{#4} Texas-Dallas Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon* 2011 |

Spring Break 2011

*When I started my goal of 50 in 50 by 50 I decided to include half marathons when a full marathon wasn’t an option if travel took me to a state when a race was occurring. I count these states, but plan to rerun full races in the states where I have only ran half marathons.

Downtown Dallas

Spring break 2011 was spent visiting family and friends in Texas. My mom and I flew into Dallas on Saturday before the race. It was sunny, warm, and a wonderful escape from the cold Wisconsin winter. We spent the day before the race at the expo and exploring the downtown area of Dallas. Neither of us had spent any time in the city before. We enjoyed dinner on the patio at the Iron Cactus and were reminded just how small a world we live in when we sat next to some young people who said they were from Wisconsin, too. Within a few minutes we found out that a few of them graduated from the small town where I teach a few years before I started teaching there. Small world.

As we were busy eating dinner we felt the wind begin blowing and the temperatures begin to drop. A cold front was coming in and highs on race day were supposed to be in the upper 40’s. I did not travel to a warm state to be cold! It looks like my will did nothing to change the weather though. I had only brought shorts and a t-shirt and long sleeve shirt to run in. It ended up being the perfect attire for race day. The clouds held out with no rain and the temperatures were perfect for running.

The beginning of the course was not very scenic. We ran through parts of downtown Dallas that I doubt I’d run alone in. The last 2/3 of the race was scenic taking runners past beautiful homes, treelined streets that immediately remind you are in the south, and finished outside the Cotton Bowl stadium.

Love the tree lined streets of the south.

I had not trained very much doing only a couple longer runs before this race, so I was running more to just have fun. I enjoyed the course and the thought of a week of vacation to follow made the race even more exciting. The last few miles I tried to pick up the pace a bit, and once I saw Cotton Bowl Stadium I started my kick. I crossed the finish in 1:54:33.