Imperfect Run

First day of Spring and we have snow. I don't think I've been in Oklahoma this winter, surely I've been somewhere on the east coast, Oklahoma is not supposed to have this much snow. We set out to go 20 miles this morning. I couldn't seem to get moving, I think I was subconsciously trying to avoid this run. I finally got to Veterens's Park shortly after 8 and of course, the faithful were already on their way. I parked over at 21st and hurried south on the trail. Sure enough, Carmie was waiting for me at 31st. My big blue rain hat is easy to spot. Going south was pleasant and 71st came up very quickly. When we turned to go across the 71st St bridge, it was torture, the sleet pelted our cheeks and we pulled our hoods and hats to cover the left side of our faces. It seemed to take forever to get across the bridge and finally we were on our way up to Turkey Mountain. We headed over on the west side and hit the north wind with full force. I wanted to quit so badly but I wanted to get back to my car more! I thought about the many times we had run on this side of the river and it was stinking hot. Today it was freezing cold and reminded me of the wind when I ran White Rock marathon in 2008. I was not good company today but we struggled through and decided to cut the run short when we got to the other side of the river. We ended up doing 14 but it felt like 20. We were so tense on the west side with our heads hunched down, trying to shelter our faces from the wind. We were the only RW group to show up for our run this morning but a lot of people may have opted for the Snake Run. I was so glad to be done and go to Panera. We talked about future marathons and how work gets in the way of our fun. Its great to have these marathons to look forward to. We are probably going to do the Memphis marathon in December. I hadn't seen this group of runners for awhile and it was fun to see this group again. Simone and Bronda are awesome run leaders and I'm glad we got to run together today. This was one of the worst training runs due to the weather but I feel good that we made it through without injury and most likely we increased our mental endurance. I don't know about next weekend, I am running the Wish Lemons run and I would like a PR which means I won't be able to run long. OKC will be three weeks after that and I've done 20 miles only once since R66. I could run long on Sunday but if I PR on Saturday, I won't have anything in the tank on Sunday.

Saturday in the Parks

We had a really fun route through several of Tulsa parks today. I really liked this route, took us all over downtown and varied elevations. It was an 11 mile route then I went south on Riverside to do another 9 to make my 20. While Iwas out on Riverside I met 2 runners, Tanya and Jana, who will be doing OKC as their first marathon. I ran out to 56th with them and enjoyed hearing how their training was going and how excited they are about OKC. That first marathon is so magic, it is so new, you have to trust all your training. I miss that a little. Subsequent marathons have had their own mysteries and uniqueness but their is nothing like the first one, kind of like having your first child...really I even cried when I finished my first and felt as happy as I did after having our first child.
I felt really good for this run, I walked a teeny bit, just between 2 lightpoles in my 16th mile. I'm working on the mental game, I usually check out around the 18th mile and I did much better at R66. And this was my second 20m this year and both times I have run the whole time, almost. Next week will be a drop back along with running the St. Pat run, then another 22 the next week.
When I pulled in the driveway, my daughter was on the cell, wanting to go out to eat. We went to Genghis Grill, yummm, great way to end a Saturday morning run.