This past weekend was a very busy race weekend and is a little bit of a glimpse into how crazy the two of us are with a short race on Saturday, Kacie’s Run, and a bit of a longer run on Sunday, Rock ‘n’ Roll Half.  But first let’s back up to our week leading up to our race weekend – Teal had a lingering cough and ultimately started treatment for bronchitis.  Mid-week Beth got a cold and with a double race weekend we would be lying if we said we were not nervous.  We looked and sounded crazy, Teal would break into coughing attacks, and Beth had to carry around a box of tissues.  Not a pretty sight.

Kacie’s Run on Saturday went GREAT!  CFBISD had over 500 people participate in either the 1 mile or 5k races.  The crazy wind we had all week in Dallas stuck around for the run but the sun was definitely out and the temperature was in the high 70’s by the time we ran.  The course was awesome as it is super flat and plenty of space to not run into or have to dodge other runners.  I am pretty sure our nerves had taken over slightly as we both ran the first mile in right under 8 minutes. By mile two we were great, only one small coughing attack but we pulled through!

Our Results

Teal: 26:26, finished 6th in age group and 68th over all

Beth: 26:19, finished 4th in age group and 63rd overall

 

 

For the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half, we decided to run the relay and that we might have a better chance of placing if we ran on co-ed teams than as a Life is a Run team.  Teal partnered up with Joe and Beth partnered up with Bitner.  The boys were given the first leg of the half marathon to run, 7.1 miles, and the girls got the last leg, 6 miles.  As crazy as we were expecting the race to be with making sure we got to the right place, Rock ‘n’ Roll staff seriously had it under control.  The exchange area was well organized and it was awesome to see all the race action.  At about 35 minutes in, the first place runner passed all of us waiting for our partners at the exchange.  Oh to run a 5 minute mile…

L to R: Bitner, Beth, Teal & Joe

 

The weather in Dallas literally changed over night – Saturday we had a high in the 80’s and by the time we went to run our relay Sunday morning I think the temperature had maybe gotten up to 50 degrees with no sun.  Even the Rock ‘n’ Roll staff said that it must have been some kind of cruel joke.  It was freezing.

None of us had run a race in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, but we were so impressed with how organized and just how great overall the event was.  There were spectators everywhere, awesome bands, and even the High School cheerleaders from Teal’s school district.  We both talked after the race about being moved, almost to tears, by some of the pictures on runner’s shirts.  Beth saw a girl who ran with an extra bib that said “I run for my mother” and Teal ran behind a boy who had lost his mother to breast cancer, he had a giant picture of her on his back.  It is seriously motivating to run for a good cause and to see those affected by cancer, working for a cure!  This race also supported Susan G. Komen!

One of the exciting parts of the race was when Teal actually ran beside Troy Aikman!  Teal said that he literally just ran up on the side of her, he was on the left and his pacer on the right, and was talking about his race bib.  He thought he was the only one wearing it.  She looked up at him as it is weird to hear a lot of talking during a race and realized who the heck it was!  She looked at the girl on the other side of her for reassurance and yep, it was really him.  Teal looked right at him and asked, “Can I take your picture?”  He said, “Sure if you run fast!”  He had a pace to keep afterall!  Teal, who was running with her iphone to use the runkeeper app, took a quick picture and tweeted it while running.  Seriously cool!  Troy even contacted Life is a Run afterwards to find out about the picture!  How cool is that?

Beth and Teal both finished the race with an excellent pace.  It is safe to say our best 6 miles run ever!

Our Results

Teal & Joe: Ran the half in 1:50:22 (an avg. 8:26/mile pace) Teal’s half in 51:44.  They finished 8th amongst the co-ed teams and 19th out of 305 relay teams!

Beth & Bitner: Ran the half in 1:44:55 (an avg. 8:01/mile pace) Beth’s half in 50:37.  They finished 4th amongst the co-ed teams and 13th out of 305 relay teams!