Warning: The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

Warning: The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

Exactly one week ago, I completed the full Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. That’s right. I ran all 26.2 miles of hills, heat, and humidity. Let’s not even talk about the wind running down Classen.

Let this be your warning about this marathon weekend: It’s a gateway drug.

Since its inception, the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon has been about remembering those who lost their lives in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. This weekend represents what we call the Oklahoma Standard, a concept of service, honor, and kindness.

The Oklahoma Standard was born in the aftermath, when thousands of friends and neighbors showed up to help during what remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in United States history. The explosion destroyed nearly a third of the federal building, damaged or destroyed over 300 buildings across a 16-block radius and took 168 innocent lives. Today, the site stands as the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, honoring victims, survivors, and all who were forever changed.

I was only four years old when it happened, but I’ve since met people who were in downtown OKC that day. Their stories are chilling and heartbreaking, but never without hope.

I first participated in Memorial Marathon weekend in 2014, thinking it would just be a fun local race. I was a small-town kid from southwest Oklahoma who hadn’t spent much time in the city, so I signed up for the 5K without really knowing what I was about to experience. 

(Picture left: me experiencing the marathon expo for the first time. Picture right: me after completing my first OKC Memorial Marathon 5k in 2014.)

You know those moments in life you wish you could experience again for the first time? That’s how I feel about that race.

I’ll never forget the stillness of the 168 seconds of silence.
I’ll never forget seeing the Survivor Tree for the first time.
And I’ll never forget the first bombing survivor I saw running that day.

He wore a bib with the names of people he had lost. He ran with two prosthetic legs and a walking stick. As a young physical therapy student about to embark on a new career, that moment changed me. At this point in school, most people I worked with who had prosthetics were focused on simply walking again. Yet here he was, running a 5k to honor those who could no longer run.

People weren’t just running for fitness.
They were running for something more…something bigger than themselves.

If you’ve never experienced this race, there’s a moment you won’t forget: as you approach the finish line, you pass 168 banners - one for every life lost.

Nearing the finish line after 26.2 miles.

It gets me every time.

I’ve now run every distance offered - multiple 5ks, the Relay, Quarter Marathon, Half Marathon, and now the Full. And no matter how many times I cross that finish line, it never gets easier.

This year was no exception. Even this year when the sun was beating down and the humidity dehydrated my bones…I still crossed the finish line with tears in my eyes. Not just from the physical pain (which was very real), but because those banners hit just as hard as they did the first time.

It’s a powerful reminder of how grateful I am to have the ability to run at all.

We run to remember.
We run to represent the Oklahoma Standard.
We run to show others that hard things are possible and that perseverance matters, whether you're grieving a loss or pushing through something new and difficult.

If you had told me 10 years ago that this race would completely change how I view running, I’d say there’s no way. Running was just…running. And if you told me I’d still be planning every April around this race, I would’ve thought you were crazy.

But that’s exactly what this marathon does.

It pulls you in. It challenges you. It changes you.

It’s a gateway to realizing you’re capable of far more than you ever thought.

The camaraderie, the support, and the Oklahoma Standard are unmatched.

So, if you’ve never participated in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon weekend, you should.

If you’re from Oklahoma, it will deepen your understanding of where we’ve been.
If you’re not, it will help you understand who we are.

#RunToRemember #OklahomaStandard