Let's Rock n' Roll

As many of you know, I started falling in love with running soon after moving to Austin. Austin is a very fit city, full of parks where many people spend some time each day running. I did run cross country and long distance track in high school, however, the running stopped once I entered college. Occasionally in college I would go for a "run", which would maybe be a mile, but nothing crazy. As soon as I moved to Austin, I decided to take up running and started to find it fun and a great way to de-stress.

In December when I came home for Christmas I was telling mom how much I have fallen in love with running and how I was thinking of running a half-marathon in the future. Completing a half-marathon has been on my list of goals for a long, long time and I was finally thinking about fulfilling that goal. So we talked over the break and she started running too. I asked her if she'd be up for doing a half and she took on the challenge. We found a half-marathon in Dallas that would be in late March. The course was primarily flat (unlike Austin) and the half-marathon was one of the rock n' roll series where they have bands at every mile. It is done in major cities across the country and is considered to be one of the most fun halfs to run. So we registered and began training. In January, March seemed forever away, but time flew bye and suddenly we were about to cross the start line.

I arrived in Dallas on Friday and after an interview picked mom up at the airport. We checked into the hotel in downtown Dallas and walked over to the convention center to pick up our numbers so we wouldn't have to worry about all that on Saturday. Much to our surprise the convention center was full of running merchandise (hugely discounted) and lots of fun free samples so we hung around there for a bit. Friday night we enjoyed a nice dinner in Highland Park Village at Cafe Pacifico.

Saturday, we met Carl and walked around downtown and then headed up to NorthPark to do some shopping. The weather was absolutely wonderful, in the 70s and sunny, which would be perfect for tomorrows race. We literally spent the whole day at NorthPark, probably one of the best malls in the world. Ha. I love that place. Saturday night we enjoyed dinner at Momo's a pasta place in the Knox-Henderson area. We headed back to the hotel and prepared for an EARLY morning. The nerves were finally kicking in... I would be running, or attempting to run 13.1 miles the next day. AH.

Saturday's Breakfast at the Ritz: Huevos Rancheros

Sunday morning we awoke to FREEZING cold weather in the 40s and I mean super chilly, a dramatic difference from the day before. The weather did NOT make the morning any better... we got a taxi to the start line and spent the 30 minutes before the race trying to find a place to get warm, which was nearly impossible. At 8AM the race begun, but we were in corral 13 so we really didn't cross the start line until 8:30 AM. I have never seen that many people all running together in my life, 14,000 people is a lot for one race. We successfully crossed the starting line around 8:30 with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders cheering us on. Mom and I ran together for about the first mile, but then I got ahead. Despite the freezing cold temperatures, the first 5 or so miles were a breeze and having the bands at every mile really helped the time go by fast. Before I knew it, I had crossed the halfway point, right at a pace of 10 minutes per mile. Mile 9 to 10 was extremely difficult, but I survived and surprisingly made it through. I wasn't planning to run the whole thing, I didn't think it was even possible since I hadn't run but 10 miles prior to the race, but I found myself running all the way to the finish line. 2 hours and 11 minutes after crossing the starting line, I crossed the finish line and successfully completed a half-marathon (13.1 Miles). What a high I felt after crossing that finish line, especially since I hoped to finish the whole thing in 2 hours and 30 minutes, and instead finished 20 minutes earlier than planned, with almost exactly a 10 minute per hour pace. I thought I would have been absolutely exhausted after running 13.1 miles, but surprisingly, other than a few blisters, I was fine. I walked around the finish line, ate some post-run food and downed about 3 bottles of water. By the time I finished all of that I watched mom cross the finish line. So exciting. We recovered and met Carl, while enjoying a little bit of the Bret Michaels concert. What a great morning it was!

The starting line, let's get this race started!

We made it! 13.1 Miles...

The sweet card that my friends Mary Kate and Ford made me, it is now on my fridge.

I am excited to say that I have accomplished one of my lifelong goals and it feels great. I even plan on running many other half-marathons. Many of you have asked if I will ever complete a marathon... Right now the answer is no, I don't really want to go that far, I think I will just stick with the half-marathons, they are fun and 13.1 miles is plenty for me! I will say, I now understand the "runner's high" and it feels pretty good!

-Morgan