Last year while Sue and I were in Salt Lake City for the SLC Marathon, I told Sherry, Curtis and Thais they needed to come to Oklahoma this year and we could all run in the OKC Memorial Marathon. Ever since I started running, I've almost felt obligated to run the Memorial at least once due to my personal connection to the OKC bombing. They all agreed that would be fun, and a good excuse for a family reunion so they would see if they could make it happen.
As last year progressed, more of the family got on board. Ross committed to it and it looked like Lyndsey, Kellen and maybe Ashley would also run in it. Then on Thanksgiving last November, Thais or Sue (I don't recall for sure) mentioned to Sarah and Johnny that they should start running and do the Memorial with the rest of us. And right after that Sarah and Johnny started running with the intention of doing the half marathon. Unfortunately, due to various reasons none of those "young" people were able to participate. However, one of the Foster kids, Luke, did end up running it (with virtually no training!) and Karla and Ryan Smith's daughter Chelsey made a last minute decision (with some urging from Sherry and Curtis) to join the fun too.
The reunion/race weekend began on Thursday, April 28th with the arrival of the non-Oklahoma residents. The next day most of us were able to meet at Zio's in Bricktown for a great lunch and visit. In addition to our race running family members (Karla, Ryan and Chelsey excepted), Lyndsey, Kellen, Ashley and Abbie also made it and we enjoyed a good lunch and visit.
 |
| Sherry, Luke, Dad, Thais and Sue at Zios. |
After lunch, Dad, Thais, Sue, Sherry, Curtis, Luke and Peggy and I all walked over to the Cox Center where we met Ross to pick up our race packets and attend the pre-race Expo. We all quickly picked up our packets then headed to the Expo room. Ross looked around for a bit, but had to get back to work before long. The rest of us browsed the various vendors and spent some money. Curtis decided to check out the minimalist shoe movement and bought a pair of Vibram FiveFingers which he enjoyed wearing as much as possible the rest of the weekend. Finally, we all left to get a small jump on rush hour traffic as we headed home.
 |
| At the Cox Center to attend the Expo. |
Saturday Sue, Thais, Sherry, Curtis and Luke got up early and headed out to the Arts Festival. A bit later, Peggy and I met them at the Academy store on the Northwest Expressway as Thais wanted to check out some cold weather running clothes since the forecast was looking down for the race on Sunday. We all met at Dad's house Saturday evening, joined by Karla, Ryan and Chelsey to have a pasta dinner. We all enjoyed a great meal and had a good visit. We spent a bit of time discussing the weather forecast and what appropriate clothing would be as well as making plans on where to meet downtown in the morning. Eventually, the gathering broke up so everyone could get to bed and, hopefully rest up for the race the next morning.
I slept fitfully that night and woke up at 3:30. I had my clock set for 4:30 and I tried to go back to sleep, but finally gave up and got up around 4:15. I pulled up the weather on my iPod and saw the temperature was 56 degrees. I stepped outside and thought it didn't feel bad at all and began to rethink my clothing plans. I woke Peggy up and she reminded me that the local news came on channel 5 at 5AM. I tuned that in at 5 and found the weather man assuring us that it would begin raining by the time the marathon was scheduled to begin at 6:30. He seemed really sure about it, so I went ahead and dressed for the colder temps I expected if it rained.
Peggy and I were ready fairly quickly and we left the house by 5:20. We made good time and, seeing the exits off of I-235 to downtown were already backed up, we went on down to 23rd Street and exited there, jogged over to Robinson and took that back toward downtown. As we drove down Robinson, some raindrops began hitting our windshield. We pulled over to park on Robinson around 10th Street. By now the rain was getting pretty steady so my worst fears about the weather appeared to be coming true.
We were pretty early so we decided to sit in the car for a bit before heading for the Journal Record building where we were all to meet. As we waited, Sherry called and said they were still on their way. She told me Thais and Sue were already there and they said the start had been delayed until 7:00 because of the lightning. Peggy and I stayed in the car until around 6:35 before we finally ventured out into the rain to head for the starting area. As we walked by the Methodist church at Robinson and 8th(?) Street, there was a gentleman telling people the church was open for people to use their restrooms and they had hot coffee available. We went ahead and ran in so I could use their bathroom. With that taken care of we ventured back out.
We got to the Journal Record building and headed down 6th Street, and saw the family in the parking garage across the street. We jumped in there and everyone took the opportunity to pose for a photo before the race started.
 |
| Before the fun begins! |
The crowd slowly shuffled to the starting line and finally we crossed it and began a slow jog down the street. When course turned by Leadership Square, Curtis jumped up to the sidewalk to get around the crowd. Ross and I followed suit and soon we were running at a sub-8 minute pace sprinting around the crowd. We kept this up for the first mile or so before it thinned out enough to have a bit of room to run the pace you wanted and we slowed down some.
After the first couple of miles, Ross settled in to a fairly quick 8:30ish pace. This was a bit quicker than I felt comfortable with this early in the race (and I found out later Curtis agreed), but I really wanted to keep up with Ross as long as possible. I worried this would probably bite me late in the race but decided I'd just go with it and see what happens. We had what I thought were rather impressive splits on miles 3 thru 6: 8:44, 8:52, 8:19(!), and 8:21. Despite that pace and the miserable weather conditions I was still feeling pretty good at this point.
On the 7th mile I stopped for a bathroom break while Ross and Curtis kept going. It was a pretty quick stop (my Garmin said the 7th mile time was 9:45) and when I took off again, I kept a pretty fast pace thinking maybe I could catch back up with them. I ran mile 8 in 8:28, but I was beginning to feel the effects of the distance and effort. I also realized Ross and Curtis probably had at least a one minute lead on me from my stop so I slowed the pace a bit and when I came to the next watering station I walked thru it like I had done at all the water stations during the Route 66 marathon back in November.
This was the long straightaway down Classen. My legs were definitely getting pretty tired now, I was only on mile 9, my fingers were numb from the cold...I was beginning to feel a bit discouraged. I was thinking I didn't feel this tired at this point of the Route 66 so I was beginning to wonder how strong I would be able to finish. Then as I neared the turnoff from Classen I spotted Curtis up ahead! I pressed a bit in order to catch up with him.
When I caught him I asked him where Ross was. Curtis said he thought he was long gone. The pace had caught up with Curtis like it had with me and he said he had begun walking for a minute during each mile...a pretty good strategy, especially if your legs are crapping out on you. That sounded good to me, so I stayed with him, taking a couple of minute-long walk breaks.
When we came to another water station Curtis slowed to get a drink and I kept on going. Right after that I thought I saw Ross a hundred yards or so ahead. I looked back and could see Curtis not too far behind me. I kept the pace I had been going and slowly gained on Ross. When I got close I stepped on it and went flying by. I turned and waved as I passed him. As I passed I noticed he was jogging rather slowly (for him). I slowed down after I passed him and fully expected him to catch up with me momentarily. When I he didn't catch up with me after a minute I looked behind me but couldn't see him or Curtis.
The course was now going through the historic neighborhoods north of downtown. It was really getting to be a chore to maintain my pace and these neighborhoods are on the hilly side. I began walking up hills that any degree of steepness to them. I still had a couple of miles to go and I felt like I was really struggling now. My splits over the last three miles were 9:18, 9:11 and 9:23. That means when I was running I was still keeping a pretty good pace because I walked several times over these last few miles.
Finally I found myself on 13th Street, heading for Broadway. This helped me find the energy to press on with no more walk breaks since I knew the finish was down Broadway, not too far away. I made the turn onto Broadway and shortly, I saw the finish ahead. I began picking up my pace and finally, when I thought I could maintain it to the finish I began kicking it with everything I had left. Despite feeling like I my legs were totally wasted I managed a 7:44 pace over that last 10th of a mile! I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the finish, and when I looked at it I saw 1:59:34. Unbelievably I had broken two hours unofficially. This was a surprise to me because I felt so much worse and walked much more over the last couple of miles than I had during the Route 66 in November where I finished in 2:03.
I attempted to cover myself with the blanket I was handed when I finished and worked throught the crowds around the drinks and food tables for the finishers, trying to stay under their tarps to avoid being rained on. Within 5 minutes of finishing I was beginning to get cold, and after ten minutes I was really staring to shiver. Curtis spotted me and asked if I had seen Ross. He told me when he caught up with Ross, Ross told him he just had nothing left in his legs. We both began walking back toward the finish to see if we could spot him, but I gave up fighting the crowd pretty quickly.
I was now beginning to actually worry a bit about hypothermia as I was really getting cold and shivering pretty seriously. I managed to dial Peggy on my phone despite my frozen fingers and after a bit of difficulty we finally found each other. I asked her where the car was and she told me she had some bad news. We had a flat tire. Not what I wanted to hear! We began heading toward the car. As we worked our way up Broadway we ran into some familiar faces trying to hide from the rain.
Peggy and I finally made it to the car and after a lot of warming up and several warming-up-some-more breaks, I got the tire changed and we headed home. We had recorded most of channel 4's broadcast of the marathon, so we watched that Sunday afternoon and watched for official results to be posted online.
Every one of us had a good race...especially considering the miserable conditions. Here are all of our official chip times:
RJay: 1:59:31
Curtis: 2:01:50
Ross: 2:04:02
Sue: 2:21:28
Sherry: 2:21:36
Thais: 2:44:19
Luke: 2:24:01
Chelsey: 2:23:45
To top it off, I think everyone set a new PR. Of course, Ross, Thais, Luke and Chelsey did because it was the first half marathon for all of them. Maybe the bad weather played to all of our advantage as far as time went, i.e. the sooner you finished, the sooner you could get out of the cold and rain!
The following day, I met up with Sue, Sherry, Curtis, Thais and Carla and we ran around town a bit together, enjoying each other's company, finishing with a light supper in Bricktown. It was a great finish to a great weekend. The out-of-towners all tentatively planned on making it again next year, so we'll see how things shake out.
On the 7th mile I stopped for a bathroom break while Ross and Curtis kept going. It was a pretty quick stop (my Garmin said the 7th mile time was 9:45) and when I took off again, I kept a pretty fast pace thinking maybe I could catch back up with them. I ran mile 8 in 8:28, but I was beginning to feel the effects of the distance and effort. I also realized Ross and Curtis probably had at least a one minute lead on me from my stop so I slowed the pace a bit and when I came to the next watering station I walked thru it like I had done at all the water stations during the Route 66 marathon back in November.
This was the long straightaway down Classen. My legs were definitely getting pretty tired now, I was only on mile 9, my fingers were numb from the cold...I was beginning to feel a bit discouraged. I was thinking I didn't feel this tired at this point of the Route 66 so I was beginning to wonder how strong I would be able to finish. Then as I neared the turnoff from Classen I spotted Curtis up ahead! I pressed a bit in order to catch up with him.
 |
| Feeling the burn as I run down Classen. |
When I caught him I asked him where Ross was. Curtis said he thought he was long gone. The pace had caught up with Curtis like it had with me and he said he had begun walking for a minute during each mile...a pretty good strategy, especially if your legs are crapping out on you. That sounded good to me, so I stayed with him, taking a couple of minute-long walk breaks.
When we came to another water station Curtis slowed to get a drink and I kept on going. Right after that I thought I saw Ross a hundred yards or so ahead. I looked back and could see Curtis not too far behind me. I kept the pace I had been going and slowly gained on Ross. When I got close I stepped on it and went flying by. I turned and waved as I passed him. As I passed I noticed he was jogging rather slowly (for him). I slowed down after I passed him and fully expected him to catch up with me momentarily. When I he didn't catch up with me after a minute I looked behind me but couldn't see him or Curtis.
The course was now going through the historic neighborhoods north of downtown. It was really getting to be a chore to maintain my pace and these neighborhoods are on the hilly side. I began walking up hills that any degree of steepness to them. I still had a couple of miles to go and I felt like I was really struggling now. My splits over the last three miles were 9:18, 9:11 and 9:23. That means when I was running I was still keeping a pretty good pace because I walked several times over these last few miles.
Finally I found myself on 13th Street, heading for Broadway. This helped me find the energy to press on with no more walk breaks since I knew the finish was down Broadway, not too far away. I made the turn onto Broadway and shortly, I saw the finish ahead. I began picking up my pace and finally, when I thought I could maintain it to the finish I began kicking it with everything I had left. Despite feeling like I my legs were totally wasted I managed a 7:44 pace over that last 10th of a mile! I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the finish, and when I looked at it I saw 1:59:34. Unbelievably I had broken two hours unofficially. This was a surprise to me because I felt so much worse and walked much more over the last couple of miles than I had during the Route 66 in November where I finished in 2:03.
 |
| Despite everything, Peggy got a shot of me about to finish. |
I attempted to cover myself with the blanket I was handed when I finished and worked throught the crowds around the drinks and food tables for the finishers, trying to stay under their tarps to avoid being rained on. Within 5 minutes of finishing I was beginning to get cold, and after ten minutes I was really staring to shiver. Curtis spotted me and asked if I had seen Ross. He told me when he caught up with Ross, Ross told him he just had nothing left in his legs. We both began walking back toward the finish to see if we could spot him, but I gave up fighting the crowd pretty quickly.
I was now beginning to actually worry a bit about hypothermia as I was really getting cold and shivering pretty seriously. I managed to dial Peggy on my phone despite my frozen fingers and after a bit of difficulty we finally found each other. I asked her where the car was and she told me she had some bad news. We had a flat tire. Not what I wanted to hear! We began heading toward the car. As we worked our way up Broadway we ran into some familiar faces trying to hide from the rain.
 |
| Chelsey, Sue, Luke, Molly, Cara, Tayler and Sherry hide from the rain. |
Every one of us had a good race...especially considering the miserable conditions. Here are all of our official chip times:
RJay: 1:59:31
Curtis: 2:01:50
Ross: 2:04:02
Sue: 2:21:28
Sherry: 2:21:36
Thais: 2:44:19
Luke: 2:24:01
Chelsey: 2:23:45
To top it off, I think everyone set a new PR. Of course, Ross, Thais, Luke and Chelsey did because it was the first half marathon for all of them. Maybe the bad weather played to all of our advantage as far as time went, i.e. the sooner you finished, the sooner you could get out of the cold and rain!
The following day, I met up with Sue, Sherry, Curtis, Thais and Carla and we ran around town a bit together, enjoying each other's company, finishing with a light supper in Bricktown. It was a great finish to a great weekend. The out-of-towners all tentatively planned on making it again next year, so we'll see how things shake out.
No comments:
Post a Comment