Met up with J-Hat bright and early and drove a hr or so up to Tulsa where we met up with Ean and picked up our race packets. We got a quick mile jog in and dropped our bags off and headed over to the start line.
It was pretty cold standing around for probably 10 minutes or so. The sun was coming up and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day to run.
We shot out of there and I noticed about a 1/4 mile in Scotty D shooting up to the front. A few other quick starters went with him but fell off by the first mile. I was about 3rd place after the first 2 miles and was leading the marathon.
I tucked in behind Mario going into the windy spots and really surged big going down a hill from 2-3 zipping by him and reeling in the 2nd place 1/2 guy Dan. I went by him from 2-3 and Mario and I swapped off going through mile 8. I slow just a bit at a water stop and he had maybe a 5-10 sec gap the rest of the way..I noticed he took a wrong turn and tried to holler at him to let him know that he was heading down the marathon course. The police escort finally broke the news to him and he was very upset. I hated it for him but really it was his own fault..the had about 5-6 big signs showing the direction of each race. I guess he didn't see them.
I basically ran the rest of the race solo. I had some gummy bears tucked away in my shorts in a zip lock I was saving for a snack on the back end. I actually fumbled them at mile 20 and just decided to continue on. Mile 22-23 was really windy. mile 23-24 was really hilly and mile 24-25 was pretty good with a downhill and marathoners cheering me on made it much easier to keep going.
I saw a shiny quarter in the road at mile 25 and wanted to stop and pick it up but didn't. I was really excited when i made the last turn and started to realize I was fixing to win my first marathon. I was fixing to take down the all time master record in OK as well. (The main reason for running was to try and get the record.) I was pumping up the crowd and high fiving everyone that would. I cut the tape and was given a few minutes then a bunch of tv and newspaper people got my story. I waited for Ean and he was pretty happy coming across in sub 3. J-Hat had some stomach issues about mile 15.
Looking forward to going to CIM in a few weeks. I may have risked a slower time there but I don't think I would trade it for my first Marathon W and the all time master OK record. (44) single age record as well.
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