Ending 2021 on a High Note - Dallas Marathon

[pennswoods]

Back in December, I ran the Dallas Marathon once again. it was something of a comeback race to see if I could do it after a year of mostly isolating and running without training.  As it turns out, it went really well and I have a new personal best of over 7 minutes (4:12:50). It was a really nice high note to end the year on. Below is the entry I posted to my Facebook the day after the race and I thought I would copy it here to keep all my race reports in one place.  

Whew! Yesterday’s race went really well. Thank you to everyone for the good luck wishes. I was hoping to post an update with some official race photos, but these have not come out yet. I do have a few pre-race photos one with Regina (who ran the last two miles alongside me telling me to keep pushing!), one just before the start, and one race selfie (early on when I still had a lot of energy) with a fellow friend and runner I met when I ran the marathon here 2 years ago.

So how did it go? 1. It started off really cold, which was good. The temperature was excellent the whole race, warming up gradually but never getting hot. 2. A warning - Don’t update iOS on your iPhone before a marathon unless you have time to troubleshoot what it does to your battery and apps. I updated this Friday, and screwed up my Spotify and the music would not play. I only discovered this while in the starting corral just before the gun went off. This means I ran the entire marathon without any Christmas music! It turned out fine anyways as there was a lot of music on the course. 3. After a good strategizing session with Regina the night before, I planned out a pacing strategy where I would start really slow and gradually increase my pace through the course. This way I would not hit the wall and wind up slowing way down like I did last time. I also planned to power walk the hills right after mile 20 (one at km 32 and the other at km 34) so I could save my legs for the downhill push. In the final image, you can see this is exactly what I did. Even with walking, I ran a negative split with the second half marathon faster than the first and I basically increased my average pace each 5km in the exact increments I had planned. 4. I did NOT hit the wall. At least not while I was running. My calves started cramping badly in the exit chute and I wound up spending a little while in the medical tent getting massaged and making sure I was hydrating enough. 5. I ran a new personal best by over 7 minutes. My official time is 4:12:50 compared to 4:20:39 that I ran in 2019. 6. I am really happy and thankful. And also a little sore, but in a good way. It was so worth it - such a great experience to end the year with a new personal record.