Bob Mann: 2008 Tulsa Route 66 Marathon

Sun Nov 16, 2008

Apparently I'm now officially going for the 50 marathons in 50 states thing. For the first time in my 8 marathons, I travelled from New Jersey to a marathon alone and didn't meet anybody there. So yup, two days completely by myself. In Tulsa, Oklahoma. There was no reason to do this except to check Oklahoma off my list on the way to 50.

So why Tulsa? Well, why not? I need all 50 states eventually, right? And it fit my three criteria: A) It's a state I haven't run before; B) It happened on a weekend on which I had nothing else going on; and C) I could use Frequent Flier miles to get there, making the weekend a lot less expensive.

On Saturday, I arrived at my hotel in downtown Tulsa, and the first thing I did was look for a place to eat lunch. My first look around downtown revealed nothing in the immediate area. So I decided instead to go for day-before easy jog around the area to see if I could find anything. 2.5 miles later, still nothing. The downtown area appeared to be almost completely deserted and devoid of any sort of bar or restaurants. Maybe it's not this empty during the workweek. But it's pretty damn depressing around noontime on a Saturday.

The expo was at the convention center right across the street from my hotel, so that was nice and convenient. I picked up my race packet there, and later partook of the pasta dinner. This was the first time I went to a race-sponsored dinner before a race. It was nothing to write home about.

I got to bed nice and early on Saturday night and woke up early on Sunday. Maybe too early, because I ended up waiting around at the start/finish area for about an hour before the race. And it was nice and chilly. Temps were below 40 before the start of the race, so it was just slightly unpleasant standing around.

Coming into the day, I really didn't know what kind of time I was capable of. This was my first marathon since I broke my ankle in April. My training had been going fine, but my mileage was probably down a little from where it should have been. I had a hard time deciding what to predict for myself. I thought if everything broke right, I could beat my PR of 3:47:27, set in Birmingham AL in February. I was even giving 3:40 as my ultimate best-case (although unlikely) scenario. And I was giving 4:10 as the worst-case scenario. Barring some unforeseen injury, I knew I could finish. I just really didn't know how fast. I eventually picked 3:53 as my predicted finish time. It was about halfway between the best and worst-case scenarios, leaning slightly towards best-case.

I wasn't going to run towards any particular time, but just run based on how I felt. And once the race began, I was feeling good. After the always-slow first mile while the crowd thins out (8:47), I maintained fairly constant splits thru Mile 7: 8:33, 8:29, 8:33, 8:30, 8:36, and 8:34. Starting with Mile 8, I dropped down a little, but then stuck with a constant pace again for the next 7 miles: 8:42, 8:42, 8:37, 8:47, 8:40, 8:41, and 8:41. For a while early on, I had kept the 3:40 pace team in sight ahead of me, but they gradually pulled away from me. However, at this point, I was well ahead of the 3:50 pace team. That was fine.

I crossed the halfway point at 1:54:10, which meant I was just off pace for a new PR. That's okay. I wasn't really going for a new PR, and heck, I still felt good and thought that maybe I could run a negative split and still get it.

But starting at Mile 15, I began to slow down again. That split was 8:51. Then came 8:52, 8:58, 8:59 and 9:00. Try as I might, I just couldn't maintain speed. What had started as a chilly day was now turning into a somewhat warm one. Very similar to my second marathon on the Jersey shore in 2006, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sun was bearing down. The temperature only reached about 60, but I felt much warmer than that.

It was around Mile 16 when I first glanced behind me and saw the balloons for the 3:50 pace group catching up to me, now just a couple hundred yards back. By Mile 18, I could hear their voices behind me. They finally caught me at Mile 19.5, and this is when the wheels fell off for me. I decided at this point that I wasn't going to kill myself to shave a few minutes off my time. I slowed to a walk for a minute or so, and watched the 3:50 balloons disappear into the distance.

Starting back up again, however, wasn't easy. The remaining miles were going to be tough. I had no energy left, and still more than 6 miles to go. When I ran, it was at a much slower pace than before. And a few more walk breaks were necessary, especially once we hit the hills that began at Mile 22. These hills were nothing compared to the ones in Birmingham. But after 22 miles of pancake-flat terrain, they were a jolt to the system.

Around Mile 24, I started having some stomach issues. I have never had that problem before. For the first time, I felt like I might puke during a race. It wasn't pleasant, but at least it didn't last too long. I kept my breakfast in, and kept going... slowly.

It was on the last of these slight inclines that I was passed by the 4:00 pace group. For a while, I had known this was inevitable. This marathon was not going to be one of my better ones. Beginning with the 20th mile, my next few splits were: 9:46, 9:31, 10:13, 11:28, 11:40 and 12:28.

Beginning at Mile 25, the course was mostly downhill. This helped me stay under a 10:00 pace for the 26th mile - barely (9:56). As always, I paused to take a picture of myself just before the finish line, and as luck would have it, the pic only shows the clock for the Half Marathon which began an hour after the Full. My head is blocking the Full Marathon clock. So it looks like I finished with an amazing time, even though the race was not one of my better ones. Hah.

My final time: 4:03:44. So, why did I crumble that badly? Was is the sun and heat that got to me? Did it have something to do with the runny nose that I had been dealing with for a few days, i.e. did I have a cold that was sapping my strength? Could it be the fact that the vast majority of the race was run on a concrete surface instead of asphalt? Were my training miles that woefully inadequate? Or was it just not my day? I'm going with the last answer. I finished, and I survived to fight another day. I realize that a runner can't expect to be at their best every time out, and this was just one of those days. I'll strive to do better next time.

So, my thoughts on the Tulsa Route 66 Marathon, aside from my own personal struggles. The organization of the race was okay. But there really wasn't anything to make it stand out. I was looking forward to running on "Historic Route 66", but we only ran on it for one mile, between Mile 1 and Mile 2. And that was a very bland, industrial neighborhood. Most of the race was spent running out and back on a road parallel to the Arkansas River. But you couldn't see the river for most of that time. Once we entered the hilly section at Mile 22, we ran by some beautiful homes in a rather tony neighborhood. But that was about it. Crowd support was minimal throughout most of the course. The post-race amenities were okay. There was pizza supplied by a local restaurant and burgers being grilled to order. Unfortunately, the lines for both were incredibly long, and standing in line is the last thing you want to do immediately after running a marathon. Each runner had tickets for two free beers, but the beer was gone before I finished.

The post-race entertainment was nothing interesting either. And finding a bar or restaurant around downtown Tulsa later in the day was impossible. My final analysis would be that this race would be one to travel to only if you want to check Oklahoma off a list. I wouldn't necessarily call it a bad marathon. But it certainly wasn't a great one either. There was really nothing about it to make it memorable. Perhaps my own performance has skewed my perception. But overall, the Tulsa Route 66 Marathon rates a 'meh' in my book...

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.