Double Marathon Training Run

I am not dead. I survived my first 50 mile training run. Well, not to brag or anything, but it was actually 52.6 miles. That's more than 2 marathons! We started with 17 runners, picked up a few along the way, and then dropped down to 2 that finished. We even picked up a couple of girls running down Peoria. As we were running along past a bar, this gal starts running beside me. Her name is Tracy, and she said she ran cross country at University of Minnesota, and is now the women's cross country and steeplechase coach at De Paul. She gave us her email address and invited us to visit if we are ever up in Chicago.

I had a great time running with my friends, and I really appreciate the aid stations that several people set out for us. They were so well stocked that I almost over hydrated myself (I only lost 3 lbs). I was surprised at how well I felt during the run. Before starting, I had in the back of my mind that I might bail out once we got to NSU (about 33 miles), but when we got there I felt great other than my feet being a little sore. So, I took my shoes off, stretched my feet out a bit, and even they felt okay! So, I was all for going on.

Coach Kathy isn't quite recovered from her bout with the flu, and she was feeling weak for a large part of the run, so she dropped at NSU, as did Roman and Johnny and the few runners who had run on ahead of us. It was a real disappointment to me that Kathy dropped out. I am planning on pacing her for part of her 100 miler in November, and I was looking forward to finishing this training run with her. And we were having such a good time singing songs, telling jokes, and carrying on. By the way, Kathy does a pretty good cartwheel. Roman's is not so good.

So, it was just Ken and me to finish out the last 20 miles. We passed Ed and Julie on the path with about 16 miles to go and then Mary Alice about a mile later. I was still feeling strong at that point, but I think it was with about 10 miles to go that I began to tire. It had been humid and foggy most of the night, but when the sun came out the temperature seemed to rise fast, and it was really draining. My body wanted to hunch over from fatigue, and I had to concentrate on keeping good posture. As we approached Harvard we were leaving the hills behind us, and I was kind of dreading the flats that would characterize most of the last 5 or 6 miles. There would be no uphills as an excuse to take a walk break!

We actually kept up a pretty good pace for those last miles, but we did take walk breaks. The hardest stretch was by the volleyball courts. It seemed like a long hot stretch with no shade, but we could see the 71st Street Bridge not far off, so that gave me hope. As we got to the bridge Ken's Garmin beeped. Fifty-one miles, and by experience Ken knew it was precisely 1.6 miles to go. I took off at about a 9 minute pace, but stopped after I had crossed the river. Ken and I both walked up that last steep hill going up to Turkey Mountain and then jogged in the last bit for a total of 52.6 miles Hooray!

I slept most of the afternoon, woke up in time to get ready for evening church and to shoot off an email to Kathy saying I am considering getting my legs amputated. She sent back an email offering to loan me her hacksaw. Fortunately my legs are feeling much better today. I will not need the hacksaw, and I will even run again soon.

Oh, and by the way, the next person to complain about hills on our Saturday morning runs has to run along the Creek Turnpike to NSU and back. :)

So you all soon!

Tulsa's Oldest House - Within Tulsa's Oldest Park

I did two runs on Thursday, the first one a four miler at noon at an easy pace. Then in the evening I ran with Larry most of the way. I was going to make it an easy six mile run, but it was Larry that pushed the pace.. I stopped at the bathrooms with a mile and a half to go and let Larry go on ahead. He finished the route averaging close to an 8 minute pace. I think with my walking included that my pace averaged about 8:30.

Saturday I had a fun run with the RunnersWorld group. We did a hilly six mile loop that took us past Tulsa's oldest house still in existence, which now sits within Tulsa's oldest park - Owen Park. I'm sure Ken will have pictures up on the RW blog soon. I enjoyed the hilly run, taking it at a fairly relaxed pace for me, but when we were finished several runners told me I was fired. I tried paying people to say they liked the hills - while Kathy filmed them - but nobody seemed convincing. :)

Tonight I hope to complete a 50 mile training run with Kathy, Ken, Brian, and a few others. If you don't hear from me after this blog entry, it is because I died.

Here is a bit of trivia about Owen Park from the city of Tulsa website:

It could be said that Tulsa Parks began with a bang – literally. On January 23, 1904 at 4:15 p.m., a tremendous explosion rocked west Tulsa and was heard as far away as Claremore. The entire stock of nitroglycerine belonging to the Western Torpedo Company that was used for shooting oil wells was accidentally detonated shortly after a company employee named McDonald entered a wooden structure where the explosives were stored.

Needless to say, Mr. McDonald did not survive the blast. The explosion created a large crater that eventually was used to create what became known as Owen Park Lake and years later was made much smaller and is now known as Owen Park Pond.

Although the City of Tulsa did not purchase Owen Park until 1909, the area was already being used for major citywide events. In September of 1906, a Labor Day celebration, complete with a parade that began in downtown Tulsa, speeches, games, and sports was held.

Thousands of people were reported to have come there to enjoy band concerts, food and fireworks each July 4th for several years prior to 1909. That year, the city bought the land from Chauncey and Mary Owen for $13,500 and Tulsa’s first park became a reality.

Owen Park was a natural beauty spot with its grove of beautiful oak trees and pure well water. Swimming in the lake was very popular from 1913 through the early 1920s.

There was a sand beach with lifeguards as well as a bath house to accommodate swimmers. The lake also was used for ice skating during the winter months.

Glad To Be a Runner

I got a good 4 mile run in at noon on Monday. Caught up with Joe and finished the run with him. His asthma was sort of acting up - maybe lingering results from running on those ozone alert days. He said he would be out for our Saturday run.

Tuesday was a pretty hard day of running. I did the same 4 mile course as Monday, but I ran it as a tempo run and really wore myself out. Then Tuesday evening I pushed it up the hill during the group run. So, my legs were a little tired today. I just jogged down to Veteran's Park and back - less than 3 miles. While at the park I did pull ups on the soccer goals and push ups. I was going to do inclined sit ups on the slide at the playground there, but I couldn't figure out how to keep from sliding down. Some kids there thought I was really nuts!

Well, I may be nuts, but nothing like the guy in this video. I am glad I am a runner and not a gymnast.