a case of the runs

Today I ran in the Ninth Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. It was my fourth half marathon. My good pal Sarah and I began training in February for this race. Shortly thereafter, life happened, our schedules conflicted, she got engaged and I could come up with more excuses if necessary and our training suffered. In fact, my last long run was 7 miles about two months ago.

I was torn by the decision to run or not to run. One part of me thought, "You quitter!" The other part of me thought, I completed almost half of the training, I'm in decent shape and it's a great cause. I should just do it. Sarah always encouraged me to do it. She knew I could. Probably more than myself.

The week before the race I started really debating whether or not I would run. I remembered what it felt like running the streets hearing all the positive encouragement from complete strangers and most importantly, how amazing it felt to cross the finish line so I decided I would run.

By the time I decided to run, the relay was sold out and there were only a limited amount of spots available for the half marathon. Suddenly, I got really sad that I might not be able to run. What a complete mental change from where I was just days prior. Luckily, Ryan was able to go up to the Expo and get me a voucher for one of the final spots. I was as ready.

Here are some photos from the race. Sarah took them on her iPhone.

Rachel, Mary, Sarah and me at the starting line at 6:25 a.m.

Mary, Rachel and me about mile 7.5 if I remember correctly. Sarah had extra energy. She would run up ahead and turn around and take the photo. I was doing good just to keep moving.

I just have to say that my running partner, Sarah, rocks. If it wasn't for her I would not have had as good of a time as I did. I finished my fourth half marathon in 2:27 - much better than I was expecting. The first 4 miles took forever, the middle 6 flew by and the final 3.1 were pretty hard. My right knee was acting up. I remember seeing the finish line and thinking, don't stop now. I wanted to finish strong and I really had to push myself. When I crossed the finish line, I was so relieved. In fact, I almost got emotional. I was so glad it was over!

After the race we all went to Classen Grill and had breakfast. It was the best omelet I've ever eaten.