Oklahoma was a quick trip. It was on November 20th which is my birthday and I felt compelled to go and get in a race on that day. I was not able to get any other time off for it, so I originally decided to drive up to Tulsa on Saturday, run Sunday morning, and return home Sunday evening. Would have been tough, it is an 8 to 9 hour drive each way. I had a friend who I knew was living in Oklahoma,and found out she lived 20 minutes from Tulsa. She offered to pick me up at the airport, and I could stay with her and her boyfriend for the weekend. What a deal!! I accepted. Leading up to the race I was struggling with Plantar Fasciitis, and the week before had a bad case of upper respiratory aliment. I wasn't sure how well I would do running. I just wanted to finish and knew that I would, seeing as how there was an 7 hour time limit. I merely had to finish before the full Marathon was over.
The forecast for the that weekend was low in the 40's and high in the 50's, so I was looking forward to some Great running conditions. There was also a 30-40% chance of rain, (not good conditions) When I got there Saturday it was still warm, and I was thinking "Great I brought the Houston weather with me", However that night the front came through, and I got my Birthday present of some really nice running weather. It was over cast and threatened to rain the whole time , but never did. As usual, my goal was to finish and get my bling, and mark another state off my list. The secondary goal was to finish under 3 hours, which would be close to my normal time. (I hadn't ran since 5150 in Galveston 4 weeks before.) I started out a little slow, but managed to find my stride about half way through the run. The last couple of miles I saw I had a good shot at the 3 hour mark and pushed to make it. I ended up 2:58, and was happy with my effort and time :0)
A HUGE Thank You to Deanna and Guy for their hospitality during the weekend.
Sunday morning we left for the run about 6:30, right about day break. Just before we reached Highway 75, a large doe jumped the fence along the road and ran across in front of us. Guy stopped to avoid hitting her, and when he did, we saw following right behind her, still on the other side of the fence, a Trophy Buck. he was at least 10 points. Here he was walking through an open field, during deer season !! How that deer was still alive is beyond me. I have never seen one that big in the total open. I have seen them on some of the military bases I have been on. Obviously on a Military base they don't have to worry about getting shot. But this guy was walking through open country in full view. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
