Garmin Marathon

Arrive in Kansas City on Thursday, April 24 to rain.  I was looking forward to this marathon for two reasons: (1) I was going to run with Cara on two consecutive days, I have seen her since we last ran the Baton Rouge Marathon in January and (2) I was going to checking off the states of Kansas and Oklahoma this weekend.  On the way from the airport to the hotel encountered hailed and lighting for 15 minutes.  I took a nap prior to going over to the expo to pick-up our race number and goody bag. 

Sometime later in the day I walked over to 7-Eleven to grab some water and Gatorade for the weekend.  I took a cab over to the Expo to grab Cara and my Bib numbers, the Expo was located on the second floor of the Hampton Inn and number pickup was in the hall and t-shirt was in one of the smaller ballrooms. 

Outside of the Hampton Inn

  It took all of 5 minutes to grab both packets and head back to the hotel, after returning from expo stopped at front desk to ask for a late checkout on Saturday afternoon for 1:30 and was told they could only confirmed a late check out until 12:00 so they could clean the rooms, so asked if could I extend the room for one additional night and would they charge the full amount or half price, I would be charged full rice, even though I would be leaving right at 1:30.   I would not be recommending the Microtel Inn by Wynham Olathe to any of my friends that are considering running the Land of Oz (Garmin) Marathon in the future.  

Cara text me around 4:45 saying it was time for some dinner.  We had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse since that sounded well than the other choices.  After dinner we stopped at 7-Eleven to pick up some water for us for the next two days.  After getting everything Cara put our Flat Runner outfit together.  

Cara and Floyd Garmin Marathon Flat Runner

After a somewhat restless night I got up at 4:30 to have my oatmeal downstairs in order not to not disturb Cara who wanted to be up at 5:00.  We departed the hotel around 5:30 to head over to Garmin International where we sat in the car to finish our bananas and water.  As we were walking over we decided that it was a bit chilly and went back to the car to retrieve a short sleeve shirt for Cara and our arm warmers.  We walked to the meeting area for the Maniac picture and bathroom stop before heading into the corrals for the start of the marathon.

Prior to leaving the parking lot 

MM/HF before the start of the race

After the picture we headed over to us the port-a-potty and ran into a mutual friend Jennifer from Chicago.  We decided to walk around for a bit before heading over to the corrals.  On our walk back over the starting area Cara and I stop to say hello to a couple of Maniacs and Cara stop to meet some new four legged friends.

Cara always in a happy mood

After the signing of the National Anthem it was time for our first of 3 States, 3 Marathons in 9 days.  The first two states; Kansas and Oklahoma were repeat states for Cara and two new states for me. We discussed our strategy for the race and Cara said we would be doing a 4:1 interval for as long as possible since we would be running the next day and didn't know how we would feel after a 5 hour drive to Oklahoma City.  We stuck with this plan until the latter part of the marathon and had fun.

Still smiling.  Guy behind you is trying not to look up.

Dark sky behind us

Somewhere around mile 4 or 5 we meet Colleen.  She asked us what intervals we were running and asked if she could join us.  She was also a fellow maniac and she was so much fun.  A couple of miles after this picture the sky decided it was time to ruin our peaceful moment and starting hailing, lightening, heavy down pour and wind for 3.5 miles.  I was not a happy camper, I do not like running in rain. 

Before the heavy downpours

After the storm

Cara and Colleen dancing and having fun

Colleen and her new friend.  Sorry I took the picture of you with a  mouth full of pretzels. 

We finally left the neighborhoods headed towards the bike trail.  This was a nice change, because it was an out and back and we got to see many friends that were also running the Garmin Marathon.   We ran on the trail from the half-way point of the marathon until the turn around at mile 18.5 and slowly made our way back towards the finish line.

Cara and Colleen

Me  and Cara

 Cara posing

BFF photo op

Can we say we are in single digits left for the marathon.  

The above section of the trail had some parts that were muddy and slippery especially the bridge at the turn around.  During this part of the course we saw our friends Carol, Steve and Eddie.  Starting at mile 21 there was the gentle incline that we were not expecting at this point of the race that continued until the end of the race.  At mile 25 we pass the below sign that told us we had 1 mile left before we reach the Emerald City.

We continue to follow this path until we reach the Olathe High School where we could see the finish line that was decorated with follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Finally done!

Me and Scott and the Finish Line.  Scott has run over 100 marathons

After a free massage and quick change in the parking garage we were on our way to Oklahoma City.

Since about 2010 I have been told that Garmin "In the Land Oz" Marathon was a great event and I agree.  This marathon should be on everyone calendar in the future.