Yesterday I ran my 2nd half marathon. The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. The Marathon is in remembrance of the bombing of the Murrah building on April 19, 1995. I wasn't living in Oklahoma at the time, but I remember sitting in Mr. Clark's history class and watching the coverage. I have since visited the reflecting pool, but have yet to tour the museum.
Yesterday 11,455 people finished either the Marathon or Half Marathon. There was also a 5K. I think there were over 25,000 registered runners for the event. I was one of over 8,000 running the half marathon. I finished with a 2:09:08 162/890 in my age group and 828/4986 for my gender.
I was desperate to not have to drive and park and navigate downtown (I don't like to do that ANYTIME, but especially on a busy day like yesterday), so after a couple of facebook pleas, I was able to ride with a guy who also goes to church with me. I met him at his house at 5:30 am and we drove down town and parked and started walking. There were over 25,000 people out on the streets before the race and all of them feel to complete silence for 168 seconds to remember the deaths of the bombing victims. It was a moment. Wes and I walked slowly through the crowd trying to get to the start and we were off.
It was perfect temps, overcast skies, but VERY humid. I think the humidity may have helped cause some of my issues. It was almost perfect running conditions. There was a little weaving at the beginning, but it wasn't bad and I was able to fall into a rhythm pretty quickly. A quick rhythm. I kept trying to slow myself down, but it was HARD. It's so easy to get swept with the crowd, and I just wanted to RUN!!! I found a girl who was running strong and steady and about at my much to fast pace. I asked her her goal time, hoping I'd found a running buddy. She wanted to run 9 minute miles. I was hoping for an overall average pace of just under 9:40 minute miles. I really thought about it. I knew her pace was much too fast for me. I knew I should run a smart race and stick with my race plan and slow down. A lot. I KNEW that. But I didn't WANT to do that. I was feeling good (of course I was...I'd only been running for a couple of miles!) I purposefully chose to abandon my race plans hoping that the crowd and distractions and adrenaline would help me maintain. (This wasn't even rational thinking. I run 9 minute miles when I'm running a hard 6 miles. 6 miles is a LOT less than 13.) I chose to go for it and hoped I could hold on. My "pacer" had to slow down at mile 8. I never saw her again. I just kept running strong. Until mile 10. I was hot, tired, and had an upset stomach and was getting lightheaded. So I stopped to walk. I walked a couple of minutes, and when I felt better I ran again (much slower) 10+ minute miles. At this point I decided to take off the hat I had worn in case of rain and carry it. I hate carrying things in my hands when I run. HATE. But that breeze on my head felt so nice. I ran through the finish with the exception of one necessary potty break in mile 12 at the last aid station. There were EMT's everywhere and when I quickly veered off the road they all jumped up to catch me as though I were falling....but I wasn't. I just started taking things off and throwing them down and headed right for the port-a-potty. It started misting on me and felt oh so nice.
The race was so fun and just flew by (except after mile 10. And the stretch down Classen did get a bit long). The route was great, but in all honesty, I wasn't really looking at Oklahoma City as I passed it, noooooo...I was watching the people. Turns out, big races are GREAT for people watching. Runners and spectators alike. There were people watching from their yards, playing music, cheering, yelling, waving signs etc. Superman and Wonder Woman even came to watch us run. There is a hill named "Gorilla hill" (Note: NONE of the hills on this route were anything like the hills by my house and they were barely blips on my radar. Nice. Thank you all the hills by our house!) Anyway, on Gorilla hill there were probably around 10 adults all in banana costumes.
I felt pretty rotten at the end and was all kinds of light headed and dizzy (NOT normal for me at all) so I walked around a ton, cooling down until I felt better. My stomach was a bit off all day long yesterday and I didn't really eat much.
Anyway, I'm glad I finished. I'm happy I improved by time from my last 1/2. However, I am frustrated that I walked (again.) And I mad that I made a stupid choice and decided to ignore my race plan. As we can see...it did not work out well for me. And I'm disappointed I missed by goal time of under 2:05. Because I KNOW I can run that. I HAVE run that on a training run. I did really taper week before the race, but I ran a 13.1 mi training run the Sunday before AND a 13.1 mi training run the Saturday before THAT. I'm not sure running 13 miles 3 weeks in a row was a smart thing to do. Oh well.
Next race? Sooner State Games Half Marathon May 19, 2012. I WILL abide by my race plan. I want to run sub 2:05. I want to NOT WALK!!! I think it will be much easier to maintain my race plan and not get carried away. It will be a MUCH smaller race.
* I'll post pictures when they post them. The race had professional photogs.
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