Monday, June 18, 2012

Andy Payne Marathon


Just 15 days after my sprained ankle, and with it still a bit swollen and stiff and with only a couple of runs after 11 days off, I ran the Andy Payne Marathon at Lake Hefner, in Oklahoma City. The course is a double-out and back along the bike trail at Lake Hefner. I had run Andy Payne before, in 2007, I believe, and enjoyed the small race atmosphere. This time was no different.
With a pretty big half-marathon going on at the same time, the course was pretty full the first half but was a ghost town the second half. I ran with some guy from somewhere in the Dallas area from mile 3 to mile 25.5, but I can’t remember his name. I learned his whole life story.
The temperature was in the mid-70s at the 6:30 am start and climbed into the 80s by mid-morning. The whole day there was a strong wind from the south and it gusted to probably 30-40mph regularly. There was hardly a cloud in the sky the whole time and it was hot and miserable the whole way. This was very likely the hottest and worst conditions for any marathon I’ve run, though many ultras have been worse.
I was shooting for a sub 4 hour finish but it just wasn’t happening with the heat and humidity and sun and wind. I finished just a few minutes over 4 hours but wasn’t discouraged in the least. In fact, I was just relieved to be done and glad it was over and glad that I didn’t experience any nausea which often comes with the heat.
My ankle swelled a bit during the marathon but didn’t necessarily hurt any more than before the race.  Sarah and the baby joined me on the trip there (leaving at 3am) and back and rested in the shade while I ran. We were home in time for lunch at 1pm from OKC!