Route 66 Marathon recap and more to be thankful for

So, the Sunday before Thanksgiving I earned this "Goddess of Speed" medal. I traveled to my 14th state and completed the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa Oklahoma. I was nervous but optimistic going into the race weekend. I had a lot going on at work and at home and the thought of preparing a Thanksgiving feast when I got back was stressing me out. My training had gone OK, which now that I type that seems kind of funny considering I was running in 'OK'(lahoma). I did a half marathon two weeks prior to the marathon and felt really confident about my potential for the marathon.

So, Tulsa.......not a whole lot to say about it. It sort of felt like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Big city buildings and modern amenities, but there seem to be a lack of people and cars the entire weekend like a virus swept through the week before and wiped everyone out. I could literally stand in the middle of Route 66 for several minutes waiting for tumbleweed to blow by and not see a single other person or vehicle go by. It was very strange.

The race....weather was perfect, low 40s to start warming up to 60 throughout the day, no wind, mostly sunny. The first half of the course was well supported by cheering crowds and a lot of free booze offered. Once the course split and the half marathoners continued to the finish and the full marathoners made their way to the second half of the course, the crowds thinned, the course quieted, even the volunteers seemed a little less enthusiastic. I ran a really strong first half and felt pretty good. Then it was like I had been running on a treadmill set to zero incline and someone just slowly added 0.5. It wasn't 'hilly' per se but there were noticeable long gradual false flats as I like to call them. The roads looked flat, but had every so slight inclines that over the last 13.1 miles of the marathon slowly defeated me.

The race was advertised as walker friendly and course open for 7.5 hrs so I thought I was pretty safe even if I had an off day. Well, they really closed the course at 6.5 hrs gun time and kept the finish line open for 7.5, but cleaned up and opened roads after about 6 hours. I wasn't too concerned until I got within maybe 3 miles of the finish and there were NO cones and NO course markings and all the volunteers gone too. So I foolishly followed the person in front of me thinking they knew the way. Turns out they did not. We both got lost in the last 2 miles and meandered helplessly through an industrial park type area until we found a police car and got back onto the course. After that, the girl I was following opted for the additional detour they offer for the world's shortest Ultra marathon and I opted to just finish. Still no course markers so I pulled up a map of the finish area on my phone and did my best to navigate there. I am pretty sure I missed a few turns on the official course, but my Garmin said 26.3 when I finished so I'm calling it completed.

Anyway, all things considered, I was faster than Little Rock and felt relatively good afterwards. Normal soreness and lack of energy, but nothing excruciating. I flew back to Boston and met a lovely woman on the plane who even donated to my Dana Farber fundraising page. Got home and snuggled my kittens and then had an awesome Thanksgiving with a pot roast instead of a turkey (because turkey and all the fixins is a pain in the ass). I recovered nicely after a post race acupuncture treatment and started my Dopey training the next weekend with a 4 mile run and a 7 mile run and both felt amazing!

Now that I am home and have a few things checked off my to-do list, I can refocus again and start thinking about Dopey and Boston. My fundraising is still going really well. I hope that I can keep up this pace and reach my goal to raise $20,000 by April. Right now I am just over $9000.00 and my company just started a matching program so as soon as that kicks in I should be close to $13.1K. If you're reading this and you have not donated yet, please consider giving a little or a lot, 100% of every dollar raised goes to innovative cancer research. It really does make a difference.

Someone asked me recently "why $20K, why not just $10K, isn't that enough?" My initial response was "why not?" and then upon further discussion with the person I explained that this is a cause I am passionate about and it has touched my life in multiple ways. I have lost loved ones and gained extended family through the Dana Farber team. And unlike other charitable organisations that give only a small portion of the money that is raised to the cause, the Barr Program for the Dana Farber Marathon team was specifically set up to make sure 100% goes to the cause. AND because of the unique location of Dana Farber in the heart of Boston's medical community they can treat and study the disease in the same location. AND they have proven success at doing both!

So, I'm not just running a marathon or asking people for money, I genuinely feel like I am making a difference in the fight against this disease. Yes, a big part of that is asking people for money, but I try to be creative about it and find different ways to say thank you and different ways to make it fun. One of those ways is through Mile Dedications. For donations of $100 or more I offer mile dedications and so far all but 4 miles are dedicated to friends and family members that are fighting cancer or cheering from heaven.

Here's my link www.rundfmc.org/2018/alicial  Please help me reach my goal and let's make a difference together!