DoomBuggy Runner

	Half Marathon State # 24 Half Marathon #45

On Sunday, November 18, 2018, I ran the Williams Route 66 Half Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  We have friends in Tulsa, OK so we were looking forward to spending some time catching up.  We flew out on Saturday morning, and flew back home on Monday morning.  Since our flight did not arrive until late Saturday afternoon, our friend went to the expo for me to get my race packet.

She is also an excellent contributing blog partner.  She took pictures from the expo!

After we arrived, we went back to our friend’s home to get settled in.  After catching up, we decided to go out for dinner.  I wanted a burger, since that is what I like to eat the night before a race, we went to Smitty’s Garage, based on our friend’s daughter’s recommendation.  Yes, we let her make the final choice, and she knows her stuff!  It was awesome. This was a shot our friend took outside the restaurant to show an Oklahoma sunset!

Afterward, we wanted to make sure we checked off my cupcake run.  If you have followed my other 23 state half marathons, you know I love cupcakes and try to visit a local cupcake store.  For this trip our friends located, Not Your Grandma’s Cupcakes.  Because they closed at 7pm, and it was around 6:30pm when we arrived, they gave us BOGOF Cupcakes!  What an outstanding deal.  They were really great cupcakes too!

On Sunday morning, in a word, it was COLD!  The temperature was in the low 30s with about a 15-20mph wind.  It was freezing.  Even fellow Fifty-States who are used to the cold agreed that it was cold!

I had about every piece of cold weather gear I had for the race.  This kept me pretty comfortable, but the weather made it difficult to keep a race focus.

This was a very organized race.  It had four (4) corrals, and I was in Corral A.  For each corral’s start, confetti cannons were launched.  It was a nice touch!

Fellow Fifty Stater Jim Diego sang the National Anthem.  Afterward, we were off.

Let’s get started and try and warm up!

The route was decent, but a little more bumpy than I had expected.  I started out running non-stop the first two miles and realized with the weather and my previous training with some injuries, that this pace was not going to hold up.  I then began doing the Galloway Run-Walk-Run strategy, with a 4:1 profile.  The 9 minute pace profile is to run 4 minutes, then walk 1 minute, and keep repeating.  This helped me survive the race.

At about Mile 11.5 I finally reached the part of the race I was looking forward to.  The Route 66 marque.

With just a little over a mile to go it was time to finish.  Coming off of Route 66, there was a pretty good incline to which I struggled.  Once over, I was headed for the finish line.

In the end, I ran the race the best I could.  It was not my normal pacing, but it was the best I could do on this day and I was fine with that.

The race had a great medal and unlike most race, they provided a nice jacket instead of a shirt.  It was a nice touch.

After the race, or friends yet again knew the way to my heart.  On the way back to their house, we stopped at Hurt’s Donuts!  Whoa, what a variety.  They were good, but mostly cake based, so no replacement for Krispy Kreme!

After going back to the house and cleaning up, we went out for brunch.  Brunch is an overstatement, as all of them had breakfast and I had lunch! We ate at Jimmy’s Egg.  It was really good.  Yet again, our friends did not disappoint.  After lunch it was time to do some site seeing.  Since it was so cold, many things were drive-bys.  However, to start, there was something in the race guide, and part of the marathon, called the “Center of the Universe“.  I had to check this out.  The theory behind this was that if you stood on this particular spot, you could hear your voice echo; however, no one around you, not on the spot would hear the echo.  Well, it was no lie, it was the strangest thing.  It was exactly as they stated!

After enjoying that and cheering on some of the final runners in the marathon, we were again freezing, so we jumped back in the car and were off to see some other landmarks.

The Tulsa Driller

The first Phillips 66 along Route 66 Highway

Route 66 Oklahoma

Later that evening, we had one more meal together at Savastanos.  It was a Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizzeria.  Wow, that was as good as Giordano’s in Chicago.  As a Chicago Cubs fan, the marque was welcoming!

It was so great spending the weekend with Kenan & Shannon, their kids and pets.  It was great rehashing memories from college and making new memories for the future.  Thanks for your hospitality and the “Shannon Uber” that got us everywhere we needed to go.  Can’t wait to do it again in the future!

That’s a wrap on half marathon State #24 and my 45th overall half marathon.  Below is my updated 50 States Half Marathon rack with Oklahoma filled in and the medal joins the collection.  Every time I hang a new medal I thank our friends Matt & Kira that gave me the rack.  It has been such a great piece to hang my medals and see the journey we have made.  In fact, in just three weeks, the three of us will be running together the Mississippi Gulf Coast Half Marathon that will knock out State #25 and put me halfway towards my goal of 50 Half Marathons in 50 States.  Check out the journey on my 50 By 50 Challenge Page.