Route 66 Marathon
Tulsa, OK
Sunday, November 20, 2011
8:00 AM

This was my 87th marathon and I liked it A LOT!

Packet pickup on Saturday was efficient. There was also a large expo. Each runner received a tote bag and short-sleeved cotton T-shirt. Pre-race pasta dinner on Saturday night was less than desirable (the food was semi-warm)!

The start line was in downtown Tulsa. Race day temperature was in the 30s. It was chilly, windy, and cloudy; fortunately, no rain. There were water/sports drink stations at every other mile, staffed by a large number of cheerful volunteers. There were sports gels, bananas, and pretzels in a few locations. There were bands and individual musicians throughout the course. There were pace groups. Splits were digitally displayed. There were a large number of hilly sections. The course was monitored well and traffic control was quite good. The first half was fairly scenic as we ran through several residential neighborhoods where crowd support was pretty good. The second half wasn't scenic but wasn't too bad either. We shared the first half with the half marathoners. The finish line was in the Veterans Park. Each finisher received a very nice medallion and a short-sleeved technical T-shirt. There were adequate recovery drinks and food items at the finish. We were shuttled to the downtown area where we had parked our cars. In short, the 6th edition of Route 66 Marathon was a well-organized running event, which I think will continue gaining popularity among runners for years to come.

There were 1439 marathon finishers (868 male, 571 female) in the average time of 4:43:02. The winning times were 2:28:33 (male) and 2:57:04 (female). There were also a fairly large number of relay marathon teams.

I ran my first marathon in 2007 and expected a similar course. There were a lot less hills so I expected my second marathon to be a lot better.
The first half of the marathon was great to run but the amount of hills in the second half was brutal. I also think the cold weather caused the hills to be more difficult. Perhaps if they were spaced out a little more it would have been much easier.

I signed up for this race about 2 1/2 weeks before the race as a training run between two other marathons. I hadn't run anything in Oklahoma either so it was a way to cross off a few from my list.

Pros:

Lodging-tons of it in Tulsa and if you're willing to drive a few miles, you can get really inexpensive rates. I stayed by the airport and it was easy to get downtown for the race.
Expo-Small but easy to navigate. They did run out of XL and XXL shirts but notified participants of the issue in advance. Not a huge deal but still a little unfortunate.
Race Corrals- Easy to get into and having the host hotel next door to keep people warm was great!
Course-I enjoyed it. It rolls a bit but the worst hill is at mile 2. Then it's a nice run through various parts of the city.

Cons:
Corral Starting- It's usually a good thing but making each wave wait 5 minutes was completely overkill. I felt bad for the woman starting beside me who wanted to pace w/the 4 hour pacer only to find out they were in corral 'A' and they'd be 5 minutes ahead. She wasn't pleased! With the number of people, having corrals is great but there was zero need for the staggered start. There would have been plenty of room for everyone.
Pacers: I know pacing is a tough and mostly thankless job but some of the ones I saw weren't even close to pace early. The 2:10 half pacer was ahead of the 4:15 pacer by a little bit around mile 4 and the 4:30 pacer was about 3+ minutes ahead at mile 5. It didn't matter to me much since I was doing my own thing but I know others were bothered (I talked to a woman for a mile about it as she wasn't happy!).
Course-I know I listed it as a pro but it was also a negative, too. I talked to at least a dozen people in both the half and full and they all asked if it was long. I give any course 1% margin of error from watch to distance. This one was at least double that. It was a training run for me but had I been shooting for a PR, BQ or what have you, I may have been miffed if I missed it by seconds.

All in all, it's a decent race with some upside potential.

I ran Route 66 as part of a two-day double along with the White River Marathon in Mountain Home, AR. Many others were doing the same thing and it would be cool to see the races partner up and offer a reduced entry fee for those running both races.

The organization of the race was superb with very good attention to detail. The participant shirt is pretty cheap, but the finisher's shirt is very nice and high quality. The finisher's medal is one of the best out there. The course is challenging with some decent inclines/declines. The town of Tulsa seemed somewhat desolate, as few people turned out for the race; however, the ones who did were great and welcoming.

My only complaint is the way in which the half marathon and full marathon merge at two different points on the course. Something needs to be done to alleviate this congestion. Marathoners running 6:30 pace mixing with half marathoners running above 8:00 pace do not mix well. The last mile of the race was very difficult with all of the congestion.

All in all, a good race that is still early on in its development. They have a lot more positives than negatives and I suspect this race will continue to improve and grow in the future.

The course highlights the city and is a good mix of small hills and turns. This is a great race for first-time marathoners as the organizers go all out to give positive encouragement. However, the jewel of this marathon is the volunteers - the friendliest I have ever seen. This race will grow.

I have been training for over 25 years, but have never entered a full, or half. I decided to run the half in Tulsa this year. They did a fantastic job... from the expo with many vendors, to the emails to keep me in the loop. On race day, it seemed as if there were as many volunteers as there were runners! Plentiful water breaks, awesome and happy volunteers, great medal, and great food! Thank you for your great organization, and fantastic course!

Kudos to the people of Tulsa and the Route 66 Marathon organizers.

Adding a health fair to your expo was a nice touch. The marathon course itself was well planned. The hilly portion of the course came early in the race, winding through business and beautiful residential areas. There were plenty of turns so I didn't notice the hills much. After that the course leveled out, then there was only wind to contend with.

The Tulsa race fans were super. The end of race organization, support and food were top-notch. The roadside car show was an unexpected bonus.

This is my 2nd Route 66. I wasn't all that excited about running this race this year because I wasn't crazy about the course last year. However, the race organizers, each year, listen to the participants and make changes to improve the experience. I was glad they added the extra 2 miles through the hills (Cascia Hall and Swan Lake), and took two off of the Riverside Drive out-and-back at the end. It seemed like there were a few more spectators this year. Also, the corral start, even for a race this small, was a good improvement. I liked the medal, and I really liked the MC at the finish line. Lots of fun. The finish area around Veterans Park is great. Gives you a place to stretch your legs at the end. I finished early enough this time to get some finisher food, so I was happy about that. The course may have been a little slower this year due to the fierce south wind on the out-and-back. Also, there was some congestion where the half-marathoners merged back with the full marathoners from around mile 15 to mile 17. It was a little bit tricky dodging them. Would be nice to have separate lanes for those two miles. Kudos to the host hotel for allowing a 3:00 p.m. late checkout, but I was disappointed that they didn't have any complementary water, bananas, bagels, etc. for the marathoners. You could buy a bagel at the coffee shop for $2, and it was pretty stale.

My second year to run Tulsa. It was a warm and windy day, but no sun, so yea for that. Even with 9K runners, it was easy to get in and and around. Well organized with enthusiastic promoters and volunteers. Good spectators, but I would expect/like more fan support as this young marathon matures.

My two suggestions for improvement would be to have a short swing off of the long Riverside leg to break it up, and intersperse a few more water stops in the later miles.

A very enjoyable experience in Tulsa. The expo was smooth; the shuttle buses ran from several downtown hotels; there was a great opening; and we ran a good course that covered what there was to see downtown and was "out and back" for the second half. This made it easy on my legs not having to negotiate a lot of turns in the second half - just running into that Oklahoma wind for five miles before turning back for the finish. The course was well marked.

Thanks to all of the course support. All of the stations had water and Gatorade, and I had no problem at the finish area regarding medal/finisher shirt pick-up/available food and beverage at the end with a 4:40 finish.