The Life of a Running Momma: Tulsa Run 15k

We first ran the Tulsa Run 15k in 2016 and I had such a blast, I made it a yearly tradition. I ran it every year, including in 2020 when it went virtual, except last year. I was super excited to come back this year. The kids' school had a race team and you not only got discounted race entries, but you also helped their team win prize money. I was shocked when I registered with their school team and got almost a 50% discount on my race! Ty, Elise, and Carter signed up for the 2k and the plan was for me to run Elise's 2k with her as my warm up before my race. My goal ever since the first race has been to run under 70 minutes to win a 60/70 mug. I've done it every year and I was gunning for that again this year. Normally I'm targeting the Route 66 half or full marathon as my goal race of the fall season and it's at the end of November so I'm typically in pretty good shape for this race. Since my goal race is the Houston Marathon this year which is in January, I'm not in as good of shape as I usually am at the end of October. I felt pretty confident I could average 7:30 pace based on my tempos and my 25k I ran a couple weeks ago. Then the weekend before the race I had a 14 mile long run planned and after slogging through 6 miles at 9:30 pace I decided to pull the plug at 8 miles. It was a bit demoralizing and messed with me mentally. How was I going to run 7:30 pace for over 9 miles a week later?! I had been struggling with severe allergies for about a week which led to a migraine a couple days before the long run which I figured contributed to the terrible long run, but knowing that didn't help me much mentally. I figured I should probably scrap my speed work for the week because my body obviously needed a rest, but I felt like I needed the confidence boost mentally so I did it and it went well and that helped. I ran mile repeats, without going all out, into strong winds with a 6:54 average. Surprisingly the night before the race I felt really confident that 7:30 pace was going to happen and I was really excited for the race. I figured I'd just run with the 1:10 pacers from the start and see what happened.

The 2k started at 8:00 and the 15k was 8:30 so I got up at 6:30 to give myself time to do yoga before we left at 7:15. We figured with parking and walking we'd need about 30 minutes to get to the race start. I drank Nuun for caffeine and ate a Zbar on the drive to the race. I didn't want to cross the timing mats with my bib on so I waited with Ty and the kids and then went to the outside of the corral and ran along beside Carter (who took off faster) from the start. We were running for a while and then I heard Elise yell, "Liz," I looked back and here she came. About the time she caught up to us, Carter started walking so Elise and I ran together the rest of the way and Ty caught up to Carter. Elise wanted to hold my hand for most of the race. She rocked the first mile in 9:05 and then started getting tired. Her little cheeks were so red. Just like the 15k, the finish of the 2k was down a road that's a slight incline all the way to the finish and she was definitely feeling that! She still picked it up in the end and finished the 1.44 miles in 13:40 for an average of 9:30 pace. I got her a water and then we walked back to find Carter and Ty and cheer for them. Carter really sprinted it in at the finish. I'm not sure what their finishing time was since Ty didn't use his watch and the race didn't have official results for the 2k.

By the time I got Elise passed off to Ty after he and Carter finished, it was 10 minutes until the start of the 15k. I had planned to run a little more of a warm up and then stop off at the porta potties but there wasn't time. I learned my lesson from 2019 when I got to the start area too late and couldn't get in the corral where I needed to be. I just jogged down to the starting line and snuck in toward the front of the corral. I lined up by the 1:10 pacers. My plan was to go out with them and run 7:30 pace for the first 5k and then try to drop the pace from there. We took off and the pace felt really fast. I looked down and I was running 6:40 pace. I decided that was way too fast even just for a bit of the start so I slowed down. It was hard for me to let the pacers go and to see the 1:10 balloons in front of me, but that's what I knew I needed to do if I wanted to have a strong race. They kept pulling further and further away from me which I battled with mentally, but knew it didn't matter how far ahead of me they were. If I was running 7:30 pace, I would still be under 1:10 regardless. I went through the first mile in 7:07 and figured they must have been low 7, if not under, for the first mile. Later I saw the pacer's Strava and his first mile was 7:01. I decided maybe they were trying to bank some time for when we hit the hills later in the race. I felt a little bit bad for all the women who were running in a pack with them, hoping to run sub-70.

I'm cracking up over my face here because this was in the first couple miles! I was probably mentally freaking out about the 1:10 pacers being so far ahead of me.

Mile 2 was super flat down Riverside and I was able to settle into 7:30 pace. I was having a hard time watching the 1:10 group pull further ahead of me, but I made peace with it by the 5k mark when I saw I was right where I needed to be with a 23:06. Just like in 2017 when I was just shooting for a mug and not worrying about how much under I was, my goal was to go through the 5k marks in 23, 46, and 69. Miles 2 and 3 were 7:29 and 7:19. I was excited to be in the 2nd 5k of the race and wanted to keep my 2nd 5k pretty steady since my first 5k had that fast first mile. I could tell I was slowly chipping away at the gap between myself and the pace group. I started passing and then getting passed back by a guy who was crazy muscular. I couldn't believe he could run as fast as he did with all that extra muscle weight! I ended up passing him and staying in front of him eventually. Miles 4 and 5 were 7:33 and 7:28. At the halfway point I looked at my overall time and I was right on pace to run a 1:09. I was feeling really good and started looking forward to hitting the 10k mark so I could race that last 5k. I was passing a ton of people which made it feel like I was killing it even more than I was. I went through mile 6 in 7:14 and then the 10k mark in 46:15 which meant my 2nd 5k was 23:09. The results show I passed 52 people between the 5k and 10k marks and was only passed by 2 people which was exactly why I was feeling amazing.

Around the 5 mile mark I started passing women who had gone out with the 1:10 pacers and had fallen off pace. I felt really badly for them because I bet they could have hit 7:30 pace for the race if they hadn't started out so fast! One of the women I passed was so tired she started weaving and almost ran into me as I passed her. Then she started making weird noises after I went by. I started feeling hungry and realized I had totally forgotten to eat my Gu at the half-way point. I decided it was too late for it to make a difference so I skipped it. I'm hit and miss with eating during the 15k. I have some years and not others, just depends on how I'm feeling and if I remember. With how much I was gaining on the pace group, I estimated I would pass them at around the 7 mile mark. Sure enough, I finally caught up to them and passed them at around 7.25 miles. I took water at each water stop and I quickly learned that I am really out of practice with drinking from cups on runs! Every race I have run since Covid has been cupless, meaning I carried my own water. I spilled my first cup all over my legs. One I accidentally sprayed up my nose. I didn't have a single cup handoff that went well and I didn't end up with much of the water in my mouth! I know running slower in the marathon will help, but I definitely need some practice!

I actually saw this photographer and smiled at him. He cheered for me after he took my picture. He was excited I was still smiling this late in the race.

Mile 7 was 7:04 and then we started hitting the bigger hills in the last 5k. I felt freaking great and was powering up the hills, passing people. I was excited about how awesome I felt and was really pushing the pace. Mile 8 was 7:11 and then it was the last mile and the gentle incline all the way to the finish. I was still passing people, but my legs were starting to feel tired. I told myself to make it to the turn where I'd see the American flag up ahead and then starting kicking it in. I passed 25 people from the 10k to 15k marks and was passed by 0 runners which felt awesome! Sidenote, I love that the race results showed that, it was fun to see! One lady said, this is mean (meaning the long uphill to the finish) when I passed her and I agreed. Mile 9 was 7:22 and we passed under the American flag. I kind of kicked it in, but was really feeling it at that point. My finishing kick shows it was 7:24 even though it felt like I was running faster, thanks hills for that! It spit a little bit of rain as I was running the straightaway to the finish line.

My "I'm dead" face, haha!

My turning off my watch habit is worse the more tired and out of it I am!

I finished and had a lot of drainage, due to allergies, but my throat was really dry so when I tried to pull it up to spit it out, I ended up dry heaving as I walked until a volunteer handed me a water. I found Ty and the kids and then stopped as we walked to chat with friends who finished before I did. I found a friend who was shooting for sub-60 and got his mug! I was so excited for him and was on a runner's high! I picked up food as we walked through and we didn't stay long because they didn't have the kids zone like in year's past so there were no bounce houses or fun stuff for the kids and they'd just been hanging out for over an hour waiting for me to finish. Both the kids wanted to run my cool down with me so we ran to the car and then I locked them in and ran a little more. As we were driving home I looked at the results and saw my official finishing time was 1:08:28. I was shocked to see I was 3rd in my age group. The only other year I placed in my age group was 2016 when I ran 1:05:19, I didn't even place when I ran my PR of 1:05:02 in 2019. Then I realized I was in an older age group for the first time this year. Then I went to the leader board to see who won the race and it showed the top 10 runners, male and female. I was even more shocked to see I was 10th overall female. The highest I've placed in the past was 15th overall with a 65 something. I know there was talk about getting rid of the prize purse so more money would go to the charities the race benefits, so I wonder if that happened and there aren't as many elite runners in the race now because of that. I was 145th out of 2,419 overall, 10th out of 1,237 women, and 3rd out of 217 in my age group.