Rock and Roll Dallas 2012

On March 25th, 2012, I completed my 58th  athletic event since I entered my first triathlon in July of 2000. I had the great opportunity to once again spend a fun weekend with family and friends. We went to dinner on Friday night in the West End so we could properly carb load, navigated the DART system, and stayed in the newly opened Omni Hotel next to the Dallas Convention Center. My wonderful sister-in-law paid for my two night hotel stay and also an 80 minute hot stone massage after finishing the half marathon.

Rock and Roll Dallas offers only a half marathon, and so they have one of the later start times for a race, at 8 AM. With over 15,000 people and 15 corrals, each separated by a four minute span, and with weather being ever-changing in Texas, the temps quickly climbed and made for a pretty hot time on the road. Picking up each foot and putting them down again for the duration of the 13.1 miles was more a mental exercise than a physical one. Each time I felt the frustration of feeling like I was swimming through molasses, I would see another runner struggling with barriers of their own. I saw a man pushing his wife in a wheelchair while running the entire race. I saw a man, easily in his 80's, take a nasty spill before mile two, and after getting help from others, picked himself up and continue running in spite of busting his elbow wide open with the blood freely flowing down his arm as he ran. Always, always there is inspiration around us if we only open our eyes wide enough to see it and our hearts wide enough to feel it....

I saw passionate people running for a specific cause, whether it be because they were a cancer survivor, lost a loved one to cancer, or were running to save pitbulls. I do love people with a passion in a variety of forms.

The expo was a bit lacking, but I walked away with three free pair of socks, five shirts for signing up for a triathlon in the new series Tri the Rock 2012, two swim caps, some coconut water, gels, and a 15 dollar discount for signing up at the expo. The tri will be in Austin on Labor day weekend. I am way excited about that!

Next up for me is the Jailbreak Run in Austin this Saturday followed by the first annual Austin Beer Fest. I have a truck full of friends and family along for the ride on this one as well. In April, I am signed up for the Shape Diva Dash and the Hell Run. There is never enough time in the day to get it all done.

After getting home Monday afternoon, I unpacked and took a 60 plus mile motorcycle ride around the area to check out the gorgeous blooming bluebonnets. The recent and frequent rains have given us a bumper crop this year, and it seemed to me that looking at them while cruising by on my Triumph made the colors even brighter and my heart just a little lighter. You can't beat that with a stick!

Til next time.....

Jill

Rock and Roll New Orleans 2012

New Orleans is one of my favorite cities. I love the people, the accents, the culture, the gastronomic delights, and the history of this place. I also have some pretty sweet memories of spending some time here with a much treasured lover of the past, walking hand in hand through the streets, eating beignets at Cafe Du Monde, and venturing out after dark in the cold after a race just to try the Bananas Foster at Brennan's. So, when a friend suggested meeting there this year in honor of her 53rd birthday, there was no way I was going to refuse.

In all, five of us made the trek to New Orleans to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Sunday, March 4th. The weather was expected to be in the 70's, so the two friends and I who left on Friday right after work had not bothered to bring jackets of any kind. Once we got to New Orleans, the weather had turned cold and overcast, and one of our first stops was to the Riverwalk and buy sweatshirts before we went out sightseeing. Of the five of us, I was the only one who had been to New Orleans before, so we wanted to fit as much in as possible during our three day stay. After having lunch at a cool little place by the Riverwalk and then sweatshirt shopping, we headed for the trolley, an experience I had not had in my previous visits to the Crescent City. There was a dance competition in town that weekend as well, and a few school tours, so the trolley was crammed with teenagers from end to end. My friend who would be celebrating her birthday in New Orleans was wearing her birthday beads, and thus we met other women on the trolley who were also there to celebrate birthdays. Good things and good times are all around us if we are just open to the opportunities.

                                                                     I love murals.....

                                            Waiting on the trolley in our newly acquired sweatshirts.

                                                              Birthday girls......

                                                                        

                            

We headed to the French Quarter and walked around and then had to make a stop at Cafe Du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets.....Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

                                                           Cafe Du Monde

                                                                         Beignets!!!

                                                          Bliss in one form........

                                                     

                                              Along the ghost tour....

 

                                                      Casting a big shadow............

We decided to do a ghost tour, something I had done last year, too, but this year it was with a different company, so the stories and places were, for the most part, different. Along the tour, we had a little break, so my friends and I headed to the Community Coffee shop on the corner for more cafe au lait. We made it back to the hotel about 10 PM, and then we got our things ready for the morning race. Our hotel was just one block from the start line, so we met in the hotel lobby at 6:30, one of the latest starts ever for me in the 11 years I have been doing events.

                                                                  Race morning...

                                                       Before the race in the hotel lobby....

                                             Crossing the starting line.....

                                                           I love this sign!

                                                       Mardi Gras Tree along the route.....

The morning of the race, the sun was out and shining, a most glorious day to be out and seeing the sights along the route. It was a perfect day and run!

Afterwards, we decided we wanted to do a cemetery tour, but the tour companies wanted 45 bucks to take us around to a few which we would not be able to go in because they were locked up at noon on Sundays. Instead, as soon as the race was over, we headed for the buses to take us back to our hotel, quickly changed clothes, got the car from the valet, and headed out to Metaire Cemetery, the lone cemetery open until 5:30 on a Sunday in all of New Orleans. It was a really good experience. I had no idea how many German and Irish immigrants had come to New Orleans!

                                    After race fare......

                                   Red beans and rice...

                                                              Bananas Foster Cheesecake

I love New Orleans, and I'll be sure to head back next year as well. There's just something about that city that calls to me, and I will always heed that call....

Next stop, Dallas for the March 25th Rock and Roll Half Marathon there. After that, the Jailbreak Run in Austin on March 31st, Austin 10/20 on April 15th, and the the Hell Run on April 28th.


I stay busy leading this life on the run....and there is never enough time to bike, to run, to motorcycle, to hang with friends, but I have to keep moving. I have to be an active participant in life so that it doesn't pass me by and I end up with regrets about what might have been or what I "could have done."  I'm doing it.

Try and stop me.

"The notion of looking on at life has always been hateful to me. What if I am not a participant? In order to be, I must participate."  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

February 11, 2011 Run for Chocolate, Dallas, Texas

http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/dallas/

I have discovered that there are three things that will get me to run: medals, beer, and chocolate.

So, in light of this, a group of friends and I decided last November that we would all sign up to "run for chocolate." It's probably a good time to point out that this group of friends is my "Biggest Loser" group, and we have completed many weight loss rounds together over the past two years. I even won one of them and a pretty good chunk of change (over 400 bucks).

Nevertheless, we signed up, since there was a great online coupon for a sizeable discount to register, and, in lieu of a finisher's medal, each registrant received a cute Hot Chocolate 15K/5K windbreaker. Add to the mix a chocolate fondue at the finish line and some Ghiradelli hot chocolate with marshmallows, and packets of the candy given out to finishers as well, and there was no way we were NOT gonna be a part of this!

We booked hotels and made ride arrangement for the trek to Dallas, and one member of our group even flew in from Colorado to join us on the run. However, this being winter and this being Texas, the weather often changes as much as 50-60 degrees on any given day. Sure enough, the morning of the event, an "Urgent" weather update was sent out to all registered participants with the following information:

URGENT WEATHER UPDATE

Due to the last minute drop in temperature overnight, the race Medical Director is recommending increased caution while running.
We strongly encourage that 15K participants running 12 minutes per mile or slower switch to the 5K distance to limit the risk of cold exposure and hypothermia.
Those 15K runners will receive accurate race results at the 5K distance, without penalty.
We will be updating the weather on Facebook and Twitter as well as sending out additional e-mails if there are any more changes in the weather.
        
 Sincerely,
 Dr. Larry Iteld
 Medical Director

The reality was that it was 16 degrees. Of the 10 of us who had travelled together to do the race, nine of us switched over to the 5K. There was no medal to be had, and we had already picked up our windbreakers, so no harm, no foul.  We dressed as warmly as we could, headed down to the hotel lobby to get in the Starbucks line, grabbed our coffee and then headed over to the light rail transportation we'd have to take to get to the starting line at Fair Park.

The race was filled with 10,000 runners, and it looked like the majority of them had come to do the race. There was a guy who showed up to run with no shirt, and another who came to run barefoot. Brrrrrrrrr........

As for those in our group? We ran, we toughed it out through the cold and wind, and we had a great time afterwards eating the fondue and drinking the hot chocolate and laughing together about it all.

My next event will be a half marathon in New Orleans in a few weeks, and the week after that, I am signed up for an adventure race in Austin.

Run on!!!

                          Beautiful Dallas sunrise at the chilly start of the race.

                                     A few of us before the start.............

                                               Testosterone craziness......

   Running barefoot in 16 degrees?? Not me, and I don't care who wrote the book or how much
   research backed it up!

                             Just before running across the timing mat at the starting line...

        DPD motorcycle cops dressed to brave the elements and do some traffic control along the route.

              I was amazed and thrilled to see so many young kids running the event with a parent! Here, mother and daughter....

                               ...and here, father and daughter...how cool!

                                             The finish line............

                                                       The fondue volunteers.............

                                         Liquid heaven...............

                                  The fondue finisher's "medal".