Wolverine Creek

My first run since the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.  I had some trouble with my right foot in Oklahoma and noticed that the tread and cushion were totally worn out on my running shoes.  So I went to Skinny Raven and bought some new Hokas. In the past they have caused problems with my little toe because they had started making them too narrow.  But now they also come in wide.  So I took a chance and am trying them again.  They were always my favorite shoes.

Today I ran to Wolverine Creek then up to the big carrot at the top of the hill.  My feet didn't give me any problems. So I hope that is a sign that they will be good and won't give me blisters on my little toe like before.  Just a 5 mile run, but lots of tough hills.

It was a beautiful day for a run.

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

I am so relieved. I need Oklahoma towards my 50 state marathon goal.  But I have been worried about finishing ever since I registered.  They have a strict 6:30 time limit, and I know that I often take longer.  But I also know that I have beat that time many times.

Today was tough.  It was really cold and windy at the start and I was happy but also worried that I might be too cold.  I started out fast for me. I got to mile 5 in one hour, which is kind of my top speed.  As the time wore on, I did slow down but happily beat 3 hours to the halfway point.  But after halfway, I usually tend to slow down.  So reaching my goal was in question.  They had an intermediate time limit of noon for the 20 mile point.  Since I was in corral D I was worried because even though the official race start was 6:30 am my corral didn't start until 6:55. Of course I worried that I wouldn't be able to make up that 25 minutes.  But I easily reached mile 20 at around 11:30.  But around that time, I started having terrible pains in my toes of my right foot.  My toes seemed to get numb then felt like very bad cramps.  I kept stopping and making my laces looser and looser.  It was worse any time I had to run uphill.  The course had gentle hills, but many of them.  The downhills saved my speed every time I reached one.  But I was still sweating the time limit right up until the moment I crossed the finish line, at 6:23:06. It was certainly not a time to be proud of, but I could hardly be happier.  I finished, I made it, I got an official time and I got my medal.  Best of all, I got Oklahoma!  Now I only have to run Wyoming in August with Mainly Marathons.  Since they have no time limit on their races, I know I will finish my states in August.

New shoes are in order. The ones I ran with today now have 9 marathons and about 250 miles on them. They feel like they have lost all of their cushion.  Plus, the tread is almost worn off the front half of both soles.

It was a nice race and for a good cause.  It is run each year in memory of all the lives lost in the senseless bombing in Oklahoma City in April 1995.  It's sad that such things ever happen in our modern world.  I really wonder if mankind will ever learn to simply love one another and stop the destruction and hateful senseless loss of life.

Finish

5 Miles

The weather has been terrible, snowing every day.  Plus after running the 7 marathons, I wanted to take some time to recover.  I have been dragging logs through the woods with my plastic sled over the snow, which has been a good cross training workout. But today it was finally nice enough to go for a run.  It was only 23 degrees when I started out, but it was calm and beautiful.  I ran to Wolverine Creek then up the hill a bit past the big carrot.  Those big hills were tough, but I felt better than usual.  I am running the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon this Sunday, so this will likely be my last run before that.  I fly there tomorrow night just after midnight.  I'm hoping to beat the 6:30 time limit.  I'm sure it will be close, but I should be able to do it unless it is pouring rain or extremely hot.  It will be state #49 if I succeed.

Beautiful Day for a Run!

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 7

The last day!  Day 7 of the 7 days, 7 marathons, 7 states.  Today we ran in Vienna, Illinois.  This course was a nice long flat straight path through the woods.  I ran most of the way, pushing myself to go as fast as I could for as long as I could.  I'm really worn out but still running.  Not very fast but at least still running.  I was glad to beat the incoming storm too.  I ran into that full force while driving back to Memphis to catch my morning flight.  By the time I got to Memphis my flight had been canceled due to a huge band of thunderstorms and tornadoes racing through the entire area.  We were so lucky that it didn't come a few days earlier and ruin the entire series.  The 200 mile drive was horrifying though a torrential downpour with lightning flashing all around.  At times I could hardly see the road. But the weather was fine for the race. I did feel a few light sprinkles during my last lap, but I was on my way before it hit Vienna.

My marathon count is now 132 total and I have another cute long Mainly Marathons medal to add to my collection.

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 6

Today we crossed the Mississippi into Missouri to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After struggling with those hills yesterday, I enjoyed a very flat course.  I ran the whole way, no walk breaks and pushed as much as I could.  My blister was no longer hurting and I even left the bandages off.  I was still much slower than I want to be, but over an hour faster than each of the last three races.  I felt good about this one.  I know I got a good workout and a good long training run out of it.  I'm looking forward to finishing the last one tomorrow.  I am getting quite tired, but really enjoying visiting with the other runners. My feet ache!

I love the flowering trees in this area.  I don't know what they are but they sure are beautiful.

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 5

Day 5, once again in a nice park, this time in Columbus, Kentucky.  This is one of my important ones because it gave me state number 48.  I made it to the finish. It was a very challenging course though with some big hills.  I enjoyed the downhill parts a lot and ran at my best speed on those. But crawled at my worst speed on the uphill parts.  The views of the Mississippi River were really nice though.  It was really windy, but no rain or tornadoes.  I'm not sure why my GPS showed such a long distance.  I'm pretty sure I accidentally added an extra lap.  It is often a little off, but not by over 2 miles.  I must have dropped one of the rubber bands that we use to count our laps.  But I now have 48 of the 50 states.

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 4

The 4th race of the series was in Millington, Tennessee.  On my way to Millington, I did find a Walgreen's and stocked up on Blister Care bandages that helped my foot significantly. 
Like the other races, it was also in a nice park. Everything is so green this time of year in this part of the country.  Of course all the rain has helped with that.  The weather was good and as on the other races, I pushed hard and ran part of the time, and walked with friends part of the time.  I have a lot of stiffness in my lower legs and my feet just ache.  The blister hurts but probably wasn't really slowing me down.  Mostly general exhaustion was the real factor slowing me down.  So far, I haven't been last to finish. Many are only doing the half marathon or just doing some of the races, but I intend to do the full marathon all 7 days.  So far so good.  Day 4 completed.

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 3

Race number 3 of the series was a lovely park in Hollandale, Mississippi.  Unfortunately there was not a store in the area that had sufficient bandage material to handle my mega blister.  But I did tape it and bandage it the best way I could, after draining the fluid out of it.  It was painful, but I was able to ignore it enough to finish the race. 

There was a lot of standing water everywhere left over from the storms from yesterday.  The entire area is on tornado watch, which I didn't find terribly comforting.  But no tornadoes came through to interrupt our progress. I walked a bit but also pushed myself as much as possible to at least get a good long run workout in preparation for Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in two weeks.  That one actually has a time limit of 6:30.  But I certainly didn't beat that today.  On multiple back to back marathons, I never have a good finish time.  But I enjoy the time spent with friends on these races, which makes up for lack of speedy finish times.

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 2

This was one of my essential races because now I only need three more states.  Today's run was in Lake Village, Arkansas. It was a very challenging race because it poured rain almost the entire time, including thunderstorms with lightning flashing all around us.  I've heard of marathons being shut down if there is lightning so I was really happy that in spite of the possibility of us all being stuck by lightning and killed, we were able to run!  Anything to finally get Arkansas.  It was my second attempt at this state.  I was not only drenched all day, the path had standing water in most places and my shoes and feet were soaked.  I ended up with a gigantic blister on the bottom of my right foot.  I suspect that will cause problems for the rest of the races.  I ended up walking almost the entire course because I just found it too difficult to run in those conditions.

Mainly Marathons Riverboat Series Day 1

This was the first day of the Riverboat series of 7 marathons, 7 days and 7 states.  This first one was in Winnsboro, Louisiana. It was nice weather, but did get a little warm during the second half.  I really hoped to make good time and beat 6:30.  But I was exhausted from the long overnight flight from Alaska including multiple flight delays, coupled with going from a month of night shift to sleeping at night plus the 3 hour time difference.  I did well the first half but got easily distracted by my friends and found myself taking too many walk breaks to chat with friends.  But I felt good at the end.

This series is important to me because it includes races in Arkansas and Kentucky, two of the 4 states I am still missing on my quest to finish all 50 states.  With a little bit of luck, I should be able to scratch those two off my list.

Today's course was beautiful and green through a lovely park amid the yellow mustard flowers.