Williams Route 66 Marathon- Oklahoma

Our young family has a few traditions. One of the most enjoyable is the Thanksgiving week road trip. For the last three years we have used the kid's week out of school to hit the road, run a race, and to have an adventure. This year we headed north to Oklahoma for The Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa. We also planned to sneak across the border to Kansas if possible and find some fun things for the kids along the way. If I crossed the finish line in Tulsa I would also be halfway done with the 50 States marathon mission with Oklahoma being state #25.

Goal Setting

Although I have run many races on a whim I do train the best I can for all of them and then run my best on race day. I had a year of slow marathons due to shin splints at First Light, snow at the Groundhog (planned slow) and a poorer than expected performance at Utah Valley. I enjoyed them all still and had knocked off 3 states in the process so no tears were shed but I still hadn't run really well or challenged a PR in a long time. Five months between races is something of an eternity for me. I had actually registered for the American Discovery Trail marathon over Labor Day weekend but had to cancel due to Hurricane Harvey. I ran a lot of miles in October (over 300) even if I only had one 20 miler in prep for Tulsa. I was running more "fast-ish" miles than usual and had run a 1/2 marathon about 3 weeks under 1:40. That race gave me the confidence to target 3:30- as we will see I missed in spectacular fashion.

3:30 and me

My marathon best is 3:38:04 set back in 2015. I was aiming simply to PR that race and did so by less than a minute in a well-executed race but 3:30 has been the magic number that has escaped me for years. Several times I have been in great shape and heat (Pocono, Missippi Coast) on race day made it impossible. I was in the best shape of my life for the first night running of the Las Vegas marathon and was cruising though the first half of the race when the half and full marathon courses merged so that I ran into a wall of the back of the pack half marathoners. There was a lane that was supposed to be set aside just for the full marathon runners, but the cones held nobody back and I spent the second half of the race running around people finishing in a still respectable 3:39. In 2010 I ditched the multiple marathon norm and trained a full 18 week cycle using the a training plan from Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning book to train for Richmond and blew up on mile 16 after a Bart Yasso waive and quick pause at a rest stop to remove  rock from my shoe. For some reason I just couldn't get back up to speed after the pit stop. Bart was at Tulsa so maybe I should have known it wasn't meant to be but still I planned on starting off by running the first mile in 8 minutes and then adjusting from there.

Miles 1-9: wishing and hoping 8:08, 7:52, 7:50, 7:56, 7:53, 7:44, 7:53, 8:13, 7:59

I met the 3:30 pacer in the Corral and let him know I planned to follow. In addition to the half I may have run too much during taper although race week itself was filled mostly with hydration, salads, and core work. Tulsa itself was accomodating and beautiful. The team that puts on Route 66 does a fantastic job and they treat 50 States club members (along with Marathon maniacs) exceptionally well. We took off right on time and I fell in behind the pace. Right away I had to go to the bathroom for some reason and jumped off the course at the nearest porta-potty probably only a third of a mile into the run but caught back up with the group in short order. Still, something wasn't right- I was hitting the splits but even early on it was taking way more work to run 30 seconds or so a mile slower than I had run for the Houston Half. I decided to keep up as long as I could anyway since I had no real interest in slowing down and running just under 4 hours- I have plenty of sub 4's. In the end I guess I was hoping that magic would happen and my legs would come alive....they didn't, but still it was a great time. The weather was perfect, the crowds were excited and I have never seen so many people offering runners booze at unofficial aid stations...this is coming from someone who has run marathons in both New Orleans and Vegas.

Miles 10-26.2: The slide: 8:34, 8:26, 9:07, 9:04, 9:29, 9:39, 9:48, 10:29, 10:27, 10:30, 10:17, 10:01, 10:38, 11:12, 11:08, 11:08, 11:08 (3.50)

I let the group go at an aid station just before mile 10. I knew the rest of the race wasn't going to be fast but there were no regrets on strategy...I went for it and failed. Now to hang on and finish to get another state completed. On the way I would enjoy the day as well as the city and people of Tulsa. Shortly after I became untethered from the group the course went under the historic Route 66 sign and by the famous statue depicting an encounter on the Mother Road between a Car rider and Horse carriage. Because my run had turned into more of a jog I had my camera out and took a couple of shots. I got a few more the rest of the course but mainly just held on as best I could as my legs gradually slowed down. I also high-fived every kid with their hands out, thanked every police officer at every intersection and complimented all of the volunteers I came across- things that sometimes get skipped when lost in the quest for a time goal.

Finally I spotted Beth, Natasha, and Mitchell just after the sign for mile 25.9 and finished in 4:06:14- respectably 45 out of 145 in the male 35-39 group and 230th out of 829 males. I was wobbly and didn't even bother with a little sprint for the cameras at the finish. I reunited with the family and they lead me back to the hotel slowly after picking up the special medal the race had for 50 Staters- it was another nice touch.

State #25 was in the books and we were going to enjoy the rest of our vacation. I have some ideas on why my legs were not ready for anything near 3:30 pace and will address those as best I can before my next PR attempt. The great thing about travelling and running is that I'm never really broken up about if I miss a time goal because I have other reasons for being out there- exploring a new city, meeting new people, and of course new food!