Friday, December 2, 2016

Route 66 Half Marathon

I went to a race outside of Oklahoma City (which is my comfort zone) and I survived. Gasp! I had to pack a bag and sleep in a hotel bed. My closet was not there with me, nor was my bathroom.  You guys, I was so nervous.  I do not travel well.  Not at all.  And I do not do it often.  This is something I could talk about for quite sometime; however, it does not really apply to what I am wanting to tell you about today.  Oh, and you're going to be reading about my stress over traveling to FLORIDA after Christmas.  Plane involved and everything - complete ball of stress over here.   So, back to Tulsa for the Route 66.  My sister-in-law and I left on Saturday around 1:30, my stomach was doing flips because I was so worried I forgot something important even though I checked 27 million times.  I did end up forgetting my lotion, I did not have a break down or anything though.  We arrived and checked into the hotel, the room wasn't ready yet so we left our stuff with the lady up front.  We went on to the expo and roamed around there for a while.  I love a good expo, y'all.  I generally do not buy anything as I am the cheapest person around; but, I was really worried about the weather the next morning.  We had not had a lot of super cold weather in Oklahoma yet but that morning was going to be pretty cold (in the thirties, I know this is not cold for some, but it is here) so I was kind of in search of something for warmth.  We came up on the Buff stand and while the salesman did not "blow my mind" as was promised, I did go ahead and purchase one.  I purchased this one.  It was not on sale at the expo.  Yes, I am bitter.  But, did the Buff work?  Yes, yes it did.  Have I worn it outside of running?  Yes, yes I have.  We wore them when we went to dinner that night.

No one thought we were going to rob a bank.
  And I wore it Black Friday shopping.





When we got back to the hotel from the expo we went to get our bags and go to our room for a bit.  My bag was gone.  It.  Was.  Gone.  I held myself together even though inside I was literally about to explode or something.  Turns out the valet people had accidentally picked it up and it was waiting on me there.  

To the race - we completely lucked out were super smart and booked a hotel that was right behind the starting line, so it was a very short walk over there.  It was very cold waiting on it to start, but my nerves warmed me as did my Buff.  When we started my left quad muscle was hurting, I said a prayer and kept going.  Throughout the race there were fun people along the way cheering people on, not as many people as the OKC Memorial, but more than I thought.  There were a lot more hills than I thought as well, but I survived.  My goal for this race was 2:45.  My chip time was 2:35:24, I was pretty proud of myself and happy that I met a goal I set for myself.  So, I can say I have a new PR :).  I stopped one time a little after mile 10 to take a huma gel and drink a cup of water.  After that I stopped for one minute walks three times.  After the race I did not have the pain in my stomach that I had in April or the pain in my knees so I was very pleased about that.  




Check out that medal, y'all.

Expo fun



Can someone explain to me why beer is so good after running 13.1 miles?


My experience running away from my "home" was great and I am ready to start training again to see if I can better my time.        

Oh, and Santa chased me.


-Amy D.
        

4 comments:

  1. You and the Santa should be your Christmas card this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an awesome experience! I'm so glad they didn't lose your bags. Awesome time by the way! I'm excited to follow your journey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh me too, I would have fallen apart, girl! I'm excited to follow your journey as well! I made a deal with my brother that I would run a full before I turn 36; we will see... :) (I also wish I could say 36 was really far away, but I'm afraid it is not that far!)

      Delete