Where: Veteran's Park (21st & Boulder)
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UPDATE: This week’s Invite unintentionally must have resulted in Coach K feeling just a wee bit guilty about having us repeat a long run and having to spend half the day meeting our mileage target. Being the sage one, she has reconsidered and came up with the brilliant solution of having us start an hour earlier (6:45 AM versus 7:45 AM – Note: the “-ish” part is still applicable). While not fully in tune with the higher algebraic compilations, it seems intuitive that since we will finish earlier then this approach must be a whole lot faster, meaning that it’s a great way to increase our running pace without having to endure a lot of tortuous speed work and interval training. Way to go Coach K! Brilliant! And a heartfelt thank you from the bottoms of our collective soles.
Larry
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Last Saturday marked the 1st Day of Spring, 2010, and it left me uttering the following prayer to the Keepers of the Trails: Oh Please, your ever kind Sirs/Sirettes, Please let it be that when I fall down face first (note for the record: Not “if” I fall, but “when” I fall) that I fall in the slimy mud or in the pools of 32.00001 degree F water (smidge above freezing) and not on the hidden snow-covered rocks and incognito boulders. Please, please, please, let it be your will, allow it to happen, and I vow to never again pass judgment on your placement of poison ivy, surfacing roots, or low hanging branches conveniently hidden beyond the next blind turn.
Such is my memory of last weekend’s attempted running of “That Fang Thang”, otherwise known to all runnerkind as the TATUR Snake Run. Oh, did I happen to mention the freakin’ BLIZZARD, and I don’t mean the DQ variety? Folks from both within and outside the Tulsa area are quick to snicker, and I don’t mean the Mars variety, when you utter “Turkey Mountain”, as in seriously, Tulsa has a mountain? Well, less than a week ago, I was also a member of that “never seen it, don’t believe it” doubting community. But that was before Saturday’s sojourn up to the top of TM. Based on the weather conditions encountered, I am now an unwavering believer that the “mountain” guards a secret turk-worm hole that whisks the unsuspecting to elevations exceeding 10,000 feet – Matterhorn like territory. We doubting Tulsanians have obviously never seen this from the base because the magical Turkey Mountain comes equipped with its own cloaking device – a mirroring vaporous atmosphere that masks the Mountain’s true elevation and reflects back an image that seems merely “hill like” to the unsuspecting, and thereby preserving the sanctity and privacy of the Top.
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Except of course, to those wily cloak-busting TATUR Snake Run organizers who somehow managed to wrestle away the key to the secret passageway. This indisputable theory is the only logical explanation for last Saturday’s Blizzard, on the 1st day of Spring, no less. It also explains why no snakes were actually encountered (other than the afore-mentioned 2-legged kind disguised as TATUR Snake Run organizers) – snakes simply require more oxygen than can be attained near the crest of Turkey Mountain.Which brings us to this Saturday’s Runners World Marathon Training Run, to be originated at the more accommodating river bottom land elevation known as Veteran’s Park. Since last week’s weather provided us with a viable excuse for either cutting our training session short, or even avoiding it entirely, it was refreshing to learn that our revered task master Coach K was understanding of many of our short circuit decisions. Understanding yes, but sympathetic? Er, not so much, in fact, not at all. You see, “real” runners/runnerettes aren’t allowed to make excuses – rather, they get to make up for lost miles.
So, Coach K dutifully surveyed the land, sought the opinions of many, pretended like she even took these opinions under consideration, and has decreed that our just “reward” for this weekend is to re-run (after all, if you missed it the first time, it’ll feel like it’s brand new) last week’s scheduled run. So, for the Dom-N-8rz 9:51 group, we have earned the right, and have the obligation, to sacrifice a 22 miles offering of Arkansas River Trail running. Normal New start time of 7:45 6:45 AM’ish, and remember, no yak trax or blizzard gear required. Remember #2: Be ready, practice your prayers – Spring Forward but DON’T FALL DOWN!
Larry
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