OKLAHOMA CITY — The 8th Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon took place April 27, 2008.
The event is designed to honor the memory of those killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.
Two friends and I made the trip and joined 19,000 people in the event which is made up of 26.2 and 13.1 mile runs and or walks. Our event was the 13.1 mile walk.
After a Saturday filled with trials and tribulations that included an unplanned two hour tour of Oklahoma City, casino losses, and an unidentified flying object that damaged my windshield on my new Honda Accord, it was time to compete.
Despite my snoring we were up before the crack of dawn and made our way to the hotel lobby and joined others for the short bus ride to downtown.
Once downtown we joined 19,000 others in cold, wet, windy conditions. We lined up in what we thought was our group, walkers who planned to finish 13.1 miles in four hours. As it turned out we were lined up with runners who planned to finish 26.2 miles in four hours.
I think we looked a little out of place but we look at it now as we got the jump on our group.
After encouraging words from speakers and 168 seconds of silence for the bombing victims the gun sounded and it was time to pound the payment.
Of course since we were lined up with runners, so we started off running.
We sprinted several blocks before slowing to a quick pace. We continued this for three hours and 45 minutes through the charted path of downtown Oklahoma City.
The path took us past the capitol and through neighborhoods.
Along the way we were greeted by volunteers who spent their day handing out water, juice and other energy boosting materials to competitors.
One tasty treat I experienced for the first time was GU Energy Gel. I found the substance pretty tasty, but I have always had weird taste, so I have been told.
Some of the neighborhood areas were like block parties, as rock music played and strangers cheered strangers on to the finish line. Finally after almost four hours of walking, the finish line was in sight.
With my new organic socks about to disintegrate and my five pound digital camera weighing me down I strived for the finish line.
My partners in crime insisted I would get up there and push them out of the way so that I could finish before them, but I was kind and did not do that and as a result I still crossed the finish line before them according to the microchip tracker.
At the end of the line there was all the food you could eat. We chowed on cheeseburgers and Oreos and looked for our ride back to the hotel.
Taking part in a marathon was something I had never planned on doing in my lifetime. I never really had a good attitude about the idea. In fact as of 4 a.m. that day I had no intention of doing it. I didn't think I could and didn't care to try.
But fortunately I pulled myself and my bad attitude out of bed and competed in the names of Aurelia Donna Luster and Robert Lee Luster, who were killed in the bombing while at the Social Security office.
My friends competed for Oleta C. Biddy and 6- month old Antonio Ansara Cooper.
Cooper was in the daycare center and Biddy was a worker at the Social Security office.
In the end it was a positive experience. One I think proves you can do anything you put your mind to. I even went back and did another half marathon in 2010.
My then friends became foes as egos pulled us apart in 2011.
And despite how much I sometimes despise the bad between us, I will always be grateful for the goal I accomplished in their presence. It is because of them I have my two marathon medals.
Update, in 2023, myself and one of the marathon friends were able to exercise forgiveness and are now able to relive this marathon memory. We have both suffered health issues since the marathon, so another competition is probably not in the future unless it is checkers.
