Dallas White Rock Marathon

The first weekend of December we took a trip to Dallas.  Mark had signed up to run his first full marathon...26.2 miles.  Now to date, the farthest he has run was 20 miles around the neighborhood.  He didn't get to train as hard in the weeks prior...first he pulled a groin muscle and then once that healed, he was out running and was tripped up by a neighborhood dog and ended up with knees, legs, hands and elbows that were banged up.  So the trip was off...then on...then off...then on...well you get the picture!

We left after work on Friday night...stopping in Texarkana to eat at On the Border...since our OTB was out of commission due to the fire, we were craving it so we stopped at first available. 

The host hotel in Dallas was the Downtown Hyatt Regency...can you say I LOVED the bed...very nice.  Since we got in late Friday night, we slept in Saturday morning.  When we got up Saturday, we hopped on to the shuttle and headed to the Health & Fitness Expo at Fair Park so Mark could pick up his packet...which contains his bib and all other pertinent information...no packet...no run!  It was the biggest and best health fair we've been to.  There were several good vendors selling "runners wares", booths with information about upcoming marathons and some other booths of general interest. 

The first "Dallas White Rock Marathon" in 1971 involved a ritual of placing your hand on a rock embedded into the shore for good luck...a ritual started by the Grecians in 1896.  Below is "The Legend of The Rock."



Well..Mark wasn't taking any chances!

 After we finished with the Health Expo we went over to the Holiday Gift Expo...it was pretty much a bust, expo for the Texas Toffee we sampled...man was it good!  I have to admit there was a lot of crafts happening for kids at the expo, so that was nice for those that had kids. 

This was the first year for the marathon to be held at Fair Park which was pretty cool...it was the site of the old Texas World Fair and home to the Cotton Bowl. 

After our business was taken care of at the Expo, we went back to the hotel for a little rest and then decided to walk down to the West End area for dinner.  We ended up at Hooters...imagine that!  It was REALLY cold and VERY windy.  I wasn't expecting such chilly weather.

Mark had a dilemma of trying to decide what to run in the next morning...how many layers...but Superman had to be on top...of course!  Here was the final outcome.  Thank goodness for Under Armour Cold Gear!

As Mark had to be on the shuttle headed for the race the next morning at 6:30, we turned in early.  Since I couldn't ride the shuttle on race day...it was only for "runners"...I opted to take the DART later in the morning...and since Mark would be running for "a while", I decided to sleep in a bit and catch the first hour of the marathon on TV...yes, they broadcasted the first three hours of the marathon locally in Dallas.

This is a shot of one of the corrals starting out...there were over 22,000 runners and there were over 15 different corrals...which means, Corral A starts and then a few minutes later, Corral B starts and so on and so on...that way you don't have 22,000 people starting at the exact same time!  Mark didn't get out of the start gate until around 9:00!  Sure am glad I didn't hurry down there to watch them start at 8:00!  heehee!  I got down there in PLENTY of time to roam around and freeze to death while waiting for him to cross the finish line.

Now, I have never taken "the DART" before and had no idea what I was doing.  Once I found the station outside our hotel, I had to figure out how to buy a ticket and then the schedule and be sure I got on the DART going the right direction!  And as my luck would have it, when I got to the platform, there was not another soul around and as I'm trying to figure out how to buy my ticket, some guy walks up to me wanting money...of course!  I got spooked and went back inside the hotel and was contemplating taking a cab!  But then I heard the DART coming and by the time I got back outside to the platform and purchased my ticket, it had gone again!  But there were a couple of people who got off to transfer so I felt a little safer.  I did finally make it to my destination...after only taking one wrong transfer...and by the end of the trip, I was a navigating pro!

While I was in the process of getting TO Fair Park, this is what Mark was doing...

 

RUNNING!

Yes, he ran for 5 hours and 40 minutes!!  The clock at the finish line says 6:27, but remember, he didn't get started until almost 9:00.  If you look real closely on the left, I am in the red jacket (with the hood up!)  I was so proud of him.  To date the farthest he had run was 20 miles and a marathon is 26.2 miles.

Mark headed to the finishers area to retrieve his medal, some nourishment and have his picture taken while I waited outside.

Then we headed back to the hotel for a nap (via the DART)... : )

Later that night we decided to head back to the West End area for dinner (since it was close), but opted to take the DART instead of walking since the weather was so miserable.  We found an upscale Mexican restaurant (I can't remember the name) that was really good.

Monday morning we slept in, got ready and then headed for home.  We did hit a Hooter's in Texarkana (another one for Mark to add to his list)...but I won't be going back, the service was terrible and the food was worse!

It was a great weekend and we get to do it again the next weekend in Fayetteville.