Hope Rains

It was a short run today. Dana and I ran the Hope Rains 5K Trail Run. I have done this race every year, and this is the 4th running of it. Yes, I do run 5Ks occasionally, and this one is catered by Outback Steakhouse, which means super good post race food!!!
As I said, Dana ran today. This was her first year because nearly every year prior, she has had to work. Pat joined us--the same Pat who says he really doesn't like running on trailz. (I think he likes it a lot more than he lets on.)

Also running was the trio of Mark, Trail Goat, and Thing 2 (aka Dad and two FAST guys!)

Kathy has also made every Hope Rains run. We both love these trailz. Karen (the tall one) was out for her first dose of this course, and Linda and Lisa (in the pink) were back for a second helping.

It was cool to hang out with Lisa. We miss her since she spends all her time relentlessly training for Desert Rats. Lisa ran 7 miles before the 5K, and then ran another 10 miles after the race. A normal day for her. Roman is thinking about running. He did today. And well. Almost a "run til you puke" sort of run.

Somebody fired a pistol and off we ran. The course circled the perimeter of a baseball field near the edge of the woods, which allowed the throng of runners to space themselves out before hitting the single track.

I ran with my friend Ken aka K2, and Pat, who steadily built a little lead on me. (He doesn't like trailz....pish posh!)

A half mile into the race and we hit a pretty good climb. It brought Pat to a walk, and K2 and I caught up.

One Kilometer down!!!

Then the climb continued. K2 and I ran some of this hill. And I mentioned single track earlier. This was not as narrow as some of the typical trailz I run, and there was usually room to pass. This is actually Holland Hall's cross country course, where passing is part of the game.
Then we popped out of the woods and ran across another ball field. All the peeps K2 and I passed leapfrogged right by us. The lesson to be learned--two old guys who run trailz can out pace a young whippersnapper by wisdom, but lose unmercifully when the going is easy.

Two Kilometers down.

This is a Kodak moment. This old wood bridge defines this course. I will come back every year just to take this picture. This year, my buddy K2 happened to be trotting across in my photo.

We hit an aid stop, I gulped some water and grumbled briefly about all the paper cups on the ground--littler!! And waste!! These cross country kids should have to carry water bottles. Three K done.

The final two Kilometers involved another pretty good climb, and a wondrous downhill on fairy-tail trailz.

Pat had gotten a little too far out of my sight, and I picked up the pace (which really means I did not walk this hill.)

Four K. Still no Pat. He was speeding down the hill like a trail wizard. When he popped out of the woods into the hot sun and a flat area, he stopped for a walk break and I caught him.

I told him the walk break was over as we had maybe 300 yards left. His competitive nature kicked in and he ran a good pace to the finish.

Then we went back out on the course to wait for Dana to come in. I had thoughts about running back into the woods to find her, but while I was pondering that idea, she came around the corner. A group of us ran her and her Karen on in to the finish.

Tatur Dave took second in his age group, and his medal was a cupcake. Kathy also took 2nd masters and also had cake. I should be faster!!

But this is the prize I was after. Outback has never disappointed.

Finish the 5K, get an Outback Special. This year, they also had seared tuna. YUM!

the call

I hear the call...

Turkey therapy

My allergies have been whooping my butt, lungs, head, and I feel like I need a concoction of spearmint/wasabi/deep heat rub pumped up my nose to clear my head. So today, against my better judgement, I went to Turkey to run some trailz.I needed that. My sore legs were begging for some trail therapy. My mental well-being also needed a shot. All the rain that is one of the key ingredients for mud, was long gone. The trailz were dry and crispy. Nice running.
There was actually a little water flowing down the mighty Arkansas. That's nice for a change.My Canon was in my Jeep, so I made do with the Olympus, trying several different settings to find one that did not give blueish fuzzy pix.
Finally, with a lot of trial and error, and a little photo-editing, I found a few that passed--barely.
My phone was beeping of many emails, so I stopped at Time Travel Cave to rest, drink, and find out who the heck was emailing.
All in all, I got 4.1 miles in, at a very relaxed pace. Therapy!!

my OKC Marathon race report

This'll be a shorter blogpost--I promise--I think.A HUGE group from RunnersWorld rode to OKC on a chartered buss to run the OKC Marathon this past weekend. Coach Kathy organized the trip which included accomodations and a pasta dinner. The trip down on the party bus was actually more fun than the marathon itself.
The above pic swiped from Terrie. Thanks, Terr Bear. We goofed around all the way to the expo, and did not have to go through the hassle of find parking and then finding where in the heck we parked after ambling around looking at all kinds of nifty running stuff.

The pre-race dinner was good but not great.Drinks and craziness followed, but that will wait for another tell-all post.

Marathon morning, the hopeful forcast of dry weather detiorated rapidly. Lightning was in the area, and the race was delayed for 30 minutes, and we should have reboarded the bus, but instead we found a vacant tent to hole up in.
Wave after wave of wind and rain blew through, and we wondered if the race would happen, but someone heard from a race official that the start would be pushed back 30 minutes.
Turns out, this tent we would visit later in the day, as it was right at the end of the chute in the finish area. After crossing the finish mat, getting a medal, a foil blanket, grabbing water, bananas, oranges, and a warmed over cheese burger, we would amble right to this tent and collect our finisher's shirt. The nice stack of boxes made a perfert bed for a sleep deprived zombie.
At about 6:50, I left the shelter of the tent, and hit a vacant porta-john. Then, I managed to find my buddy Russell who seemed to know where we needed to go. We were very near the end of the 25,000 -strong mob of wet runners. I am not sure if a gun went off, but a roar from the crowd and some distorted announcements told us the race had started.

I had my Canon with me--in a neoprene sock, in my Amphipod belt pack, and under my Icebreaker shirt. It was raining, and the camera is not water proof, so the pic above is one of the very few I took during the race.

Normally, I'd go snap-crazy, but this day with the rain, and because I was actually gonna run the race hard, the camera was hardly used. I almost always take a pic of the capitol building. Here, my buddy and former pacer Amanda stops for a pose. She was running with her mom (another former pacer), and Susan (a former pacee). Susan snapped the picture, and I shamelessly swiped it from her Facebook page.
Another usual photo-op is at Gorilla Hill. It is hardly much of a hill, but people sure talk about it. I ran every step of it. Here, Susan monkeys it up with a bunch of bananas.
I ran into Susan, and gave her a scare when I grabbed her Camelback and shouted "I want yo melon!!" This same thing happened to her for real last month in Dallas, when she was thrown to the ground by a crackhead who was intent on stealing her pack. Why she called it a melon is still a mystery. She was quick with the Kodak and snapped me before I got away. Thanks, Susan, for letting me borrow some pictures, and congrats for running another great half.

I hit the half marathon split at 2:18:09 by my garmin, and felf great at that time despite fighting a stiff north wind and intermittant rain. Once hitting Lake Hefner, nost of the remaining miles went north, and a tail wind would help. My pace really never slowed down much. I had a mile over 11 minutes early in the race due to peeing behind a buliding. Cost me about a minute. I had another 11 minute mile around mile 27, when I guess I had 2 walk breaks within the same mile. Every other mile was 9:40ish to 10:50ish. I ran alone, and kept my focus on running relaxed and keeping a decent pace. It was just me and the rainy pavement.It was not a social run, and I do miss that, but it was nice to have a good spirited run (spirited for me anway). I finished in 4:36:11.Not a PR, but I have not had one in that range for a few years. I have no need to beat myself to death trying to improve on that.There were some tales of hypothermia, intense shivering, cold wet feet, and victory. All of my friends made it to the finish, and there were quite a few PRs to spread around. Dana ran the half, and finished in 2:57--a few minutes slower than her last but in much tougher conditions. She earned her Half-Fanatic status--something I bet she builds on. I was proud of her, although in my trance-like running mindset, I ran right past her in the early going of the race, and fortunately Pat flagged me down. Dana and I got separated at the start (remember the porta-john?) and I thought we'd just have to find each other at the finish.

My next marathon will be at a much more relaxed pace, and with my chatty friends. I missed that today.