2011 OKC Memorial Marathon Race Report

Before I get down to brass tacks on the marathon yesterday, I want to congratulate Presidents Obama and Bush, the intelligence agencies, and the deployed soldiers who captured and killed Osama Bin Laden over the weekend.  I am hopeful that the families and friends of the victims of 9-11 feel some sort of closure now.

2011 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

The Numbers:
Official/Garmin Distance: 26.2 miles/ 26.54 miles
Official/Garmin Time: 4:54:08/ 4:54
Official/Garmin Average Pace: 11:14/ 11:05
Placing: 81/156 in AG; 481/980 in Women

The Day Before- Jason and I drove up to OKC Saturday afternoon after leaving Mom and Granny with the kids. Jason surprised me with lunch at my favorite hamburger joint, Fuddruckers.  Corina, Kris, and Megan had already picked up my bib, so we met them at the hotel before taking the hotel limo (fancy!) over to Zio's in Bricktown for dinner.  Glenn had set up a Tweet-up for everyone, and the restaurant was packed, as it was also prom night.  I opted for digestive safety with the spaghetti with meat sauce.  That evening, Megan foam rolled me, and you would not believe how much my calves appreciated it (not during, I think I might have cried during).  We hung out in the room and finally crashed about 10 pm.

Megan, Corina, Jason, Mel, and Kris

Pre-Race Activities- Alarm went off at 4:45 am.  I must have gotten up and dressed for the race about ten times in my dreams, so when it actually happened, I popped out of bed and got ready.  Breakfast consisted of a whole wheat bagel dipped in Nutella (I'm in love) and honey with a banana.  We met Fiona, Bojana and Marci downstairs, took a few group pictures and started our walk to the start line.  This is when we realized it was raining with a side of thunder and lightning.  We heard folks saying the race start was delayed thirty minutes so we sat down under an awning by the Skirvin Hilton.  They had free coffee inside, and of course, I had to have some.  Bojana ran back to her hotel room for ponchos and thoughtfully brought the rest of us garbage bags to keep warm and dry.  A little before seven, we decided they weren't going to cancel the race, so we headed over to the start.

Corina, Kris, Mel, Fiona, Marci, and Bojana

And We're Off- Somehow, we just completely missed finding our corral and wandered into the race itself nearly 5 minutes after the guns went off.  That meant no stretching, but I figured the first five to six miles would be slow enough to warm up my muscles.  I knew my assignment was to start out at an 11:05 average pace, so I turned back to the girls, said I love you! and headed out.

The First Half- Coach Chris told me to keep an 11:05 average pace and not be too concerned if I was closer to 11:30 initially.  He also said don't use up energy weaving around people; great advice.  I found a rhythm with my nutrition (2 Honeystinger or Power Bar gel chews on even miles, Gator-water on odd miles, Electrolyte capsules after the first hour and every 3 miles after that).  The 'dreaded' Gorilla Hill was at mile 7, and it wasn't that bad.  I pretty much told myself it's fairly flat from here until the end, enjoy it (big mistake).  It was raining off and on and still cold.  I soaked my shoes and socks despite avoiding puddles when I could.  I spent a lot of time enjoying my playlist, especially *I Will Survive* by CAKE and *Every Night is Friday Night* by the Old 97s.  I saw a runner ahead of me that looked so much like Coach Chris I started to cry.  I knew he wasn't there, but it was like a reminder that he was thinking about me and that it would be great.  Average pace was better than expected, somewhere in the 10:45 range.

Miles 13-20- These were the "Dig Deep" miles. Coach told me to hit 10:45 average pace until mile 20.  Right around mile 14, we reached Lake Hefner.  And the sun came out!  I managed to take off my trash bag without losing too much speed or the wind catching it and nailing the people behind me.  I liked running these miles, I was around a group of older guys who could have been out playing golf, they were that relaxed.  Suann had warned me that the bridge going out of the lake would be tough and to try to draft behind a group.  Unfortunately, I was out there on my own unless I wanted to sprint up to the next group.  I followed advice from Don Fink, look down and take small steps, looking up every once in a while to see how far you went.  Worked like a charm.  And then the skies opened up and the rain, thunder, and hail came back.  I still kept 10:50 average pace and felt great, very sure I could beat 5 hours.

The Last 10K- This is where things got tough.  Just as I was thinking, hey I haven't hit the wall, it caught up with me.  The last 6.2 miles was about 96% uphill.  And Coach asked me to not worry about pace but just start "chicking" people.  I think I chicked maybe 15 people before the hills got tough.  There were a lot of walkers, which made me want to grab their hand and pull them with me.  My hill training has not consisted of consistent uphills, I'm used to the downhill recovery.  Eventually, I had to walk through two water stops to catch my breath.  It was disappointing because once I realized I was this far without having to stop, I wanted to make it the entire way.  But I also didn't want to blow up by not taking a break when I really needed it.  I started praying out loud, "Please God, help me get through the last 10k, give me strength, give me a push."  Then it started hailing again.  I said a bit louder, "hey, that's not what I meant," lol.  Around mile 24, I saw Jason and Megan in ponchos and hollered at them!  Jason ran over to me, all I could say was 'hug me, hug me' so he did and gave me a quick kiss, and I was off again.  That was like a light in the darkness; I had been pretty much on my own for most of the race, and I wasn't sure I'd get to see them before the end. Seeing Megan jump up and down made me smile so much, I kept giggling.

Running it In- So finally, I made it to 25.5, and I realized at some point we'd hit Broadway and go into downtown.  Once we did, there were amazing volunteers at each corner yelling out, "Just five more blocks, four, three, etc."  I saw the Finish line, yelled out for all the people around me "I see it!", and we all picked up the pace.  I could see that I would finish before 5 hours even with the delay in the clock and that made me tear up.  I did my usual two hands in the air cheer for the cameras and stopped my Garmin.  It was a 53 minute Personal Record.  53 minutes faster than Chicago with a lot more hills.  Amazing.

Post-Race Activities-  I slowly hobbled to the medals, then bananas and Chips Ahoy cookies, then finisher tshirt, then Carls Jr hamburger, then I hid in a portapotty to warm up (I'm not too proud to admit that).  Jason called and said he was walking over from mile 24 and would meet me.  I looked around for Glenn's Enid Running Club tent hoping it might be warm, they were gone.  Wandered into the Massage Envy tent, shivering and teeth chattering.  One of the ladies took me into the back of a truck where they were warming people up and wrapped me in two more of the silver blankets.  Once Jason found me, we took a taxi back to the hotel.  I took a bath to warm up, didn't work.  Took a shower, sort of worked.  Got into bed and covered up with four blankets.  My legs were turning green and my lips were blue.  It wasn't pretty, lol.  We eventually got all packed up and headed for home after having one last meal together at IHOP.

How did the White Rock Girls do? Kris, who crossed the Chicago Marathon finish with me at 5:47, finished in 5:07, a 40 minute PR.  Corina and Fiona finished in 5:35, I think that was a 30 minute PR for Fiona from White Rock 2010.  Marci made it to mile 23 before the medics pulled her off the course for hypothermia.  Bojana ran the half in 1:49, not a PR but certainly a great time considering she's coming off an injury.  Megan didn't race as she has a half Ironman in two weeks, but she's the best cheerleader and foam roller I've ever been with.  And Jason was the perfect Sherpa and kept in good spirits despite the enormous amounts of estrogen around him :)

Other Random Thoughts- Loved all the Bible verses around the course, either on people's backs or on signs.  Really encouraging.  Very proud of everyone for racing in such terrible conditions.  Appreciate the OKC Memorial Marathon organizers for not turning the race into a commercial event (like the Bank of America Chicago Marathon or ING NYC Marathon).  The medals are beautiful.  I heard that the course was shut down at some point due to weather.  I tend to think they should have shut it down a lot sooner for the safety of the participants.  Marci and Bojana went to the tent for hypothermia and that was just in my little circle.  Somehow I missed seeing the actual memorial!  Truly disappointed about that.  Driving home directly after the race: not my favorite idea, but I was so glad to see the kids last night.