Memorial Marathon - Oklahoma City

On April 29th I ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.  This is my third time running, and the weather was pretty good.  It was overcast and around 60 degrees.  I got into the corral, and waited for the start.  This run is to remember the 168 people who died during the 1995 Murrah Building bombing.  And the survivors as well.
I had thought about trying to run a BQ during this race, but the humidity was high and I just didn't think I had a sub 3:40 in me this day.  So I decided to try and run smart, and within myself.  I also needed to run sub 4 hours to get a better seeding at Comrades, so that was my main goal.  I started at a nice easy pace, just barely sub 9.  It felt very easy but I knew that easy always changed in the second part of a marathon.  I hit the half marathon mark around 1:57 and was still cruising very well.  It started raining and since it was a cool gentle rain, it was welcomed.  The second half got a bit difficult, but I was pretty much able to maintain a sub 4 hour pace.  As I raced down Classen I began to pass the walking wounded.  I'm not gloating as that has been me many times, but it did make me feel as though I had run a smart race.  Since I knew I had about a 2 minute gun/chip difference, I then made it my goal to beat 4 hours by the clock.  I made the last turn and started toward the finish.  I could see the clock change to 3:59 and I pushed on in just under 4 hours clock, and a 3:57.08 chip finish.  that meant I had a 3 minute positive split, and while I'm still looking for a negative marathon split, I was satisfied with my effort.
Last weekend (May 6), I had decided to run a trail race.  It was an unofficial 50/25/10k trail run.  I was trying to get more miles in training for Comrades, which I really haven't said anything about, but I'm returning to South Africa to run the "down" year there.  It will actually be a longer race (56 miles) but a net downhill.  Back to the trail race, it's run at Thunderbird lake, and is to raise money for a good cause (which means I don't remember what the cause was).  I had planned to do 50k, and took that start.  This was a much tougher course than I thought it would be.  I ran 25k here last year, but it wasn't the same course.  This one had some very steep ups and downs, such that if it had been muddy, the only way down would have been to slide, and I'm not sure you could have gone up in the mud.  Anyway it wasn't muddy and I pushed on.  I ran almost all of the race with a guy I met that day.  He had also run the Marathon the week before, and was training for his first 50 mile race.  Less than halfway through the 25k, I had already decided I wasn't going back out for 50k.  This was too technical a course, and my training is for a road ultramarathon.  It took us over 3 hours to cover the 25k (15.5 miles) and I knew the 2nd loop would be slower.  I finished feeling pretty good, but rested a bit, got myself together and went home to a nice shower and clean clothes.
Next up, I'll probably run a 5k next weekend (May 19th) then on to Durban South Africa.  I leave May 31st, and the race is June 3rd.

A2A Half & LMTR 50k

Sunday, April 1st, the OKC Landrunners took two buses to Ardmore for the A2A Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5k.  This was my 3rd time running the half marathon.  I chose the half because I was thinking of running a 50k (31 miles) the next weekend.  Also because while this is a well run race, I just have no desire to run the full here.
I ran what was at the time my fastest half here (1:39:19) the first year and I qualified for the New York Marathon with that time, which was my goal.  But I must add that we had a tail wind and this is a point to point course running almost completely due South.  Those who know Oklahoma know that we have predominantly South winds once we get past February.  So that first year was an anomaly.  This year my goal was just to run within myself, and hopefully sub 1:45.  It was a bit overcast, and it was expected to be a brisk headwind.  We started and I just tried to stay within myself.  It was windy and a bit cool.  After about the halfway point the sun came out and it started to get warmer.  I was still feeling pretty good at 10 miles, and was able to keep running despite starting to run out of energy.  On to the finish and it appears I'm going to beat 1:45, final time 1:44:09.
Regarding the 50k, I wanted to run it as a training run for Comrades.  But since it's a low key race, and you could register up until the day of the race, I was waiting to get a handle on the weather report.  While I wanted to run over 26.2 miles, I didn't want to do it in the rain and mud.  This is a trail race, albeit a fairly tame one, but still run in the woods on dirt trail.  The weather report looked favorable and I signed up the Tuesday before.  A friend had expressed interest in running her first ultra, so we agreed to travel together the 70 or so miles to the race.  As race day got closer we went into a rainy weather pattern.  Not heavy rain, but a slow steady rain and I began to get concerned about the condition of the trails.  Race day morning and it was overcast, lightening in the distance and a forecast of rain.  Oh well, we're committed now.  We make the drive and while it's overcast at the race, it's not raining.  Trail reports say the trails are in almost perfect condition.  We start, and I running fairly well.  This race is two approximately 7.5 mile loops for 25k.  Those of us doing 50k then repeat the course.  The first two loops go very well for me, and I'm feeling pretty good.  I go out to repeat the first loop and I'm starting to lose energy.  Still running well though.  When I finish the 3rd (1st) loop, and I'm in the start/finish area, I see my friend coming in.  She's looking good for over 22 miles and her first ultra.  I take off before her, but then hold back just a bit until she catches me.  We decide to finish the last loop together, with her leading some and I lead some.  This refreshes me some and I'm sure I ran this loop faster than I would have had we not been together.  It did rain hard for a while, and the trail got a bit muddy in spots.  I fell a total of 3 times, but they were all soft landings so no worse for wear.  We finished just over 6 hours and congratulated each other on a job well done.

Attitudes and Emotions

The body of this won't be nearly as deep as the title seems to imply.  It's really about why I haven't posted in several months.  I have tried to stick to running in my blog, and I usually do.  So my running is the reason I haven't posted much. 
I've run two marathons since my last posting, and neither has gone as well as I would have hoped.  The first was the Houston Marathon.  Houston is thought of as a fairly fast course.  It is a good course and probably one that many would be able to run well.  Me, not so good.  It was one of my slowest marathons, but then I did run out of energy just after the halfway point.  Don't know why, other than I was probably undertrained.  I hadn't done any 20 milers, but was thinking that my Oct. ultra, and Nov. marathon would sufice as long runs.  The other part of it is that I seldom run well in January, and this was my first January marathon.
The second marathon was in Little Rock, March 3rd.  Little Rock is known as a hilly course, but many people run it because of the huge medal.  My travel companions and I toured part of the course, and decided that it is hilly.  I ran Little Rock faster than Houston even with the hills.  Probably for two reasons, one I was better trained, and two, I decided to be more conservative in the first half.  I still hit the wall around 21 or 22, but that was better than hitting it at 13.1. 
Because I was dissapointed in my Houston time I didn't blog about it.  Silly really, I know that it's something just to be able to run/walk 26.2 miles.  And I still finished Houston under 4:25, but I had hopes for a much better time.  Actual times Houston 4:24:58, Little Rock 4:04:38.
The picture above is my granddaughter and I at the St. Patrick's Day 8k.  I came in 2nd in my age group, and my granddaughter ran the fastest timed 50meters, at least among the other times we saw.  Just glad she enjoyed herself running with "Paw-Paw."

Christmas Story

The day after Christmas a number of years ago, I was driving down a country road in Texas. And it was a bitter cold, cold morning. And walking ahead of me on the gravel road was a little bare-footed boy with non-descript ragged overalls and a makeshift sleeved sweater tied around his little ears. I stopped and picked him up. Looked like he was about 12 years old and his little feet were blue with the cold. He was carrying an orange.
And he got in and had the brightest blue eyes one ever saw. And he turned a bright smile on my face and says, "I'm-a going down the road about two miles to my cousins. I want to show him my orange old Santa Claus brought me." But I wasn't going to mention Christmas to him because I figured he came from a family — the kind that don't have Christmas. But he brought it up himself. He said, "Did old Santa Claus come to see you, Mister?" And I said, "Yes. We had a real nice Christmas at our house and I hope you had the same."
He paused for a moment, looked at me. And then with all the sincerity in the world said, "Mister, we had the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States down to our place. Lordy, it was the first one we ever had had there. See, we never do have them out there much. Don't notice when Christmastime comes. We heared about it, but never did have one 'cause — well, you know, it's just papa says that old Santa Claus — papa hoorahs a lot and said old Santa Claus was scared to bring his reindeer down into our section of the county because folks down there so hard up that they liable to catch one of his reindeer and butcher him for meat. But just several days before Christmas, a lady come out from town and she told all the families through there, our family, too, that they was — old Santa Claus was come in town to leave some things for us and if papa'd go in town, he could get some Christmastime for all of us. And papa hooked up the mule and wagon. He went in town. But he told us children, said, "Now don't ya'll get all worked up and excited because there might not be nothing to this yarn that lady told."
And—but, shucks, she hadn't got out of sight up the lane there till we was done a-watching for him to come back. We couldn't get our minds on nothing else, you know. And mama, she'd come to the door once in a while and say, "Now ya'll quit that looking up the lane because papa told you there might not be nothing." And — but long about the middle of the afternoon, well, we heared the team a-jangling harness a-coming and we ran out in the front yard, and Ernie, my little brother, called out and said, "Yonder come papa." And here come them mules just in a big trot, you know, and papa standing upright in the bed of that wagon holding two big old chickens, all the feathers picked off. And he was just yelling, "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas." And the team stopped right in front of the gate. And all us children just went a-swarming out there like a flock of chichis, you know, and just a-crawling over that wagon and a-looking in.
And, Mister, I wish you could have seen what was in that wagon. It's bags of stripety candy and apples and oranges and sacks of flour and some real coffee, you know, and just all tinselly and pretty and we couldn't say nothing. Just kind of held our breath and looked at it, you know. And papa standing there just waving them two chickens, a-yelling, "Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you," and a-laughing that big old grin on his face. And mama, she come a-hurrying out with the baby in her arms, you know. And when she looked in that wagon, she just stopped, and then papa, he dropped them two chickens and reached and caught the baby out of her arms, you know, and held him up and said, "Merry Christmas to you, Santa Claus." And baby, little old Alvie Lee, he just laughed like he knowed it was Christmas, too, you know. And mama, she started telling us the name of all of them nuts. They wasn't just peanuts. They was — she had names for all of them. She — mama knows a heap of things like that. She'd seen that stuff before, you know? And we was, all of us, just a-chattering and a-going on at the same time, us young'uns, a-looking in there.
And all of a sudden, we heared papa call out, "Merry Christmas to you, Sam Jackson." And we stopped and looked. And here comes Sam Jackson a-leading that old cripple-legged mule of his up the lane. And papa said, "Sam Jackson, did you get in town to get some Christmas this year?" Sam Jackson, you know, he sharecrops over there across the creek from our place. And he shook his head and said, "Well, no, sir, Mister. Well, I didn't go in town. I heared about that, but I didn't know it was for colored folks, too. I thought it was just for you white families." All of a sudden, none of us children were saying nothing. Papa, he looked down at mama and mama looked up at him and they didn't say nothing, like they don't a heap of times, but they know what the other one's a-thinking. They're like that, you know. And all of a sudden, papa, he broke out in a big grin again. He said, "Dad-blame-it, Sam Jackson, it's a sure a good thing you come by here. Lord have mercy, I liked to forgot. Old Santa Claus would have me in court if he heared about this. The last thing he asked me if I lived out here near you. Said he hadn't seen you around and said he wanted me to bring part of this out here to you and your family, your woman and your children."
Well, sir, Sam Jackson, he broke out in a big grin. Papa says, "I'll tell you what to do. You get your wife and children and you come down here tomorrow morning. It's going to be Christmastime all day long. Come early and stay late." Sam Jackson said, "You reckon?" And mama called out to him and said, "Yes, and you tell your wife to be sure and bring some pots and pans because we're going to have a heap of cookin' to do and I ain't sure I've got enough to take care of all of it." Well, sir, old Sam Jackson, he started off a-leading that mule up the lane in a full trot, you know, and he was a-heading home to get the word to his folks and his children, you know.
And next morning, it just — you remember how it was yesterday morning, just rosy red and looked like Christmastime. It was cold, but you didn't notice the cold, you know, when the sun just come up, just all rosy red. And us young'uns were all out of bed before daylight seemed like, just running in the kitchen and smelling and looking. And it was all there sure enough. And here come Sam Jackson and his team and his wife and his five young'uns in there. And they's all lookin' over the edge. And we run out and yelled, "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas." And papa said, "Christmas gift to you, Sam Jackson. Ya'll come on in." And they come in and mama and Sister Jackson, they got in the kitchen and they started a-cooking things up. And us young'uns started playing Christmastime. And it's a lot of fun, you know. We'd just play Christmas Gift with one another and run around and around the house and just roll in the dirt, you know, and then we started playing Go Up To The Kitchen Door And Smell. And we'd run up and smell inside that kitchen door where mama and Sister Jackson was a-cooking at, and then we'd just die laughing and roll in the dirt, you know, and go chasing around and playing Christmas Gift.
And we played Christmastime till we just wore ourselves out. And papa and Sam Jackson—they put a table up and put some sheets over it, some boards up over some sawhorses. And everybody had a place, even the baby. And mama and Sister Jackson said, "Well, now it's ready to come on in. We're going to have Christmas dinner." And I sit right next to Willy Jackson, you know, and he just rolled his eyes at me and I'd roll mine at him. And we'd just die laughing, you know, and there was an apple and an orange and some stripety candy at everybody's place. And that was just dessert, see. That wasn't the real Christmas dinner. Mama and them had done cooked that up. And they just had it spread up and down the table.
And so papa and Sam Jackson, they'd been sitting on the front porch and they come in. Papa, he sit at one end of the table, Sam Jackson sit at the other. And it was just a beautiful table like you never had seen. And I didn't know nothing could ever look like that and smell that good, you know. And Sam Jackson, you know, he's real black and he had on that white clean shirt of his and then them overalls. Everything had been washed and was real clean. Papa, he said, "Brother Jackson, I believe you're a deacon in the church. I ain't much of a church man myself, but I believe you're a deacon. Maybe you'd be willing to give grace." Well, Sam Jackson, he stood up there and his hands is real big and he kind of held onto the side of the table, you know. But he didn't bow his head like a heap of folks do when they're saying the blessing. He just looked up and smiled. And he said, "Lord, I hope you having as nice a Christmas up there with your angels as we're having down here because it sure is Christmastime down here. And I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you, Lord.

Like I say, Mister, I believe that was the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States of America."'

John Henry Faulk

Tucson Half Marathon

This past Sunday, December 11, 2011, I ran the Tucson Half Marathon.  After my disappointing performance in the New York Marathon, I wanted a race to run soon.  I thought about Dallas White Rock, but decided against it, then I remembered that the Tucson Marathon and half Marathon were a week after Dallas.  I ran my first Boston Qualifying marathon at Tucson, and thought that while I didn't want to run a marathon in December, the half marathon would be a good choice.  So with about a month to go, I checked the air fares and they were decent so I registered, made my plane and hotel reservations.  I only knew of a couple of other people going, and they were running the full.  I also decided that I would keep my participation low key.  A week before the race I was running with one of the other people going, so I told him, but no one else in my running club.  I had a couple of goals for this race.  While in my last post about New York, I said I probably didn't need to run there again, I still want the option to should I change my mind.  So main goal, re-qualify for NY 2012.  To do that I needed to run sub 1:40:00.  My dream goal was to run sub 1:35.  Tucson is a downhill course that flattens out around mile 10 of the half, and is a bit hilly until the end.
My arrival in Tucson was uneventful, I got a car and checked in to the host hotel.  The next morning I saw my friends and joined them for coffee.  They said they were driving the course later, and invited me to join them.  I did, and after we went to the start of the full, we stopped at the Biosphere which is near the half start.  We got out and ran 3 easy miles.  It was good I saw the starting line for the half because I was able to plan my strategy a bit better.  The first mile has a small uphill before we turn to the main road which is mostly downhill.  I made my plan to run the first mile slow and then pick it up as we headed downhill.
At the expo I saw Marshall Ulrich, an elite ultra runner, selling his book Running on Empty.  I went over and bought the book which he autographed.  I talked to him a bit, and mentioned that I knew Harry Deupree.  Marshall smiled and said he knew Harry very well.  He went on to tell me a Harry Deupree story.  When he finished he said he was very happy to know that Harry was doing well.
Race morning, I got up, ready and walked out the door to catch a bus to the start.  One good reason to stay at the host hotel.  Another was it was going to be tight making my 11:30 flight since the 1/2 started at 7 and I was going to have to get back to the hotel, check out, gas up my rental car, and make it back to the airport.
It was cold at the start, they had heaters but the people were gathered around them and it was difficult to stay warm.  I had decided to go minimal with my gear, I wore a long sleeve shirt, and shorts.  I did keep long pants and a jacket on till I needed to hand over my tote bag.  I was in line to start when a sudden and powerful urge to make another stop at the potty hit me.  I decided to listen to that urge since I knew they were having a wave start.  The way the start worked was you got in where you could, and then they let a group go and then waited a minute before the next group.  After my stop I felt much better.  I started almost 10 minutes after then gun, we're off and while I was able to run, there were a lot of slow runners, and walkers ahead of me.  After we made the turn to the main street, Oracle, I still had a lot of people to pass, but was able to at times go off into the street.  They had us mainly running on the shoulder, and the rules said to stay inside the cones.  There was traffic on the road.  In the second mile I was running sub 7:30 by mile 2 and from mile 3 to 6 I ran sub 7:15.  I ran sub 7:30 to mile 11 then started struggling and ran 7:50, 7:42 and 7:30 to the finish.  Time 1:36:42, a new P R, and NYC qualifying time.  I didn't hang around to eat or mingle, but went to find my bus back to the hotel.  This was a bit confusing as we had taken a luxury bus to the start, but all I saw at the finish were school buses.  I asked around and no one seemed to know what was what.  Finally I asked the school bus driver and he said this was the bus to the hotel.  I got on, and only a few others were there.  I thought he's not going any where until we fill up, and that might take a while.  Just then someone told him to take people going to the parking lots also.  Then the bus filled right up, so even with the slight detour, I got to the hotel before 10.  I had already packed, got my stuff, used TV check out and headed to the airport.  Made my flight with about 10 minutes to spare, and got home safe and sound.

NYC Marathon & 6 Hour Run

This past Sunday, November 6, 2011, I ran the NYC Marathon.  I entered through their guaranteed entry by having run a qualifying time and didn't have to go through the lottery.  I arrived in New York the Wednesday before the marathon to attend some business meetings.
I went for a 7 mile run in Central Park that Thursday.  While I was running I was passed by someone going at a rapid pace.  I thought it was Ryan Hall but wasn't sure because he went by so fast.  A little later he was coming toward me and verified it was Ryan.
Race day, I took a cab to the Staten Island Ferry.  The  village was well stocked and the weather being nice was a plus.  Time to start, I had decided I would just try to enjoy the race and finish under 4 hours.  We start, and I'm holding right at a 9 minute pace.  At about mile 3 this guy is passing me and then cuts in front of me, causing me to stumble.  I didn't fall but hurt my knee catching myself.  The guy says "I'm sorry, but I need to run with my friend."  I pulled over to the side and tried to run, but was limping badly.  I thought about quitting, but decided to keep running and see if things improved.  As I ran my knee did feel a little better, but I was still favoring my other leg.  I got back on pace and tried to keep it up, but as I hit mile 20, I started feeling the old wall approaching.  I walked some, but as I hit mile 23 I was able to mostly run at pace.  I finished in 4:10 and then had a long walk to the hotel.
While I think this is a great marathon, the negative experience of being tripped probably set me up to be in a bad mood about it.  Right now it's 3 days latter, and my knee is much better but still hurt.  I don't think I tore anything, just really sore and inflamed.  My current mindset is that I don't want to run this one again, but time will tell.
Two weeks before I ran in a race called "24 the hard way."  This is the third year for the race, and I've run it all 3 years.  First year, 24 hours, last year 12 hours, and this year 6.  I had hoped to hit at least 35 miles.  I started out on pace, but the day warmed up and I began to slow down.  Since this was not a goal race, and I knew I was running the NYC Marathon in two weeks, I decided not to try and push things.  I finished with a total of 31 miles, and in second place.

Catching Up

It's been awhile I know.  Why?  I just haven't felt like posting.  But, to bring you up to date, here's what's been going on running wise.  I ran the Sioux Falls South Dakota Marathon on 9/11/11.  I was trying to Boston Qualify the day before registration opened.  It was a nice race, a bit hotter than normal for SD.  My only complaint about the organization is that the host hotel is 6 miles from packet pickup and no shuttle was provided.  Surely they could add a $5 shuttle option for those of us that stayed in the hotel.  Instead your choice is a $25 cab ride.  I did find someone to share the cab with, but they need to fix that.

I ran the race, was holding pace for most of the run, but as is usual, had to slow down around mile 22.  It was there that I made a major error.  I decided that if I had a good potty break, I'd be able to run fast again.  I could have finished without the break, but I thought that was my best chance to make goal.  Well I took around 2 minutes to break, and missed my time by just over 2 minutes.  Oh well, not that big a deal, still my fastest marathon this year. 3:47.

On October 1st I ran a nice flat 5k.  I felt pretty good the whole race, and ran my fastest 5k in over a year. 20:59.

Yesterday, Sunday, October 9th my running club took a bus trip to Wichita for the Prairie Fire Full and Half Marathon.  I was running the half since I have two longer races coming up in the next month.  I'm running 6 hours at 24 the Hard Way, and the New York Marathon in November.  I started the half marathon with the single goal of running sub 1:45.  I felt that I could achieve this without stressing myself.  It was cool and a very light rain was falling.  Almost perfect running weather.  I started and was holding right at 8 minute miles.  My plan was to hold 8's and then pick it up at the 6.65 mark.  At mile 5 I was really feeling good so I started picking the pace up.  At mile 10 I was still feeling good, so I started running close to 7:30 miles.  I ran the last mile at 7:17 and was still feeling good.  I finished in 1:41:51 and feel no soreness a day later.  I need to run more half's.  Hope to talk to you again in less than 2 months.