Sunday, April 26, 2009

OKC Memorial Marathon Success

Widdle Danna is an official marathon finisher!

What an exciting weekend. Let me break it down for you like a fraction (name that movie)

Danna came down last week to pick up her new bike that she will need to complete the two triathlons she is already signed up for (might be helpful in the race). After a couple of days frolicking around the metroplex she headed up to OKC for her maiden marathon. Pops and Nana headed up with her on Friday and they all picked Trey up from the airport.

On Saturday Kara and Sara showed up to join the fun and the eating began. Man did we eat some food over the course of Saturday and Sunday!

Sunday morning, predawn, we all headed down to the OKC Memorial. Danna, signed up for the full marathon; Sheri, Kara and Sara signed up for the half marathon. Weather conditions could have been better, but they also could have been a lot worse! It was not cold and we were all happy about that. The humidity and wind were a little oppressive, but manageable.

None of us were running together, so everyone will need to get on here and post their individual race reports. As for me (sara), it was a great day, great atmosphere, extreme humidity, crazy wind, lessons learned for future races, overall success. I started way in the back of the pack and it took 5 miles to thin out enough for me to be able to run at my pace, so that was a major lesson learned. If you want to run your pace, you MUST start with your pace group!

After finishing I was able to see Nana and Kara finish and then go out to mile 25 and watch for Danna to come in. That was awesome! They all had such great races, and that is amazing. I hope they will all share their battle stories here.

I am so excited for everyone. Kara was able to run further than she has ever run and says that it has motivated her to do another race and aim for a specific pace. Nana ran a personal best; 4+ minutes faster than her San Antonio time. Danna's story is very inspiring to me. Just over 6 months ago she was not even a runner and today she is a marathon finisher. She had to endure significant physical pain to make today a success and she pushed through with a smile on her face and the desire to get back out there again. I am very proud of you guys! Way to go!

Here are some (lots) of race pics courtesy of Pops (of course!)
thought this one was cool


pre dawn gathering of the runners. There were 19,000 racers
hey, is that Old Dog Trey? (name the movie)


at the 4 mile point. looking great!


I had to tilt my head down because the wind was blowing my hat off

she can see the finish line; can't you tell by the look on her face?!

surprised to see pops?

Hey, is that Old Dog Trey?
the half marathon finishers:
Nana, Sara, Kara (and Kara's friend Sandy)








And here she comes! Does she look like she just ran 26.2 miles? I don't think so!






































Hey, is that Old Dog Trey?















more food time. After the race we went to eat and were joined by Trey's family who drove in to see Danna race.
Hey, is that Old Dog Trey?


2 comments:

Parker Blog said...

Congrats all you runnin' fools! That is so exciting!! Ocean's twelve and Tombstone. :)
-Jodi

StefanieandHerman said...

Yeah Danna! It is so cool to see the pictures, after hearing about all the fun, sorry I missed it. Hopefully I will be able to make it to you at your next one!