My sister and I traveled to Oklahoma City on Saturday in preparation for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon was started 17 years ago and had 5,000 runners in the inaugural race. It has grown over the years and this year was the largest yet with almost 26,000 runners. This was our second time running this race and it is always a very special one. It is special because it reminds you of what it means to be human. It reminds you of who we have lost. It reminds you of how strong the human race is.
Why We Run The Oklahoma Memorial Marathon
April 19, 1995 was just an ordinary spring Wednesday. People went about their normal lives but very soon everything changed. At 9:02 a.m. that spring morning, a truck with a bomb in it was parked outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. It went off causing the entire side of the building to collapse and literally implode on itself claiming 168 victims, including 19 children from the daycare in the building.
I remember this day very well. I was in 5th grade and was informed at school that there had been an explosion in Oklahoma City. It wasn’t until I went home that evening and watched the news that I realized how truly devastating this was. It was hard for most people to wrap their brains around what had happened due to sheer magnitude of the situation. The investigators after they realized it was a bombing, started to use the terrorism word. This was unprecedented at the time. In our national history, there had just been the bombing attempt on the World Trade Center a couple of years before. The consensus was that terrorism happened in other countries but not in the US and especially not in the heartland.
In spite of all the things going on in the aftermath of the bombing, an amazing thing happened. Oklahomans pulled together and worked with each other, helped each other and grieved with each other in ways that sadly only tragedy could produce. This became known as the Oklahoma Standard. In the hours and days following the bombing, the community of Oklahoma City especially came and helped the rescue workers, fed them, housed them and provided for their needs. For example, on the evening of April 19, a thunderstorm rolled into Oklahoma City. The rescue workers informed the media that they could use ponchos and rain gear. Within the hour, they had more than enough rain gear. One rescue worker from out of state is recorded as saying, “this is an Oklahoma dollar (as he pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket). I brought this with me when I came and I am taking it home with me when I leave.” He had not had to spend a dime as all his needs were met by the people he was trying to help.
Oklahomans are resilient. Merriam Webster describes resilient as “being capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture and tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” This is something that the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is all about. At the start of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon the announcer always says the words “We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.” This is inscribed in the Oklahoma City National Memorial on the grounds of the Murrah building.
About a month after the bombing, the Murrah building was imploded. The rescue efforts had ceased. The last survivor came out of the building around 10 p.m. on April 19. The authorities continued search and rescue efforts for another couple of weeks before moving to search and recovery. The only thing built in its place is a beautiful memorial which records the minutes before and after the bombing, 9:01 reminding us of our innocence, 9:03 reminding us of our grief.
Saturday Expo and Pre-Race
Oklahoma weather is something special. On Saturday, we had snow in the panhandle, hail, sleet, earthquakes and lots of rain. Lots of it. Torrential, flooding amounts. The drive down to Oklahoma City was eventful again. We were supposed to do another race in Tulsa before we headed to Oklahoma City. We wound up not being able to sign up which was a blessing in disguise. For the first time in 15 years, our local Fleet Feet store actually had to cancel a race.
Our view from the car on our drive to Oklahoma City
A portion of the fence that was around the Murrah building.
Our first stop was the expo. We picked up our packets and wandered through the expo. The expo is fairly good sized. It has what you would normally see at a race expo but also has items directly related to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Like the fence you see above. We hadn’t been at the expo long before they announced that there was going to be a race report. We had seen that there were 30,000 people in the Oklahoma City area without power due to the nasty storms. The race director said that they thought they were going to have to re-route 4 areas of the race course. However, Oklahoma City came together to make sure the race was going to happen as scheduled and as planned. The power company made sure there were no downed power lines on the route without being asked. The neighborhood residents cleaned up the downed trees and cleared the streets. The landscaping company that keeps the Oklahoma City Memorial looking clean and neat also pitched in and helped make sure that the streets were clear for the race to go on. This shows how much the community cares about this race and how much they desired the race to go on.
Bibs 1-168 which are never used – here they record the victims names
The history of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon
After the expo, we headed to Bricktown where we decided to eat at Zio’s for an early dinner. We decided pizza sounded really good and added a Caesar salad for kicks.
Pizza and salad for lunch
Scenes from Bricktown
A cloudy dreary day – you can’t see the top of the skyline buildings in Oklahoma City
After dinner we walked back to our car and headed to the hotel for the night.
Race Day
Half Marathon Course
Flat Candace ready to rumble
Start
The start line
The Oklahoma City National Memorial – you can see in the side facing the street the mission statement of the Oklahoma City National Memorial
At the start of the race there are speeches from various legislators and race personnel. Then there is 168 seconds of silence – one second for each of the victims. It is so quiet you can hear a pin drop and always gives me goose bumps.
Miles 1-3: you run by the Oklahoma City National Memorial and then turn and go towards Bricktown while going by the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chesapeake Arena, their home.
Bricktown Bridge
We ran by the Chickasaw Ballpark and then headed up the hill which we had run down for Go Girl. We hit the first water stop and then turned onto Lincoln Blvd. and headed towards the capital.
Miles 3-6: This stretch has you run by the capital. In this stretch you start to see banners lining the road. These banners have a name of a victim of the Oklahoma City Bombing. These are humbling to run by as you have to remember they were a real person, someone’s mother, father, brother, sister or child all who had their lives cut short due to a senseless act of violence.
Running towards the capital
These types of banners lined the road and told the name of the victims
We had heard that there was a lot of damage from the storms the day before. We started noticing it after we had passed the capital. There were tin roofs that were completely sheared off, lots of trees that were down and leaves everywhere.
Branches and limbs down all over the Jefferson Heights Neighborhood
This race has some of the best neighborhood support that I have ever seen. It was cold and rainy but their were neighbors still out of the houses and on the streets cheering runners on and even thanking runners for running the race. If you are looking for a great crowd support race, you should consider this one.
Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.
Until next time,
Candace
Running on Second 