I kept focusing on the fact that I had a really terrible long run the weekend before the Tulsa Run and then had an awesome race which helped me not feel too discouraged. I went into this race with a healthy mindset that I was going to have fun, do my best, and see what came on race day. I was prepared for anything from high-43 to 46 minutes. I really had no clue what my body had in store for me. Originally I had hoped to run sub-44 with 7:00 pace for the first 5k and then drop to sub-7 for the 2nd 5k. I ran the Zoo Fun Run with Elise which was about a mile and started at 8:00. We planned to leave the house at 7:15 and ended up leaving closer to 7:20. We went straight to the start and the starting line was already packed. There were a lot of walkers at the front so Elise and I spent the first half of the race weaving through people, then she was able to open up and take off. She stopped at the water stop and walked while she drank her water. When she started running again, she took off sprinting! We finished in around 9 minutes. We watched for Carter and Ty to finish and they weren't too far behind us. Then I went into the food area with them, took a quick restroom break, and ran back out to the 5k/10k start area. The 5k looked like it was the biggest race it's ever been. It was packed! It was chilly, temps in the 40's so I didn't want to stand around and get cold. The back seats of the van were folded down so I got in the trunk of the van and did some stretches back there. When I got out, I set off the car alarm and it was a whole ordeal. The 5k started late at 8:45, it was supposed to start at 8:30. I walked over and asked a police officer about it. He said they delayed the start because there had been so many race day registrations they needed to postpone the race so everyone could run, but the 10k was set to start on-time otherwise the race permits would expire before the race finished. I've done this race in the past and know it's a 2 loop course for the 10k. Usually I pass a few 5k walkers on the 2nd lap, but it's not too bad, I wondered if the 5kers having 15 minutes less of a lead on us would impact that. Spoiler alert: It very much did!
I looked around at the start line and didn't see any women I recognized. It looked like I could possibly win the race, even if I didn't have a stellar race. We took off and there were a lot of men that just blasted out of the gate. I felt a little weird at first, my legs weren't used to run fast right after standing still so it took me a bit to get going. Once I did, I felt like I got into a groove. I passed a few men pretty early on and then had some close enough I could chase. The wind was strong and we started out running into it. Once we got into an area with tree coverage, it wasn't bad at all. We only had about a half-mile each loop into the wind which for spring in Oklahoma I consider a win! I went through the first mile in 7:02 and I worried that might have been too fast and I'd fall off, but then I went through mile 2 in 6:55. Already in the 3rd mile I came up on huge groups of 5k walkers and I spent the rest of the race weaving around and/or running way out on turns to pass them. None of them looked for 10k runners coming and moved out of the way, but a few cheered for me. There was a race official who saw me coming up where the 5k would go straight, but the 10k would turn to do another loop and she went nuts over me being the first female which made me smile. I had a hard time getting over to turn right because of the walkers so I ended up just running through the grass for a bit so I could make the turn. It was a bit of a mess!
It was nice to start the 2nd lap because I had a break from the 5kers. I passed the guy closest to me at the start of lap 2. I went though mile 3 in 6:54 and was thrilled I was still under 7. I looked at my watch when I ran past the 5k sign and I was at 21:47. I figured I was going to run around 43:30 but also knew this course usually measures a smidge long at around 6.29 so thought I may be right around 44 minutes and it could be close whether I would break 44 minutes or not. I focused on negative splitting and kept pushing to maintain pace. I was really excited at this point because I felt great and was confident I would finish strong. I've had quite a few races at this race where I felt strong the 1st lap and then died during the 2nd lap, so I was a little worried for the shoe to drop, but I also felt great. During the 2nd loop a police officer on a motorcycle pulled up ahead of me and escorted me the rest of the race since I was the top female. I hoped that would indicate to 5k walkers as he drove past them that a 10k runner was coming through but not a single one moved out of the way. I guess since they were back of the packers, they didn't realize the significance of the motorcycle escort. We had a section of the 2nd lap where we weren't passing 5kers anymore, I think it was about a mile. Then we were back in the thick of it by the time the police escort arrived.
Mile 4 was 6:56 and I was confident I was going to finish strong. I knew I had a solid 2 miles left in me. I spent the 2nd loop slowly closing on a man ahead of me. The police escort ended up driving beside him most of the way because I got really close to him but then he maintained his lead for the last 2 miles. I wondered if that annoyed him or not and if he had any idea that meant the top female was right behind him. I made myself chuckle imagining him thinking he had a police escort because they were worried he was going to pass out. I went through mile 5 in 6:51 and was thrilled. I knew I was going to negative split. I got really excited as we entered the outskirts of the zoo. There are a couple small hills in the last half mile which always feel so much bigger than they really are and this year was no exception, but my thighs didn't burn like they usually do. When we crested the top of the 2nd one and turned to go into the zoo, the motorcycle could no longer lead me so he stopped and blared his siren. A bunch of birds in the zoo answered him by calling back. That was my favorite moment of the whole race. The man ahead of me continued to maintain the exact lead he had for the last 2 miles and I just couldn't catch him. I tried telling myself he was a woman and I had to catch him, but I just couldn't quite get there. We had a long but slight downhill to the 6 mile mark which I went through in 7:00. Then we turned and went back up the slight hill toward the finish. I pushed knowing it would be close whether I was under 44 or not and finished out the last 0.28 in 6:35 pace. I smiled as I crossed the finish line and then I saw Ty standing there cheering and smiled even bigger. I was in complete disbelief. I was worried about even finishing this race and here I was averaging sub-7 pace. I was beyond thrilled! I went from calling Ty crying the weekend before to telling him the race surpassed my wildest dreams. There was no part of me that thought I would run significantly under 44! My favorite races are the ones where I go in with low expectations and blow them out of the water. This was definitely one of those!
I finished in 43:31 and Ty told me the finishing clock showed 42:something. I had noticed that as I crossed the finish line, but knew it was off. I later realized all the gun times were off by one minute because they started us at 8:59 instead of 9:00. The race results show I ran 42:31 but I really ran 43:31. I averaged 6:56 pace. I was 5th out of 160 overall, 1st out of 77 women, and 1st of 10 in my age group. The 10k seemed especially small this year. I'm going to look back at past races to see if there were fewer finishers. The 5k is always way bigger than the 10k at this race, but the discrepancy seemed bigger this year. Ty and Carter needed to head out to a Boy Scout campout right after the race so we drove separately. I did a short cool down, we took a family photo, and then they headed out. Elise and I stayed, got some food (more for her, firsts for me), enjoyed the activities, and looked at some animals. On our way home we stopped at a library book sale and then went out to lunch. It was a wonderful start to our girls weekend.
Our History at the Zoo Run:
2013- 5k in 21:23
2014- 5k in 23:11
2015- 5k in 21:55
2016- 10k in 41:49
2017- 10k in 44:57
2019- 10k in 42:56
2023- 10k in 43:31
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