Route 66 Quarter Marathon

I should start this post by telling you all how awesome I am. I rocked the race yesterday! Ok, maybe not awesome, but I did do really well and had a good time.

When I signed up for this race we had nothing on our calendar. I was happy because that meant Rick and the boys ould come. After the race we could spend the day in Tulsa. Fun times, right? Well, Ryan had a football game get rained out and they rescheduled it for the day fo the race. I had already paid my entry fee, so I decided to go anyway. I hate going by myself, so I talked Judy into going with me. We left at 5:30 am to make sure I had plenty of time to find parking, pick up my packet, get my number on, visit the port-a-potties, etc. I was about 10 miles from home when I realized I forgot my ipod and my garmin watch. Crap. I thought about turning around but decided to just run "naked." I've never done a race without Nike+ or my watch, so I was really nervous. I knew I could live without the music since I've been running without it sometimes.

We got to Tulsa in plenty of time, but finding parking was not as easy. Well, it was easy to find it, but to get in the lot was a little more difficult. I will spare you the details about my crappy driving skill, but I will say I will probably get a ticket in the mail soon for the red light I ran.I swear it was an accident! I didn't see it. Anyway, I finally made it and actually parked really close to the start/finish line. Unfortunately, I still had an hour before the race started. I went and picked up my packet and we came back to the car. It was really cold!

The race numbers were pretty cool.

I eventually left the warmth of my car to go line up.

And we were off! Not having my watch, I didn't really know what my pace was. At each mile they haoutd  a clock. I ran the first mile in 10 minutes! That is way too speedy for me. I know I couldn't maintain that pace so I slowed it down. Honestly, the race was pretty uneventful. I don't have a lot to say about it. One thing I will say though is Holy Hills Batman! I was not expecing all of the hills. I was really doing great even with the hills until mile 5.5. At that point my energy just crashed. I don't know why. I kept going though and finished with a really good time. Right before mile 6 I heard someone beside me tell her friend she wished we could cut through. I looked where she pointed and saw a huge hill. We had to run around the block, up  the hill, then we were almost done. I said, "We have to run up that hill?" She said, "yep, it sucks doesn't it?" Yeah, you could say that. About half way up the hill there were some people that had already finished the race cheering us on. That was awesome! I finished in 1:12:45! That is an average pace of 11:06 per mile. I couldn't be happier with that.

There were so many spectators you had people cheering for you for about 2 blockes before the finish. I very much enjoyed that. Judy was right at the start line waiting to take a pic of me. Unfortunately, she missed me while working with the camera on my phone. She felt bad but I thought it was funny. They gave us the medals and ushered us to where the drink and food were. I had a very yummy pretzel roll!

After the race was an afterparty hosted by Oktoberfest. Each participant got 2 free beers. It was a little early and I didn't really want a beer, but they were free, so why not? Judy and I got in line and got our drinks.

Me under the sign:

Judy and I:

We took a few drinks and then threw them away. We left and went to eat and go shopping. First I had to change clothes though. I went to a QT to change in the bathroom. I heard some women complaining about all those "damn runners." Sorry for inconveniencing you lady!

This morning I did a 5 mile trail run which was very enjoyable. Next up is Neewollah 10k next Saturday!

~Mel