TDF '11

I ran a 20k race known as "Tour des Fleurs" this past Saturday with my Luke's Locker running group. The race is included as part of our Lukes Fit Marathon Training. It began at the Dallas Arboretum and followed the White Rock Lake trail and veered into some of the beautiful older Dallas neighborhoods. This is part of the White Rock Marathon that I will be running later this year.

The Arboretum is all decked out for fall and beautiful. I'd like to take the kids back to see it.


The race started at 7:30 a.m. and the night before it had rained. It was VERY humid out. The humidity was disappointing since the weekend before we were spoiled and got to enjoy cool, fall like, weather. I was not pleased with my time of 2:32:51. However, I was thrilled to get an email from our coaches recapping the race. I wasn't the only one complaining about my pace and several other runners commented that their time was slower than their best half. The coaches had the following to say:

* The weather-need I say more. November and March are far better Half Marathon months than September.

* You are not currently optimally trained for THIS distance. Our current focus is a race more than twice as long as this 20K. We have just completed hill training which has stressed our bodies and we did not taper (rest and recover) for this race.

* This race really wasn't a 'race' for us, it was a training run to practice a distance at our marathon goal paces-faster than what we have been doing our long runs, but not as fast as I know most of you could run this distance under ideal conditions.

So, personally I felt great the first half of the race. As we veered off the lake path and into the neighborhoods it got really HILLY. I was doing great until I got to one hill that never seemed to end. I don't know which street this was but I decided to walk the hill. It was after this that my toes started to bother me. I think this was around mile 8.

The last .4 miles seemed never ending. I was dog tired, my foot was killing me and my back was bothering me which I found out today is the result of a piched nerve. My lower back has been bothering me for a couple months, I've had trouble sitting because of the pain so I finally went to see my doctor. He said it was a pinched nerve and put me on a 9 day steroid regimen. I'm hoping this helps clear it up.

But I FINISHED and am mentally preparing for this Saturday's 16 miler.

OBNOXIOUS PHOTO SERIES AHEAD:

Me along the trail.



About to cross finish line with running coach, Kristen.

20K Results (click to enlarge)

LIVE 80 – The Ultimate 80′s Experience – played 80′s hits on the Martin Rutchik Concert Lawn

Have a blessed week!