Leaving on a jet plane
Eventually! As I sit in the COS airport, I’m reminded exactly why I don’t like flying for races. But this is an exception. It’s a short little solo jaunt to Tulsa, hopefully running the RunnersWorld Tulsa Half and Half Marathon, then heading home. So at least running clothes - even if I have to pack all the layers for the pending weather - don’t take up that much room! The race isn’t the primary goal of this trip however. It’s a nice side part to the timing of the trip. I think. I haven’t run a formal marathon in low 30s* in a while! Add in the fact that I know nothing about the first half of the race - the trail half and it’s definitely going to be an adventure. The half and half refers to the type of race - first half of the course is on trails and the second half is on roads. I think I’m going to be happy that the first half is trail - it will still be frozen when we start!
No, the race isn’t the goal. The goal is to completely, utterly surprise my dad. The last time I saw him was back when I was still doing Xterra Triathlons - so maybe 2011 on my way home from the Alabama race. Needless to say, it’s been a few years! And he keeps asking me to come out and run the Route 66 Marathon just before Thanksgiving, which has never worked into my schedule. For some reason, earlier this year Nick and I were talking about getting out to see him - maybe because we always spend some time with his parents and Mom still lives in COS. Doing the Route 66 Marathon was out again this year due to Dead Horse 50k, so I started combing the intertubes for some other potential races. After much searching, I sent some potential weekends to Kathleen for approval. Yes - there’s a second party involved in making this surprise happen. This weekend seemed to work the best for everyone - close enough that she would be able to control Dad’s work schedule and easy for me to work around with my work. So I got the plane tickets and signed up for the race (of course, doing the full half and half marathon - if I’m going to fly out there, I might as well add another full marathon to my count and who wants to do a plain road marathon?)
Flying and racing in December is always tricky. Weather wreaks havoc on everything and one delay cascades across the country. So I’m sitting on the floor at the COS airport with a delay flight and a rebooked flight to Tulsa. Oh well. The hassle of flying and stress of travel will be worth the look on Dad’s face when he and Kathleen show up at the airport in Tulsa. He’s expecting a fun filled weekend with Kathleen’s sister!!
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| Leaving on a jet plane... Last view of the mountains for a few days! |
No, the race isn’t the goal. The goal is to completely, utterly surprise my dad. The last time I saw him was back when I was still doing Xterra Triathlons - so maybe 2011 on my way home from the Alabama race. Needless to say, it’s been a few years! And he keeps asking me to come out and run the Route 66 Marathon just before Thanksgiving, which has never worked into my schedule. For some reason, earlier this year Nick and I were talking about getting out to see him - maybe because we always spend some time with his parents and Mom still lives in COS. Doing the Route 66 Marathon was out again this year due to Dead Horse 50k, so I started combing the intertubes for some other potential races. After much searching, I sent some potential weekends to Kathleen for approval. Yes - there’s a second party involved in making this surprise happen. This weekend seemed to work the best for everyone - close enough that she would be able to control Dad’s work schedule and easy for me to work around with my work. So I got the plane tickets and signed up for the race (of course, doing the full half and half marathon - if I’m going to fly out there, I might as well add another full marathon to my count and who wants to do a plain road marathon?)
Flying and racing in December is always tricky. Weather wreaks havoc on everything and one delay cascades across the country. So I’m sitting on the floor at the COS airport with a delay flight and a rebooked flight to Tulsa. Oh well. The hassle of flying and stress of travel will be worth the look on Dad’s face when he and Kathleen show up at the airport in Tulsa. He’s expecting a fun filled weekend with Kathleen’s sister!!
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