The Wedding & Half Marathon Weekend

Okay, so we went to Texas for a Wedding this weekend. When my wife broke the news to me several months ago that we would have to go to yet another wedding--and drive a long way to get there--she tried to soften the blow by promising I could run a marathon while we were there. This was a pretty easy promise for her to make, after all who would be crazy enough to schedule an endurance race during the heat of the summer in Texas. Apparently Texans.

When I broke the news to her that I had actually found a half marathon scheduled for the morning after the wedding, she gave me that "oh crap" look. She'd been had.

We both took Friday off to drive down to Dallas. The route took us through Topeka & Wichita, KS, and Oklahoma City, OK. Just north of Oklahoma City we stopped at a station to gas up. When I went inside, I saw this really imposing bald guy with messed up ears walking up and down the convenience store aisles. He was carrying a big gulp and a big bag of cheetos, and looked guilty as hell. He gave me this deer in the headlights look. It was Rulon from the Biggest Loser. Funny as hell! Neither Krystal nor I knew how he would react to us asking for a photo, so we don't have a souvenir from the encounter.

Neither of us had been to OKC before so we decided to get a bite to eat downtown. We were pleasantly surprised by downtown Oklahoma City. They have a redevelopment of a warehouse district called Bricktown. They have lots of restaurants, a canal system with boats, and a baseball field at the edge. It's all pretty touristy, but nice. We found a place called Bourbon Street Cafe and enjoyed a nice lunch canal-side.

We finally got to Dallas about 5 or so, got checked in and met up with the wedding party for a post rehearsal get together. Then we crashed and slept in late on Saturday.

Saturday was spent exploring Dallas, shopping, and eating. The wedding went fine, except for the bride's father biffing it on the wedding dress and hitting the ground pretty hard. Keep an eye out for that one on America's Funniest Home Videos.

It took us a bit to get from the wedding to the reception. Downtown Dallas has road construction and detours everywhere. Nothing really matched Google Maps on the iPad. So we had to improvise. Neither of us recognized anything but we kept going anyway. Suddenly I blurted out "Grassy Knoll!". I recognized where we were, but had no idea where that was exactly. Somehow we ended up driving down the street where JFK was shot. Surreal. Finally we found our destination.

The reception was gorgeous, but it didn't exactly go off without a hitch either. It was a 100+ degree day in Dallas. The air conditioning in the reception hall was busted. Just imagine how hot a room with 200 people in 100+ weather would get. It was hotter. Much. Especially in a wool suit.

Knowing I had a race the next morning, I did everything I could to stay hydrated at the reception. 8 large glasses of water later, I was still thirsty. We both left sweat drenched at about 10:30 p.m. Definitely a memorable event.

The next morning I had the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon. We chose to stay at Aloft, just a few blocks from the start line. Sooo convenient.

I could tell this race was going to be a hot one. I hydrated the best I could before leaving the room. The temperature was in the mid-70's at race start.

This is the 2nd annual running of the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon, benefitting the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. It's still a fairly small race, only a couple thousand runners at the most, but it was well organized.

The course started and ended in a business park in Las Colinas, TX, which is due south of DFW Airport about 8 miles. The course was on a bike/running trail system that ran along the business park and some residential neighborhoods. It was a nice, flat out-and-back course. The course wasn't the challenge for this race. The heat and humidity were. By race end, it was in the mid to upper 80's and the sun was out in full force.

I settled into a comfortable 10 minute per mile pace for the first 5 or so miles. Then things started to get interesting. I noticed that whenever I was in the shade I was comfortable, maybe a little hot. However, when I was exposed to the sun I started to chill. I'm not talking a bit of a chill, I'm talking the shivers.

I was overheating. If I wasn't careful I was going to have heat stroke issues during this race.

So, I slowed down . . . a lot. Many sub-2 hour half marathon runners did as well. I ended up in a group guys doing walk/run intervals who said this was going to be their first half in a long time that was going to be over 2 hrs. I was in good company that day.

Finish time? Approximately 2 hrs 32 minutes. Definitely not a PR. Then again, it's the first race I've run in Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas, right? Maybe the miles are too.

All told, it was a great weekend.

With the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon under the belt, I can turn Texas yellow on the tracker map.

Still goofin' . . .

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Training Note: 4.3 miles tonight at a 10:30 pace. Hill course.