(Very wordy and long, sorry...)
Back in December I decided it was time to run another marathon. Chris has always wanted to run one so why not train and run the OKC Memorial Marathon together?! Let me tell you we had our hurdles to get over, like getting use to running together, finding sitters to watch our kids, and dealing with some injuries. But we quickly got into a groove with our schedule. We also had amazing friends that watched our kids for long runs. I learned to really enjoy running too. I mean I've always loved it, but this race was different. I refocused my way of thinking. I didn't run for time or stress our workout schedule so much. We ran for fun and to be together. It really improved our relationship and I started seeing our long runs as fun dates together.
(after a long run...trial and error for Chris)
After our last long run of 18 miles we started tapering off for our big day. Let me tell you something...I'm mean when I'm not out running....It's not pretty. I saw this on someone's blog and had to steal it because it fits me perfectly.
Race day came and I was so excited! I can't even tell you how amazing it was to see thousands of people there to run in the race. They were all there for either the 5K, 13.1, relay team, or the full marathon. I have to say as we waited to start I was pretty jealous of the 5K runners. :P Before we raced we had a moment of silence for the victims of the memorial and they also had someone sing the National Anthem. Once it did start, there were so many people that it took us almost 30 minutes to cross the starting line. Crazy!
The start line is way up there where the building are
Okay maybe this doesn't count since I'm stretching, but I'm thinking marathon training has some nice benefits.
This is what 5 in the morning, waiting in the cold for a marathon to start looks like
I'm so glad we chose to run the Memorial together. Best decision ever! It is seriously the best race I've ever done. The people here were amazing. We had people cheering us through the whole thing- Making comments like 'Thank you for running this', 'God bless you', 'Thank you for remembering'. People not affiliated with the volunteers were still handing out snacks, water, and even a few beer stands. We passed on the latter. It was seriously ridiculous though how supportive Okies were. The last 6 miles were my favorite. The wall never hit, thank goodness! We took our time, stopping at each water stop before starting again and running to the next mile. It was Chris' first time running more than 18 miles so he got a good taste of the wall. It was a great experience to help him through the last part and to encourage him to do something that he physically and mentally had never done before. Especially since back in the day when we were dating, I ran the Top of Utah and he ran the last 6 miles with me to help me through. (the wall hit me hard during that run) I don't even know if I would've finished it if he hadn't run with me. So this time around with the Memorial marathon it was nice to repay him (and plus, it was kind of my fault he was running it).
Near the end I started reading the banners that were hanging up with names of the victims. That along with everyone there to cheer us on, thanking us, and volunteering their time made me realize how much the tragedy of the OKC bombing brought these people together. It was definitely a bonding experience for me and Okies.
In case you didn't guess already, this was by far my favorite run...Ever. More than that it was by far the most spiritual experience I've had while running AND it's on my top 3 for fave things that I've done with my husband. I'm so grateful I could share this experience with him!
