Time: 4:54:51
Overall Place: 1204/2587
We began the weekend on Thursday November 19 when we picked
Heidi up at her work and left for Omaha which is where we wanted to spend our
first night. The problem was that we
received our first snowfall of the year which started the night before and
coupled with the wind we were even wondering if it was safe to drive. The mini storm if you want to call it that
lasted about 60 Kms south of the city and then we had beautiful driving
conditions from there on. We made it to
Omaha around 10:30 and checked in for the night. The next day we got up, had our free
breakfast at the Super 8 and looked forward to about a 7 hour drive to
Tulsa. We did not take the Interstate
Highway because our GPS took us a faster route down mostly a two lane
highway. I really believe it was slower
but we did get to see a lot of nice rolling countryside and some quaint little quintessential
American towns. It was really neat watching the temperature
gauge in the car start at around minus 3 in the morning and move all the way up
to plus 20 by the afternoon when we arrived.
Ah yes, summer again.
We found the Convention Center quite easily and decided that
we would pick up our race packets before driving further to where Heidi’s
cousin Barb lived.
The Expo was nice and they had a lot of displays and booths
for the runners to see the latest and greatest in running apparel and other
things runners like. This race also had
a speaker series so I was looking forward to spending some time on Saturday
getting to hear some of the speakers.
There was one topic on bloggers that I wanted to hear on Friday at 5:15
so we all took that in which lasted till about 6:00. After that we headed to
Bixby Oklahoma which is suburb on the south side of Tulsa which ended up taking
us about 55 minutes. Our GPS did not
take up the fastest way and sometimes I wonder about her. Her name is Susan and yes we frustrate her
sometimes by not going the way she says so it may be payback for her to give us
a slower route. We were very fortunate
to have a place to stay for this trip and I never realized that until after I
had booked our entries into the event.
Heidi has a first cousin that lives in Tulsa so it was nice to have
homey accommodations and Heidi could spend some time getting reacquainted with
her cousin.
We arrived at Barbs house and it was very nice to see her
again and have a little bit of a reunion of sorts. We also got to meet Barbs roommate Bella who
is a very good looking Golden Retriever. After meeting we quickly became friends and enjoyed
each other’s company for the rest of the time we were there. Heidi and I were
in one room and Jennifer took another room.
We had a great supper and were
introduced to some southern cuisine which was very new to us in what they call
it. When you have a BBQ in the south, it
means that you are going to get some smoked meats and other fixings. It can be anything from ribs to brisket to
sausage or pulled pork, very different from how we think of something barbecued. It was most delicious and we quite enjoyed
it.
On Saturday the plan was for Heidi to spend the day with
Barb, and Jennifer and I were going to the Expo to hang out for the better part
of the day. There were a number of
speakers that I was looking forward to hearing so I was looking forward to the
day with other likeminded people, many as crazy as myself in the enjoyment of
running. I know it seems hard to believe
but there are other people in this world that are even crazier than myself and
we all belong to the club known as the Marathon Maniacs.
 |
| Main Maniac |
From left to right
Chris Warren, Steve Yee, Maniac, & Tony Philipi
These are the original Maniacs who started the club
In fact there are over 12,000 members in this
club alone and many who have run far more marathons then me. By going to as many races as I have this year,
I have come to know many people from all parts of the country. Many
of these other people were coming to Tulsa so it was nice to reconnect with
many of them again. Jennifer and I had
also planned to run with Bart Yasso, who works for Runners World as the Chief Running
Officer, but unfortunately we were not able to make the connection and we went
on our own little shakeout run. At
around 3:30 we headed back to Barbs place and out for our pre-race dinner.
Barb had picked out a restaurant called Russo’s which had Italian
food and was very good. After supper for
desert we decided to take in some American tradition at Sonic. It is a drive-in restaurant that serves fast
food and we delighted in some Ice cream.
We had a great timer and laughed ourselves silly. After supper we went back home and visited
till we went to bed for the night. It
was a good day.
Sunday arrived at 5:15 for Heidi and me so that we could
prepare for the race which started at 8:00.
For Jennifer there was no way her day was going to start before 6:00 and
we were told very clearly that she was not getting up with us. We had our usual pre-race food for breakfast which
for me is a bagel and banana. Heidi was
also kind enough to surprise me with a large container of milk. Being the good husband I drank it all and
paid for it in the first ten miles.
Heidi thought I like milk before a race and I didn’t have the heart to
tell her that I prefer water or PowerAde.
Milk sits very heavy on the stomach.
Oh well the issue has been resolved.
We said our goodbyes to Barb and headed to downtown Tulsa at
about 6:30 where I had done some research in finding the best location to
park. It was about halfway between the
start and finish lines which was about a mile apart. Tulsa is interesting in that the downtown is
not really all that developed yet so they have a lot of big parking lots to
park the car and we also parked for free.
If you don’t have a hotel next to the start/finish line, it’s nice to
have the next best thing which is to park close for free.
We found our way to the start line which was Coral B. It is interesting that we had B because there
were a total of four Corals and we were in the second highest. There was a very good reason for this. Because there were a lot of Maniacs, Half Fanatics
and 50 Staters in this race they are typically slower so the times in this race
reflected that and there were a lot of slower runners than us. In order to get seeded in a race you have to
provide your projected finish time, so it is on the honor system and they place
you accordingly.
The race started with the first coral getting the gun and
about 5 minutes later we moved up to the start and received our gun. It was quite a display of pomp and
circumstance with a big confetti machine showering the runners with the
confetti. The first couple of miles were
quite cool to run in with the temperature hovering around the minus 2
mark. I had throw away clothes so I knew
I could keep warm at the beginning of the race and then start peeling as the
race went along. A lot of runners use
this process which leaves a lot of clothes to get picked up for self-help
stores. Jennifer and I ran together with
Heidi until we reached the first hill around a mile in and then we left Heidi. I knew there would be hills on this course
but you never know how hard it’s going to be until you hit hill after hill which
really takes its toll over the course of the race.
We ran through some very beautiful
neighborhoods which the race director enjoyed showcasing. It’s interesting how a race will try and show
you the best parts of the city in an urban marathon. Jennifer and I knew right off the bat that we
were not out to set a personal best so we paced ourselves so that we could
enjoy the run at a little slower pace. At
about 19.5 miles Jennifer wanted me to go ahead and finish on my own and to not
wait for her, so I left her and she finished about 10 minutes after me. She just needed to go her own pace and
sometimes that is hard to do when two people are running together. I did have the opportunity to take in what is
a part of the uniqueness of this race.
They have what is call the Center of the Universe detour. It is about a third of a mile extension to
the race about a mile from the finish and you get a special little medal for
completing this. This race is also known
as the shortest Ultra Marathon in North America. One of the things that also set this race
apart which is unusual for a marathon is that they have a lot of beer stops
along the way. I’m not sure how good or
bad this is for a runner but is seems to be quite a hit with the runners. Probably one reason for the slower than
normal times. In fact Heidi actually experienced
something that she was quite unaware of.
About nine miles into the race they had some Jello at one of the
stations and Heidi thought she has had other things on the course and they
seemed good so why not Jello. What she
didn’t realize was that these were Jello Shots, made from Vodka. Not being a person that indulges in alcohol
it didn’t taste great to her and decided that she would never have that
again. She only found out what they
really were after the race when we told her.
Well everyone finished their race and I have to be honest, it was the
hardest race I have ever done, but we all finished, and we all gave our best.
After the race we packed up the car and drove to Sioux Falls
which was about a ten hour drive. This
is not typically how I like to do it but because we did not have a hotel close
to the finish we could not shower. Barb
lived the opposite direction and time did not allow us to go back and clean up
there. I know, I know, not what you want
to do after a race, but we needed to get far enough so that we could make it
back to Winnipeg by Friday after noon.
It really was a nice drive though and we got to our hotel just after
midnight. The next day we arrived home
safe and sound after having completed number 15.
Now to rest for three weeks and then it’s off to Dallas
where I will run number 16. Yes, I will
be flying which also means I will be doing it solo. I just want you to know that this trip was
planned way before Heidi was asked to come up with the church Christmas
program. More on that next race.
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