Howdy y’all and happy holidays! It’s been a fun year of 2025 running and the final race report has made its way onto this blog. The Irving Texas Frost Marathon happened on December 20th and saw tons of awesome performances from the 5K to the marathon distance. The race organizers and volunteers put on an awesome event and the weather could not be better. With hundreds of people excited to run, the day held a ton of fun. What happened to your averagerunnerpaul during it? Let’s find out…

We lined up for the 7:30 a.m. start and I made my way to the back of the coral. Brian was shooting for a sub 4 hour marathon so we decided that we would be good to start together and see what happens. The weather was pretty nice for running coming in just over 50 degrees with quite a bit of wind. Brian was mentally tougher than me by showing up in just a shirt and after the first sweaty mile, it was a much better decision. The Texas weather would only be increasing.

Once 7:30 a.m. hit, the elite runners (anyone with a previous sub 3 hour finish) took off around 6 minutes per mile. How far back was I from that? A couple hundred people before beginning at around 9 minutes per mile. With some creaks in the knees and groans from back stiffness, Brian and I were off. 26.2 miles to go!

There ended up being around 517 people that started the marathon and almost 1,000 people running the half marathon. Unfortunately the week before, Janel got sick and come race day, she was still pretty under the weather. She decided to stick with cheering me on and rest up so you’ll just have to hear about what went on from my end.

Being in the back of the crowd meant a lot less runners to jostle around with in the beginning. I did my best to stick around 9 minutes per mile to warm up my legs and not get too excited in the first few miles of the race to pay for it later. Luckily I had Brian to chat with and we came through the first mile in 8 minutes and 54 seconds according to another runner’s watch. Things were feeling good and my legs weren’t heavy so that was a success!

The next couple miles continued in similar fashion and after passing the 5k mark, Brian felt ready to step up the speed and sped up to 8:20 per mile pace. I wished him well and decided to settle into a pace of about 8:50 per mile. I figured I could hold this pace through the half marathon mark and then try to pick up the pace the second half of the race. That was the plan anyway.

The course is known for being super flat and there were no complaints from me about that feature. The first part of the course went through the lake area of downtown Irving and then out to a bike path along open field parks. The wind would be unforgiving at this point but I hoped some long forgotten ab muscles underneath my beer belly could power me through those parts. I think they kinda did since a skinnier runner decided to run behind me for about a mile at that point.

I came through five miles in under 44 minutes and decided to take a quick bathroom stop. I had a small pit in my stomach and drank plenty of water so after a quick port-a-potty aid station, I was off. Luckily there was hand sanitizer so I was a happy runner.

I stopped past the first aid station with food and snagged a banana for the road. There was also a guy passing out shots of fireball but I wasn’t at that stage of the race yet. The banana went down no problem and we continued towards the 10k mark where we would soon turn around to head back from our first loop.

Due to the out and back style of the course, I managed to see Brian a few minutes ahead of me and he was looking strong and composed. I gave a cheery ‘Wooohooo!’ and I got a wave in response. Best friends? I think so. He was next to the 3:50 pace group and I decided to try and slowly work my way there. I think my watch said I came through the 10k around 55 minutes which was a consistency of my 9ish minute pace. Maybe I was figuring out marathon pacing for once! Unfortunately the small pit in my stomach was sticking around so I needed a way to solve that.

The runners hit the turn around with some great volunteers cheering us on and it was back to the downtown area. At this point, the half marathoners were taking of to have a strong finish. It became a mental workout to not pick up the pace when I was getting passed left and right. There was still 18 + miles of racing for me.

When I came up on the 10 mile mark (double digits baby!), there was a young runner I passed that suddenly sped up to stay a few feet ahead of me. No problem I thought and about a minute later, I passed him again and we repeated this process several times. It was very much the turtle and the hare with him bounding forward with the energy of youth before slowly returning to my 9 minute mile pace. Eventually, he decided to run with me and I saw he was doing the half marathon. He told me how he started out at 6:30 per mile for the first few miles before realizing it was too fast. Poor guy looked to be in a lot of pain and he said he had only ran a few times since high school the year before. I have definitely been in those shoes so I told him to get behind me and I would try to take the wind factor out of his game. After about a couple minutes, he slowed to a walk and waved me on. The distance game sure is a learning experience! I figured he would have a sprint finish and manage to catch me.

As I cruised back into town, my legs felt alright and the half way point was right at the start/finish line. Janel cheered me on right around this area and it brought a big smile to my face. I passed right by the halfway point just over 1:55 which put me on pace for a 3:50 marathon and about a minute from the 3:50 pace group. I’m coming Brian!

Very quickly after seeing Janel and passing the half way point, my stomach flipped like a switch and the previous pit I felt now felt real bad. Super bad. I’m going to give the readers a chance at this point to skip reading the rest of the report because I start to go through some things. The good part of the race looked to be in the past.

There was, fortunately, another bathroom stop available at mile 14 and I ran immediately in to immense relief. Let’s just say it was not a pretty moment and I was grateful that there was a port-a-potty there. The pit unfortunately did not pass out of my system and the stomach pain remained. After sitting for a couple minutes, I decided that I may as well continue and hope it resolved itself.

Janel saw me a mile later and told me later that I looked pretty rough. I gave her a half hearted wave and tried my best to focus on something other than the huge desire to wear a depend the second half of the race. I managed to continue on my 9 minute per mile pace but I decided I had to be in reactive mode to whatever my belly desired. There would be no more smiling photos of me during the second half of the race.

After mile 15 and into mile 16, the pit came on strong again. I tried to think of what I ate and thought this race may not be completed from my end. As much as I don’t like dropping out, it would be a lot worse to have an accident in the middle of the race course. Luckily, the next port-a-potty was at mile 16 and I quickly bee-lined for it.

Locked.

I couldn’t believe it. There were five in row and I rapidly tried each one as I clenched my stomach in pain. Each port-a-potty was zip tied shut. I was shocked. They were not zip tied when I passed during my first loop and used the bathroom earlier in the race. I let out a whimper and looked around. No bathroom in sight. The only things I could see were marathoners, open fields, and the tears beginning to stream down my eyes. I did not want to poop my pants.

After about 20 seconds of deciding which direction to take my life, I began walking onward where I knew the next set of port-a-potties would be. I would have turned around if the previous port-a-potties were closer. It was a debate between walking into a small wooded area for an emergency stop or asking someone to call Janel to bring the car. There was no road for the car to come so I would walk on and accept whatever fate would lead me to.

The time continued ticking onwards and my hope for a 3:45-3:50 finish was quickly disappearing. Mile 16 turned into mile 17 which turned into mile 18. The only highlight during this walk was that I held it all in. Just after mile 18, I saw unlocked port-a-potties. What a beautiful, beautiful sight. The greatest gift to humans. Did I think I would end the blog this year with thanking port-a-potties? Nope. But you never know with running.

With a prayer of thanks and a pit stop, I was able to continue running and quickly went back on track to my initial pace. I chowed down a banana and started to tick away the miles. I started smiling because I thought I had finally powered through the wall and decided if I could hold onto 8 minute pace, I would be able to get around a 3:50 finish. It would be a PR for the year and my legs still had some juice in them. Off I went!

As I cruised past mile 19 and into 20, Brian passed on the other side one last time looking strong. He went on to finish well for the day, well ahead of me, and if I were to guess, he did not have stomach pain. I was too far away from him at this point to reunite so I found another runner and we began moving up the field. A first for me at this point of the marathon.

At mile 21, my new buddy drifted away and I continued on for a couple more miles feeling good. Suddenly at mile 23, I felt the stomach pit return. I never did figure out what caused this issue. I immediately went to a walk though because I did not want to risk anything at this point. They say you should never trust a fart after the half marathon mark… Fortunately, the restroom was unlocked and nearby before mile 24. Unfortunately at this point, I started to get nauseous too and the wheels quickly were coming off. A 3:50 finish was gone and a sub 4 hour finish was going to be out of the picture too. Time to start walking it in.

As I walked in the last 1.5 miles or so, I began the slow jog towards the finish. I was happy to not need a change of clothes, not puke, and complete the marathon. I crossed the line in 4 hours, 9 minutes, and some change for the last official race of the year. Janel gave me a big hug and I began to cry. Don’t know why I got so emotional but it just happens. Happy to have completed it!

Overall!

Another marathon in the books and another survival! I ended up having more stomach pain for a couple hours after the race and then took a big nap. That helped reset the body and Janel was certainly a saint to take care of me through it all. Our goal for next year is to have the both of us healthy for some spring races!

I hope you all enjoyed the report and are having a wonderful holiday season. Happy 2026 to you and I hope 2025 was as great as you!