Route 66 Marathon 2019

My Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma Nov. 24th was a lot of fun.  My husband, Eddie and little boy Noah took off as soon as I got off work on Friday.  As soon as we got there, we checked in and I went for a quick 3 mile shake off run.  I had no idea that my husband got us a room at a casino resort.  We got a room on the 25th floor and I saw that they had a bike train behind our hotel.  I was so happy because I thought that I was going to run on the darn hamster wheel again.  It was a pretty good trail and there where several bikers and walkers on it.  I felt safe, but I still wore my taser.

We went to the Expo to get my race bib and of course I did some shopping.  I bought me my gu blocks for fuel, running belt, a bike short, a hat, cheap headphones and shirt.  We went to Italian restaurant for dinner and did my normal carb loading.  I went with chicken picatta for dinner and no, I wasn't able to eat it all.

Race day was looking like the perfect weather with temps in the 36 degrees when I start to 52 degrees when I finish with clear skies.  I felt good and decided not to follow any pacers, and just run my race. I started off fast like always and get a little to excited and about mile 5 I get my first hill.  Then around mile 9 there are a couple more and my right hamstring feels like it wants to cramp up.  I make myself slow down, but don't stop.  Mile 17 and 22 there are more hills and by them, I'm tired and just trying to keep up with an 8:00 min. mile at least.  My cheap headphones died at 2 hours!  There is a lot of positive self talk and have to change my mindset.  If it weren't for those hills at mile 22, I felt like I would of finished at 3:25 or so.  However, I finished at 3:29:14 and I'm happy with those results.  I'm also happy that my hamstring was able to hang in there until the end.

My phone almost died before I found Eddie.  He found me first, thank goodness!  One of his hunting buddies son-n-law was also running the marathon and we hung out to meet him and family.  All in all it was a good marathon.  Glad that I was able to check off another state in the USA.  I'm not sure if I want to run a winter marathon, but next spring marathon I'm registered for is the Big Sur International Marathon in California.  I'm super excited about that one :)

We came back home Monday afternoon in time to get ready for family Thanksgiving.  Eddie, Noah, and Dash did our annual Turkey Trot 5K run.  Well,  Dash and I ran it and the boys walked it.  There were a lot of people out on the trails for there was a race going on.  We did our own thing ran with the too.  There were a lot of deaths in our family and sad they are not with us this year.  At the same time we had new baby births in our family.  I guess that's life.  Everyday someone is dying and some are born to live on this earth.  I'm very thankful for my family and friends in my life.  Well, that's it for now.  Until next time, keep on running!