Dallas White Rock Marathon

Team OK Runner Elite and Aja, aka Team JJJSM+A

~1.5 mile w/u
~5 miles @ 30:33 (approximate)
~1 mile running to/from car to pick up Scotty D and Jordan
~7 miles pacing Ms. Aja De
Total: 14-15 miles

Wow. What a day. I could probably write my longest blog entry to date on today's relay and all the surrounding events, but instead I will be somewhat lazy and link you to Jordan and Jilane's comprehensive descriptions. I suggest you check them out for photos, videos and some stellar race commentary from their perspectives.

As for my part, I will share a bit about my leg of the race. First of all, as the other blogs have indicated, the weather conditions were quite less than ideal for a marathon today. Or for my hair. Or really for anything. 60-70 degree temps, winds gusting upwards of 35 mph, and disgusting humidity do not make for optimal race times. (In the end, the winning marathon times were ~8-10 minutes slower than they have been in previous years, which gives you an idea of what we were dealing with). For myself and Scotty D in particular the conditions were rough, as both of us ran on the exposed sections around the lake for our race legs. I had hoped to run close to six minute pace for my leg, but all thoughts of time flew out the window (no pun intended) with the wind. Instead I just wanted to maintain our position and put forth a solid effort.

So, at mile 10 Jilane handed off the baton (read: slap bracelet) to me and I tossed her the car keys. She would later bring the car, which I parked at my exchange zone, to pick me up after I finished. Jordan and I ran together for the majority of my leg, as he was in the midst of his 20-mile effort at this point. I felt pretty strong on the first three miles, but when we turned into the wind it was all over. Jordan did his best to block the gusts for me, but in the immortal words of Doug Starr, "he's a little dude and that's why I feel comfortable around him." His 140-pound frame could only do so much, and I still felt like I was running through quicksand. That said, I was in control enough to ask him to pick up the pace a few times in the last mile, and I tried to finish strong with the handoff to Scotty at mile 15. While I didn't pass anyone, no one passed me, so I suppose I consider my effort a small victory.

After Jilane and I met the boys at mile 20 (again, read Jordan's blog for more commentary about this leg of the race), we started on our second mission for the morning: helping pace our beloved Aja on the remainder of her marathon debut. Her goal was to run 3:40 and qualify for Boston, but it was clear when we all met up at 19 that she would be able to run much faster if she kept her composure. We gradually tightened the pace down from 7:50 to 7:20s and then clocked off the final two miles sub-7. I have never seen someone so happy, confident and comfortable in the latter stages of a marathon--much less a debut marathon--as Aja was, and Jilane and I were pumped to help her shatter her previous race expectations. At 3:23 and change, Aja easily slid under the Boston qualifying time and looked strong doing it.


Aja looking fresh as a daisy at mile 25

When the dust settled (again, no pun intended but geez these are softballs), Team OK Runner Elite ended up in first place in the co-ed open division and third place in the overall relay, behind two all-male teams. Our time of 2:30 wasn't quite as quick as we'd hoped, but given the weather it would've been unrealistic to expect better. Overall I couldn't be prouder of our team and of Aja, and can't wait to come back in 2009 to defend our title AND lower our race time.

This entry is already longer than I'd planned, but I would be remiss if I didn't close without a few highlights of the day:

1. Scotty D. answering a knock on our hotel room door at 2:30am to find two assumed call girls who had mistakenly come to the wrong room.
2. Jilane, Aja and I rolling up on some guy wearing a Texas Longhorns jersey at mile 25 of the marathon. Aja was wearing an OU jersey. All three of us gave him the upside down horns and a hearty "Boomer Sooner!" as we left him in the dust.
3. The homeless man with the five-year-old Greyhound bus ticket approaching us in the parking lot asking for "money for food." Jordan made me give him one of my Clif bars, which he apparently did not recognize or trust. We went back to the car a few hours later and found the uneaten, unopened bar resting on our windshield.
4. Dropping Jilane off for her 5pm flight at DFW, only to discover moments after we left that she was actually flying out of Love Field. Subsequently taking a tour of Dallas airports.