Arbuckles to Ardmore Marathon

Six of us from our training group ran the marathon on Sunday, plus Simone and Jennifer (and my wife) came to cheer us on. We started at the overlook at Turner Falls. I had never been there before, and I really must say the falls were beautiful. The course mostly ran south on highway 77. The first 5 miles or so were curvy and mostly downhill, although there were some slight uphills in that section. After that it was pretty much one long straightaway that was a mix of gradual uphill and level ground. I guess we were fortunate that it was somewhat hilly so that we couldn't see all the way down the highway to mile 20. At about mile 7 we headed off the highway to do about a four mile out and back down a road into a ranch. That was a nice section, except when we headed back north, the wind was pretty fierce and slowed up our pace quite a bit. Turning back south on the highway, we had the wind at our backs, which helped make up for the uphills that were to follow. At about mile 20, we could see the stadium where we were to finish to our left, but the course went to the right and into the city park for about a five mile out and back. That was a hilly and very windy section. I know it defies logic, but I swear the wind was in our face both directions. I thought that city park section would never end. The nice thing about the out and back section was getting to see the rest of the RunnersWorld Tulsa runners, and they all looked pretty good, considering they had run about 21 miles. The last mile headed east toward the stadium, and just as we approached the parking lot, they headed us back north into the wind again. Then we went through the parking lot and headed into the stadium. Just like in the Olympics, the stands were filled with cheering crowds (Okay, the crowds were a little sparse, but I can imagine.) as we did one loop around the track. The first straightaway was tough because it was into the wind, and you couldn't let up because you were right there in front of everybody. The final straightaway we had the wind at our backs, and we kicked it in. Bronda, Stacy, and I all got PRs, and Larry, Caroline, and I placed in the top three in our age groups. Woohoo! Here are the results: David Sargent   3:48:55 Bronda Vosburgh 4:33:06 Larry Long      4:33:25 Kathy Hoover    4:35:34 Stacy Fissel    4:38:34 Caroline Glenn  5:29:00 Below is a picture (taken by Simone) of Bronda, me, Larry, and Kathy. I enjoyed running this marathon. I didn't really have a goal that I felt I had to reach, so I just ran a comfortable pace most of the way. Except for the portions into the wind. There was nothing comfortable about that. I ended up getting a PR by about a minute, and I was happy with that. I thought the race was was well managed, and it seemed that the aid stations and cheering was good along the course, especially when you consider that only 127 runners competed in the marathon. I think I may continue to run this one in coming years. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 926 ft Location: Davis, OK Elev. Gain: -203 ft Date: 03/28/10 Up/Downhill: [+1263/-1466] Time: 07:58 AM Difficulty: 4.3 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 26.46 miles Time: 3:48:58 Speed: 6.9 mph Pace: 8' 39 /mi Calories: 3392 Map Elevation (ft) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 03 -0' 36 7.4 +0.5 +66 ft 2 8' 21 -0' 18 7.2 +0.2 +53 ft 3 8' 10 -0' 29 7.3 +0.4 +7 ft 4 8' 16 -0' 23 7.2 +0.3 +10 ft 5 7' 14 -1' 25 8.3 +1.3 -216 ft 6 7' 49 -0' 50 7.7 +0.7 -79 ft 7 8' 03 -0' 36 7.5 +0.5 -23 ft 8 8' 57 +0' 18 6.7 -0.2 +26 ft 9 7' 59 -0' 40 7.5 +0.6 -50 ft 10 9' 31 +0' 52 6.3 -0.6 +42 ft 11 8' 43 +0' 04 6.9 -0.1 -23 ft 12 8' 13 -0' 26 7.3 +0.4 -6 ft 13 8' 14 -0' 25 7.3 +0.3 -29 ft 14 8' 13 -0' 26 7.3 +0.4 -36 ft 15 8' 13 -0' 26 7.3 +0.4 -46 ft 16 8' 20 -0' 19 7.2 +0.3 -40 ft 17 8' 20 -0' 19 7.2 +0.3 -22 ft 18 9' 04 +0' 25 6.6 -0.3 +105 ft 19 8' 56 +0' 17 6.7 -0.2 +7 ft 20 9' 01 +0' 22 6.7 -0.3 +69 ft 21 8' 54 +0' 15 6.7 -0.2 -33 ft 22 9' 36 +0' 57 6.2 -0.7 +6 ft 23 9' 36 +0' 57 6.2 -0.7 -45 ft 24 9' 39 +1' 00 6.2 -0.7 +52 ft 25 9' 15 +0' 36 6.5 -0.5 -39 ft 26 9' 43 +1' 04 6.1 -0.7 +36 ft end 8' 15 -0' 24 7.3 +0.3 +6 ft Versus average of 8' 39 min/mile

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