Sunday, March 18, 2012

Post Oak 25K race report

Well, it's now been almost a month since the race and I should of sat down to write this soon after the race but time got away from me.  So this will be short but sweet with a few pictures.


I loved every single thing about this race!  The organization, volunteers, course, post race food...it was all great!

Post Oak Run is held at Post Oak Lodge which is just northwest of Tulsa in the Osage Hills.  I chose to drive down early Saturday morning rather than stay overnight, since it's a short 2 hour drive.  I arrived early to the lodge and after running inside to pick up my bib, shirt, sticker and cup, I went back out to my car and ate my oatmeal.  It's rare I'm early enough to lounge around in the car for an hour before a race and it was kinda nice!  The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and temps in the 40's to start then rising to high 50's during the day.

I found Peggy and Beth right before the race and we started together.  Peggy took off like a flash right after the race started and I knew Beth was just behind me in the crowd.  I settled into a comfortable pace and tried to stay on my feet the first few miles.  It was rocky and hilly with soggy sections.  After 3 miles or so we came to some beautiful wide open sections of prairie and rolling hills.  This race is known for having "The Hill from Hell" and we got to climb it twice.  Once we went almost all the way up, then curved back down and around the other side of the monster hill...then climbed it all the way from the other side.  This course had a little bit of everything: open prairie, wooded technical single track, a paved section around a large pond, long steep hill and really pretty views.  It's rare to have a race day that is perfect from start to finish but if there ever was one, it was today.  I never had any anxiety or low points, just settled into a good pace and enjoyed it all!  Finished in 3:31:03 and headed into the lodge for a delicious post race meal.  They had vegetarian chili and BBQ sandwiches.  I ate, then put on my compression socks and headed home.  Will definitely run this one again next year!





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