STATE #3

Race Bib

Less than two months later, time for another half marathon.  Originally I was thinking of running two races back to back on the same weekend, one in Kansas and another in Oklahoma.  In the end, I decided I wasn’t ready to run back to back half marathons.  So I opted to run in Kansas instead of Oklahoma because this race just seemed to be fun.  Kansas, Land of Oz, Garmin headquarters, Metro Kansas City, Bar-B-Que, 50 Dorothy costumes… what’s there not to enjoy.  Unless the weather turns bad (more later).  Another appeal was that the race was on a Saturday which gave me an extra day off to drive back home.

Is this Bob’s Road?
(Twister)

After a long scenic drive through the American heartland, a long detour around most of eastern Kansas to see tall grass and cows, I made it to Olathe just in time to pick up my race information and packet (actually, it appeared that you could pick them up race morning as well which was very convenient since parking was nearby too).  The pickup was in a hotel conference room.  Adjacent to the hotel was Oklahoma Joe’s.  From what I was able to research, this appeared to be one of the top places to experience KC Bar-B-Que.  We walked in there at a perfect time on a Friday evening.  The line hadn’t grown very long yet.  So we stood in line, ordered what we thought was best and proceeded to have a delicious KC BBQ dinner.  I would have to agree, Oklahoma Joe’s is outstanding. But… when I tried to go back there after the race on Saturday and saw a huge line out the door and down the block, I decided to head into downtown Kansas City to the Power & Light District to see what was up.  And low and behold, I think I came across the place even better than Oklahoma Joe’s.  I was given a tip to try Jack’s Stacks.  A place so good that Anthony Bourdain thought it was the best in BBQ but said that the place was too clean.  It took a bit to find, near the Union Station just outside of downtown, but I will say without a doubt that it was the absolute best BBQ I’ve ever had, EVER!  As quickly as OK Joe’s took #1 in my mind, I had to bump them down to #2.  Honestly, I think Jack’s Stacks was infinitely better than OK Joe’s, that much better.  But compared with most places I’ve eaten in the deep south, I’d still give the #2 spot to OK Joe’s.  That place is still way better than anything you can get in Louisiana or Mississippi.  But we’re not really known for our BBQ either.  And no, I didn’t make the mistake of ordering anything cajun, creole, seafood or crawfish-looking while in the middle of the country, 1000 miles away from any water.  Now that I’ve succeeded at getting us all hungry for the moment, let’s get on to the race itself.

Sunrise

Saturday started off beautiful.  It was cool (for Louisiana standards) but very comfortable.  It might have been around 54F.  The sun was out, but there was a small chance of showers or a thunderstorm for the morning.  I have no idea why.  It was as if some renegade storm front was moving across the plains just to throw a wrench into everyone’s weekend plans.  But at the time, none of that mattered in Olathe.  I arrived about an hour early, parked very easily in the Garmin garage and proceeded to the race area.  This is where I saw the most costumes.  I must have seen fifty Dorothys.  But I also saw a number of Glindas and a handful of tinmans, lions and scarecrows.  I also saw a ton of pacers.  They had pacers for almost every time that you could even imagine.  They were everywhere.  There were two for each group for the marathon and half marathon.  I actually lined up around the 2:45 group mainly because I don’t like bunching up at the beginning of a race, but it really wasn’t that bad.

Start

I ended up creeping up past the 2:40 and not long after the start I was up with the 2:35 group.  Within about half a mile, I inched on up to the 2:30 group.  I stayed here until the first ‘hill’.  The first hill wasn’t much so I kept on my steady pace and found myself with the 2:25 group quickly.  We made our way through downtown Olathe and another water stop before reaching the real hill.  By the time the pacers were telling everyone NOT to look ahead, it was too late.  It was a straight down and back up incline, pretty steep.  This came in between miles 4 and 5 which was probably best.  I would have hated this thing at the finish.  This was the first time that I walked and it was only towards the end of the incline.  I can usually manage hills, but this thing was pretty steep and I knew that we had a long way left to go.  This was also when I began to notice the dark black clouds roll towards us and the thunder in the distance.

The Hill

Surprisingly, I was still able to hold on to the 2:25 group after the big hill and continued with them on back over I-35 (which is another more gradual hill) around Mile 7.  This was about when the rain started.  It was those large and spaced out big drops at first, not a real downpour.  The thunder got louder though and I could see some flashes out of the corner of my eye.  We were still heading more eastward though, but this wasn’t good.  Originally we were heading north and west, seemingly away from the weather, but now we had looped back and was heading straight back towards it.

Storm approaching

By Mile 8, right before the park, it was starting to lightning pretty good and I couldn’t tell if it was cloud lightning or ground.   I love weather, but I also like it from inside my car or other shelter.  I make no excuses that I’m pretty terrified of lightning, especially when I’m outside exposed to it.  I felt confident that there was going to be some sort of announcement, sort of like in Arkansas, race stopped, seek shelter, wait out the weather.  For a while, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.  I figured that the race clock wouldn’t stop but I was going to stop my Garmin anyway.  I kept playing out scenarios in my head, what do I do if the race is stopped or canceled, what do I do if lightning strikes nearby, what do I do if lightning strikes somebody near me, what if lightning strikes me?  I do realize that runners run in all sorts of weather conditions, but I have never willingly run in lightning.  I ran around the lakes once with a storm approaching and was able to make it back to my car before it got close enough.  I wasn’t stupid enough to run a second lap just because I needed to even though lightning was in the area.  But this was new territory for me.  What would happen next?  So basically I just watched around me to see what everyone else did.

Trail

Once on the park trail, we were surrounded by trees.  I actually felt better with the trees around me.  I didn’t feel so exposed then.  Surely lightning would strike a tree before trying to weave down through the canopy for me.  The rain also started to come down harder.  I made it to the first tunnel at around 9.5 and was really wondering what would happen next.  I really really didn’t want the race to be canceled outright.  I was starting to think of how mad I would be if I had run 9 miles just to have the race canceled completely due to a storm.  You mean I’d have to come back to Kansas to run another race again to have it count?  But I also didn’t want to get struck by lightning.  So after passing the first tunnel (where nobody stopped for longer than 10 seconds), I kept tracking on but at a slightly slower pace.  I began to lose the 2:25 group.  Every time lightning would strike, I’d duck down a bit.  I tried to stay with a group of people, selfishly thinking that perhaps it would lessen my chances of getting struck.  By myself in the open, yeah, I was certainly a sitting duck.  So I would run fast to catch a group, then slow down to let another group catch me.  Total selfishness on my part.  😉  (I don’t believe anybody died out there that day, so we can joke about it now)

Not very far down the road, maybe around Mile 10, there was a huge bolt of lightning.  At that point, I had almost had enough.  I just knew the race was canceled now.  No way we could continue.  I also heard car horns blowing and thought that that was the sign to stop.  I saw a second tunnel ahead and I told someone that I was heading for the tunnel.  We ran fast to the tunnel and then I stopped.  I stopped my watch and proceeded to watch about 50 or so people run past me over the course of about 45 seconds.  Well, surely these people know what they’re doing I thought.  They either know something that I don’t or they’re completely insane.  So after realizing that the race wasn’t stopping let alone there weren’t any sane people in the crowd who were willing to save themselves rather than finish a silly little race, I decided to suck it up, start my garmin back up and continue into the electric storm.  If I died today, I was going to be really pissed.  😛  By now, the 2:30 group had caught up and was starting to pass me.  I had to let them pass.  Every time lightning would strike, I’d cower down a bit, slow down, look around to assess the situation.  Did you notice, that creek next to us was rising as well.  Luckily it never got that high.  Luckily also, the storm started to pass by about a mile after the second tunnel.  I’m passed Mile 10 now, no way I’m stopping now.  I was surprised that my phone made it through the storm.  I packed it underneath an under pocket once the rain started.  I really didn’t care at that point.  My phone is due for replacement anyway and it’s getting so slow now.  I think I wanted it to die.  But it didn’t.  Although once the rain did stop, it did have water or moisture on the lens so a few pictures along Miles 12 didn’t come out very well.  There were signs all over indicating 1 mile left to Emerald City and had all the characters with virtues such as brains, heart, and courage.

Finish Line

I couldn’t keep up with the 2:30 group though.  I stayed near the back of the group until nearly Mile 12.5, but then I lost them completely.  I mean, I had gained a good 10 pounds or more in water weight.  I felt heavy.  Running in soaked clothing wasn’t something I had really expected.  So I trudged on as best I could.  I was hoping to set a new Personal Record, especially since I was feeling really good up until the storm, but at this point I just wanted to finish.  It was really windy, I was soak and wet, it was getting a little cold even.  However, as I neared the finish, I realized that the 2:35 group hadn’t passed me yet, so there was still hope.  I also heard over the PA that the marathon leader hadn’t finished yet.  I found this a little surprising.  I guessed I figured he would have been ahead of me, passed me during that storm somewhere and I just wasn’t paying attention.  As I made it around the last turn towards the finish, there was a huge crowd waiting and they started to erupt into a loud cheer.  With nobody really in front of me, they were cheering for me, right?  Haha, I wish I had put up my hands like “Thank you, thank you”.  That would have been embarrassing for sure.  Not even 50 yards from the finish, the marathon leader (Kory Cool) overtook me in a cheetah like sprint.  Immediately, my thought was “Wow, I’m actually going to finish with the marathon winner”.  What a humbling experience.  It was really exciting seeing him cross that finish line having run twice the distance in the same amount of time as it took me to run 13 miles.  Wow.  You really have to respect those guys.  After the finish, we congratulated each other.  I do believe that will be the closest I’ll ever get to feeling like a winner, but it felt really awesome.  I was overly excited for the both of us.  He didn’t have time to be excited, but I just couldn’t believe that I was right there to witness the finish of what everybody was cheering for.

assortment of costumes

Post race was set up well.  I think they ran out of the mylar blankets which really sucked on this day because of the freak thunderstorm.  It wouldn’t’ have bothered me otherwise, but ultimately I left sooner than I was going to because it just got too cold for me.  But they did have the most delicious blueberry yogurt that I’ve ever tasted.  I had two, they were so good.  I also had a grilled chicken sandwich provided by Tyson and an ice cold Michelob Ultra.  Yep, i think this is my new favorite beer.  I like it lite and I love it ice cold.  Garmin had a tent set up showcasing their gadgets, general items for those not already familiar with Garmin and newer items for those who were.  There was also a massage tent set up nearby.

I stuck around a few more minutes, cheered a few people crossing the finish line and then decided that I had to warm up, so I went back to the car and changed clothes.  Good thing I parked in that garage after all, even though the rain had stopped completely by the time we finished.  I guess it wouldn’t have been a good run through Oz without the slightest chance of a tornado.  Now I can say that I ran a half marathon in a thunderstorm in Kansas.  Scratch that off my bucket list now (quickly adds that to the bucket list).

Post Race Dinner

I think I’ll be taking a break now.  It’s almost summer time and I can’t imagine running 13 miles anywhere in the south from May through September.  So I’m looking into Indiana, Missouri (St. Louis) and Oklahoma as options for later this fall.  As with all of my previous planning, I’m sure that list will change completely by the next race.  I think I’ve already been committed to do the Princess Run in Orlando next February for a friend’s birthday.  I just don’t know it yet.  Haha.

As for Olathe, this was a great race.  After dealing with strange reactions from people in Missouri, I found Kansas people to be extremely friendly.  I’d love to do this race again sometime in the future.  Maybe I could dress up as a 6 foot tall munchkin also.

Cheers,

Race: Garmin Marathon in the Land of Oz, Wicked Fast Half

Date: April 26, 2014, 8AM

Place: Garmin Headquarters; Olathe, KS

Time: 2:34:20