Race Report: Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon

[Steffwalks]

My adventure took me to Oklahoma City. It's not that far for me, which makes it super nice! I am only about 2.5 to 3 hour drive from there. My friend, Kathy, and I stayed at the Sheraton in Bricktown. Bricktown is a commercial/warehouse district that at one time was OKC. Now, it's wonderful restaurants, entertainment, and fun place to be! It's a really great place to see on foot. There is a canal you can ride on in a water taxi, but it's way more interesting to walk along the canal, plus it's $7 for a short ride. Along the canal are pretty fountains and waterfalls and in one spot it looks almost like floating the canals of Venice because you are between (and lower) between a bunch of the stores and restaurants. -- Anyway, Bricktown which is downtown is very near the former location of the Alfred P. Murrow building that was bombed by McVeigh. The memorial is beautiful and touching. I did the race for Jeff (Mykeshi)in honor of his DF, Captain Randy Guzman, USMC. . Jeff lost his friend, college roommate, and Marine Corps bootcamp buddy in the bombing. I did my best to honor both of them. The race itself was truly amazing. There were more than 6,000 participants. The water/fuel stations were wonderful. We actually had one nearly every mile. Each station offered food, water, and Poweraid. -- I found out that bananas aren't good for me to race on!! Yuck! -- Each station had a theme. My favorite one had an Elvis Impersonator singing, they were all dressed up like Hollywood celebrities and seemed very happy!

It rained that morning, the race actually started in the rain, but after the gun went off (on time!) the rain stopped. The opening ceremony was truly beautiful with 168 seconds of silence and the Star Spangled Banner. Once the race started It was still pretty cold, but not bad. What can one expect on a windy, rainey day except a little cold! I felt great and just did an easy walk. Although the wind blew at 25 mph at times, I really enjoyed the race.

A little background on the race. The theme of the race is: Honor, Celebrate, Reach, and Unite a Race to Remember. This was the 8th annual race put together by running clubs and the city of Oklahoma City to honor the lost ones, those rescued, those who did the rescuing and those who heped to bring order back to Oklahoma after the fatal bombing. There were 168 people lost by that insane act including several children. Heartbreaking. Oklahoma City residents though, chose this race as a living memorial.

Residents came out of their homes and thanked us for participating! They even offered food and drink to all the participants. One neighborhood was all decorated in yellow balloons with an Balloon arch that we walked or ran beneath. And this wasn't a regular station, it was residents expressing their hope and grief. When I thanked the wonderful city police for doing a great job or the other volunteers they would say, "No thank you, you are doing this for us!" It was an awesome experience, one I wish more WISHERS particiapated in. We really enjoyed getting to meet Escape (Susie) and her DH. They are great!

This race will have a spot on my calender, for a long time to come!

 

[Big Vic]

Thanks, Connie.

Sounds like a great race.

 

[deekaypee]

Connie,

Thanks for the wonderful RR.

The whole area, with Bricktown, sounds like it would be a great place to visit. And the race, from its theme to its organization to its spectators, sounds very special. It's the kind of event that I'd like to do sometime.

 

[windwalker]

That truely was an adventure and you got to spend some quality time with Kathy also.

Walking Panda

 

[princessrunner]

Connie, awesome RR. I can't wait for next year. Hoping to see you, and Susie, there too!!!

 

[mkymsehi]

Connie/ aka Steff,

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for racing in honor of Randy. My tears welled up when I read my friends name, let alone mine. It meant so much more than words can express that you participated in the memory of Randy. Simply because you never met him, yet knew a WISHer who did.

For those who don't know this, Steff requested a copy of a picture of Capt. Guzman to carry with her during the race. I emailed her a copy of him in his dress blues, and he was along for the ride.

Why is this is so special?, because Randy always wanted to try running a marathon, but was always deployed somewhere during the month of December. So he never had the opportunity to run the Honolulu Marathon. In high school and college he was a cross country runner.

So, now with the help of Steff, Randy has run the the OKC Memorial Half, and with me the Honolulu Marathon three times, the Disneyland Half twice, and the Goofy once.

Mahalo Steff, you are wonderful.

 

[Mooshu]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Sounds like I'm going to have to run the Oklahoma marathon next year in memory of Randy. As someone who has met Randy, I feel that running in his memory is the least I could do.