I read this in the Dallas news online. I think this article does a much better job of explaining what our running conditions were on Sunday. When I said it was windy, I really meant windy. Read below. And I am still checking the news daily to find out if the autopsy report has been released on Erin Lahr.
If I can run 13.1 miles in those kinds of conditions, I can run ANYTHING! :)
Few runners in the large Austin contingent who ran White Rock yesterday were aware of Lahr’s death. But everyone was certainly cognizant of the brutal conditions that greeted the field of 16,000 at the start.
How brutal? The barricades at the start were blown over by the steady 25 mph winds that gusted to near 40 at various parts of the race. At some points, it was difficult merely to walk in the face of the headwinds. The crosswinds blew runners from side to side of the roads and made staying on pace difficult. Making it worse was the humidity which soared as did the temperatures which were 66 at the start and mid-70s by the finish.
The winds were especially stiff on the nine-mile trek around White Rock Lake in the middle portion of the marathon. The winds were so persistent that it forced many veteran runners to walk portions of the race.
"It was awful going around the Lake," said Nancy Dasso of Austin who managed to run 3:27:50 to place sixth in the 40-44 age division. "It took everything I had to get around the Lake. I thought last year was tough because of the wind. This year was much worse."
