Dallas Marathon Trip - 08Dec through 11Dec23

My blog is so out of order and I am trying to catch up!   

At some point during 2023, I decided that I needed to do a marathon in every state now.  I was looking around and saw this Dallas Marathon weekend at the beginning of December which looked like a really great race.  I decided to sign up.  Except, instead of just a marathon, I signed up for the 50k on Sunday Dec 10 and the 10k on Saturday, Dec 09.  

I flew into DFW airport on Friday afternoon.  Since I was staying right downtown Dallas, I took the metro from the airport to downtown.  I then walked over to the Expo to pick up my bibs for the next 2 days of races.  Friday night I was beat by the time I got to my VRBO apartment.

Saturday morning was the 10k.  As I walked to the start of the race, I passed by this park called Pioneer Park.  They had this interesting cowboy herding cows art installation seen above.  What I didn't realize until as I walked further was that it was a large cemetery where a lot of the early settlers of Dallas were buried.

I know cemeteries are morbid, but I find old cemeteries very interesting.  There were a lot of plaques letting you know who was an important figure in the development of Dallas and Texas.

And I think old headstones are really cool to look at.

I ran the 10k with no pain issues.  The only problem was that I was getting over a cold, so breathing was a pain.  But I just took my time and finished the 10k.  The weather was in the mid 40s and it was sunny and dry...so a perfect day for a warm up run.

After the 10k, I had the rest of the day to walk around and explore.  I decided to check out the JFK museum / grassy knoll / 6th floor book depository museum.  It's funny because in real life, this whole area is very small.  The 6th floor of the old book depository is a museum with articles and some memorabilia.  It's very interesting to walk through and see.

 This is the original print out from the Associated Press when the news of Kennedy being shot was first starting to be known.

This is the corner where Lee Harvey Oswald took aim at Kennedy.  They have it blocked off, but this whole set up is not original.  They 'recreated' how the boxes looked that day based on pictures that they took.

View of the street from the 6th floor windows

That big X in the middle of the street is supposedly where Kennedy was shot in his vehicle.  

Looking back at the book depository

This the the 2nd time I have been to this area and it just it so interesting to me that so many people (including myself) come here to see this.  This view is taken pointing towards the overpass where the vehicles drove after the shooting.  Weirdly, we ran under these overpasses during the race.

After visiting the Kennedy area, I went to the Dallas Holocaust and human rights museum.  

These are the stars of David that Jewish people were forced to wear on their clothes to identify themselves as Jewish.

This is a very very small sample of some of the personal effects that were collected from the Jewish people when they were deported to the concentration camps.  I have been to Auschwitz before and have seen entire rooms filled with shoes and luggage and.... 

I took this picture because it's Red Square in Moscow and I have actually been here.  It's very weird to know that I have been to this exact place where these tanks and military vehicles have been before.

This was a Torah that had been rescued from a synagogue that was set on fire on purpose. It is a very big deal that they were able to save this. 

Part of this museum was also discussing slavery in the south and Jim Crow laws.  One of the things I found interesting, that I didn't really know, is that the saying 'Grandfathered In' does have connections to slavery.  There are a LOT of sayings today that still have those connections...but the origin of those sayings have been lost.  I'm unsure if this is a saying that we shouldn't say anymore?

I read this statement in the museum and I have a comment.  This is sort of different from some books that I have read.  Yes, there was a great migration of Black people from down South to cities like Chicago and Detroit.  However, what I read was this:  The meat packaging industry in Chicago had been employing European immigrants.  However, the immigrants were starting to ask for more money and they were starting to band together to form unions.  The big guys like Oscar Meyer and the Armour hotdog guys didn't want to pay the increased salaries.  So, they got a great idea to get buses, drive down south and persuade the unemployed Black people to come North where they could make money and live free.  Yes they were treated better than they were in the South, BUT THEY WERE STILL BEING TREATED POORLY COMPARED TO A WHITE PERSON!  AND they were still being exploited because they were being paid LESS THAN what the white immigrants were being paid!  And Henry Ford did the same thing.  He sent buses down south to pick up unemployed black people promising them a job and a place to live.  This sign just bugged me because it makes it sound like everyone in the North just welcomed these poor black people with open arms and they were 'saved' by the people in the North and that is not true.  The only reason they were brought here is because the rich white guys needed to pay a lower rate.  It's just like every other business today. Lots of production moved to Mexico because paying Americans is too expensive...then that go too 'expensive' for executives...so they moved production to China.  Now China is getting too expensive so they are moving things to Korea or something. Executives are always looking for the next cheapest population to exploit.

Ok I'm off my soap box now.

After walking around Dallas for a few hours, I decided to head back to my apartment and rest and watch TV.  I still had a ultra marathon to run the next day!! Anyway, my friend Jade and her mom Laura live in the Dallas area.  I had met and lived with Jade back in 2010 when I did a study abroad in Prague for 3 months. I had gotten in contact with them and luckily they had time to meet for dinner.  So we met at this great Mediterranean restaurant and had dinner and sat and talked for a few hours.  It was so nice catching up with them and I was so glad they were able to meet up with me.  

They also got me the most amazing gift back from Buc-ees!  I told them we don't have Buc-ees up north, so this was a perfect gift!

 The next morning, I got up and walked to the start of the race.  It was only about a mile, so it was a good warm up.  The weather was sunny and dry.  It was a little cool, but that was perfect. 

The race started out ok.  A little crowded because all of the runners started at the same time: the 1/2 marathoners, the full marathoners and the 50k runners.  The roads were a little crowded for a few miles, but then things spread out just fine.  I am glad I had ran that 10k the previous day....I think I was able to 'cough out' a lot of stuff from my lungs, so my breathing didn't feel as labored as it had before.  Nothing was really hurting me, which was good.  I could tell I wasn't able to breath as well as I normally do, but I just took things nice and easy.  After running through town, we headed out of town and ran around a lake.  The support for this race was really great the entire way.  

Start of the 50k!

Around the 19 miles mark was where they had the 50k runners break off and do a 2ish mile out and back.  You can see it in my strava map above...it looks like a little tail sticking out of the bottom of the lake.  Very few runners were doing the 50k, but EVERYONE who was running the 50k was super supportive.  Every person on that out and back that I passed said 'good job' or 'keep going'.  It was like we were a select group that all knew we were the ultimate bad asses of the race.  There were even regular people standing along that route and handing out water and Gatorade.  They weren't part of the race or anything....they were just there of their own free will handing out water to the ultra runners.  

There was one point where we passed by a house and they were making 'fake snow' with a suds machine.  They were in their front yard partying and cheering on the runners.  They had blow up Christmas decorations and this 'snow' was going everywhere!  There was another point where this guy had a megaphone and a sign that said 'F- this Shit'.  He was cheering and yelling for the runners.  I pointed at his sign and he yelled in his megaphone "FUCK THIS SHIT!  KEEP GOING!".  Even along the last few miles back into town, there was some random guy with a package of oreos yelling 'GET AN OREO FROM A STRANGER!'.  I love that stuff!!!  It makes me so happy and chokes me up knowing that strangers care so much. And to think that they are STILL cheering people on when I pass by which is usually Many many hours after the first person passes by.  You know the community really supports a run when they are cheering for the first person the same as they are cheering for the last person.  This was just such an awesome run, I'm so happy I signed up for it.

I finished my first (and maybe my last?) 50k!

The end of the race was pretty uneventful.  I finished, got my medal and had to walk the mile back to my apartment.  The nice thing was that they still had a TON of food for the runners, but since I was at the tail end of the time limit, they were giving me FISTFULS of snacks!  It was great!

I got back to my apartment no problem.  The rest of the day I just crashed and watched TV and ate snacks.  The next day I had to Uber to the airport and fly back home.

This is me, but I'm too cheap to buy the picture. lol  

The Dallas BMW Marathon was a 10/10.  I would do this run again in a heartbeat.  Very well organized and supported.