Freedom Isn't Free--It Costs $20 on Race Day

13 min. w/u (1.5 miles)
2k in 7:40, 2k jog back to start
25 min. c/d (3+ miles)
Total: 7-8 miles

The day of our independence started out very early for the Three Musketeers, as we made our way to the outskirts of OKC for the Bethany Freedom Run. By "made our way" I mean took several wrong exits and wrong turns and somehow stumbled upon the race about 20 minutes before it started. Oops. I didn't care too much since I wasn't racing, but Jordan had hoped to get in a 5-mile workout with Jerry's Kids prior to the start and instead found his plans thwarted.

As we made our way to the starting line, I felt a twinge of jealousy for the people who were actually out there to compete. Normally I'm not big into doing a ton of local races, but seeing that I'm relatively fit right now it would've been fun to see what I could do. However, Jordan and more importantly Scott have both advised against me putting forth any more hard efforts before xc season starts, so I reluctantly agreed to heed their advice. That said, Jenny G. was there gunning for the women's title, so I thought it would be both fun and harmless for me to run a few hard k's with her before trotting back to the finish line to see everyone in.

The shotgun (yes, shotgun) went off just past 7:30 and we were on our way. Jenny and I split 3:45 and 7:40 comfortably through the first two k's before I bid her adieu and returned in the direction I came. Naturally I received my share of "you're going the wrong way" and "they went the other way" and the completely serious "did you win the race already?", all of which I suppose I deserved for running back along the race course. At any rate, I made it to the finish with about 5 minutes to spare before I saw Jordan approaching from the long straightaway leading to the finish. He looked strong and controlled and there was no one else in sight behind him. Jenny also won the women's race handily as she breezed in about five minutes later.

After taking a few minutes to recover, the three of us embarked on a leisurely cooldown back along the race course. Part of our plan was to locate Scotty D, whom none of us had seen since Jenny spotted him walking near 5k. Turns out he banged up his foot and endured a rather painful 2+ mile walk back to the finish area. The other huge letdown for the morning was not winning the airline tickets they raffled off at the end, despite having a 1-in-423 shot at doing so.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent eating brunch, drinking mimosas and napping, just as our founding fathers would have intended.