Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon

What a special day. It was my second half marathon (my first was on March 20th, 2011 and you can read about it here) and it most certainly was a run to remember.

From the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon Website..

The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is not about running, it is about life, honoring the memory of life lost through tragedy, celebrating the gift of life given equally to each person, and reaching forward into the future to life yet to be lived.

We ran this race to honor the memory of all those who died on April 19th, 1995 in the Oklahoma City bombing. I’ve posted about my memories of the events here, but the race touched me more than I thought it would. More on that later.

I woke up bright and early at 4 am and quickly put on my clothes and ate two pieces of Ezekial bread with peanut butter and a banana.

Thank goodness I had done my research on what to wear in rainy, cold weather because that was exactly the race conditions on Sunday. I bought a new hat, a new water resistant jacket, and some body glide at the Expo. Without those pieces, I’m not sure I would have made it in the race. I plan on doing a post in the near future regarding the running accessories and apparel that I wore on that day.

As soon as I was dropped of near the race, it started raining.

I rushed past the Oklahoma City Memorial to get into a parking garage for some shelter, but stopped and took a few pics along the way.

These chairs that are lit up represent the 168 adults and children killed on that day in April, 1995.

I made a quick bee-line for the Porta Potties around 6 AM and that was the last time I would go to the bathroom until after the race was over.

I made it into a parking garage  to take cover from the rain and began talking to a fellow runner who was alone.

We were discussing our goals when we heard the bad news. The race had been delayed 30 minutes due to lightning and high winds. We had been getting all hyped up just to remain sitting around in a parking garage for 30 more minutes.

However, it was in that parking lot where I experienced a truly beautiful moment. Twenty minutes prior to the start of the race, the announcer came on the sound system saying it was time to give 168 seconds of silence in honor of those who had died on April 19th. We all bowed our head in prayer and remembrance for those quiet and sacred seconds. When the seconds were over, there were many cheers and excitement to run for those who now couldn’t.

We started piling our way into the street to get into our corral. It was so packed that I didn’t have time to get in the correct corral and was in a corral that was much faster than I ran. It was freezing (about 45 degrees and it only got colder as the race went on) and raining.

I had tried and tried to get my Garmin to work, but it would never locate the satellite. The gun went off and we took off. Eventually, the Garmin did locate the satellite, but the screen looked different than what I was used to.

Screw it.

I turned it off and ran Garmin free the entire race. Thankfully, I had my music which I wrapped in a ziploc baggie as I ran to protect it from the rain.

I LOVED running without my Garmin during the race. I wasn’t frantically checking it. I had no idea what mile I was on. I had no idea how fast I was running. It allowed me to just enjoy the moments. I got into a incredibly nice running zone and loved every minute of it. I figured I would just stop when I got to the finish line.

Quite simply, I just ran.

I decided during the race that the Garmin is GREAT for training runs and I will continue to use it, but I absolutely loved being Garmin-free during the race. My mind was much more at ease and I loved not knowing how far I had to go.

We ran through downtown, past the Ford Center where the Oklahoma City Thunder play, past Bricktown, and into the State Capitol Complex.

It was here where I finally saw my mom and Sean cheering me on. I loved the anticipation of seeing them and I loved being able to run past them and give them high fives.

After passing the State Capitol, we ran through a lot of Historic Neighborhoods in Oklahoma City. This was by far my favorite stretch of the race.

All of the people in the neighborhoods came out to cheer us on. They offered us pretzels, candy, and one house even had a ton of Dunkin Donuts that they were giving out during the race. I loved that the spectators were out in full force, regardless of the horrid conditions.

I took my Mandarin Orange Gu Gel at the 1:00 hour mark. This was my first time ever trying a gel (I know I know…never try anything new on race day. I guess I don’t follow that rule). I loved it! Easy to eat and I even made it last for about 15 minutes. It gave me a nice burst of energy and I kept moving forward.

The remainder of the race was uneventful. However, I did decide that I don’t like knowing the city that I am running in. I got to one part of the city and immediately recognized that I was REALLY far away from the finish line. I think I would love running in a new city. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

The race continued on without a hitch. Sure, I was cold. Sure, I was wet. Sure, my shoes were heavy and my socks were soaked. I just kept running. I didn’t even feel the urge to walk until mile 11ish, but I just kept telling myself that I was almost done and to just keep going.

Once I saw the Finish Line, I sprinted towards it as fast as I could. Bleachers full of people were surrounding me and cheering me on and I loved every minute of it.

I received my medal and quickly grabbed some bagels and waited for my mom and Sean to come find me.

After the hugs, we walked over to the Memorial to say a quick prayer and remember those that I ran for.

I knew that I had ran a great race. I ran the whole time and felt it was a good pace. However, I didn’t even see my time at the end of the race so I had no idea if I was close to making a PR. I was 90% sure that I did, but you just never know.

You can imagine my surprise when I got my official time and realized that I killed my previous PR.

I was ecstatic! It reminded me that running is completely a mental game. I have had some really bad training runs in the past few weeks, so I didn’t think that I was going to have a good run.

However, during the race, my head was in the right place which allowed me to just run.

I came. I saw. I conquered.

Cold rain and all!