2008 Armadillo Dash Half Marathon

Held on Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Finish - 1:59:30

Well I just finished my 50K in Fort Worth on Saturday with Israel finishing his half marathon ever, and now he's about to run his second the very next day while I just more painful miles under my own belt. The reason we decided to make this weekend so crazy is because we had already committed to running Saturday's race when we ended up with free entries into the half that Sunday as well. We couldn't pass on a free entry worth $50 so we decided to take on both races.

Not a whole lot to say about this one, just a few notes of interest. Israel and I ran every mile together wearing the awesome finisher shirts we earned from the day before. I wore my Jason mask and carried a knife, as well as two IT Band straps to aid my aching knees in the endeavour. We didn't feel too sore, but I definitely noticed a more strained effort coming from both of us to give the same performance we did Saturday. Our legs may not have been too sore, but they were definitely tired.

We didn't think we had much chance at finishing under 2hrs until we got to mile 9 and I told Israel it might be possible. That's when we decided to "embrace the suck" and give it everything we had left. Unfortunaltey, we were met with horrific head winds turning into the final three miles on a highway frontage road. We all but skipped the final aid station to make our last kick to the finish. Israel could hear me huffing and puffing under my mask and I thought I was going to throw up as I crossed the finish line, but we actually did it. We turned in a negative split for the race and Israel finished several minuted faster than he did Saturday, effectively setting and breaking his Half Marathon PR all in two days!

The medals and shirts weren't bad, and some people wanted their picture taken with me after the race in my Jason mask, so it was a good time, despite my aching knees and tendons.

2008 Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon (50K)

Held on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Finish - 4:59:14

This is a race I've wanted to run for some time and had sort of forgotten about until this year. It was a unique situation since this was the 30th anniversary of the race. They directors decided to include a 50K Ultra in conjunction with their normal marathon, half, 10K and 5K events. "30+ miles for 30 years" was the unofficial slogan the 50K. I had not initially planned to run the 50K, but since they were coincidentally offering it this year, of course the first thing to go through my mind (and most ultra runners' minds) is, "Well what's 5 extra miles to make it a 50k?"

I had also convinced my roommate to finally run his first half marathon, so we drove from College Station to Mesquite (where I live) Friday evening and had a lasagna dinner. We woke up at 0500, left at 0530 and arrived in downtown Fort Worth at about 0640. We parked, checked-in and got to the start just in time for the national anthem before embarking on our race.

We were able to do the first 8 miles together before our courses split, and we had been training and planning to run the same pace at least until the course split. We kept an even pace running for 10 and walking 1. When we finally split, my next 5 or 6 miles were well under 9 minutes. I knew I would have to stay disciplined and keep it slow and steady if I didn't want to end up cramping towards the end. I hit every aid station and even had a beer while still feeling strong the whole way. I got the most demotivated when the ultra course split onto a trail for a 5 mile out-and-back before returning to the marathon course at the same spot we left from. It was slow and painful and I wanted it to end when I saw the 26mi marker come and go on the trail, but somehow I managed to keep my run up for about 90% of that out-and-back. The final miles on the marathon course passed with ease and I flew into the finish chute.

I finished in 4:59:14 and the medals and shirts for this race were sweet! Afterwards, we drove back to Mesquite and soaked our legs in the pool, took a nap, ate an early dinner and drove back to College Station to get ready for our Sunday race!