Race Report: Dallas White Rock (Half) Marathon, Dallas, Texas, USA

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The mile 7 marker was AWOL -- I

thought I might just have missed it, but later I compared notes with a buddy and he hadn't seen it
either, so it probably wasn't there. <<

I didn't see it either.

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ISTR that some of the later half-mara

markers were absent as well. <<

The only other one I didn't see was for mile ten.

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We crossed some rough street where they were doing some construction <<

I actually liked this - it was a little uneven but very soft to run on. Not sink-down-into
soft, just comfortably forgiving.

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Apples, bananas, oranges, bagels, cookies, sweet rolls, pasta salad, tomato

basil soup, beef chili (no thanks) and plenty of water. <<

I started down the stairs towards the food but those arena seats were too inviting so I had to
sit for a while. While I was sitting there I was trying to scope out what the food was and
didn't see anything worth negotiating the rest of the stairs, so I blew it off. Had I known
about the soup, salad, and chili, I'd have climbed the rest of the way down.

Good race and report.

Mike

Very good and interesting report, Brian.

Hope you'll do another one for Cowtown.

--
Lewis. (Benbrook TX)

.........................

*******************************

"Brian Baresch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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I ran the half at the Dallas White Rock Marathon as a training run, aiming for goal marathon pace
(about 7:25 per mile, or a 1:37:30 pace for the half). I love 'thons in large part because they
tend to be festive and exciting with lots of people cheerfully taking on a difficult challenge,
and this one was all that, even for us less ambitious half entrants. This was the first time White
Rock had a standalone half instead of a 2-person relay, so the course was new; basically it
followed the full marathon course for about 6.5 miles, then cut across town to rejoin the full
course shortly in mile 22, or just after the "Dolly Parton hills".

Several people I knew were running either the half or the full, and I looked for them but couldn't
pick them out of the crowd of about 6,000 runners. One person did pick me out, the Big Guy, my
friendly rival from the past two summers. He said he hasn't run 13 miles in quite a while and was
just out for some fun.

After the national anthem, including fireworks and a flyover by three fighter jets, the gun went
off and we slowly started forward. It took me and BG about a minute to get to the starting mats.
We headed under the freeway and through the nightclubby West End ex-warehouse district, where,
with the street still choked with runners, we had to squeeze past a city bus idling by the curb,
the driver looking somewhat befuddled. After that the congestion started to ease. We passed mile 1
in 8:50 and I sped up a bit. Mile 2, along the trolley tracks on fashionable McKinney Avenue, was
still around 8:00; my race strategy of going out at what feels like training pace to avoid blowing
up early had backfired, as it occasionally does, and I actually *was* going at training pace. I
cranked it up one more time. BG was with me sometimes, ahead or behind me sometimes; he's very
much an in-the-moment runner. By this time we were running along Turtle Creek, a real pretty part
of town. There were a few hills but nothing real bad IMHO. Somewhere along the creek BG's
ebullience took over and he started shouting, "Look at all these people running! You're all nuts!"
I hollered back, "Takes one to know one!" We were having a good time.

The water tables were reasonably plentiful and enthusiastically staffed. They did a useful thing:
Water was in red cups, Powerade in blue cups. Made it easier to grab what we wanted. Crowd
support was relatively sparse (by big 'thon standards anyhow) but unfailingly energetic; a lot of
people had signs with cheers for their favorite runners or generic "Go" messages. A number of
pretty good bands were playing, including a couple in the half-only portion of the course; it was
nice to see that. (One band was on the big TV screen near the finish several times playing a
White Rock Marathon song: "I'm gonna run me a marathon, it's the Dallas White Rock Marathon" ...
"Gotta start training when it's 102, learn to run for four hours on nothing but goo" -- something
like that. Fun!)

I was sort of in the pace groove by this time, hitting 7:15 to 7:30 fairly well. (Next MP run I'm
bringing my pedometer, dangit.) I'd lost BG but could sometimes still hear him back behind me,
yelling goofy stuff and having fun. Somewhere in mile 7 the course split and we lost the full
'thoners and relay runners, or about half the field. We ran south and east for a couple of miles.
The mile 7 marker was AWOL -- I thought I might just have missed it, but later I compared notes
with a buddy and he hadn't seen it either, so it probably wasn't there. At mile 8 my two-mile
split was 13:48, meaning I'd just run two 6:54 miles -- highly unlikely. I think that segment was
short. Most of the later miles seemed about right, so I suspect the half-mara course was short
overall, maybe by 500 feet, possibly more. There was a mile 9 marker, but by this time we were
back on the full course so I just used those markers for splits. ISTR that some of the later half-
mara markers were absent as well.

We rejoined the main course on Swiss Avenue, a nice, tree-lined boulevard that heads more or less
constantly downhill for about 3 miles with a good view of the downtown skyline up ahead. I was
cruising at about my intended pace, passing a few people, getting passed. One nice thing about
doing this as a tempo run: I didn't care about my finishing place so I didn't have to worry who
passed me or anything like that. We crossed some rough street where they were doing some
construction, went back through the West End and headed in toward the finish. I stuck with my pace
and watched the guys around me sprint for the line. Over the mats in 1:37:56 chip time, a post-
high school PR and reasonably close to my goal, even allowing for the probably short course. I'll
take it. (138th of 1208 men, 26th of 241 in AG; if I'd run all out and finished in, say, 1:35, I'd
have been about 105th and 18th respectively.)

They gave me a nice medal and a space blanket and took my chip. I knew BG was probably not far
back so I hung around the finish to see if I could spot him, but I never did. (Turns out he
finished about 6:30 behind me, at the slow end of his informal goal range but a reasonable result
for not having trained specifically for the race.) Finally I went to get my jacket and went inside
the American Airlines Center, a fairly nice arena as arenas go, for food: Apples, bananas,
oranges, bagels, cookies, sweet rolls, pasta salad, tomato basil soup, beef chili (no thanks) and
plenty of water. They had long tables and chairs set up banquet-style and a good R&B band going.

Afterward I ended up taking care of a running bud for some time. She finished the full in just
under 4 hours, with upset stomach and mild hypothermia; she wanted to wait till her BF met her in
the finish area but decided she had to get to first aid, so I accompanied her there. I made a
couple of forays out into the crowd to look for him but no luck. Finally she was back on her feet
but underdressed for the weather (her BF had her clothes and car keys), so I hung out with her; we
looked in the food arena, at her car and in the finish area for more than an hour before coming
across him -- he'd been doing the same thing and we kept missing each other. I think they're gonna
invest in a cell phone or two.

So. Good support on the course. Good traffic control on the course except for that friggin' bus in
the West End. Good course. Good bands. Good weather. Reasonably good organization. Points off for
missing mile markers for the [censored]-child half-marathoners and probably short course. (I'm
confident the full 'thon course was spot on.)

Three and a half stars (woulda been four if the course had been correct and fully marked). Brian
Bob says check it out.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

I read an article in The Beaver Beacon that said a judge in Dallas has issued a cease and desist
order for a live nativity scene there. It had someting to do with truth in advertising. They
couldn't find 3 wise men, or a virgin in Texas, so they were using actors.

Brian Baresch <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(...) One person did pick me out, the Big Guy, my friendly rival from the past two summers. He
said he hasn't run 13 miles in quite a while and was just out for some fun.

They *always* say something like that, the lying [censored]!

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After the national anthem, including fireworks and a flyover by three fighter jets,

This strikes me as very "only in the U.S.":-) Was this a part of the tradition for the marathon, or
for all big sports events - or something special "for our boys in Iraq"?

Quoted message said:

They gave me a nice medal and a space blanket and took my chip. I knew BG was probably not far
back so I hung around the finish to see if I could spot him, but I never did. (Turns out he
finished about 6:30 behind me, at the slow end of his informal goal range but a reasonable result
for not having trained specifically for the race.)

Amazing, a rival runner who actually was honest about the amount of his training:-)

Anders

You're right Doug. Your posts about training regimens and achilles tendons are much more interesting
and humorous than anything I've ever posted. That's why you're widely known as the Carrot Top of
this fine jogging group. C'mon, tell us the one about the time you ran 50 miles and then your legs
hurt.............that one always kills me. Every time you open your yap, I smell vinegar and water.

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I read an article in The Beaver Beacon that said a judge in Dallas has

issued a cease and desist order for a live nativity scene there. It had someting to do with truth in
advertising. They couldn't find 3 wise men, or a virgin in Texas, so they were using actors. <<

The judge was in Dallas; the nativity scene was in Mesquite, which also had the shortage of
wise men and virgins. There where wise men and virgins in the rest of the state but none who
were willing to go to Mesquite.

Mike

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ISTR that some of the later half-mara

markers were absent as well. <<

The only other one I didn't see was for mile ten.

OK. I was sure another one was missing but after a while I just didn't bother to look.

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I actually liked this - it was a little uneven but very soft to run on. Not sink-down-into
soft, just comfortably forgiving.

Yeah, it wasn't a problem, just a bit unusual for the biggest race in town.

Quoted message said:

I started down the stairs towards the food but those arena seats were too inviting so I had to
sit for a while. While I was sitting there I was trying to scope out what the food was and
didn't see anything worth negotiating the rest of the stairs, so I blew it off. Had I known
about the soup, salad, and chili, I'd have climbed the rest of the way down.

They were off to the north end; if you sat in the south part of the arena you might not have been
able to make them out.

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Good race and report.

Thanks! How'd you do?

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Quoted message said:

Very good and interesting report, Brian.

Hope you'll do another one for Cowtown.

Thanks! I'm planning to run Austin rather than Cowtown -- I want a BQ and Austin is a faster course
with great crowd support, or so I'm told. If I'm way off pace by about halfway there, though, I'll
run Cowtown.

The Cowtown Mara course goes right past my apartment, so if I'm not running I'll be out
there cheering.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Miss Anne Thrope said:

I read an article in The Beaver Beacon that said a judge in Dallas has issued a cease and desist
order for a live nativity scene there. It had someting to do with truth in advertising. They
couldn't find 3 wise men, or a virgin in Texas, so they were using actors.

Yawn! When you post this hackneyed grammar school bit it suggests you are running out of creativity.
The frequency of your posts is not working in your favor, or ours either.

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

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(...) One person did pick me out, the Big Guy, my friendly rival from the past two summers. He
said he hasn't run 13 miles in quite a while and was just out for some fun.

They *always* say something like that, the lying [censored]!

Hah! We're more friendly than we are rivals, so it felt like just shooting the breeze
about training.

Quoted message said:

Amazing, a rival runner who actually was honest about the amount of his training:-)

He knew I'd kick his butt! Seriously, he had no idea what kind of shape he was in and said so, so if
he beat me he could at least feign surprise ...

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Latter half of Austin has little to no crowd support until the last mile. Otherwise a good run. It
is relatively fast. Good luck.

Dave

Brian Baresch said:

Quoted message said:

Very good and interesting report, Brian.

Hope you'll do another one for Cowtown.

Thanks! I'm planning to run Austin rather than Cowtown -- I want a BQ and Austin is a faster
course with great crowd support, or so I'm told. If I'm way off pace by about halfway there,
though, I'll run Cowtown.

The Cowtown Mara course goes right past my apartment, so if I'm not running I'll be out there
cheering.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Quoted message said:

Latter half of Austin has little to no crowd support until the last mile. Otherwise a good run. It
is relatively fast. Good luck.

Thanks!

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

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Yeah, it wasn't a problem, just a bit unusual for the biggest race in town. <<

Hey, this wasn't The Race For The Cure!

Um, I meant, uh, participants multiplied by distance. Yeah, that's what I meant. I'm
almost positive.

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1:59:09. I played a lot of Ultimate the day before; not the best way to rest up for a long
race. But they were league games, so I had to show up and help us lose them.

Way to take one for the team!

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> After the national anthem, including fireworks and a flyover by three

fighter jets,

This strikes me as very "only in the U.S.":-)

Ayup. Us Amerks loooove a flyover.

Quoted message said:

I think it's part of the tradition they're trying to start up as they really want to move the
White Rock Marathon up to the big time. They've said they'd like to make it one of the top
five marathons in the country.

Hmm. They want it larger, or more highly regarded, or both?

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

M1ahearn said:

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Quoted message said:

The mile 7 marker was AWOL -- I

thought I might just have missed it, but later I compared notes with a buddy and he hadn't seen
it either, so it probably wasn't there. <<

I didn't see it either.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ISTR that some of the later half-mara

markers were absent as well. <<

The only other one I didn't see was for mile ten.

Sounds like the race skipped the short out & back on Vanderbilt. Skipping this would have cut out a
little under 400 feet. The Mile 7 point is a few after the turn-around.

The status of the half unique mile signs when they were picked up: All standing and facing in the
correct direction except -
a) 9 mile - laying face down on the ground
b) 11 mile - upright, but facing in the wrong direction.

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Sounds like the race skipped the short out & back on Vanderbilt. Skipping

this would have cut out a little under 400 feet. The Mile 7 point is a few after the turn-around. <<

The course map in their instruction book doesn't show Vanderbilt; if we were supposed to run
down that street, you're right - it was skipped. That would be an awfully short out-and-
back, though.

Mike

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Both, from what I hear. I thought I heard something about them wanting 15,000 to 20,000
runners next year - I'm assuming that's for all events combined. I don't know how well that'll
work - I thought the staging area was kind of a mess this year, without about half that number
of runners.

I was surprised (forgot to put it in my original post) that they didn't have pace signs in the
starting crowd. With a field that size you just about need them.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Quoted message said:

Sounds like the race skipped the short out & back on Vanderbilt. Skipping this would have cut out a
little under 400 feet. The Mile 7 point is a few after the turn-around.

That would explain both irregularities, all right. That little out-and-back isn't on the course
maps, and I don't recall any indication that it was there on race day.

Quoted message said:

The status of the half unique mile signs when they were picked up: All standing and facing in the
correct direction except -
a) 9 mile - laying face down on the ground
b) 11 mile - upright, but facing in the wrong direction.

I'm pretty sure I saw mile 9 so it probably was standing up when I went past. I don't
remember seeing miles 10 or 11, though by that time I was looking for the full-'thon markers
to track my pace.

Except for the glitch you mention it was a well-done race.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Quoted message said:

The course map in their instruction book doesn't show Vanderbilt; if we were supposed to run
down that street, you're right - it was skipped. That would be an awfully short out-and-back,
though.

Yep, but I bet I know why it was supposed to be there: Without it the course is 400 feet short. If
the half were being run as a standalone race you could get that extra 400 feet by just shifting the
start/finish line, but that wasn't an option here.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill