RR - Tulsa World Route 66 Half Marathon - 11/16/08
I’m getting worse and worse about blogging. You’d think I would be able to get it together enough to post that wow - it was so nice meeting Bridget and her family in Tulsa last Saturday, and I can’t wait to spend more time with them. I even met Laura and spent some time with her at the expo, and would love to see her again. Dangit Laura – I can’t do the Run with the Horses next year – I’ll be finishing up a cruise of the Greek Isles. 2010 looks good though!
My trip to Tulsa was great. Left here at 6:00 am last Saturday and arrived in Tulsa around noon. Called the hotel and had their shuttle pick me up, checked in and got into my room right away. I stayed at the Doubletree, where they give you a warm chocolate chip cookie when you check-in. Yum!
I unpacked, and then changed out of my travel yoga pants. I discovered I brought my “skinny” jeans by accident, but luckily I was able to wear them with no problem! I went over to the expo to pick up my race packet, walked around a little, but then headed back to the hotel for some lunch.
I had the most delicious chicken fingers ever – they were huge – and lunch only cost $7.95. Amazing! After lunch I tried to take a little snooze – I had been awake since 3:30 am and only napped a bit on the plane. I headed back over to the expo to see if Bridget had arrived yet, and she called me while I was walking up the stairs. I met her and her family, and we made plans for dinner. They still needed to check into their hotel, so they said they would call me right before they picked me up. I didn’t rent a car, so it was very nice of them to tote me around!
I decided to wait outside the expo to see if I could recognize Laura when she came in. She sent me a text asking if I was around, and I responded that I was sitting on a bench in front of the expo. I stood up, and she came out of the ladies room – I recognized her right away. We hung out for a bit while she picked up her packet and we looked around the expo. I picked up a pair of throwaway gloves for the race – predicted temp at the start was 29°. Brrr!
After spending some time with Laura, I headed back to the hotel, and Bridget picked me up around 6 to go to dinner. We had a great meal at Fleming’s and got to know each other better.
They dropped me back off at the hotel, and I feel asleep right after 10:00 pm after calling in a room service order for breakfast to be delivered at 6:15 am. I slept really well considering I as in a hotel, and woke up around 5:00 or so. I tried to go back to sleep but it didn’t happen, so I watched television. Around 6:20 the phone rang – it was room service. The guy who worked the early shift got in late because his neighborhood’s electricity was out. He brought my breakfast at 6:30 and didn’t charge me for it because it was late – not necessary, but very nice of him!
I went downstairs around 8:20 to get on the shuttle to the start. There was a pretty big crowd waiting in the lobby, and when the shuttle arrived it was a trolley that was almost full already. I was able to squeeze in when they opened up the back area, and got to the start a little after 8:30. It was freezing!! I made sure to stand in the sun where it was a little warmer. I kept looking for Bridget but never found her – turns out they didn’t get there until 2 minutes before 9. By then I had moved up to the front of the 12:00/min mile+ group. Luckily it was warmer standing in the crowd of people!
The race started off really well for me – I was even smiling and waving at the photographers.
Obviously I had already thrown away the throwaway gloves, and taken off my long-sleeved top. I think I did that around mile 2.
I was running about 12:30/min miles for the first 5 miles, but right before mile 6 I felt some blisters forming on the insteps of both my feet. Since I didn’t want to check a bag, I didn’t bring the usual tape I’ve been using on my feet as I couldn’t bring a pair of scissors. I just had some regular medical tape that I could tear. Obviously, a bad idea! I didn’t want the blisters to break open, so I started walking, which didn’t make the rubbing as bad. I walked most of miles 6-8 – at some point I saw Bridget as I was on the back portion of the out and back. Around mile 9 was when the uphill portion of the race began, and there was a killer hill right before mile 10 as we entered a park. It was seriously steep – felt like I back in San Francisco!
I continued on – I pretty much knew I wasn’t going to break 3 hours, and it was more about finishing than anything else. I ran most of the last mile, and the last .1 was great as there was a big crowd of people cheering the finishers on. As I headed to the finish line I heard the announcer say my name and that I was from Boston. He was very excited as he was originally from Saugus, and we high fived as I passed him.
I got my finisher’s medal, took a couple of photos and was going to head to the food tent, but the line to get in was way too long. I walked around to where the shuttle had dropped us off in the morning, but that was the last part of the race course, so I knew that wouldn’t be the pickup point. I eventually found the shuttle and got back to the hotel. I had requested late checkout, but when I got up to my room the key didn’t work, so I had to go back downstairs to get it fixed. I was a little ticked about that!
As I was taking off my shoes I discovered that no one had taken my timing chip! That was a first. Probably because I never made it into the food tent. Oh well - I sent it back, hopefully I won't be charged for it. My blisters weren't too bad - they hadn't broken open so I was thankful for that.
I showered, dressed and went down to the restaurant for lunch. I had a delicious cheeseburger and fries, along with a diet coke. I burned 1500 calories during the race, so I enjoyed every bite!
My flights were on time – even early, and got home around 10:00 pm. I don’t know if I would ever want to fly the same day after running a half again – my legs were pretty sore and being on a cramped plane didn’t help. Luckily on both flights I was able to move into the bulkhead so I had some extra leg room to stretch out.
Official time was 3:16:45. I'm getting slower & slower! Oh well - I'm going to blame it on the blister situation. I will always take my regular tape with me from now on.
The next half I have on the schedule is the Disney Princess Half in March, but I'm seriously considering a trip to New Orleans to run in the Mardi Gras Half in February.
