Since I never got my New Orleans full recap up, I figured I’d better get busy on this one ASAP! This race was a different one for me, in a good way. It’s so fun to be there when your friends hit their goals they work soooo hard to achieve!

Ally went with me to the Expo and packet pick up on Saturday. She likes to go and shop, of course!

RnR usually has really good expos, large, with lots of vendors. This one was better than New Orleans was, but the one in Dallas 2 years ago was still the best. Brooks has a huge showing at these expos too.

I was looking for headbands but didn’t find the ones I wanted so I’ll just order them online. We grabbed a cute shirt from one booth then had to back and get the head band for a friend!

This was the best I could get from her. She’s a mess!

Snapped a picture of the course map.

I checked the elevation and saw there were some hills, but I didn’t realize how hilly it was. More on that later.

When I got back to my car my MRTT (Moms Run This Town) magnet had been flipped upside down. I assumed it was someone from Rockwall but apparently the Allen chapter loves this game, someone there was the culprit. Too funny! So, if you see an MRTT magnet on a car, it’s perfectly acceptable behavior to flip it upside down. She took a picture (and so did I) and posted it in her chapter group. Be sure and leave the license plate out of the picture.

That night I finally made a choice on what to wear (or so I thought). I had it narrowed down to tank top, maybe shorts, maybe capris. If it rained I wanted capris and since that was still a maybe I chose capris. I took my throw away sweat shirt but forgot my gels.

Got up at 5:15 on race day, got dressed, had breakfast, grabbed my stuff and John took me to meet friends to head out.

The race started at 8am, we left Rockwall at 6:15, thinking that was plenty of time to get parked and get into our corrals. We barely made it. But at least we didn’t have a bunch of time to stand around and get nervous! Two years ago when I ran RnR Dallas it was a point to point race, you parked at the end and they shuttled us to the start. This year it was point to point again with about 1 mile in between start and finish. No shuttle. You basically were on your own, park where you can and walk it. I disliked that very much. We parked easily but had at least .5 miles to walk to the start.

We got to the race at corral 1 and bag check was at corral 15. It was very crowded along the corrals but we got to bag check and found a ton of port-a-potties, took care of that and headed for our corral with about 12 minutes to spare. We got into our corral and took a picture, sang the National Anthem and we were off. They didn’t waste any time.

The weather was gloomy looking, I kept thinking it was going to pour down rain on us, but it never did.

There were four of us, we’d all been training together the last few weeks to help two of the girls hit new goals. They both badly wanted a sub 2 hour half, their first. We stayed together for about 4 miles, then broke into two groups. It’s hard to make that choice to push a friend unless you really know they want you to. I was torn between staying with her and leaving. I was afraid she would be mad either way, even though she told me to go. (She wasn’t mad at me, but still wants that sub 2.) We are all busy making goals for the Fall.

I ended up running on my own for a little while, saw a few friends on the way. Luckily Anna had an extra Gu on her and had given it to me just in case. It was salted watermelon and not the worst I’ve had but it’s so thick. I really can’t hardly stand it. I use the Advocare rehydrate gels but I was desperate. I made it to about mile 8 before I needed it. I just ate it slowly.

Got to about mile 9 and caught up with the other half of our group and finished the race with them. Anna was still on target for a sub 2 hour, she was fighting for every step. I have been there. You want it so bad, you just have to convince your legs to cooperate. I think she had mostly 8:50 miles until that point.

We hit the mountain at mile 10, it seemed to go on forever, and that slowed us down. We were still ahead of the 2 hour pacer so we had time in the bank. I would run a little ahead to stay on the 9:10 pace and would slow down some then speed up a little. We were bouncing around at that point, but still pushing forward. We got passed by the 2 hour pacer somewhere about mile 12, I think. It was all kind of a blur after that, like a scene from a movie. You are in that final stretch, you get passed but still don’t quit.

Up ahead we see runners from Rockwall cheering and I tell them Anna needs a push, we are so close! The 2 hour pacer is still in front of us, we have less than 1/2 a mile to go. I’m staying with the pacer to try to draw her my way, our other friend is with her and just ahead cheering and telling her she can do it. She dug deep and sprinted ahead of that 2 hour pacer in the final stretch, we may have even been in the finish line chute. Seriously it was a blur. Got it by 3 seconds.

Here we are literally right after crossing. The look on Anna’s face tell you how hard she worked! I’m sure you can guess which one is Anna! I have the biggest grin on my face, such a goof!

We grabbed our medals but still weren’t sure if she came in under 2 hours, that pacer could have been off. We got Gatorade, potato chips (seriously the best post race snack ever!), and then headed to the engraving tent to check her time.

My friend Cynthia also go her first sub 2! These ladies are rock stars!

We caught up with several friends that had hit their goals that day. It was so fun hearing the stories and celebrating with them!

We found coach and took more pictures, got our stuff from gear check and went to get our free beer. And take more pictures!

We have some pretty awesome runners in our group, quite a few are headed to Boston next month. They were out there cheering us on at this race.

Here’s my medal, I forgot to take a picture of the shirt.

John picked me up from the finish and we tried a new place for lunch, Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. I had some ridiculously good food. Yes, that’s bacon on a skewer.

We shared fries and rings for all three of us.

I got the grilled cheese with mozzarella, pesto and tomato. So YUMMY!

After that, we headed home and you would think I’d be sitting on the couch…..

Wrong. Laundry, vacummed the house, cleaned out the fridge and did the dishes. Thankfully I talked John into going to the store for me. Oh and Ally had softball practice. The season starts this weekend!

Now our group is busy making goals for this fall. No matter the pace, we are all training together, cheering and supporting each other and just running.

What are you training for?

Do you make goals? Write them down?

Happy running,

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25