OKC Half-Marathon Report ... My Daughter's First Race!!!

 Race Review ...

Oklahoma City Memorial (Half)Marathon

May 1, 2011

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Overall Rating ... 3 out of 5

Spoiler Alert... 

• My daughter, Madi's first ever half-marathon!!!
• Great event to remember the victims of Oklahoma City tragedy
• 45 degrees, POURING rain, 15-20mph wind the WHOLE RACE!!!
• Fair to below average race organization & local support
• Easy, flat course
• Nice medal
• Madi ran an awesome 2:28:27 PR!
• Did I mention it STORMED THE WHOLE TIME???



Michael, me & Madi before the OKC Half-Marathon

Finisher Medals & Bibs...

My MOST favorite race bib ever ... "MADI'S DAD"!!!

The Trip From KC To OKC... 

Excited about the 5-1/2 hour drive!!!

Okay, so here is the "proud papa" moment ... like every parent, I am proud of and love both of my kids with all my heart!  But anyone who has met my daughter Madison will not only rave about how smart, funny, loving, caring, and wonderful she is ... they will simply tell you they have never met a BETTER PERSON!   As much as I hate to admit it, I have to give her mom most of the credit.  But now ... FINALLY ... she has one thing she can credit her ol' man with ... RUNNING!  And on Sunday, after weeks of tough training, she became an official HALF-MARATHONER!!!  And I couldn't be prouder!  Our trip to Oklahoma City to run the OKC Memorial (Half) Marathon was awesome, and here is the recap.

We left about 7am on Saturday for the 5-1/2 hour drive from KC to OKC ... but the time really flew by because there is SO MUCH TO SEE ON THE INTERSTATE IN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA!!! (sarcasm)  We did make a couple of stops for maybe the world's best photos!

Mr. Happy!

Oklahoma's sooooooo windy!

Packet Pick-up & Expo ...
As far as packet pick-ups and race expos go, I would give this one a C+.  It could have been a lot better organized and there was a definite "lack of enthusiasm" from the volunteers - but we had a great time anyway!

Hey everybody ... it's my first race packet & gear bag!!!

Watching Madi get her race number for her first half-marathon was so cool.  It's always cool reliving the great moments in your own life through your kids, and this was no different.  There's something magical about picking up your first race packet.  It makes you feel official or something.  She was so excited!

My two beautiful gals ... wow, I'm lucky!!!

The lady who helped us find our race numbers was very kind ... everyone else seemed ready to get the heck out of there, but in fairness, they WERE volunteering and it was late in the day.  I'm sure they were pretty tired from being on their feet all day, dealing with idiots like us!

Check out this Expo!

Michael was sick all week before the race, and on Saturday she felt awful.  But she is so awesome!  She NEVER let on like she was feeling bad, wanting to make Madi's experience wonderful.  I love you Michael - you are a very giving person and you helped make Madison's trip incredible.  Thank you for giving of yourself - I know you felt terrible. 

Shocker ... Michael shopping!  (Check out the lady behind her "Hey, what'd ya get?")

"Holy cow Jim, it's Bill Rogers, Dick Beardsley, and Joan Benoit Samuelson!"

OKC & Bricktown ...
There was a ton of great stuff to do in OKC and Bricktown - Oklahoma City's historic entertainment district.  We walked around for most of the afternoon and got to see a lot of the sights of this wonderful Southwestern city.

Hmmmm ... we really need a MAN to decipher this map!

Hey, let's jump up and click our heels in front of this giant boot!!!

This was billed as a HUGE event for Oklahoma City, and for the most part all of the local people we met were very kind and courteous.  But it really seemed like the marathon weekend really took them by surprise, like they had no idea this many people would be converging on their wonderful city.  For example, we ate at Quiznos for lunch and they were out of bacon, chicken, guacamole, and various cheeses ... ya know THE GOOD STUFF???  And at the hotel, the staff really struggled with check-in.  It was the "official race hotel", but they seemed a little confused.  They were very friendly, just pretty disorganized.

You're out of everything ... what the heck are we supposed to eat???

Of course, being my daughter, Madison is blessed with a great sense of humor and perfect comedic timing ... as you can tell from the photos!  Complete comedy genius runs in our family ... well, we think we're funny anyway!

Madi & Mickey Mantle ... swing needs a little work!

It was literally a living statue with arms ... Hey there ... Hi there ... Ho there!!!

Play that guitar ... idiot!

"What is this ... a fountain for ants? 
How are the children supposed to get a drink if they can't even reach the fountain?"

Madi & Michael in their best Senior Photo poses!

Pre-race salad!

Race Day...

Hey, matching bibs!

After a sleepless night, finally race day was here for Madison.  We had watched the weather all week and even though Saturday in OKC was 76 degrees and perfect, Sunday had promised a threat of rain and plummeting temps.  And unfortunately, for once the forecast was dead-on.  We woke up to about 45 degrees, 15-20mph howling winds, and driving rain ... NO EXAGGERATION!!!  And it lasted ALL DAY ... completely throughout the race!

We got our racin' clothes on and headed out the door, only to find out the race had been delayed from 6:30am to 7:00am because of lightning in the area.  We killed some time in our hotel lobby and rounded up a few trash bags thinking they would keep us dry during in the thunderstorm we were about to brave.  They worked great for about 15 seconds!  I kept telling Madi everything would be fine, but in the back of my mind I was thinking "Man, this is gonna be a rough way to run your first half-marathon".  But my girl is tough ... and I really don't think it even phased her!  She came to OKC to hammer that half-marathon, and nothing could stop her!!!

These should do the trick!!!

For some reason, I miscalculated the time it would take to get to starting line which was a half-mile from our hotel.  Plus, we stopped a couple of times on the way to seek shelter from the hurricane conditions.  We were literally drenched from head to toe and we hadn't even crossed the starting line yet.  But this would be nothing compared to the soaking we would take for 13.1 miles.

As we approached the starting line corrals, I began scanning the horizon for the gear-check trucks.  PROBLEM ... NO GEAR CHECK TRUCKS IN SIGHT!!!  It was right about that time that I heard the P.A. announcer blare words that made my heart skip a beat ... "ONE MINUTE UNTIL THE START OF THE OKC MEMORIAL MARATHON"!  What the...!!! I panicked ... but tried to remain cool, calm, and collected on the outside so as not to worry Madison.  I started running toward the back of the starting corrals with Madi & Michael closely behind ... or so I thought.  With about 30 seconds until the starting gun, I saw the gear-check trucks on the other side of the huddled runners.  I turned around to tell the girls we were gonna be okay ... but only one girl was standing there - Madi.  Somehow we had lost Michael in the confusion.  I panicked again!  Madi and I had no choice but to continue without her and check our bags.  There was a really cool guy at the rainy gear-check who quickly grabbed our bags and said, "I'll take care of them, just go get in line!"  He was such a blessing! 

Everyone all smiles & calm ... that would change!

Just then, the starting gun sounded ... and out of nowhere, Michael appeared.  She still had her bag in hand and she said "It's okay, I'll just run with it!"  Looking back, that was one of the funniest things I've ever heard!  It didn't seem funny at the time, but the thought of Michael, or anyone for that matter, running a half-marathon while toting their gear bag is priceless!  I pointed her to the gear-check truck and she fortunately found the same great gentleman who had help us!

Once Michael checked her bag, we all got in line.  Luckily, this was a large race and we were at the very back of the pack.  It took about 17 minutes for us to get to the start, so everyone had a chance to calm down a little and start the race like normal runners.  But it was close.  It was like one of those dreams where you over-sleep for the S.A.T.'s or something, and then when you get to the testing facility - THE DOOR IS LOCKED!  But this wasn't a dream ... it was real!  And it was pretty scary!  I thought I had let everyone down by screwing around in the hotel instead of heading to the starting line with enough time to prepare.   To say we cut it close would be a huge understatement!

After the typical start-stop-start-stop with such a large race, we made it the starting line and Madi & I separated from Michael, agreeing prior to the race to run our own paces.  Due to Michael's illness, I worried about her all day - but for the time being, I had to focus on helping Madi run the race of her life!

With rain literally stinging our faces and the wind blowing strong enough to move you from side-to-side, Madi ran the race like a pro!  Her pace plan was perfect for her and she ran it to perfection.  I'm a pretty wimpy runner when it comes to weather.  I had two shirts, a hat, and rain-soaked gloves on ... and I was FREEZING!!! This girl ran in a tank top and pants, no gloves or hat and only mentioned once at mile three that she was a little chilly - but other than that, she was focused!


Look at that gal ... straight-up Chickin' Fools!!!

The only really tough miles for her were miles 3-5 where we ran toward the Oklahoma State Capital building directly into the 15mph wind, and the last two miles where she decided to go all Kara Goucher on me!  Now Madi can be very direct sometimes, but for the most part she is OVERLY POLITE. I've never heard her utter a word of conceit or arrogance in her whole life.  But I swear, as she passed guy after guy on Sunday, I heard her say under her breath "Chicked ya!!!"  It was friggin' hilarious!

She was smooth and steady, controlling the pace like a seasoned veteran through 10 miles of a rain-drenched, windy, chilly course.  At mile 11 she said she wanted to speed up.  I was really reluctant to "let" her, wanting to make sure she not only finished, but finished strong.  But if you know this girl, you know she is a "little" bull-headed.  She started increasing her pace to 10:30, then 10:00.  I tried to slow her down, but she only ran faster ... 9:45, 9:30, 9:00.  We had chatted throughout the race about running, strategy, pacing, and some of the local sights we ran by ... and at mile 12 I said, "Hey, aren't those homes really pretty?"  All of the time-consuming chit-chat came to an abrupt halt right then when she responded, "I NEED TO FOCUS!"  I got the message and shut up.

At about 12.5 she was up to about 8:30 and I told her I thought she should slow down ... it was then she announced that she had a goal of 2:30 and, in she willfully responded, "Daddy, I've got to do this..."!  She then sped up to 8:00, 7:45, 7:30!!!  As we neared the last quarter-mile downhill I asked her if she was okay and she answered by speeding up to a 6:30 pace!!!  This girl was hauling!!!  As we got closer, I heard her say "I got this" ... AND SHE DID!  She finished by sprinting across the finish line at her first half-marathon with an amazing 2:28:27!!!


"Need a little wind here!"

I was sooooooo proud!  No, I didn't cry ... but almost!  I couldn't believe my little girl had just killed this thing and ran an unbelievable race!  She was so amazing!  I couldn't stop hugging her!

After the race we were freezing!  We got our gear bags and found Michael, and walked the half-mile back to our hotel in the continued pouring rain, teeth chattering, with fingers and legs numb!  It was so cold!  We had been in the pouring rain for about 3 hours with the wind trying to ice us over.  We couldn't get back to the room fast enough!

Once we got back to the room, everyone took hot showers and crawled under the blankets for a few minutes in an attempt to get our body temps back to 98 degrees before going out to find a well-deserved post-race feast.  We were starving!

We landed at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill - an OKC landmark.  We had a great time talking about the race and reliving the horror of almost missing the start. Madi ordered a 1 pound chicken-fried steak that was literally as big as her face!  Michael enjoyed a salad, and I had chicken.  It was so good!  We of course continued to act like tourists, taking a bunch of pictures before heading back to KC.

There are many things I'll remember about the OKC Half-Marathon.  I'll remember Bricktown and the nice people.  I'll reminisce about the cold weather, rain, and wind.  I'll remember how Michael was a trooper and ran a half-marathon while battling a terrible cold.  And I'll have nightmares about almost missing the start.  But most of all, I will never forget the look on Madison's face as she crossed the finish line and how unbelievably proud I was of my little girl that day!  She continues to amaze me.  Not because she can now add "half-marathoner" to her growing list of great accomplishments, but because I know that she can do anything.  And best of all ... I GET to be her dad!  I love you Madi, and I'm so proud you're in my life.  Great job baby! 
... be great today! (like you are everyday!)