Dallas Marathon 2017, Part 2: The Other Stuff.

I have no training plan at the moment.  I'm no good on my own, people.

I got up thinking I would either do weights or do an easy 3 miler.  Maybe because it was 3:20 AM or maybe because I need a training plan, I was at am impasse regarding that decision. I kept hemming and hawing about which one I should do that I finally got fed up with myself and flipped a damn coin to make a decision.

And a 3 mile run it was, according to the quarter I flipped.  Thanks, probability!

Anyway, I knew it was cold (in the teens), but when I walked the dogs this morning through the yard (at 3:15 AM...Thursdays are weird days for me) I thought it really wasn't that bad as far as "OMG it's COLD" moments.  In fact, there was very little wind, so I thought this running outfit would be sufficient for a morning where it was 15 degrees with a feels-like temperature of 8:

Even the dogs were like, "Duh."

By the end of the two miles that I actually did in the cold dark, my thighs and face were stinging anf begging for mercy.  The only good thing about those 20 or so minutes was that I got to try out my new Hoka One One Clayton 2s that I procured at the Dallas Marathon race expo for a steeply discounted price.  I don't have a final verdict on them yet, but they didn't suck.  More on those as I run more miles in them where the air doesn't make my face hurt.

But enough about my dumb winter running fashion decisions.  Let's talk about the other stuff that happened during the Dallas Marathon weekend--the stuff that doesn't have to do with me running 26.2 miles.  I didn't include this stuff in yesterday's post because I didn't want that post to be a million miles long.  But it's too good not to share the crap that happens when my twin and I get together, because something interesting ALWAYS happens. And it's also too good not to make a bulleted list about them, because we all know by now bulleted lists are what I freaking love.  Besides running.

Other stuff #1: Friday at the race expo.

Because it's super easy to get to downtown Dallas via their light rail system, my sis and I hopped on a train and were dropped off right at the convention center where the expo took place.  Because we went on a Friday when other people were at work, we cruised through packet pick-up in no time and then got to do some serious expo-ing.  In addition to getting some Hoka One Ones, I got some official race merch, three pairs of Feetures socks, and a list of other marathons I want to run.  As we headed out of the expo through signs that revealed the history of the race (cool), we heard what sounded like a fire alarm going off.  As we left the expo, there was a robo-announcement telling everyone not to use the elevators and to use the stairs.  No one seemed particularly alarmed, so we meandered out of the building and down to catch the train back to my twin's house.

And then the next day we read the story about the bomb threat (which turned out to be a hoax) at the convention center.  Whoops!  What's crazy is this is not the first time a bomb threat has occurred when we were together...it has nothing to do with running, so I won't tell it here.  Or at least in this post.

Other stuff #2: Saturday morning trying to get to the 5K.

When you leave a little too late to catch the 6:38 AM train downtown for the 5K and you're at one ticket kiosk getting a ticket and you don't know where your twin went and you scream her name in the dark and then she screams yours but you can't see each other in the dark and then you see the train coming so you both start running towards the platform and THEN you find each other.

Yeah.  Good times.

Other stuff #3: Crazy pictures with the twin's two dogs.

They are masters of the sad "get this woman away from me" eyes.

Other stuff #4: We did a race series with some serious loot.

We ran a 5K on Saturday (we could have run the 10K, but we didn't want to screw up our Sunday races) and then the twin ran the half while I ran the full on Sunday.  We did some serious screwing around on Saturday before the 5K.

We also collected some pretty good loot on Saturday and Sunday, and if you did the race series you got a cool jacket and another snazzy medal as well.

It folds! Almost (but not quite) as exciting as a belt buckle medal.

Other stuff #5: Boxes full of snacks at the end of the races each day.  Enough said.

That's not sadness.  That's gratefulness for that box o'
 snacks.

Other stuff #6: My favorite picture from the marathon to end this post.

And here's what you should have learned whether you realize it or not:

• Having taught for 18 years, I'm pretty immune to panicking at a bomb threat.  Sad but true.
• We did make the train Saturday morning, btw.
• If I can't take way too many photos of my dogs, I will take too many photos of your dogs.  FYI.
• The more bling there is, the better race experience for me.
• How can you NOT be excited about boxes full of post race snacks??
• If only I'd known about the boxes of snacks during my marathon...maybe it would have turned out differently.

Tomorrow's workout: I told you I'm no good on my own.  Maybe weights.  Maybe a cardio DVD.  I predict more coin-flipping in the morning.