Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Mom's Visit Includes the Oklahoma City Marathon, Lion King and Arts Festival


A great 6 day visit from my Mom ended this morning but not before we were able to take in an arts festival, musical and the Oklahoma City Marathon.











My Mom arrived on Wednesday around 2pm so we immediately needed to grab lunch and figured we would head downtown and eat at the Oklahoma City Arts Festival. It was day 1 of the festival and the weather was in the low 90s. We grabbed a bite to eat and spent a little time walking around the various tents. On our way back to the car we passed some interesting larger art on the lawn so I decided that we should pose for a few pictures which are included on the blog.











Thursday we went to watch the musical The Lion King and all I can say is WOW!! I had heard from a friend that it is a great show but I still was blown away by the massive production. The costumes were incredible and the way that some of the actors handled the large puppets were amazing. Definite recommendation for anyone who likes great entertainment. The only complaint about the evening was the dinner at Trattoria Il Centro which is an Italian restaurant a couple blocks away for the Civic Center Music Hall. The food was good but the servings wouldn't have filled me up when I was in pre school. My Mom and I laughed about it all week.











Friday we didn't do much unless you consider a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond exciting. I did go for a quick massage that morning since I was two days away from my marathon. Saturday we headed downtown for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Expo at the Cox Convention Center. They offered a free bus ride that toured the marathon course so we took that which made for a long morning/early afternoon. The bus was running 30 minutes late and then the tour ended up taking around 2 hours. It was fun to hear the race director talk about the course and how he and his friend created the marathon 9 years ago. We then went home and relaxed a little and I got to watch the NFL draft while helping my Mom discover Facebook (my Cousin talked her into signing up so I helped her get some pics downloaded). By the way, Aaron Curry was the player I was hoping for the Seahawks to draft and I was excited to see how they were able to get the Broncos 1st round pick in next year's draft. NICE JOB HAWKS!!










Sunday morning we got up nice and early for the marathon, correction........I was already up. We had to wake up at 4am as the marathon started at 6:30. At 10:30 pm on Saturday night I decided that I needed to start adding new songs to my ipod and didn't get into bed until midnight. I think that knowing I was getting to bed that late created more anxiety than I was ready to deal with so I tossed, turned, read, watched TV and couldn't get to sleep. I did dose off for about 5 minutes at around 1:30 but that was it. I got to the starting line of the marathon with 5 minutes of sleep and that didn't do a lot for my confidence. Did enjoy the time leading up to the marathon. My Mom wanted to get there by 5:30 so that she could attend the church service that was held at the base of the survivor tree which is right next to the starting line. They also sang the National Anthem before the run and then had 168 seconds of silence to honor the victims of the bombing. The Memorial does not receive federal or state funding and the marathon is their #1 fundraiser.
















The starting gun went off at 6:30 and it was already around 65 degrees. About 3 miles into the run I noticed that I was sweating a lot more than I normally do and thought that it might be that my body was overtired from the lack of sleep. I wasn't overly fast as I ran the first half of the marathon in 2 hours and 6 minutes (usually run the 1st half of marathons in 1:50-1:55 range). Thought at that point that I was probably going to run a 4:16-4:18 marathon but then things started to turn. My knee started to get sore around mile 14 right as we headed south into the 30 MPH wind along Lake Hefner and by mile 17 my right leg cramped up. I ended up combining running and walking for the last 9 miles as I kept having to stop to stretch out my leg. I did start to notice that for the final few miles there were more walkers than runners and that everyone was starting to cramp up. Turns out that I was sweating so early in the run because it was incredibly humid on Sunday and that many of the marathon participants were in the same boat. Final time was 4 hours 47 minutes and 37 seconds which is the slowest of the 9 marathons that I have completed. My Mom drove my car to two different points on the course to cheer me on, one was at around the8.5 mile mark and the other was after the 20 mile mark. She took pictures which I also included.












All week I was thinking about my favorite OKC restaurant, Iron Starr and how I couldn't wait to eat there as a post marathon reward. Headed over there after going home for an ice bath and nap only to find out that they are closed on Sundays. No worries as my Mom and I instead headed for Cattlemen's for a great little steak dinner. We ended up going to Iron Starr for lunch yesterday.










Drove my Mom to the airport this morning and then went for a post race massage. Discovered a Massage Therapist last week named Julie who is very good at what she does. Julie lived in the Seattle area from the last 80s to the mid 90s so it was fun to hear someone from the Midwest talk about her northwest experiences. Julie has volunteered at the first aid tent of the marathon for the past 6 or 7 years and told me that she has never seen so many people coming in for treatment after a run. Said that this was the worst humidity they have had during any of the marathons she has attended. Gave my legs a good rub down so I am feeling pretty good other than my left foot which is still very sore (has been on again off again all day, felt great earlier but is sore again tonight). Don't think I will be running for at least a few more days :-)
























2 comments:

Kelli said...

9 marathons - wow Steve! Love keeping up with you on your blog. Take it easy and let us know when you're in town for a visit!

stevew said...

Thanks Kelli. Will keep you posted on my Northwest plans.