Tulsa Run 15k

This season so far had been a bit of a disappointment. I had been hoping to run a PR at the Tulsa Run but with how my other races this season have gone, I wasn't sure that would be possible. Then 2 weeks out from the Tulsa Run I had an awesome 8 mile tempo where I felt super strong and fluid while maintaining a 6:54 average pace. That run gave me some confidence going into the race. I was hopeful I'd feel strong and be able to run the race based on feel like I had during my tempo. The race start was 9am so we were able to sleep in until 7:00 and I had time to do a short 7 minute pre-run yoga video. We left the house a little after 8:00 which gave me plenty of time for my 2 mile warm up. I did a couple pick ups to around race pace at the end of my warm up. I ate a Zbar and drank some Nuun before leaving for the race. During just a regular running portion of my warm up I threw up a little in my mouth. I had a Gu to eat during the race in case I needed it but I was a little cautious to do so after that happened. I finished my warm up about 20 minutes before the race start and began searching for porta potties. This was the 4th year in a row I ran the race so I expected them to be located where they always have been in the past. I ended up finding my running buddy, Paige, while searching which was nice. We ended up just ducking into an alley way. By the time we got to the starting chute it was packed and we had to push our way forward. I led the way and we finally made it up by the 1:20 pacers and couldn't get up any farther. I told her maybe it would be a good thing as we for sure wouldn't go out too fast. We saw our other friend, April, in the chute. The gun went off and it took us a bit to get to the starting line. I wasn't sure how long, but I was guessing around 20 seconds.

After crossing the start mats I went directly to the right of the course and was able to do a lot of passing. I got cut off a few times but being so far back at the start didn't cause me as many issues as I would have guessed. I felt strong and smooth and my mantra became, "One 5k at a time, run smart, run controlled." I was excited but also knew I wouldn't have a great idea of how the race would unfold for me until I gauged how I felt after the first 5k. The first mile of the race has the most downhill on the course so it's always fast. I went through the first mile in 6:45. I figured that would likely be my fastest or one of my fastest miles of the race. My goal this year was to have more consistent 5ks. Ideally I would like to run faster each 5k but that last 5k is tricky with all the elevation gain in the last mile so if I could just keep it close to the others, I'd be happy. My 2nd mile was 6:55 and then I went through mile 3 in 7:04. There are so many turns at the start of the race which makes it hard to settle into pace, but I was able to just settle into my race and run what felt right. I went across the 5k mat on the course in 21:42 and I felt good about that.

I played a little game in my head during the next 5k, figuring out what I needed to run each mile in to run my 2nd 5k faster than the first. Mile 4 had the longest stretch of the race without any turns and I went through it in 6:40. I told myself, this 5k is going to lay the foundation for the last 5k. This 5k will help set you up for a PR, keep pushing! Somewhere around in here I passed a friend who runs with the TOTs group I trained with in the summer. He laughed and told me to slow down. It was fun to see him. Mile 5 we went up some decent hills at Woodward Park and there was a water stop run by the Route 66 Marathon which was full of energy and was a blast to run through! I felt like I could use a bit of an energy boost but I was a little worried about eating my Gu since I threw up a little during my warm up. I decided to go ahead and try it, just eating a little at a time, and it went down fine and I had no issues, thankfully! Mile 6 was 6:59 and a little while later I went through the 10k in 43:07. I was pleased because I remembered I went through the 10k during my PR 15k in 43:20 so I had a nice cushion going into the last 5k. I also was pleased that my 10k split was only 11 seconds slower than my 10k at the Zoo Run which is a very flat course. That definitely showed what a bad race I had there!

I got really excited to be in the last 5k of the race and knew it was go time. A woman came running past me and I decided to go with her. I passed 2 women I'd been gaining on for a while and one of them told me, "I'm just trying to get through these hills!" I agreed with her as man, this course is difficult in sections. Mile 7 was 6:42 and I was a bit surprised by how fast I ran it since there are some decent hills. I think I got a little excited because there's an out and back section of the course and I got to see a lot of people. I hadn't seen Jeremy at all during the race and I finally saw him here. Then on the back section I saw Paige and some other friends. I was a little disappointed to see Paige was behind the 1:10 pacers because I knew she wanted to break 70 and earn a mug. I was feeling great and knew I'd make my last 5k my best one but that last mile would be a struggle. I went through mile 8 in 6:51 and was shocked because I felt like I'd slowed down which I had from mile 7, but since I'd felt like I was slowing I was expecting to be up to 7 minutes.

Going into mile 9 I started psyching myself up for the uphill climb to the finish. I was tired and my legs were feeling every little hill. We powered up the biggest hill in that mile and I knew we were getting close to the finish. My legs were just dead and I couldn't really get going again after cresting the top of the hill. I tried to focus on the women ahead of me and closing the gap with them, but I knew I wouldn't be able to catch them and my heart wasn't fully in it. I think once my legs got super tired, my thoughts weren't as positive. When we turned onto the finishing road I got excited to see the American flag hanging over the road but then realized we still have over a half-mile to go. Some years the uphill to the finish is barely noticeable and other it feels like a monster hill. This year it felt like a monster hill. There were a couple guys within striking distance and I told myself to catch them. But then I told myself, "What's the point, I started back really far so I'm going to beat them with my chip time anyway," which was dumb. I should have used them to help me push to the finish, but I was so dead. I really don't know if I could have pushed any more than I did because I kept trying but my legs just wouldn't go. If they had been women maybe I could have dug a little deeper, but I'm not sure if I could have even then. I crossed the finish line and saw 2 women right next to me who I hadn't even known were there. Had I known they were coming up on me, I may have been able to pull out more of a kick so I was disappointed the snuck up on me. I crossed the line at the same time as 4 other people and the only person I had known was there was a guy I had been running with and passed close to the finish. I stopped my watch and was shocked to see I ran 1:05:02. I had been hoping a little bit that I'd be able to finish under 1:05. Then I wished I hadn't started so far back so I would have known by the finishing clock that I was so close to breaking 1:05. By the time I had seen the finishing clock it had already switched over to 1:05. I knew I was going to run a PR and I did try to push, I just didn't have much left. I ran the last mile in 7:17 and my finishing kick was 7:15 pace. I felt better about my finish when I pulled up Strava and saw my grade adjusted pace for mile 9 was 6:58 and my finishing kick was 7:04.

I crossed the finish line at the same time as 4 other people!

If only my GAP was my overall pace for the race, I would have been under 1:05!

I stayed in the finishing chute to watch for Paige and Thomas to finish. I chatted with some other friends as they finished. Thomas looked great at the finish but rough immediately following. He powered through everything walking really fast and then went over to the fence while dry heaving. Paige and I walked through the chute together and then gave our treats to dad and ran a 2 mile cool down together. We went out on the course to look for Ty and cheer for him but missed him go by. I felt great and nothing was hurting. Then later in the day my left foot hurt so bad I could barely walk. I'm a bit concerned about it right now and want to make sure to heal it up so I can start training for Boston in December as planned. After lots of foam rolling, stretching, and yoga, it's feeling back to normal today. I went ahead and scheduled a PT appointment for Wednesday morning just to make sure I get appropriate stretches to keep it from becoming a chronic problem.

Jeremy finishing, this is the best picture I could find of him.

Best finish picture of Thomas.

Ty finishing the race.

My gun time was 1:05:26 and my chip time was 1:05:02. My Garmin showed 9.38 miles and an average pace of 6:56. I finished 131 out of 3,189 overall, 5th of 219 in my age group, and 20th out of 1,658 females. I was shocked to see the top 4 finishers in my age group all ran sub-60! My 5k splits were 21:42, 21:25, and 21:55. If it hadn't been for the last mile my last 5k would have been closer to my 2nd one, but I'm still proud of my fairly even pacing! Jeremy finished in 1:04:47, putting him 128th overall and 18th out of 163 in his age group. Thomas finished in 1:11:54. His chip time was 1:13:43 because he started really far back. He was 290th overall and 52nd in his age group. Ty finished in 1:27:19 which put him 1,060th overall and 126th in his age group. Mom and dad ran the 5k. Dad finished in 25:09, placing 131st out of 1,537 overall and 1st out of 50 in his age group. Mom finished in 35:32, 755th overall and 8th of 41 in her age group. It was a beautiful day for a race! We ended up having clear skies and low to upper 40 degrees for the race. The day before I ran in 38 degrees with rain and the forecast showed a chance of rain for the race so I was really pleased we didn't have that for the race! I ran a 17 second PR so I was quite pleased with that although I did wish I had been able to find an extra 3 seconds somewhere! I guess next year I'll have to go for a sub-1:05! We first ran this race in 2016, read about it here, 2017 here, and 2018 here. For the 4th year in a row, I earned a 60/70 cup for finishing in under 70 as a female! The disappointment was that they gave out the same mug as last year! Boo! Hopefully they up the ante next year with a new design!

Mom finishing the 5k.

Dad finishing the 5k.