CJ’s Kicks on Route 66

CJ Morrison--cyclist, full-time shoe fitter, and fueling strategist extraordinaire--won the 2025 Route 66 Marathon! CJ tells all, including how many Dr. Peppers he consumed and how he chose the shoes he wore during Tulsa's favorite 26.2.

Photo credit to Chris Barnes and Route 66 Marathon!

Q: Did you see this coming? 

A: Yes and no. Yes, because I firmly believe there is always a possibility to win any race I enter (Even if it means that everyone else has to DNF, highly improbable but not impossible as long as i finish there is always a chance something happens) and thought it was definitely possible if I was able to run a 2:33 or better based on historical results. No, because I knew this was my 2nd ever standalone marathon and I don't train for this distance so there were the unknowns of inexperience, how my legs would perform, and that the time I thought I needed to run sounded very daunting but at the same time achievable if I had my best possible day.

Q: What was your race strategy?

A: Run faster than everyone else haha. I knew going into the race I wanted to break it up into 4 sections mentally, the first hilly section (Miles 0-5), followed by the long flat section on Riverside (Miles 6-17ish), the second and more scary hilly section (Mile 18-21) and finally the part where the race runs itself (mile 22-26). I was gonna try to be conservative in the first section then settle in during the second while trying to save something for the final hilly part and then just empty the tank during the last 5 miles to the finish.

Q: Was there a moment when the race dynamic shifted? 

A: Around miles 6-7 one runner had caught me and started setting a blistering pace, at that moment I was like well if I’m gonna win the race I gotta run with this guy and my pacing plan went straight out the window. I mainly was telling myself just make it one more mile before you blow up until about mile 18 when mentally I was like oh, I can make it to the finish with this guy and I was very confident if it came down to a sprint I’d take it. Then around mile 19.5 it felt like the pace had started to slow down and I decided I like to race with panache and I’m either off the front or off the back so let’s just send it. I attacked and got a gap and from that point I was able to put 5 minutes into 2nd place by the finish.

Q: How did you pick your running shoes?

A: I went with the shoes that felt the best duh. But our Brooks rep had brought a pair of shoes by the store earlier in the year that I instantly fell in love with and knew they were gonna be my go-to race shoe. Really I was just looking for a fast and light race day shoe and the Hyperion Elite 5 hit all the boxes and felt fantastic so it was an easy choice.

Q: How many Dr. Peppers did you drink? 

A: Sadly, only 2 this year. 

Q: Besides Dr. Pepper, what was your fueling strategy?

A: I was shooting for somewhere between 50-100g of carbs an hour based on how my stomach handled the nutrition on the day. My stomach was bothering me all day even before the race and I only ended up getting about 75g of carbs from my gels. Which was not enough but fortunately I was able to make it work

Q: What did it feel like to see the finish line and know you were going to win? 

A: Honestly I didn’t think I had the win wrapped up until the last 100-50m, I’m always super paranoid someone is gonna come from behind and pip me at the line so I normally don’t think I’ve got the win secured until I’ve crossed the line. But once I crossed the line it was really just joy and this feeling of relief that I can win at bigger races and that my friends who believed in me being able to win and go fast weren’t let down. It feels hard to describe but it’s not that I think they’d be disappointed or that I let them down. It's like showing them hey you believed/put faith in my abilities and it wasn’t misplaced. For me it can be a definite motivator sometimes mid race to be like they believe I can do this so I think I can as well and it always feels good to prove them right.

Q: Was there anything else that surprised you on the day?

A: My time tbh, I went 5 minutes faster than what I thought my best possible day would have been. I don’t run a lot and I was by no means training for a full marathon so I was genuinely surprised with the performance.

Q: What does this mean to you personally? Any epiphanies?

A: Every win is special for one reason or another and who knows if I’ll ever win another marathon but it definitely feels very special as it was my first marathon win. Especially on local roads with all my friends and training partners there it really feels special.  It also makes me think maybe I should focus a lot more on the marathon since I dropped 14 minutes over my previous marathon pr, haha. It’d be fun to see how fast I could go but who knows.