Race #4: Metro PCS Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon - December 5, 2010 - Finish Time: 2:23:28

If you read my post on Tuesday about the Baltimore 1/2 you'll probably recognize that finish time. Yes, in Dallas, I missed my PR by 2 SECONDS. Talk about frustration. If I hadn't been training so hard I wouldn't have been so angry, but the thing was, I was training. My legs were ready. My lungs were ready. So, what wasn't ready? The stupid skin on my foot apparently.

A blister the size of a quarter debilitated me at mile 10. I was doing so well...on track for a 2:15 finish. I stuck with the pace group (god, I love those) until the break-off from the full marathoners at mile 8. That's when it happened. I have no idea what went wrong. I was wearing the same shoes as Baltimore and they had never given me trouble. I literally sat down on the side of the road, took a bandaid off the back of my heel (tiny cut from earlier in the week) and put it on the arch of my foot where the blister was. It didn't help at all. The pain was intense.

It affected me mentally too. I stopped to use a port-a-potty, which I had never done before. I walked. I think I texted my mom something along the lines of "huge blister. fml." I almost cried. I was an inch away from punching something when I found out what my finish time was, but I convinced myself that I was clearly improving as a runner if after all that had happened, I still had the same finish time as my 3 past races. Hopefully after this Saturday I'll have proof that I've improved with a kick a$$ time.

Regardless of my finish time, I had a wonderful long weekend in Texas. First off, I got to visit one of my best friends, Lindsey, in San Antonio. I'm all about combining vacay with races.


Yes, we went online to register at the exact same time so that we could have consecutive bib numbers. We're cool.

Dallas was Lindsey's second half marathon ever and she got a new PR of 2:03:23. Isn't she awesome?!? I was so happy for her. We treated ourselves to Steak 'N Shake after the race. Burgers+chili cheese fries+vanilla milkshake=most amazing recovery meal ever.

I realize I haven't really said anything about the actual race yet, so here goes:
1. Course: Pretty nice and not too many hills. Ran through some hoity toity neighborhood with mansions.
2. Weather: Colder than Texas should ever be. Felt like I was back in DC.
3. Swag: At first I was pissed b/c when we got to the expo they told us that they didn't have any mediums left b/c all the people who had registered for larges switched to mediums. I'd like to know which genius allowed them to do that. I got over it though b/c at the finish line they gave us a nice tech shirt (in the size we actually paid for) and sent us our long sleeve cotton shirts in the mail 2 weeks later.
4. Post-race grub/activities: Idk. I think I blacked out from the pain of my blister. All I wanted was to get to the car and take off my stupid shoe.

So have you guys ever had something out of your control slow you down in a race? How did you deal?