Finishing up the beginnings

Picking up on the rest of my marathons and ultras, my next marathon after Tulsa, was the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. By now I thought I was beginning to get the hang of this long distance running thing. I trained for OKC, and on race day I thought I had a chance to beat 4:00. I started with the 3:50 pace group and did well until mile 17. It was hot that day, and I hit the wall early. It was my worse finish to date. 4:22. After that, I did the Marathon to Marathon in Iowa June '07 (4:18), the New Mexico Marathon in Albuquerque Sept '07 (4:14) and finally back to Tulsa in Nov. '07 and I broke 4 hours (3:59), and for the first time didn't hit the wall.
I decided to do my first Ultra in Oct' 07. I ran the Palo Duro 50k in Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo TX. I won't go into the details, but I finished in 6:20 and enjoyed the race. I did my second 50k at Sunmart in Huntsville state park, about 60 miles north of Houston. I did better, pushed harder and enjoyed it again, finishing in 6:08. That more or less brings you up to date. I've done many shorter races, but if you want to read about them, read back at my myspace blog. Next entry, I will let you know about my training, and what races I have scheduled for this year.