Photo via Brightroom.com
Our team finished yesterday’s Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in 4:23:36; we finished 23rd of 123 teams in our division, and 268th overall (out of 746 teams). I ran my 10K in 1:04:59, which was a little slower than I was hoping for, but considering that it rained every single step of my 6.2 miles, I’ll take it.
The weather was terrible — cold and rainy. The start was delayed by 30 minutes because of lightning on the course, and the rain was pretty constant through the entire morning. By the time I started my leg of the relay, the temperature had dropped into the low 40s; moments after we crossed the finish line, it started to hail. No joke. It was crazy.
I waited about 30 minutes at the relay hand-off station, which was honestly a lot of fun; I hung out on Grand and watched the runners and listened to a little AC/DC on my iPhone (Wade is very happy about that). I loved that the men’s exchanges were all business — pass the timing bracelet, maybe a fist bump or high five — while the women hugged and kissed and asked about each other’s runs.
My hands were numb by the time Caroline ran in with our bracelet; as soon as I stared running, it started to pour. Classen was just one gigantic puddle — my shoes are still soaked today — but at least it wasn’t hot. I hate running when it’s hot. Truly.
I feel good today — no aches or pains, although I still cannot get warm (stupid Oklahoma spring weather — it was just in the 90s, like last week!). My secret goal was to run the 10K in under an hour, but my real goal was just to finish, and not to die — and to have fun. I totally did that.
Now I’ll work on that sub-60-minute 10K.
Awesome – way to mark something off the list! Great job!
Congratulations Susan!!! You look fantastic and I am totally inspired by how hard you are rocking that life list. Many (maybe even most) of us would have thrown in the towel on the running goals if we ran into the health challenges you had, but you’re out there running in the hail for goodness sakes! I hope you get your marathon this year, but even if you don’t I hope you know you have already succeeded just by not giving up =)
You did AWESOME Susan! Can’t wait to hear more about your future races.
Congratulations!!! I DETEST running in rain (though heat is terrible, I agree), so I am super impressed. Also that wet feet didn’t give you terrible blisters, because they can. Rita had told me your race weather was horrible, because it was freezing up here with snow flurries, which I think is just unforgivable in May, and she was commiserating with your own special brand of OKC wild weather.
Well, good for you! Awesome.
Well gosh, I saw that picture and I got a little tear-y. You look like AN ATHLETE! Whoa!
You MUST purchase that picture and put it right next to your running shoes for inspiration.
Or maybe *I* should purchase that picture and put it next to *my* running shoes.
Yea! One goal down. I hate running when its hot, but it happens about 95% of the time here, so…way to get back on line.
Awesome that you participated, awesome that you finished, and awesome that, even in crazy weather, you weren’t too far off your goal pace at all. To me, that just means that you’ll nail your sub 60 10k in no time. (And I’m going to try to be right there with you on that one!)
great job! congratulations!!
Congratulations! That’s fantastic.
Way to go!! And running in the rain is WAY WORSE than running in the heat! Seriously, how did you keep your Iphone dry?? I am always afraid to run with mine….
My ugly armband thingy has a plastic piece that covers the screen, which keeps most of the water off my phone. And if you look closely at the photo, you’ll see that I have my bandana wrapped around it for extra protection. It’s a good look, I think. (NOT.)
(At about mile 5 the bandana fell off and my hands were so damn cold that I couldn’t get it back on and I just said eh, if my iPhone dies, I will have an excuse to upgrade. Seriously.)
Congratulations, Susan!! So very happy for you!
Great job Susan! You should be proud!