Tulsa Run

The Tulsa Run is one of my favorite local races and I was really excited to be back this year after missing the last 2 years. I've run it most years since our first time running it in 2016. At first I thought a 15k was such a weird distance and didn't have much interest in it, but anytime someone found out I was a runner, they'd ask if I'd run the Tulsa Run. I decided it must be a must do race for area runners. Once I ran it and earned a 60/70 mug it became a thing and I was hooked. I wanted to come back year after year to keep earning a mug. I missed 2024 with stitches in my knee from a fall out at Turkey Mountain and I missed last year because it was too close after the Chicago Marathon and I wasn't recovered enough to run a race. This year the race was on Halloween which was the first time since 2020. The race ended up going virtual due to Covid that year so I was excited to have an in-person race on Halloween. I trained specifically for the race which doesn't usually happen with so many races in the fall that I want to run. I even tapered for the race which I've only done a couple times I've run it. I felt really confident with it being my goal race of the season and tapering, I'd easily get my mug this year. Then the week of the race, I went to a friend's farm to take care of her animals while she was away on a trip and I struggled to sleep that night due to being allergic to pretty much everything out there. My HRV plummeted and wouldn't go back into the normal range which had me feeling a bit nervous. The day before the race I needed to go back out there, so I wore an N95 mask which seemed to help. Then that night we had a Halloween party and there were some people smoking. We were outside and I tried to stay away from the smoke, but by the time I went home, I was coughing. When Ty got home around midnight I rolled over and threw up a little in my mouth. Elise was home sick on Friday and I was a little worried I was getting sick and would wake up in the morning sick. Luckily that didn't happen and I did feel better when I woke up. My Garmin said I was peaking. It doesn't say that often. So I decided that was a good sign.

I woke up at 6:50 for the 8:30 race. I was able to eat a whole bowl of oatmeal and drank my coffee, did a yoga video, and woke Ty up at 7:30 so he could put my KT tape on for me and drop me off at the race start. I ran a mile warm up and my breathing was a bit wheezy. I was running around 10:00 pace for my warm up and it didn't feel slow. That made me a little bit nervous, but I told myself there have been plenty of races where I didn't feel good on my warm up, but the race went well so I didn't worry too much about that. I stopped off at the porta potties and saw some friends from TOTs. One went to fist bump me as I went to high five him so we each switched and I fist bumped his hand out to high five me which was pretty funny. I made it into the race chute with about 10 minutes until the start. Since we usually have to find parking and this time Ty dropped me off, I ended up being ready pretty early. I don't think I've ever been in the chute that early, but it was fun because I chatted with a friend who was pacing the 1:15 pace group. I started wondering if I missed the wheelchair start because it was supposed to start 5 minutes before the regular start. As we walked up closer to the start, I saw the wheelchair runners pulled to the right side of the start and asked a guy standing next to me what happened with the wheelchair start. He said they didn't do a wheelchair start for the 5k either and I said I was worried it would be a mess. He said it ended up not being too bad in the 5k. We took off and I felt pretty smooth. I was a bit behind the 1:10 pacers and looked down at one point and my lap pace was 7:17 so I backed off a bit. I'm used to the pacers going out a little fast the first mile so I was okay with letting them go. I must have backed my pace off a bit too much because I went through the first mile in 7:38. My goal is always to average 7:30 pace and I shoot for going through the 5ks in around 23:00, 46:00, and then 69:00. 

 

I pushed the pace down for the 2nd mile and went through it in 7:27 but it felt like a stretch. It didn't feel relaxed or smooth at all. When I taper for a race and am in good shape, the first few miles feel so easy and comfortable. Usually for this race I feel so relaxed the first 5k. I was a little bit nervous that goal pace already felt tough. I reminded myself that the first miles of the OKC half had felt really tough and I wasn't able to push down to my goal sub-1:40 pace until mile 8 of the race and then was able to finish strong enough to get in under 1:40. I told myself "Today might not be your day, but you are tough enough to push through this." I ran the first few miles close to Trani who owns Tulsa Runner and it was fun to hear people cheer for him. He knew everyone. We had a little out and back section and I saw the top female was the daughter of a friend of my parents and it was fun to cheer for her. I went through mile 3 in 7:28 and I told myself I just needed to keep holding onto this pace and I was going to be okay. I could see the 1:10 pacers ahead of me and they were maintaining their lead, not pulling further ahead so I felt good about that. I crossed the first 5k in 23:13 and I told myself I was right around where I needed to be. 

We got into a hillier part of the course in the next 5k and it was working me. I went through mile 4 in 7:41 and when I saw my mile split I said, "Fuck!" I was worried that my legs were toast and my pace was going to keep creeping up. When I looked at the elevation chart after the race, I realized mile 4 was the mile with the most elevation gain. They changed the course this year and the elevation profile was quite a bit different than the past course. I started eating a Gu after the 4 mile mark and I felt like it gave me a little more pep in my step. I was struggling early and that made me a little nervous, but my mental game stayed really strong. I kept reminding myself that I couldn't dip under 7:40 to save my life early on at OKC and then finished out the last miles in 7:21. I told myself I wasn't going to let a mug slip through my fingers and I was going to hold onto 7:30 pace for as long as I could. Mile 5 was 7:37 and that's the moment where I easily could have given up on my goal of sub-70. I knew it wasn't my day, I had fought hard those past 2 miles, just to be significantly over pace, but I wasn't about to let up. I told myself I still had 4 miles to make up that time. I started doing calculations in my head and knew I had 21 seconds to make up. I told myself that was around 5 seconds per mile and I could run these last miles all around 7:25 if I could finish a half marathon at 7:21 pace.

I went through mile 6 in 7:21 and told myself that was the first step to gaining back some time. I was now only 12 seconds over goal pace. I was really proud of myself for staying so positive and told myself if anyone could earn a mug with sure grit and force of will, it would be me. I crossed the 10k mat in 46:44. I knew that meant I had to finish the last 5k in under 23:00 minutes to get in and I knew I barely had any cushion at all. The last mile has a lot of elevation gain and I started preparing myself to really hurt. I was already wheezing a bit and my legs were heavy, but I knew I couldn't give up a single second. I reminded myself of how I thought I had a cushion going into the last mile at OKC and ended up only getting in under 1:40 by 4 seconds. I couldn't mess around and I couldn't leave a single second out on the course. I felt a lot of urgency for the last 5k that I needed to give every mile everything I had. I was also a little scared of pushing too hard too early and flopping the last mile on all the hills. Right around this time a younger girl, probably in her 20's, passed me wearing all black. I told myself to go with her and let her pull me along. She looked really strong and was smiling at spectators so I knew she was going to finish well. I went through mile 7 in 7:23 and told myself I was down to 5 seconds over pace and I was doing the dang thing! At that point I knew I could push these last 2 miles. I felt stronger through this portion of the race than I had the earlier miles, but I was also hurting quite a bit.

I could see that I was slowly gaining on the 1:10 pacers and started thinking I may actually pass them. I wasn't too worried about them being ahead of me because I was confident they were going to be a bit fast for their pace group and I might still catch them. I was shocked to go through mile 8 in 7:08. I knew I had a little bit of a cushion under 7:30 pace now, but I don't remember calculating it. I just remember focusing on the girl in black ahead of me and letting her pull me along. We were running to the left of the course passing people the whole way. The last mile was tough. I kept telling myself, don't leave a single second out here on this course. Even though I had calculated I had a cushion, the 1:10 pacers were still ahead of me, and I knew that sometimes when I'm tired I make mistakes with my calculations. I wasn't about to accidentally finish just over 1:10 like the year I finished in 1:05:02. I started really wondering when we were going to turn onto the road toward the finish. It's a really long straightaway where you can see the finish for like half a mile and you are running uphill the whole way to the finish. I got a little worried when my watch beeped for mile 9 and we still hadn't turned. I started wondering if the course was going to be long so I was going to miss my 1:10 even though I had finished under pace. Mile 9 was 7:24 and I told myself it was time to go. If the course was long, I was just going to have to work that much harder to get in under 1:10.

We crested the hill and then finally turned right onto Boston toward the finish. So the course change meant we turned onto Boston a little later than usual and didn't have as long on the straightaway toward the finish. I was glad because seeing the finish line and hurting as much as I was was really rough. I focused on the girl in black and not letting her pull too far ahead of me. I was pretty out of it so I don't really remember, but I think she ended up passing the 1:10 pacers. When I got close enough to the finish to see the time, I saw it was already 1:09 and I had to go. I had been pushing as hard as I could, but felt like I was moving in slow motion. I was shocked when I saw my pace for the last portion of the race and I had run my finishing kick in 6:56 pace. I knew I was pushing hard, but it didn't feel like I was going that fast. Maybe because the girl in black was pulling away from me so much, it made it seem like I wasn't running as fast as I was. That was my 2nd fastest finishing kick at this race, only behind 2017 when I ran 1:07:39 and had started out really conservatively. I saw the clock at 1:09:40 right around when I finished and April was there waiting for me. I was so freaking proud of myself and the grit I showed to get under 1:10. April must've said something to the pacers because they were standing with her cheering for me. They finished in 1:09:26. I left every ounce of run I had out on that course. I had to walk to the side and hang onto the fence for a little bit to catch my breath. April was shocked how out of it I was because that's not the way I usually am after a race, but I had to work so hard for this one. 

My official finishing time was 1:09:42. My Garmin had my average pace at 7:27 for the 9.36 miles. I was the last person to earn a mug on the day. I was pretty proud of that. There were some women I passed in the last half-mile of the race who finished in 1:10:05, 1:10:06, and 1:10:08. I wasn't about to get that close and miss out on a mug. My 5k splits were 23:13, 23:31, and 22:58. I was very proud to have my last 5k be my fastest on a day when I was struggling as much as I was! I was 228th place overall at the 5k and moved up to 184th by the 10k. Then I finished 150th out of 1,991 overall at the finish so I passed 34 people in the last 5k of the race. I was 29th out of 992 women and was shocked to find out I was 3rd out of 148 in my age group when I went to pick up my 60/70 mug. So I got a mug and an age group award. As I walked through the finishing chute I saw a couple of my TOTs friends who finished around 60. We chatted a bit before I walked on.

 

When Ty dropped me off, we'd decided on a meeting place for him to pick me up. I walked there and didn't see him. I looked at my watch and saw it was 9:45. I had told him I'd run a cool down so he could meet me around 10:00. I hadn't thought about the fact that I'd have hands full of goodies. So I ended up running my cool down while carrying all my stuff. As I was getting ready to run my cool down, I was getting everything situated and my hands were super sweaty. I lost my grip on my mug and dropped it. The handle broke off so I picked up the pieces and stuck them in my pocket. I went back by the awards tent on my way to run my cool down and they were kind enough to let me switch out my mug for a new one. I was so thankful! I saw another TOTs friend finish in 1:19 and his goal was to break 1:20 so that was exciting to see. I ran out onto the course cheering for everyone and then turned around and ran back to the finish area. My principal was running and I really wanted to cheer for her. I was worried Ty would be looking for me, but I really didn't want to miss her finish so I went ahead and stayed at the finish until I got to see her finish. I cheered for her and then walked to meet up with Ty. I saw the 1:15 pacer and he asked how my race went. I showed him my mug and he fist bumped me. Then I saw April again and we got a picture together. As I was walking to find Ty, I heard him yell my name and turned around to see him. He was excited I got my mug. I may have only snuck in 18 seconds under, but a mug is a mug. Now I've run every time from 1:05-1:09 at the Tulsa Run. I've run 1:05 twice, 1:06, 1:07 twice, 1:08 twice, and now 1:09. I know now that I'm 40 it's going to get harder and harder to earn a mug. I think it would be cool if I could do it twice more to end at 10 mugs total. We'll see what the future has in store! I saw a post Stephanie Bruce made after the NYC Marathon and she summed up my feelings perfectly, "I know yesterday was not my best. But also what is my best these days? Pouring all I had on the day into the race. Then I can say yes I have my best. Sometimes you just wish your best was better."

Tulsa Run Times:

2016- 1:05:19

2017- 1:07:39

2018- 1:06:20

2019- 1:05:02

2020- 1:07:54 (virtual)

2022- 1:08:28

2023- 1:08:35

2026- 1:09:42

What I Read: October

I always love reading spooky and creepy books in October and this year was no exception. I didn't make it through as many physical books as usual and I'm not really sure why. I guess just busier on the weekends.

Books:

• Free Falling by Lyla Sage- I love me some Lyla, but this book was a bit of a flop for me. I didn't feel the spark or sizzle with the main character love interests. The ghosts were an even smaller part of this book than the first one. The fake dating troupe was so forced, it was slightly annoying. I didn't struggle to finish it, it just never really brought much. I did fall asleep reading it twice which I've never done with Lyla before.

• The Birthing Tree by Amanda Peters- There was so much beauty in this book. I finished it with a feeling of hope and wonder. I loved the glimpses into Mi'kmaq birthing practices. There was a lot of heartbreak in this story as well. I liked how she referred to the family from The Berry Pickers a couple times.

• Nimona by N.D. Stevenson- Carter really wanted me to watch the movie they made based on this book with him. It was really good and I was pleasantly surprised. Afterward, he kept telling me about how the book was different and told me I just needed to read the book to see how it was different, so I did. It was really good. I actually liked the movie a bit more because it gave more detail on some things.

eBooks:

• The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love by Alice Hoffman- When I first started this book, I was worried all of the short stories were going to be about dogs that died. The first story I read had me in tears. But there was a good mixture in the book. Some were sad, some were heartwarming, but all were reminders why dogs are such great companions!

• Carmilla by J. Shridan Le Fanu- Lyla Sage referenced this in Free Falling and I immediately added it to my want to read list. A vampire book that came out before Dracula, this was written in much  the same way. You were reading letters written describing the encounter with a vampire.

• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson- A friend recommended this as a spooky read. I was surprised because I found it very slow and boring. It didn't pick up until about 60% through the book.

Audiobooks:

• Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II: An Indigenous Horror Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.- I liked this even more than the first anthology! The stories were so dark and creepy and I enjoyed every single one. Some were more my style than others, but I still enjoyed them all. I was super stoked Stephen Graham Jones was included this time!!!

• A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan- I loved this book! I was in the mood for something witchy and this fit the bill perfectly. I also loved the historical part of the book.

• Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher- A friend recommended this book to me when I mentioned I've been in the mood for witchy books. It was exactly what I was looking for. I really enjoyed it!

• A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman- I really enjoyed this one. It was one of my favorites. The car races were awesome and I loved the characters that were added. The boss battle at the end was epic and I loved some of the pieces he tied together at the end.

• Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto- I enjoyed this book even more than the first one. Vera's character is just so lovable. This one had me laughing quite a few times.

• The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas- A demon possession but also a bit of a love story thrown in the mix? Yes, please. The start of this book was so good I had to read it to my parents. I'm excited to read some of her other books now!

• Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice- I was not impressed. The plot was okay, although super slow. The characters were meh. I was bored out of my mind for most of the book, but there were enough interesting points scattered throughout that I decided to keep going in case it got better. It did for a little bit toward the end and then, boom, back to boring.

Gorilla Grind 5k

After running 21:01 at Run the Rails, I really wanted to run another 5k to break 21 minutes. I happened to see the Gorilla Grind was on a weekend we would be in town visiting my parents. I mentioned it to my mom and she immediately signed us up. I was a bit hesitant to go for it at that race because it tends to not be as competitive and it's so much harder to run fast when you are running alone. Then they posted the race course and I realized it would be a much harder course to run fast on because there were so many turns and there were a few small hills. The Run the Rails 5k was an out and back course so it only had one turn which makes it very fast. It was also very flat with 23 feet of elevation gain for the whole race! The Gorilla Grind was also very flat, but had 79 feet of elevation gain, so more than the Run the Rails! I ran this race back in 2018 and they haven't changed the course so I looked it up on Strava and saw the course measured 3.17 per my watch and I ran 6:38 average pace and barely broke 21 minutes. That gave me a nice dose of reality to not get my heart too set on sub-21 as it may not be in the cards for me on race day. I went into the race hopeful that I could run under 21 minutes, but realistic that it may not happen.

It ended up being 39 degrees for the race start which felt especially cold since I had been running in 90 degree weather all the way up until a couple days before the race when it cooled off to the 70's. I packed shorts and capri tights and decided on the capri tights since I am not used to the cold yet. I wore a long sleeved tech shirt under my race tank along with a headband and gloves. I ended up not getting too hot. I wore my gloves until about halfway through the race and didn't get all that sweaty. I got up at 6am for the 7am race start so I could do yoga and drink some coffee before the race. I ran my warm up to the race. I ended up doing 2 miles with a mile to the start and then added another mile to get in some strides. I felt okay on my warm up, but not great. I told myself to just run what felt right and not worry too much about time during the race. I met up with mom before the race start to get my bib and then stopped with Elise to help her with her shoes before heading to the race start. When I got to the starting line, I looked around and didn't see anyone fast. I thought, I might be able to win this race outright. I hoped not because I really wanted to have someone to run with. I heard a guy next to me tell his friend he was hoping to run 6:45-6:50 pace so I was hopeful I'd have him to run with. They shot the cannon and we were off. There was a young boy who took out way out in front, then a man was next, and then me. The guy who said he was going for 6:45-6:50 pace took off behind me and I never saw him during the race. I felt comfortable and was slowly reeling in the 2 guys ahead of me. I passed them both a bit before the mile mark and was leading the race. I went through the first mile in 6:44 and knew unless I had a pretty decent negative split, I was not going to finish in under 21 minutes. 

It was still a little dark at the race start!

Once I had the lead, I focused on holding onto pace and not slowing down. I felt really strong and wasn't hurting. I was disappointed to go through the 2nd mile in 6:51. I was 5 seconds over pace and knew, to make that up, I needed a 6:39 last mile without even calculating the amount I'd need to be under to make up for the extra distance I would run. I thought I might have it in me because I felt so comfortable and focused on pushing the pace down as much as I could. I felt a bit discouraged when I looked down and saw I was averaging 6:51 pace still. I had looked at the course map but expected to be able to follow other runners so I didn't pay attention to which roads we would turn on. Thankfully, they had volunteers at every turn to tell you which way to go. I noticed the volunteers would tell me to turn and then it would be a decent gap before they told the guy behind me to turn. I knew I had a decent lead, but kept telling myself he was gaining on me so I needed to push to stay in front. I made it to an out and back section with about a half mile to go and told myself it was go time. I felt like I was really pushing the pace, but each time I looked at my watch, my pace stayed around 6:50. I felt really comfortable and wasn't hurting, but I just couldn't find another gear and couldn't for the life of me drop back under 6:50.

 

I came to the turn toward the finish and there wasn't anyone there telling me to turn, I was pretty sure I needed to turn back toward the gym so I turned anyway. It turned out to be right and then I had one last turn onto the trail to the finish. I had a hard time getting a finishing kick in with 2 turns in the last portion of the race after the 3rd mile mark. I was also a little afraid to sprint the finish if I had turned in error and needed to run back and add distance to the race. I went through my 3rd mile in 6:52 and my finishing kick was 6:48 pace. I felt like I could have run longer at that pace, but I just couldn't go any faster. It felt more like 10k pace with how comfortable I was. I was a bit bummed to see my average heart rate for the race was 154 bpm while my heart rate at Run the Rails was 164. I know it was cooler, but I also felt like I just wasn't able to push as hard for some reason. I'm sure running the whole race from the mile mark on alone didn't help. At Run the Rails I had people to chase the whole race. 

I watched 2nd and 3rd place finish, I ended up winning by 22 seconds, and then started my cool down out to run in with Elise. She was running with Pippin and I got to her a little while before he stopped to poop so she lucked out that I was there to pick it up and carry it for her. After she finished, I ran out to mom and walked in to the finish with her. Once she was finished, we went inside to warm up for a bit and then they started awards. I was 1st out of 74 overall, 1st out of 49 women, and 1st in my age group with a time of 21:35. My Garmin had my average pace as 6:49 so although I didn't run the time I was hoping for, I was still pleased with my average pace and I know I put in the effort, it just wasn't there on this day. Dad finished in 29:40 which put him 12th overall, 5th out of 25 men, and 1st in his age group. Elise finished in 36:09 which put her 39th overall, 27th female, and 5th out of 11 in her age group. Mom walked the race with Jaxson in 58:22 which put her 73rd overall and 4th in her age group. She thought she got last place and enjoyed telling people I was first and she was last, but the results have someone finishing after her.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Cheese pull on a mozzarella stick from Chili's.

Tesla met our friend's dog.

Boootanical Garden

Carter is very excited about his Halloween costume.

I had a sub for Elise's meet and when I came back one of my students had made a bed for my stuffed animal.

State Fair

Elise's last cross country meet in Coweta.