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Jill's Medal
2011 White Rock Marathon
By Jillian Norman
Photo by Jillian Norman
Published on Jan 1, 2012.
December 4, 2011 was my third time to run the White Rock Marathon. I can honestly say I trained hard for it and although the conditions were not ideal, I enjoyed the run immensely. Coach Troy gave me a training plan to follow. His plan focused on running in a different way than previously with track, hills, long runs, easy and rest days.
It was hard, especially in the hot summer; but it's awesome to have a group of friends to meet up and run with. That's what it's all about for me, the friends you make on the runs. Everyone in the group encourages each other and somehow it gets you through that 10 mile hilly run in 100 degree heat. Doug Mayfield from the group ran with me on Saturday mornings for our long runs by the Trinity River. This helped me tremendously. Kelly Rouse, who was training for her first marathon, became famous for her text messages to me saying, "just do what you can" followed by a picture of her putting on her running shoes as she was leaving the house to run. Dr Teals Epson salts, Starbucks and Sonic ice became my essential survival kit.
On the morning of the White Rock Marathon 2011 I woke up to the sound of torrential rain, as predicted. Honestly, I thought about staying in bed. I paid the 100 bucks; so I told myself I could just go and run it easy and simply do my best. I had definitely talked myself out of any chance of a PR by this point. My husband dropped me off close to the start with only 15 minutes to spare. I looked around to see if I could see any of my running buddies. I was hoping to start with some of them. There was a virtual sea of runners so I decided to just line up in my corral; and maybe I would see some friends after the race started and the crowd thinned out. Somehow I bumped into Kevin who was running the half marathon. We chatted while shivering and waiting for the race to start.
After the gun went off we waited for the respective waves to start and then we were finally off. The beginning was very crowded with the marathoners, half marathoners and relay runners starting together. It was difficult to find your own space to run in. I tried to just go with the flow and my first two miles were slow. I kept reminding myself this was good. Then the pace began changing and we were able to pick it up a bit. I ran with Kevin for the first few miles; but we lost each other in the sea of people. Around mile 5 I finally settled into a pace that felt good. The rain was coming down hard. It was very cold. I kept telling myself, at least; it's not hot. I kept looking around for Doug, George, Ed or Phillip but didn't see anyone I recognized; so I just concentrated on trying to keep my pace under control.
The crowds of people and volunteers were amazing considering the bad weather. All this gave me a lot of energy. Sometime after the 10k split I saw my husband, father-in-law and kids. They have been so supportive to me during my training. I gave them a huge wave and blew kisses; and it gave me a great mental boost. I wanted to run well for them. Just before the 13.1 split from a short distance I saw Ed Crum in his Texas flag running shorts. He was running with Phillip Dow. I caught up with them and ran with them for a while. It felt like we were cruising; but I was a little cautious as I kept looking at my watch. The splits were averaging about 7:20. At this point I kept reminding myself to hold back because there was still a long ways to go. Ed, Phil, and I chatted as we ran. Their companionship helped make the miles pass.
Except for being very wet and cold, I was still feeling pretty good by mile 20. I was unable to get my GU chomps out of the packet as my fingers were so numb. About that time the heavens opened again with very heavy rain. I looked up to the sky and smiled in disbelief. The downpour made it official. Now, I was a fully fledged crazy runner; and it was time to dig deep. Some of the other runners around me were starting to cramp. I stopped a second to check on a guy that stumbled with a cramp right in front of me. He told me he was ok and to go on. I approached the Dolly Parton hills thinking I am going to hit the wall now. Fortunately, thanks to running a lot of hills in training, I managed to run them without too much pain. After zoning out a little I saw the mile 24 marker. I remember thinking, "two more miles and you can get out of this cold and rain". I crossed the finish line in 3:16 a personal record (PR) for me. I was extremely happy!!! I cannot thank Troy and the Arlington Striders enough for all the support. I couldn't have done it without you guys.
