Tuesday, April 29, 2008

OKC Marathon

Ok, Here's part two of last weekend. After a cold beer and a warm shower, Tatur Uno and I headed back to Oklahoma....first to Tulsa to pick up Dana, and then she played the part of chauffeur driving two tired ultrarunners to OKC to do the OKC Memorial Marathon. I managed to maybe sleep 20-30 minutes while Uno continued his multi-hour nap. At midnight, we arrived at our motel which was advertised on the Internet as being right in Bricktown, which would have been within walking distance of the starting line, but instead was 2.7 miles from the starting line. And since it was raining and in the 40s at 5:00 am, we drove to the start. We were supposed to meet at 4th and Robinson to meet some of the RunnersWorld peeps for a group picture, but traffic was so snarled that we barely made it to the starting line in time. I did meet Candice who had my bib and chip (thank you Candice!) and we slipped into a church which had opened up for the runners and was serving pancakes and sausage. (YUM!)

I gulped a pancake, and thankfully a cup of coffee.

Uno looked like he was still needing more nap time!

About 5 minutes before race time, we ventured back out into the cold (it had quit raining) and made our way to the starting gate. The problem is, the chute was very full, and there were 1 zillion spectators between where we were and where we needed to be. We worked our way up through them but could not get through, over, or under the makeshift fences. Some official looking dude told us we need to go around the block and come in down the street. Bummer. It was at that time that the urge to answer a call of nature came to the forefront of my mind, and around the corner there was a public restroom which is way better, warmer, and cleaner than a cold dirty porta-potty. Funny thing, Uno had the same idea. I guess that seemed weird, but hey, we're good friends! Since the race had started, there was no line at the men's side (but still a long line at the women's side.) Well, in a couple of minutes, I felt brand new again (TMI, I know!) We waded our way again through the crowd and into the street only to find that they were letting the 5K runners into the chute. Now, we would have to wait until that race started before we could cross the mat and start our race.But Uno plowed his way right through the crowd, knocking little old ladies over, stepping on several brand new running shoes, and telling them I did it. (What a guy!)

So, we crossed the mat 13 minutes after the starting gun. That was OK because the race was also chip timed. This meant we should be able to pass people all during the race, but very soon, the 5K started and we were swarmed by a bunch of sprinting rugrats! Oh well, it was fun. 
After a mile, I caught up with Bobby who was running his first 1/2 marathon.
I ran with him for a minute or so while Uno took off ahead.
I wished Bobby the best of luck and headed on. Bobby ran his first 1/2 marathon in right at 3 hours and never took a walk break. Awesome! Bobby is pacing me later this year at Mother Road for 10-15 miles in the wee hours of the morning. He'll get to see me at my worst then!

After about 4 miles, Uno had to go pee pee again and ducked behind some buildingsto desecrate someones parking lot. I told him I'd go slow, and walk a little so he could catch up. I poked along and began to wonder if he had to do more than pee, or maybe he got lost?? He told me later that he ran by me while I was stopped taking pictures,and I ended up burning a few minutes wondering where the heck he was. I finally decided to just run and ended up catching him a few miles later. At around mile 8, I decided to push the pace a little. I was running into a steady north wind, but amazingly I felt good, and had no pain or stiffness from yesterday's run.

It was somewhere around mile 8 or 9 that I passes my good friend John Hargrove who runs the OKC every year with Benny Meier, who is completely blind.They both hold on to a small rope, with John telling him where every turn and obstacle is along the way. I am so impressed with the both of them.

Each mile split I passed told me I was climbing from a 6 hour plus projected finish to one closer to 5 hours. I began to wonder if I could get under 5 hours, and maybe even under 4:45. Usually when I do a double, I run both of them (if on roads) in around 5 hours, but today was special. I felt great. I hit the half in 2:23, and headed on toward Lake Hefner and when I made the turn and had the wind at my back I let it loose. I passed hundreds of people and was passed only by relay runners. I was hitting some of the miles under 10 minutes, which is decent for me. Doing fuzzy math in m head, I knew at mile 20 that barring a total collapse, I would finish in 4:40 chip time. I kept running hard and smooth, and the wheels never fell off. I pushed as hard as I could down the final few blocks, and did my usual antics crossing the finish line making the crowd applause. I know, I'm such a ham.
I finished in 4:47 gun time, and 4:34 chip time which was fully 30 minutes better than I thought I could do. Plus, I had a slight negative split!

OKC is where I ran my first marathon back in 2003.In 2003, I was 5 years younger, 30 lbs lighter and ran it in 3:57:06. I have not broke 4 hours since then, but I do have more fun running marathons and ultras now than I did then.

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