Review & Map Course of A2A Marathon,Ardmore OK (TripleH / HHH)

4/1/2012 - Review of A2A Marathon,Ardmore OK (TripleH / HHH)

This Marathon was a relatively small event and an overall great experience of running from one of OK State's most beautiful spots through the open fields to Ardmore on the historic route 77.

More details and review of the course with a map are below, but before that; I have been thinking for a while how to rank a marathon or any other run by its difficulty, after all there are many factors that affect that. I think I cracked the nut, the new system I thought about is the  hRank metric for Marathons' difficulty ranking. A Marathon's possible difficulties include the following categories:
Heat - how hot the weather was during the race
Humidity - how humid it was during the Marathon
Headwind - was there a strong headwind and for how many miles?
Hills - was the course hilly?
Hydration - were there enough hydration/electrolytes stations?
Height above sea level - this on is clear, no?

The hRank metric is still being thought through and is not 100% objective, but basically a Marathon gets 1/2H 1H etc for each of the categories that applies for that race. For example, the E.T. Full Moon Marathon would score HHH, TripleH, one for Hills, one for Hydration and one for Height. get it?
Ranking of a race would range as follows:
 SextH - HHHHHH - These races are the most challenging, every possible variable works against you.
QuintH - HHHHH
QuadH - HHHH 
TripleH - HHH 
DoubleH - HH
SingleH - H
 NixH - None - these are the races you would like to run for a PR


I hope to use this system from now on in all my reviews. Now back to A2A Marathon.

The Start - Turner Falls Overlook

Bar Nothin Road

The Ranch

Country road

Ranking: TripleH, HHH. Weather conditions were hot and humid with 15-20mph headwinds for 23 miles out of the 26.2.

Distance: 26.2 miles

Course: The Marathon is a point-to-point course starting at Turner Falls Overlook in the Arbuckle Mountains. The courses is mostly on Highway 77, once we were on it the marathon course was mostly downhill from about mile 3 to about mile 16. I enjoyed the scenic countryside of the foothills. There is a quick out and back on mile 7,  we turned east running through Bar Nothin’ Horse Ranch, once back on the highway the marathon course continues straight south for an additional 9 miles all the way to Ardmore. At mile ~20 we headed west for  a short out-and-back to the lake in Ardmore Regional Park, this leg was about 5 miles.  From there the last stretch took us into Noble Stadium to finish the marathon after completing a 3/4 of a lap.
Crowd: Mostly locals

The easy part: There is a steep downhill part at about mile 3.8, take it easy catch up on some lost seconds and be ready for the rest of the race

The challenging part: The marathon started relatively late at 8am in the morning. By 9-10am temperatures were already in the 80s, add to that the humidity and the headwind and you are facing quite difficult conditions to deal with.

Price: $85

Pacers: None

Timing: Chip on shoe

Qualifying: None

Official website: A2A Marathon

My 2 cents: My strategy was to open strong assuming the headwind will go away as the temperature rise, which will also be helpful in running the more difficult part of the course before it gets really hot. My plan, simply out, failed. The wind lasted throughout the course and the temperature rose faster than I expected. My 2 cents for you folks who consider that race, is to train in similar conditions. Coming from California and running prior 3 Marathons at ~60 degrees dint make this one easier.



Thanks for reading and as always please don't hesitate to email/reach out with any questions.
Thanks!

runnersreviews.blogspot.com/


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