Coincidentally the driver had dressed as Elvis in the past, and he showed me his pictures. Still very dark and cold, but the wind was gusting to 20 mph. After I picked up my bib, we huddled into a closed (and dark) tent to get away from the wind. I was assigned corral 1, and lined up prominently at the front. Olympic runner Ryan Hall was there, too. Lots of selfies, and even a photographer got a picture of our group doing a selfie. Also made it on the Rock 'n' Roll promo video in three different places.

The race started at 7:45 am in Fair Park and pretty much went around walk paths and the parking lot. The surface wasn't the best, but I tried to stay with the lead pack. That lasted about 2 seconds, then I merged over to the right to avoid any other faster runners behind me. We passed on a few paths around some of the museums, then around the Cotton Bowl. After 1Km, course when on a connecting street to the parking lot. Surface a bit rough, with a few patch of loose asphalt, nothing I couldn't handle. As I crossed the finish line the race clock seemed to be off, given I really was not going that fast. Course was short, only 2.8 miles instead of 3.1. My official time was 34:17 (11:02 min/mile pace), but I actually averaged about 12:43 min/mile on the rougher surface.

Saturday Expo

I was going to take the DART light rail to the Expo, but since I didn't take the rail in, I had no idea of the location of the boarding station. I headed to the parking lot exit, and saw two runners waiting, and I asked them if the knew where to catch the rail. Turns out they were waiting for an Uber ride back to their hotel, and it was close to the Expo, so I hitched a ride with them. The Expo opened at 9 am, and I got there soon after that. Not many people yet, and there was an auto show going on in the main hall. Lots of test drive booths outside, but no one at the Toyota booth. I did my usual round in the Expo (product promo shot, selfie request, etc.). I was getting hungry, but did not bring a change of clothes. The Toyota booth was now open, and I got another $10 gift certificate for the Brooks Store. I finally found the light rail station, and purchased an all day pass for $5. Only a few runners on the train, so I felt a bit out of place. I exited at the Southwestern Medical District/Parkland Station, and walked by several hospitals on my way to the hotel. On the underpass of the I-35 freeway, just a few blocks from my hotel, I noticed several homeless people camped out. I guess it was a good idea to avoid the light rail last night, since I would be an easy target hauling my luggage. No one really bothers me as Elvis, so I made it back and showered, just less than a mile walk. I knew I should take a nap, but I was also hungry. Nothing really close to the hotel to eat, so I just munched on my snack bars, and took a short hour nap.

I headed downtown to scope out the start area, and grab a quick lunch. A bit of exploring near the Convention Center at Pioneer Plaza where there were large bronze sculptures of 3 cowboys driving numerous longhorn cattle. The cemetery was old, and there was even a war of 1812 veteran. I had been in Dallas 20 years ago, and I remember it was pretty flat. The sightseeing reveled my memory was correct. Not sure if my sleep deprivation would affect me, so I ate an early dinner before I headed back to the hotel. I found another rail station closer to the hotel, but it was on the TRE line (full size train), and it did not run as frequent, and not on Sunday. I also discovered a free bus shuttle from the Medical Market Center TRE station to the SW Medical District/Parkland Station. Good things to know, but the time spend waiting could be used for walking. Slept around 8 pm, and planned on waking up around the same pre-race time. Our runner group planned to meet at 6:30 in the morning.

Sunday Half

The hotel shuttle was taking runners to the start, but it was only one van, so not many people could use it. We called for an Uber driver, but he was delayed. The shuttle came back from it's first trip, so we were able to squeeze in and canceled our Uber ride. Not as windy in the morning, which was nice. The Reunion Tower had a image of a runner moving around, and a promo 'run Rock n Roll'. My phone would not be good enough to capture the image. Drop off at the convention center, and just enough time to drop off in the Gear Check at the end of all the corrals, and get to the start. There was a large set of Porta-Potties behind the Gear Check, which I took advantage of. I used my Xero shoes to get to the start area, but took them off once I realized that the streets were actually very smooth.

We met up for our group selfie, and we were captured again and used on the promo video for the Half race. Two for 2 this weekend, pretty good. We bumped into Ryan Hall again, but he was headed to a different area to start. I'm sure he recognized me, how can you not remember a barefoot Elvis. Starting up in front tends to make you go faster, as all the runners around are speedy. The road surface was excellent. Running the course for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. The first aid station had only water, so I passed, and got some Gatorade at the next station around mile 5. I bumped into someone I knew, and we paced each other for a few miles. There are a few elevation gains, but not much. The bridge over the Trinity River gave nice views of the city. A energy gel station at mile 9, but this time I was more careful. Glukos is the new sponsor, so no more GU. The new 'gel' is more of a liquid, so you drink it, instead of squeeze it. I learned my lesson in the last RnR race in Arizona. At this point, I still did not need to use the potty stop on the course, and things looked good that I could finish without having to make a stop. Around mile 10, I heard some music playing, and it was one of my friends. He switched the genre to Elvis, and we rocked out to the finish. Street surface still great, with an occasional patch of broken glass, but it wasn't hard to keep a faster pace. At mile 12, over the Houston Viaduct (back over the Trinity River), the surface got rough. More like a course sandpaper, so I ran on the painted line as much as possible, but I knew my pace had dropped. View the pace chart, and notice the big drop just before the finish. The last tenth mile before the finish line was back on the smooth asphalt, as we headed around Reunion Park. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders were near the finish, cheering everyone on. I made sure to run on the outside edge closer to them so that they could view this crazy barefoot Elvis waving a guitar. Elvis loves to put a smile on your face. Splits: 10:32, 10:39, 10:55, 10:20, 11:08, 11:42, 10:43, 12:05, 11:57, 11:34, 10:40, 10:52, 12:40.

With a finish in 2:30:11, this was my fastest Half finish in about 2 years. Legs felt pretty good afterwards, and the post party festivities on the grass was nice. I stopped by the Heavy Medal booth to collect my addition 2 medals. Many of my running friends were leaving for Mexico City to run another Half in the evening. This time I brought a change of clothes, and headed over to the rail station. Because I finished faster than expected, I was ahead of my original schedule.

As I got off the rail station, the shuttle bus just arrived, but the driver said he wasn't leaving for about 8 minutes, so I just walked back to the hotel, and arrived about 11:45. Quick shower, then off to lunch downtown. I was going to walk to a different (and further) station in hopes that the route would be more friendly, and proceeded to head east. To my surprise, there were no sidewalks, so I went back to the hotel. Uber to the rescue. Actually this is my very first time using Uber, and I found it to be very convenient, especially when you have some luggage. I decided on YO Steakhouse in downtown, since it got great reviews, and one of the few steakhouse actually open for lunch. Very well dressed patrons, and I felt a bit under dressed, but the restaurant staff was very nice. Rare Rib Eye was delicious, only 12 oz, but everything was good. The restaurant was also only a block from the rail station. I had a little time, so I took the red line to Plano, before I took the orange over to DFW airport. I got on the front car, but a few stops later, I noticed some runner friends getting on in the back. I headed back to meet them, and we chatted over to the airport. So nice to have friends in different cities, you never feel lonely.

I still had my unopened bottles of water and Gatorade, but when I got to the airport, there were no place to relax outside of the security area. I tried to get the drinks pass TSA, but they took them. Flight was scheduled to leave in a few hours, so I grabbed a quick dinner before I boarded. Pretty uneventful flight. No race shirts on my flight, although I saw a few walking around the terminals. Late arrival, and home to eat a quick snack before quickly unpacking to get ready for work the next morning. Great weekend of racing, and I didn't have to take a vacation day.