This past Sunday I completed my first half marathon. It was the 11th Annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon-A Run to Remember. It was more than just a race, it was remembering all the 168 victims who lost their lives during this tragic event.
At the runner's expo on Saturday we looked through page after page of individual biographies of of each of the victims. I chose a 26 year old mother and teacher, and her 2 year old son to run for. This is the 2 year old's chair in the memorial.
4:30 am Sunday morning came pretty early. The race started at 6:30, which meant we needed to get to the starting line no later than 6:00 which meant we needed to leave our nice, DRY, warm hotel room at 5:00 to go eat. Let me emphasize the part about dry and warm because outside was not. Thank you Lord Jesus for rain, but seriously? Race day? We walked to a church near by serving breakfast and then found the starting line quickly there after only to hear the announcer say they were delaying the start for 30 minutes due to weather.We found shelter in a parking garage close by and spent the next half hour doing some extreme people watching. I found out real quick that I'm not nearly as hard core as most others.
About 20 minutes til 7 we decided to make our way back to the starting line with everyone else-it was more like a herding experience with other cattle, I even "moo-ed" a few times to lighten the mood. Again, let me repeat I was definitely not as hard core as others. The rain had not stopped, but the lightening had. Oh Joy! 40 degrees and raining, perfect conditions.....
This is Katie and me waiting to start.
The gun went off right at 7:00, but starting so far back we didn't actually cross the starting line until closer to 7:15. Here is a picture looking towards the starting line from where we were.
The moment we hit the line we began to run. We ran downhill. We ran uphill. We ran past people that were stopping. We ran through Gatorade and water tables. We ran past people singing karaoke in their garage and handing out free shots to participants. We even ran past a wedding in progress of two other runners. It was definitely an interesting crowd, and it was entirely IN THE RAIN.
We never stopped running. Not once did we walk and that's the best feeling. We accomplished our goal of finishing under 3 hours and I accomplished my goal of not being last.
The best part is-I'm back to my Dr. Pepper, Oh how I've missed the wonderful nectar!
