Race Report Details

Bonnie and I were picked up by Clyde at 5:20 this morning, then we drove to Rachel's and from her house she and Bonnie drove to Tulsa in her vehicle and Clyde and I followed in his. We left pretty well dressed for the race. I was wearing long pants and had on a short sleeved compression shirt, long sleeve shirt and once we arrived in Tulsa I decided to wear my new pull over Mizuno jacket. I attached my bib to the jacket thinking we would need the outer wear for a while into the run.

We parked near the finish line and then we walked the mile to the start area as a warm up. It felt good to do that. We got to the start area with about 45 minutes to spare, did our bathroom breaks, walked around and ran into nother club member, Joanne, then another bathroom break before we moved towwards the start line. While in the starting area we saw another race club member Linda and wished her well. She did great with her run at 1:24:08. Once the gun was fired it was about 2 minutes beofre I could cross the starting mat.

The first mile was mostly all downhill and was run in a very large pack of people...a sea of runners. Behind me I could hear the Army contingent that was running the race in formation and their cadence was fun to listen to. Just after passing Mile 1 they came by me looking strong.

As Mile 2 started I saw a fairly large hill that had to be scaled, it turned out to be the biggest incline of the race. About half way up I decided I needed to get out of the Mizuno jacket. Well unfortunately my bib was pinned to it. So I slowed to a walk, figuring with the hill I could walk to conserve energy and shed the clothing at the same time. It felt like I walked for 5 minutes to get that accomplished. I did get out of the jacket, didn't loose any safety pins, but I did manage to drop my bib...but fortunately there was no wind and I was able to retrieve it without too much trouble. I got it repinned on my long sleeve shirt, pushed the sleeves up and again I was set and I was near the top of the hill. I started to run again.

Mile 2 had two large hills, the biggest that I mentioned above and another after that with one fairly significant downhill. As Mile 2 ended, we rounded a corner onto Peoria. There was a line of port-a-potties at the corner and I took advantage. As I was coming out I could see that Clyde had passed me again and was maybe 75 yards ahead. We stayed close or together for about a mile, then I moved ahead again to stay.

Miles 3-5.75 was the out route on Peoria then we began the return back up Peoria. There were many merchants out as well as spectators that were cheering us along. There were also a large number of families out with trick-or-treat kids along the way. It turns out that this day is a trick-or-treat festival along Peoria and after the race it got even more crowded with the trick-or-treat bunch.

We left Peoria near the 7.8 mark turning onto 31st to the west. Again, here was a nice downhill area. We turned right onto Riverside Drive and ran along the Arkansas River as we headed north back towards downtown.

The finish line for the race was in Veteran's Park.

As I mentioned above the spectators were fabulous. They were out and very vocal as we would pass. The intersections were well controlled with race volunteers and Tulsa Police.

The water stops were AWESOME!!!!! They were well manned, were frequent and had plenty of water. I don't believe any of them had any sports drinks at all and there was no GU or other energy eats along the way...but for a 15K run I wouldn't expect that either. The water stops were more frequent than at any other race I've been in this year....again they were truly AWESOME.

Before I give the details of my run, I've got to mention that this was Bonnie's first 15K, first run at this distance and was her longest run to date. I was at the finish line this time to cheer her in and I believe between the four of us that started out together she finished the strongest of everyone, she powered her way through the finish line and looked like she was running with great ease. I am so very proud of my TROPHYBRIDE!!!!

My Garmin worked great today and though the race was a 15K, 9.3 miles, it registered 9.44 miles which I'll give to the corners and such as I took them perhaps wider than what the race committee had measured.

Total Distance: 9.44 miles
Total Time: 1:51:25
Pace: 11:48
Avg HR: 149 Max HR: 166

Mile 1: 10:24
Mile 2: 13:41 (Uphill and fighting with bib and jacket, lot of walking here)
Mile 3: 12:33
Mile 4: 11:53
Mile 5: 11:18
Mile 6: 11:25
Mile 7: 12:00
Mile 8: 11:52
Mile 9: 11:35
.45 Mi: 10:34

From mile 4.5 to the finish line I was able to run between the water stops and I only walked the short distance thru each water stop. That is a first for me...wooohoo!!!! I'm not sure how far I ran versus walked for this race but it is definately the longest I've run in any race. I am slowly moving away from the run 1-minute-walk 1-minute intervals and I feel great from it.