My fabulous and dedicated running partner, Jai, has been by my side training for this puppy for over three months now. Long runs, short runs, skinny runs, fats runs....YES, there are such things as skinny and fat runs...it depends on what you ate that day. ;) We trained in the heat and the cold....with motivation and sometimes without an ounce of want to....we made dreaded long runs solo and together....and ultimately crossed the finish line together! My original goal when we made the decision to sign up for the Route 66 half was to lose some weight and get back to feeling good in my clothes. Goal not achieved. Not even close. In fact I gained weight. Sad face. And before you go and say "well it's probably all muscle that you gained because it ways more than fat", let me just be clear that it is definitely FAT. And maybe some muscle. But mostly FAT. My second goal was to improve my time from my first half I ran in April. Goal achieved. Not by much but there is always next time!
Jai and I made our way to Tulsa on Saturday and couldn't resist making a stop in Enid at Hob Lob and Starbucks. We had a perfect afternoon and made it to town just in time to pick up our race packets and did some shopping at the marathon expo. We had a little mishap when trying to check into the hotel. Apparently I hadn't read the fine print about being assigned to a different Double Tree across town since the downtown one was full. Oops! We checked into the right hotel and then headed to a much anticipated pre-race din din at Ti Amo's where we dined on some delish pasta and bread. Gotta get fueled up!!! With our bellies full we did some shopping at Target before heading back to the hotel where we got our heart rates up (and most likely our blood pressure as well) while watching the 4th quarter of the OU/WV game. Wowza!!! What an ending! We called it a night and lay in bed unable to sleep due to racing minds. I guess my mind didn't get the memo that the race wasn't til morning. We woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Ok, maybe we woke up sleepy and wondering why we had paid to run 13.1 miles. Ha! Actually the morning was relaxed and everything went smoothly as we grabbed something to eat that Jai had packed and hopped on the school bus that took us to the starting line. After a short 25 minute wait we were listening and waiting for the gun to fire.....
The course was gorgeous as we wound through some amazing neighborhoods and pretty parts of Tulsa. I should probably mention that my dedicated partner had been sick for an entire week prior to the race. She had done everything she could to kick the crud and felt almost back to normal come race day. I think being sick for a week caught up to her around mile eight but we finished strong and were proud half-marathoners once we crossed the finish line.....
We stood in the open field downing the snacks and drinks provided at the finish line while searching for a lovely soul to snap a photo of us with our pretty medals. We happened upon the perfect person for the job. A sweet looking older gentleman who ended up zooming in quite a bit while saying "people just don't get enough close-up shots these days".....
Luckily we spotted our friend Chelsee with her boyfriend Tim coming out into the field. Tim had ran his first half and Chels set a PR! Picture time!!!
We celebrated with Jai's friend and her husband at The Brook in midtown where we devoured nachos, chips and salsa, bacon cheeseburgers and mac and cheese. All calories burned were immediately replaced + some. But hey, we earned it!!!!!!!!! That mac and cheese was worth all the sore muscles in the world. ;)
I'm already contemplating my next half-marathon and have decided that "they" are right......
........marathon addiction is real.
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