WOOHOO!!
I ran the Dallas Half Marathon a few weeks ago and had an absolute BLAST!
Spoiler alert: I hit that PR I so desperately wanted to get and while I didn’t quite hit my A goal, I smashed my B goal which felt amazing. Here’s a recap of the Dallas half marathon in case you’re thinking of running it anytime soon.

Dallas Half Marathon Recap
This was definitely my year of re-falling in love with distance running. It was my first long running race since this one in 2018, and it felt amazing to train for this half marathon. I guess I’ve just finally realized that I’ll never have enough time to train exactly the way I want to train for a race while I’m in the busiest stage of motherhood (boys are 3 and 5 right now), so I’ll just have to make the time and do it imperfectly. I’m so glad I did.

In the past, I’ve just kind of roughly followed an online training program…mostly following the long distance parts and doing what I want in between those.
For this race, I wanted to start a training program and follow it EXACTLY, so I did the Nike Run Club half marathon training program for this, and I LOVED IT!! You can download the app for free (it’s just called the NRC app) and all of the training programs are free, too.
They have guided runs with various NRC coaches, as well as a few runs coached by well-known elite runners and Olympians. I though I would mostly use it as a bench mark (like, “ok, I need to run 8 miles by this week, 12 miles by this week,” etc.) but I actually ended up using the coached/guided runs for nearly every single one of my 5 weekly runs. I really loved having a coach in my ear the entire time!

I did a total of 14 weeks of training for this race doing 2 speed runs, 1 long run, and 2 easy runs every week, which felt just about perfect. I peaked at about 28 miles/week for my highest mileage but most of my weeks were around 20 miles/week + some strength training whenever I could manage to find time. (Which was rare, I’ll be honest.)

The Dallas Half Marathon was a very well-run event and made for a great race experience from start to finish.
Dallas Marathon Weekend Quick Facts
Time of year: middle of December
Location: Downtown Dallas (it starts at City Hall Plaza)
Races offered: Sunday is the marathon, half marathon, ultra marathon, marathon relays, and then they offer shorter distances like a kids fun run and 5ks on Friday and Saturday.
Is it hilly? The half marathon has a total elevation gain of about 300 feet (93 meters), but it’s a net elevation gain of 0. That just means that the start and finish line are at the same place, so whatever hills you go up…you’ll eventually go back down. Most of the subtle uphills are in the first half of the race, and then it’s a subtle downhill run for the second half.
Number of runners: 30,000 runners total for all of the events, which includes the Friday and Saturday shorter runs as well as the marathon, half marathon, and ultra marathon.
What’s the weather like for the Dallas Half Marathon? Since this race started in the 1971, the weather has ranged from sleeting and 30 degrees to humid and 80 degrees. Texas weather is crazy, y’all.

My Dallas Half Marathon Recap
Saturday afternoon: I was able to stay at my parents’ house for this race (which was one of the biggest reasons why I chose to run the Dallas Half!), so I drove in late on Friday night with Milo, my 5-year-old, dropped him off at my sister’s house so he could start his super fun AUNTIE WEEKEND (WAHOO!!) and then drove to my parents house to crash on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, I went to the race expo to pick up my race bib! I LOVE a race expo because it just gets me so excited about the race. It’s the most amazing energy and the perfect boost I need before a race!

My dad, who also ran the half marathon, was going to try to get my race bib for me the day before on Friday, but they’re really strict about each racer picking up their own packet. You have to show you ID and they won’t let you transfer it to anyone else’s name.


I’m such a nerd, but I love always finding my name on these things!


I also loved reading through all of the race recaps from previous years of the White Rock Marathon aka Dallas Marathon. Crazy how much faster women have gotten since the 1970s!!
Later on Saturday afternoon I stopped by Lubbie’s Bagels, per my sister Cara’s recommendation, to carb load on a big bagel sandwich. She lives in Dallas and said these bagels are amazing, and she wasn’t lying!
I’d also been snacking on bananas and pretzels all day and adding lots of white rice to my dinners for the two days before the race. Nutrtion…check!

On Saturday evening we had a fun family event at my parents’ house with a cookout and a game of Farkle. So fun! It was a really chill way to spend the evening before the race. I avoided the wine and dessert and just ate rice/veggies/protein, and everything felt good!

I went to bed early-ish and slept horribly (my usual the night before a race!) but at least I was expecting that.

Race morning, 5:30 am: I set my alarm plenty early for the 8 am start time. Ha! This is where I’ve noticed the biggest change from running races in my 20s versus 30s…I HAVE to give my body time to wake up and get going! I used to be able to kind of roll out bed, eat a banana and some toast, and then get to the starting line ASAP. Nowadays I need to drink a full cup of black coffee, let that caffeine kick in, eat about 2 hours before the run, leave time for the porta-potty, and run some strides.

Breakfast was half a banana, an English muffin with peanut butter and honey, and a cup of black coffee. I also drank some LMNT for electrolytes.
While I was eating breakfast at my parents’ dining room table, I heard rain falling outside and checked my watch to see that it was already a muggy 50 degrees or so. Blech. I was hoping for cooler than that for race day!
My mom was so sweet to drive my dad and me to downtown Dallas to the starting line so we didn’t have to mess with parking. AMAZING. We got there nice and early (around 7:00 am, which was a full hour before the race started.) There were no lines for the porte-potties at this time, so I went to the bathroom and then found a wide open road to do an easy warm up and a few strides.
I probably got to the race a bit too early, but again…I’m an old lady now, and I don’t want to mess with digestive issues or bathroom lines. I wanted to make sure there was plenty of time! Which was good, because I made one more “quick” stop at the bathrooms before getting into my Corral, and it was about a 20 minute line at 7:20 am.
7:40 am: I got into Corral A, which closed at 7:55. I really am in my getting-to-things-early-at-races-era these days, huh?
7:55 am: Hype up speech from some pro golfer (no idea who it was), the national anthem from some Nashville singer (no idea who that was either), and then the wheelchairs started.
8:00 am: GO! They started the race right on time, which I appreciated. Actually, my Apple Watch said that they started the race at 7:59. Every corral started in 10 minute waves, so Corral B was at 8:10, Corral C was at 8:20, etc.
Miles 1-3: It was definitely a bit crowded at the beginning, which is normal for any race. My goal was to go out a bit slower (maybe an 8:20 pace) since there are some uphills at the start and then come home at a negative split for the downhills (maybe a 7:40 pace) to try to average out 8 minute miles.
The weather was seriously so gross and muggy. I was sweating about a mile into the race, but at 96% humidity and drizzly rain hanging in the air, the sweat couldn’t evaporate off my body so I just felt hot and gross.
The ground was also really slick and wet for the entire race, which wasn’t really fun, either.
The good part was that there was constant cloud coverage, so I never had to deal with a really bright, hot sun.
Miles 4-6: Ok, I remember distinctly thinking “I would really love for these uphills to stop coming at me.” Ha! They’re not extreme hills by any means, but they’re pretty constant.
I saw my mom and my grandpa at the start of mile 4. Seeing family is always SO fun during a race!!

Miles 7-10: The full marathon splits off at mile 7.8, so the race is a lot less crowded after that. But honestly, it didn’t feel crowded at all except for the first mile. There was plenty of space for everyone to run.
There was another batch of family waiting after mile 8 to cheer for me, which (again) was SO much fun! I knew that Milo had made a “touch here for power” sign and I was hell bent on running up to his sign and giving it a high-five. I had to cross over two “lanes” of running traffic to get to him, but there was no way I was missing my baby!
Miles 11-13.1: The end has the potential to be AMAZING! There are some downhills, one really steep uphill at mile 12, and a pretty full crowd of people for the final half mile. It’s such a great energy!
I had gone out a bit too fast and managed to hold my splits until the final 2 miles, and then I steadily slowed down to my very slowest mile for mile 13 at an 8:23 pace. It felt really rough for me, but if I had run closer to my race plan I think this could be a really fast finish for a race.

My official race time was 1:47.08. Almost a 2 minute PR, which felt really good! Of course I was a little bummed I couldn’t get to that 1:45 goal…but it also just makes me excited to run another half marathon and train/race a bit smarter. It’s all so fun!
Here's How I'll Run The Dallas Half Marathon Next Time
Well, ya girl went out too fast. The crowd swept me away, I got a little too eager, and those uphills were run at sub-8 minute pace which wasn’t smart!

I’ll share my race splits with you under the condition that you don’t judge me! My heart rate was clearly wayyyy too high from the beginning. I was workin’ this really hard.
(I’m proud of how my body was able to hang on for the most part, but I definitely died a bit there at miles 12 and 13! I can’t wait for my next race when I can do a better job of executing my race strategy and saving more for the end.)
PS: my first full distance triathlon and my Dallas Marathon Relay recap.