Race Recap: 2023 BMW Dallas Marathon

Race Results (bib 2020)

• 3:11:22 - 26.5mi
• 1st Age Group F30-34
• 8th Overall Woman (out of 1022)
• 130th Overall
• Strava

Gear

• Saucony Endorphin Pro 3
• Garmin Fenix 7s

tldr;

The culminating race of 2023 for me was the BMW Dallas Marathon. I chose this race because it was:

1. The right timing - end of year
2. Nearby - no travel needed

With a year of consistent training under my belt and a moderately well executed 20w marathon build up, I wanted to put my fitness to the test with a race. I hoped this race would help me:

1. Establish a baseline - how much can I do on this amount of training?
2. Get a qualifying time - get a time fast enough to use for entry into future races
   1. A - Sub 3hr
   2. B - Sub 3:10
   3. C - Sub 3:25 - Boston Qualifier cutoff for my age group
3. Build Confidence - Experience is 👑 king, and confidence is 👸 queen

I accomplished all three of these objectives and curated a list of things to work on for the next one.

1. Better nutrition, both day to day and in race
2. More and longer Long Runs
3. Higher weekly mileage

The following are my "stream of consciousness" reflections from the race. It is intentionally not polished writing to better represent my honest reflections.

pre-race

• 4:30am - woke up roughly 4hrs before start time
• 5:30am - finished eating and drinking breakfast by this time
  • Bagel + Peanut Butter + Banana
  • Coffee
  • ~500 calories and 80g of carbs
• 6am - Left the house
• 6:30am - Arrived, traffic and parking were not as bad as I was anticipating

Arrived ~2hrs before the race and mostly sat in my car to wait. Went to the bathroom twice, which was perfect since I could get there without any lines.

I ended up not doing any specific warmup. In the moment I decided I did not want to put any extra miles on my feet, and I felt I could warm up the first mile of the race somewhere in the low 7mins. Additionally, it was really cold, 38 degrees but felt closer to 33. I just stayed bundled up in the car.

I wanted to check my bag so that I would have it handy immediately after the race. In my bag I had a different pair of shoes and a change of clothes. I chose to check my bag around 30min out from start (8am).

The main problem with checking my bag at this time was that I was then very, very cold 🥶. What I raced in was shorts and a lightweight long sleeve shirt. The start line was entirely in the shade and formed a bit of a wind tunnel.

Apparently I looked so miserable I attracted the attention of some stranger who gave me a spare foil blanket he had. Thank you stranger! ❤️ You literally saved me, I was so much happier after that.

On the start line, worked my way up to the fastest pace group which was for the 90min Half-Marathon folks. This seemed ideal given my 3hr goal. While there I ran into some of the guys from my running club which was really nice and helped calm some nerves. Apparently my running club has a meetup spot for this Marathon, I'll have to try and find that next time.

race

The weather was absolutely perfect. 30s at the start of the race, then warmed up to high 40s low 50s. ☀️ Sunny day, so warmer in the sun, but the breeze remained brisk. So beautiful and perfect weather for Marathon-ing.

Nutrition summary:

• 2 x Gu Roctane
• 1 x Honey Stinger Gold Energy Gel
• 1 x Science in Sport Energy Gel

Took four gels, one every 30min or so. All were caffeine free.

Started drinking early, in the first third of the race I hit up most of the aide stations and took in mostly water. I never drank a full cup, just a mouthful at a time. For the rest of the race I moved into hitting every other aide station and mostly went for Gatorade. Aide stations were basically every 1.75-2.5miles.

the first third

I got really excited when the gun went off. They had such a nice start line with 🎆fireworks and 🎶music and a 📺 big screen showing all the runners starting.

There was a decent amount of congestion which helped me stay slow and ease into the pace. Tried to keep my eye on the 90min Half pace group and stick near them.

Generally I felt alright, but early on I did start thinking about how much further there was to go. Not because my body was feeling tired, just mentally I was realizing we had only just begun.

Around mile 5 I got a side stitch on the left hand side. I immediately started worrying it wouldn't go away (as this had happened during one training run recently). This worry caused it to get even worse and it got bad enough I started walking in an effort to reset my body and my mind. I also remember this side stitch got particularly bad after I hit a water stop and missed some breaths to get the water down.

After walking I was able to get back to running pretty quickly, but I could still feel the stitch right on the edge of coming back. I focused heavily on breathing deeply and exhaling fully. At the same time, I started wondering if I should bail out at the Half Marathon split 😞.

This decision was really stressing me out. I'd told a lot of people about my goals and that I was doing this race. I really didn't want to be a failure. But I also realized that none of this mindset was helping.

I tried to get back to focusing on breathing, and did a systems check. Everything else in my body felt great, it was just this stupid side stitch. I truly felt if the side stitch went away then the rest of the race would be doable. I reminded myself that all I really had to do was finish under 3:30.

These thoughts started to calm me down, and eventually the side stitch went away completely. Things really started to click after that.

The first third of the race was all through downtown Dallas. We hit Oak Lawn and a bit of Highland Park which was a lot of fun. Many of the houses had 🎄 Christmas decorations out and a lot of families had set up on the side of the road with music, bubble machines and other fun things.

After that we swung through lower Greenville which was a massive party 🎉, lots of cheering, tailgating, drums, the works. Right around mile 8 the Marathoners split from the Half Marathoners group and headed out towards White Rock Lake.

splits

*Walking due to side stitch.

the second third

The energy from Lower Greenville had really dropped my pace and I was splitting low 6:40s ⚡, from there we went into a long net downhill to the lake. I really focused on balancing between taking advantage of the pace to bank some time, but also not letting it get away from me. I did not want to be running under 6:40s even though I knew I easily could dip into that. In fact I spent a good chunk of mental effort trying to pull myself back to 6:50s.

Took a couple miles to get to the lake, but once on the lake it was mostly flat and I was feeling good for the most part. But I had a few mental energy swings to deal with.

Just as we got on the lake around mile 11 my brain started to think about how we had to go all the way around (8-9mile loop), and I started to worry again that I wouldn't make it to the end.

I backed off the pace a bit to alleviate this fear and reminded myself that even jogging it home from here would be a success and that I had lots of wiggle room to get home under 3:30. I also tried to remind myself that other people are likely having this same worry, that it wasn't just me and this was normal.

Around mile 17 I got another side stitch. While my initial issues with the side stitch seemed triggered by anxiety, I feel this one was directly related to nutrition. I chose to walk almost immediately. I really felt that if I could just get it under control then I could get back in the swing of things. It seemed wiser to spend 30s walking and get it fixed than struggle through a half mile and it maybe not go away.

This did seem to work and I was able to get right back on pace through the rest of the lake.

*17 walking due to side stitch

GAP pace still looking fairly consistent.

the final third

Things really started to fall apart here. First off, leaving the lake started a 13min climb, straight up hill, hardly any false flats, just climbing. My body was already starting to hurt towards the end of the lake, but this climb really did me in⚰️.

Around this time the ball of my left foot 🦶 started to really hurt. Felt like a pressure point up between the two fleshy pads on the ball of my foot, causing pain, tingling, and numbness. I experimented with trying to strike on outer foot and inner foot, it helped a little, but not enough. This was really bothering me on each foot strike.

Mentally, I was really running low on energy and everything hurt. The hill definitely took a ton out of me, but I also think this showed my muscle weakness, a result of not getting in any long runs over 18miles. My body could definitely keep running past 18, but it definitely could not do it over hills. I started to get passed by a lot of runners.

I think I had some brief walking in miles 22 and 23. Mostly just trying to take some pressure off my foot, and try to reset my body for running. It actually really helped both times, the short walking breaks let me reset mentally.

Mile 24 I had a side stitch and had to walk a good chunk of time. At this point we had rejoined with the half marathon runners who were split to the right hand side of the road.

While walking I happened to align with the 2:50 Half Marathon pace group which was actually getting paced by some women from my running club. At the time, none of us recognized each other, but they checked in on me anyway to see how I was doing and if I needed anything. It was super nice of them 🤗.

The back half of this race was a just a slog 🥵. I knew I was really close to being sub 3:10, but I almost didn't care anymore, I hurt so badly I just wanted to walk it in. I tried to just keep moving forward, reminding myself that post-race Bailey would really want to be sub 3:10.... and I did manage to do it, sort of. The race ended up being a quarter mile long, so my 3:11 finish time would have easily been under 3:10.

*24 walking

post-race

The finish corral was sooooooo long, I swear I had to walk another quarter mile to get out of it, I didn't think I was gonna make it. But I did.

Was able to eat and a drink a little. Spent the rest of the day on the couch, not really able to walk around.

I was more sore on my left side than on my right, also my quads were significantly more sore than any other muscle group.

reflections for the next training cycle

1. 🌮 I think I went into this race underweight - In the last 6w of training, stress at work kicked up a notch, life got in the way, and I started dropping weight as a result. Need to gain that weight back and then some. I think this will help with side stitches in the later parts of the race.
2. 📏 I did not get in enough long-long runs - In those last 6w I also missed my longest training run. So while I had several 18milers under my belt going into this race, I did not having anything 20+. I know from prior experience that my body does much better if it can get a handful of 20milers in.
3. 🔑 Increase mileage - My highest training week was 40mpw, but I probably averaged closer to 32-35mpw over the course of the entire training cycle. I'm excited that this is what I could run on such low mileage, but am ready to take this up a notch for the next one.