[Race Report] Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon (first full)

Race information

• What? Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon
• When? April 30, 2017
• How far? 26.2 miles
• Where? Oklahoma City, OK
• Website: http://okcmarathon.com/
• Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/964701497

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	< 4 hours	Yes
B	Finish	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	9:06
2	9:08
3	9:06
4	8:54
5	8:50
6	8:50
7	9:07
8	8:36
9	8:56
10	8:46
11	8:57
12	8:50
13	9:00
14	8:54
15	8:48
16	9:00
17	8:57
18	8:50
19	9:00
20	9:50
21	8:55
22	9:24
23	9:28
24	9:08
25	9:09
26	9:15
Finish	3:57:26

Training

This was my first marathon, and I began training at the beginning of January and ran approximately 120 miles/month while training. Prior to this, I had been averaging about 50. During training I also ran 2 additional races: a 12 mile trail race in January and a 25K at the beginning of March. The longest run I did while training for this event was 20 miles, which I did twice. My training slipped in the weeks leading up to this race due to unplanned travel for work, so I wasn't feeling very confident going into the race.

Pre-race

Woke up at 4:30am and made myself my usual pre-longrun meal: a strawberry banana smoothie with almond milk and blueberries. My dad came into town to cheer me on for my first marathon and he gave me a ride to the marathon. This worked out very well for me because traffic downtown was an absolute nightmare, even prior to 5:15. It turned out they started closing roads much earlier than they did last year when I ran the half, and much earlier than they had advertised. I ended up getting out of the car and walking to the start line while he found a place to park. I might have missed the start otherwise. After arriving, I focused on getting my myself into the right frame of mind. After an emotional 168 seconds of silence to honor the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing, the race began.

Race

Miles 1-6

I started off at a fairly easy pace and was careful not to get going to fast in the early miles of the race. The first 6 miles passed uneventfully and I was feeling really strong at this point.

Miles 7-13.1

Between miles 6 and 7 is a part of the course known as Gorilla Hill. It isn't particularly steep, but it is fairly long. It gets its name from a giant inflatable gorilla that is set up near the top of the hill. There is a ton of crowd support here and last year on the half I powered up the hill way too fast and got tired. I was careful to avoid that this year. The rest of the first half of the race was fairly simple and I finished around 1:57:50, which is actually a half PR for me.

Miles 13.1-20

This is when the weather really started to come into play. The wind started to pick up and it started to rain on and off. At this point I didn't really feel like either the wind or rain was affecting me at all. I was in a really good rhythm and felt much better than I had anticipated. This was by far the flattest stretch of the course.

Miles 20-26.2 I started to hit the wall shortly past mile 20. It did not help that the most difficult part of this course is actually the last 10k since it is mostly uphill and into the wind. I started taking it one mile at a time and taking longer walking breaks though water stops to catch my breath. This strategy got me through mile 25 without having to walk anywhere except water stops. The rolling hills on the final mile forced me to walk on several uphills to catch my breath because at this point I was having trouble breathing. The crowd started to pick up about a half mile from the finish line and helped me push through to the finish. I ended up finishing in 3:57:26, well under my 4 hour goal.

Post-race

Post race, I collected my medal and went and grabbed my finisher's shirt, which I really like. I was very happy with the food and drinks offered at the finish line, but I was way too exhausted to hang around for too long, especially considering it was cold and rainy. Overall, I though the crowd support was phenomenal, especially considering the weather. I was surprised how many people came out. Overall, I think this was one of the best races I have ever ran at any distance. I was not very confident coming into the race due all the travel I had been doing leading up to the race, but I could not have been happier with the result. This race will always hold a special place in my heart as it was my first half, and now my first full. I will definitely be back next year.

What's next?

While I am very happy that I attempted and completed a marathon, I think I will stick to half marathons for the near future. I knew it was going to take a lot out of me, but I was surprised just how exhausted I was when I crossed the finish line. I plan to run 2-3 more half marathons this year starting with the Joplin half in 3 weeks, as well as several shorter races. I also want to start getting more into trail running this summer. And of course I will be participating in the McNellie's Guinness Challenge next Saturday.

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