First off, I apologize for the delay in this post! This is the busiest time of the year at work — gala season. But, that’s another story.
Next, I did it!!! A week ago Sunday, I completed the Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon! It wasn’t easy, but I loved it! This definitely won’t be my last half marathon! I’m still a little unsure about a full marathon, but we shall see what the future holds…
My bib.
Now, I’ll take you through the day before and the day of the big race.
Saturday, I had a pretty busy day. Andrew (my boyfriend) and I volunteered at the Oklahoma City Arts Festival in a drink tent from 2:00pm – 6:00pm. When signing up for this, I didn’t really think much about the fact that I’d be standing the majority of the time. Luckily, we were able to drink whatever we wanted while we were working, so I drank a lot of water. I had read that hydration the day before your race is key. Normally, I probably would’ve opted for the free beer, but I knew that it would only dehydrate me, so I stuck with water.
Andrew & I at the Energy game.
After volunteering, we had to go straight to the Oklahoma City Energy’s first home game. The Oklahoma City Energy is OKC’s new professional soccer team and Andrew has season tickets! I would have liked to carbo-load with a pasta dinner, but since we had to be quick, my only food options were the various tents at the Arts Festival (which didn’t include pasta). I went with a brisket baked potato. As far as dinner before a race goes, I’d read so many contradicting suggestions. Some people suggested carbo-loading the whole week prior to your race, some said just have pasta for dinner the night before, and some said to just stick to your regular routine. I wouldn’t say a brisket potato is a staple in my diet, but it also isn’t something completely weird that I’d never order, so I guess I fell somewhere in the middle of all of these suggestions, which seemed to work well for me.
My BBQ brisket baked potato.
Andrew’s Energy tickets are in the “Fan Zone,” which was exciting, but also involved standing the entire game. My old neighbor is actually on the team, so it was pretty cool to see him score the Energy’s only goal of the night. Unfortunately, the Energy lost, but the game was really fun! By the time I got home that night, it was around 10:00pm, so I showered and went straight to bed. I was a little nervous about how badly my feet were hurting, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at that point.
The next morning, the race was scheduled to start at 6:30am. After reading several blogs with tips about running a half marathon, I decided to wake up at 4:30am to make breakfast and make sure I had plenty of time to get ready and go to the restroom and all that jazz. I wanted to eat a banana, but all of mine were frozen, so I opted for banana protein pancakes. (Recipe here.)
My dad, who ran the half with me, came to my apartment, which is just a couple of blocks from the start, and we walked over about 6:00am. We knew the weather forecast wasn’t good, but at this point it was just sprinkling on and off, so we headed over anyway. Right as we were getting to our designated corral, there was an announcement that the start was delayed until 7:00am because of weather. They weren’t worried so much about the possibility of hail (yes, there was a possibility of hail!), as they were about the lightning. Apparently, the policy is that the race cannot start if there is lightning within 10 miles of any part of the race route. This is when it came in handy that I live so close. We went back to my apartment and turned on the news, which was also giving updates about the status of the marathon. Around 6:45am I checked Twitter and found out that the race had been delayed to 7:15am. Around 7:00am, I checked again and it was delayed until 8:00am. At this point, we started to get a little nervous that they would cancel the race because on the news they said that after 8:00am there were concerns about being able to keep the roads closed long enough for everyone to finish.
Also, keep in mind that this was an hour and a half after the time we had been scheduled to start. This is when I started to get hungry. I continued to drink water, but tried not to over-do it because I didn’t want to have to stop running and wait in line for a porta-potty during the race. I also ate a piece of bread and 3 Clif Shot Bloks. Yes, these are the shot bloks I normally eat while running, so I figured it’d be okay to eat some prior to the race.
At 7:50am, we still hadn’t heard of further delay of the race, so we headed over, despite the lightning and rain. Right as we got into the corral, they announced it was delayed until 8:15am. We decided just to wait there, because the corrals were starting to fill up. Since we weren’t moving yet, the rain was pretty chilly. I began to wonder how miserable this race was going to be.
Pre-race selfie with dad in the rain. This pic makes me giggle.
It was at this point that I realized bringing my phone and headphones to listen to music was a bad idea. It would’ve been fine if I had like an arm band but normally I just carry my phone. So, my phone was getting wet AND my Pandora and Spotify weren’t working because there were so many people — over 26,000 runners, not to mention the spectators! I ended up just carrying my phone and not even listening to music, which was a little annoying. I will admit though, having my phone after the race made finding people much easier.
Our view of downtown OKC waiting on the race to start.
I think it actually was closer to 8:20am when they finally let the first corral start the race. We were in the last corral, which didn’t start until probably closer to 8:35am or maybe a little after. The feeling of being in with over 26,000 other runners is one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced! Like any race I’ve run, getting into your pace is a little tricky, especially at the beginning because you’re constantly dodging other runners and walkers. I enjoyed the music playing along various parts of the route and a bunch of the spectators were even handing out snacks, or spraying us with water, which was awesome! Of course, there were also the designated water stations that typically had water, powerade, and pretzels. A few of them also had soaked sponges, goos, oranges and bananas for the runners.
So many runners had signs pinned to the back of their shirt saying who they were running in honor of. It was a constant reminder that we were all running to remember the 168 that were lost on that tragic April day 19 years ago. There were also quite a few firefighters walking the route in their fire-fighting suits (I’m not really sure what the term for them is..) which I thought was pretty awesome.
At first, my dad and I stuck together, but around 2 miles in, we ended up separating. He generally runs a little faster than me anyway, but trying to dodge people and stay together proved to be quite challenging. You’d think that running that far without a buddy or music would be horrible, but I actually really enjoyed it. I was just another runner in the midst of the 26,000. All the other people were more than enough encouragement to keep me going.
Despite my concerns the day before and the morning of, the race actually went quite smoothly for me. It wasn’t until about the last mile and a half that I started wanting to walk. But, I took my friend Claire’s advise (mentioned here) and didn’t stop. I only slowed down through 3 of the water stations, because the first part of the race was pretty muggy and I realized I was sweating more than usual. One thing that I found a little challenging, was that I never knew what mile I was on or how far I had left. A couple of points had race clocks, but I wasn’t exactly sure what time the clocks were at when I started, so they weren’t much help. I based when I ate my shot bloks off of time. I ate 3 around 45 minutes in, which seemed to work out well for me.
I loved all of the people and volunteers along the route cheering us on. It was pretty cool to know that complete strangers were rooting for me. My favorite part of the race was the last leg on Broadway. Once you turn that corner, you could see the finish line. Everyone starts to speed up and there are crowds on both sides of the street yelling and cheering. I didn’t even see anyone I knew, but I loved it! Come to find out Andrew was along that leg and snapped this pic!
Almost to the finish line!
Right after I crossed the finish line, I was handed my medal. Then, there were tents with drinks and food. I grabbed a fruit cup and a water. I knew I was going to lunch with my parents so I wasn’t too concerned about eating a bunch at the tents. My dad didn’t have his phone so I was a little worried about finding him, but right after I got my food and water, I turned the corner and there he was! Then, since Andrew had seen me finish, he came over and found us.
Post-race with AP!
After a delicious, HUGE meal at Ted’s with my parents (of course margaritas were involved), I went home in an attempt to rest. I was pretty exhausted. This was when I started to not feel so hot. I had a pretty bad headache on top of the sore legs, which I expected. I later realized the headache was probably because I was dehydrated. In the future, I’d make sure to drink lots more water.
Dad and I after the race in front of the memorial.
To sum it all up, I loved running a half marathon and I would encourage everyone who has even slightly considered it to go for it! I am so proud of myself for completing it and can’t wait to do it again! Next I’m thinking maybe the Disney Princess Half… Who’s with me? 🙂
warmest wishes, J 