Route 66 1/2 Marathon Weekend

OH my goodness, what a crazy fun, emotional weekend! After 13 weeks of training for my 1/2 marathon the race was here.  As some of you know I completed my 1st 1/2 marathon ever in the spring. You can read about that here on my other blog : OKC Memorial Marathon.  I guess  you could say I caught the race bug and signed up for the Route 66 the next month after my 1st. 

I chose that one because I knew several in my running group were going to do it. Also it was close drive from OKC and I knew I could stay with family while in Tulsa. 

I had a lot of great training memories and some not so great days but those were done and it was time to enjoy the race! So let's start with the final week of training on to the race! Wed before the race I did a 4 miles training run. One mile into that run my ankle was hurting. Mentally it messed with me for 3.5 miles and I didn't finished the 4. I was so discouraged and worried all my hard work would be sidelined. I gave it a rest Thursday and wasn't going to run Friday as planned. It had been a crazy week with something every night but Friday I slept good and woke up energized. I decided to at least attempt my easy 2 mile run. I'm so glad I did because I went really well and I was pain free! It helped ease my mind going into the weekend. 

Friday the kids had a fun run at school so I went and cheered them on. It was a fun day. My Mother-in-law came out to support them too and then she took my kiddos and puppy with her for the weekend. It was a be a lonely quiet Friday night at home as my hubby had to work overnight too. I decided to go to bed early like lame 7 o'clock.  I couldn't sleep so I turned on Netflix and was wide awake still at 10:30pm. I think I was just excited! I then get a text msg from my mother. (mind you she hardly ever text msgs) I thought something was wrong. So I called her back.

Me "what's up? everything okay?" 

Mom " yes, whatcha doing?" 

Me- "watching netflix, can't sleep" 

Mom "go answer your front door"

...I'm thinking why? Im alone it's late...NO

Mom " i'm standing at your front door" 

ME: ....what....um.....what? alone? 

mom: no your dad is with me too.

Me; Oh let me get dressed. 

So long story short My parents drove in all the way from Denver Colorado to surprise me and cheer me on in my race! I was dumbfounded! 

Saturday I spent the day with my parents as I waited for my hubby to get off work late that afternoon. We arrived in Tulsa about 5:00 pm near the end of the expo. We didn't get to look around much but got our race goodies and headed over to my Aunts house!

 She made a lovely meal for us that was perfectly full of carbs for the race LOL! I was so good. I  ate well as to not mess up my tummy for race day! Had trouble getting to sleep again but finally around 11:30 drifted off. 

flat runner

Sunday I woke up at 5 and ate a bagel and drank a cup of coffee. That is essential to race morning.

race day bathroom selfie

 It was a chilly 28 degrees! Left for the race around 6:30 as I wanted to meet up with my EMRTT group for pics. I ended up on the wrong side of the corals so I missed pictures but eventually made it to my running group. I was glad to have them keep me company in Coral C. I was planning on running alone but waiting an hr or so before the race in the cold is no fun with out some friends. 

By the time is was time to run I seriously couldn't feel my toes! The gun went off and I started moving but it was a really odd start with not feeling my feet. It took about 2 miles before they warmed up. My parents and I made a plan as they would pop up in various places along the 13.1 route. I was to find them around mile 2 to pass of a few layers of clothing. I missed them some how oops.

 We texted though and I found them around mile 5. This was actually a good distraction and I was like oh I'm already at mile 5. yay! I passed off my coat, gloves and ear warmer and keeps moving forward.

 This race is a rolling hill race and was glad to make it to mile 6-9 where it's a little more flat. Halfway I was feeling good but my ankle as a little sore. Mile 10 sucked! It was a bigger hill and more walking then I intended but at the end my parents were there to cheer, high five and snap a few pics! 

At this point I only had 5K to go. I can run 5K!! until I hit more hills. haha! I was tired and not moving to fast but once you hit that last mile you get excited. My parents made it into a good spot at the finish line (thanks to my cousin that works for them for helping them get close!!) I fought back those tears of excitement. I grabbed metal got some pics, and then waited for my sweet hubby to finish. He was walking this 1/2 marathon and was struggling but I'm so glad that he finished. I'm proud of him for pushing through even though he didn't get to train as much as he planned! 

After finishing this 1/2 marathon I actually felt really good I didn't get the time I was hoping for but I did PR by about 3 minutes. I blame the hills!  I remember after my spring one. I wanted to collapse and sleep. After this one I wasn't super tight, or fatigued. I wasn't super sore these past few days either! Lots of yoga stretching to thank for that! 

I started my nike app a little before the gun time and forgot to stop it after. so there is .4 miles extra on there. I would say my watch as .25 miles off the entire race and it messed me  up a little when it came to my intervals. I basically would run .25 miles and then walk 30-60 seconds.  

So I'm glad to know I'm stronger and I don't plan on taking a run break for 3 months like I had to do this summer!!! December I'm going to do some cross training with a few miles of running too but jump right back into 1/2 marathon training again for spring! I haven't decided which race but I'm leaning toward the Go Girl 1/2 in March and the OKC Memorial 1/2 in April. Maybe if I'm crazy I can find one in May and become a half fanatic! we'll see! 

Thanks so much to everyone that was with me along this journey! I can't do this with out you! 

I'm sure proud of all these medals from this year! 

 So after running for almost 2 years! 75 plus pounds later I still love running! It's truly changed my life! You might call me crazy but I can't live with out it!!