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Apr 27, 2024

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.5

Organization 4.5

Spectators 4.4

Number of comments: 328 [displaying comments 31 to 41]

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D. H. from St Louis, MO (5/6/2013) "Great event on an easy course" (about: 2013) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon, and it was a fantastic experience. At least, as fantastic as running 26.2 miles can be. The course was interesting and scenic, which shocked me, as I had no expectations for scenery in OK. The spectators were GREAT!!!! They were really involved, and often acted as supplementary aid stations, especially if you needed beer or Jaeger shots. The volunteers were fantastic. I felt well looked after.
A. H. from Seguin, TX (5/2/2013) "This was a fantastic race." (about: 2013) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Oklahoma City is a very nice town. Bricktown was pretty, and we found delicious food to eat (even on Sunday morning after the start, which to my husband is quite important). Husband and I had a nice mini-vacation here. Course: Many lovely neighborhoods, pretty lake, state capitol, Bricktown, all made for a nicely designed course. I like how there are permanent mile markers on lampposts in many places. Organization: Excellent. I never ran out of fluids, there were pretzels and oranges offered on course, and the finisher's chute was well-organized. Spectators: Really wonderful. Groups of OKC residents make a tradition of staffing particular stations, there were kids at many of them (always adorable), and the wall of high-fives at the marathon/half marathon split was awesome! Honestly, I always prided myself on not caring about spectators, but this race showed me how fun it can be to see so many happy friendly faces. These folks love their race, and it shows.
H. v. from Houston, TX (4/30/2013) "This one is worth running" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 15th marathon and I have run both big and small events. This one ranks up there with the top events that I have run as far as organization, course and spectators. The course itself is a 'rolling hill' course and a very nice tour of OKC. The hills are very manageable, and I wouldn't refer to any of them as 'steep' - the tough part is the long, steady grind going up Classen toward the end of the race. You do finish on a downslope, so that gives you something to look forward to! The wind is also a factor to consider where the course follows the lake. The relay exchanges were set up to not interfere with the full marathon, which was nice. My only complaint about this event was at the start. There were plenty of access points to the starting corrals, but there was no emphasis from the announcers to line up according to pace. As a result, there were much slower runners/walkers being passed by faster marathoners (and half marathoners) in the first few miles of the race. We had to dodge a number of of these walkers/runners just in the first few blocks of the race. This is dangerous in a crowded race start! I saw 3 people fall in the first 2 miles. My suggestion would be that the marathon runners start ahead of the half marathon, or start using corrals based on times (there were A and B letters on bibs, but no one honored that notation, nor was it enforced). Banners are out alongside the entire course in honor of the OKC Bombing victims, and it's both moving and inspiring to see the 'in memory of' bibs on the backs of many runners. This year, many runners also came out in support of the Boston Marathon, after the bombings there two weeks ago. Lots of runners showed their support by wearing red socks, green laces, Boston Marathon bibs, and Boston shirts/hats. Both of these tragic events were acknowldedged and given moments of silence prior to the start of the races. Water and aid stations were plentiful - so many were there that I even skipped a couple. Gels, oranges and pretzels were handed out in several locations along the course as well. A very nice touch! The spectators were amazing - I haven't run too many races where the specatators were out on the marathon course in so many locations! The relay exchanges provided bright spots of very enthusiastic cheers, which definitely helped keep me moving. The post-race area was crowded, but there were plenty of post-race snacks - chocolate milk, powerade, water, fruit cups, cookies, bagels, bananas and even Carl's Jr burgers! Marathon finishers received a beautiful Finisher's tech shirt and a gorgeous medal. All race entrants (half/5K/Relay) received a very nicely designed cotton event shirt at the expo. The expo got to be quite crowded, so I suggest going early or at least avoid peak pick-up times. Other than that it was a good sized expo with a number of interesting speakers as well. Overall, this was a well done event and kudos go to the event organizers, volunteers and spectators!
K. R. from Edmond, Oklahoma (4/30/2013) "great race for its size." (about: 2013) 6-10 previous marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Experience: 6 marathons, 4 half's. These comments regard OKC HALF MARATHON 2013. Good: 1) nice course. OKC is a city that's still filling out so there are many good places, but they're all spread out. I thought the course did well for the areas they chose. good neighborhood and landmark selection. I only rated it 3/5 but i think that fits its potential. not a negative, seriously lets be real here. (hawaii = 5/5; major US city = 4/5; mid major city = 3/5.) 2) food afterward was great. Carl's Jr burgers, fruit, cookies, yogurt, powerade, bagels. real nice spread. 3) plenty of crowd support since the course remains in well populated urban areas downtown. Gorilla Hill, nice tradition. i gave 3/5, again for this size race that's the best it can get. (Boston = 5/5, major city 4/5) 4) great cause. this is a given, every year, always. especially after Boston though. 5) plenty of race choices to choose from: full, half, relay, 5k, kids race etc. Not all races can pull this off for various reasons, but i wish all did. allows for so many more levels of participation. this is what turns it into a family event rather than a watch dad run a race event. gets the whole community active and interested in the event. Bad: 1) generic white cotton T-shirt... yes people, it's okay to want a souvenier especially for the cost of these races. seriously, technical shirts are the standard it's no mystery. the marathon finishers get a technical shirt, but then again it's white! please tell me why race directors get white shirts? one of my favorite shirts is a simple blue tech shirt from a race. reminds me of a nice accomplishment and even advertises for the race. what i don't wear are cheap cotton Hanes race shirts, especially white ones, that look off white after 3 uses/washes. even the volunteers got yellow shirts at least. i would've rather had that! 2) what happened to the medals?! OKC had such classy medals before and now they have cheap rubber sticker/stamps and look like kids toys. still not as bad as the Sunburst South Bend medals, but shame to see the change. Conclusion: great race event for what it is and one worthy of travel from out of state. the shirts and medals whouldn't stop me from running it again or even the full, but then again i live here. mid major race events like this however, often need something extra to offer when it's not a big time destination.
J. E. from Missouri, Ohio (4/29/2013) "Best Marathon yet" (about: 2013) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The best organized and supportive marathon I've run yet! It was warm out but there were plenty of aid and medical stations and the spectators even hooked up hoses for us and sprayed us down. The only problem was the corral start, but the only good corral start I've had was at Go!St. Louis 2013 so I wouldn't knock the race for that. Powerade, Gu, wets sponges, oranges, pretzels and spray stations were all provided during the race. Awesome course and best marathon experience yet!
D. H. from Arkansas (4/29/2013) "One of the best!" (about: 2013) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Especially poignant 2 weeks after the Boston tragedy, this was a race I felt honored to get to run. Packet pickup was actually fun with signs made of helium balloons, although the expo vendor area was a zoo when we hit that at 3 pm Sat. I like the 6:30 am start to miss the worst heat. Corrals were OK with more entry points than previous years. Back in the 9:30/mile area of corral we couldn't hear the PA of the apparently very touching ceremonies up front. Course is good, more concrete than I like, rolls a little with no big hills. I'm not familiar with OKC, but it seems like a nice tour of the city with interesting sights and neighborhoods. The OKC community, of course deeply affected by the horrible bombing of 4/19/95, REALLY comes out in support of the marathon. Aid stations and other volunteers are everywhere enthusiastic and helpful. On course provisions were generous. Spectator support is huge and very loud; the home stretch to the finish line was roaring, 4 and 5 deep for blocks before grandstandsand I was a 4 hour plus finisher. Not surprisingly this year law enforcement presence was immense. With 5 person relay, half marathon and 5K, only 10% of runners are doing the marathon, but since it's a big-time fundraiser, those crowds come with the package. Even the weather cooperated this year, no wind and low 50s for start to about 70 by late morning. Very glad I went!!
K. J. from Oklahoma (4/29/2013) "Great for my first!" (about: 2013) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I had so much fun at this marathon. The supporters were just lovely, but when I ran in the relay last year it seemed like there were MUCH bigger crowds. There were times when we had to watch out for cars that could have hit someone. The ending was madness and people kept say that we had one block left when we had 10. That was frustrating! :( The spacing between the Port-O-Potties and the water stations was awesome! I wish there would have been oranges and gel earlier in the race and maybe crowds as big as the year before, but I LOVED my first!
A. D. from Oklahoma (4/29/2013) "Nice Course Poor Organization" (about: 2013) 2 previous marathons \| 2 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 I am comparing this against the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa. 1. OKC Marathon Shirts are cotton and you can get better quality from a WalMart. Most elite marathons offer Dri Fit Tshirts...for the entrance fee I would expect much better 2. I don't know if this was me but there are a LOT of walkers in this race and if you happen to start at the back - you spend most of your first 30 minutes weaving through people than actually running a steady pace. 3. The medals were very ordinary looking. 4. The end of the race was packed - there wasnt enough space for people who didnt want the Carl's jr burgers to get out. There was one exit and as result people started climbing the barriers to leave.
J. E. from OKC (2/25/2013) "Marathon with Meaning" (about: 2012) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I had run the OKC Memorial half 3 times and 2012 was my first Full Marathon. The Good: This is a marathon that has incredible spiritual and sentimental meaning for us Oklahomans. I run for one of the day care workers, Brenda Stephens. She was my children's day care worker at two other centers and we followed her to the Murrah Bldg. I got a nanny two months prior so they were not there at the time of the bombing but knew some of the sweet children and caring workers who lost their lives. It is an honor to run this marathon for those who can not. It is a moving experience and I highly recommend it for Marathon Virgins and runners in general. The meaning of this race is what keeps you going. The crowds are encouraging and I laughed at the guy with the bar set up for runners to 'do shots' if they so desired. I did not chose to participate, however. (haha). The hills aren't too bad. Only three places I dread (based on training runs with the okc landrunners) but none are too long. The bridge at the beginning, the bridge at lake Hefner, and the incline at the end of the marathon. Other than that it is a nice, fairly flat course. Now for the bad: I agree with others that the coral entrances are too few and far between. I HATE CLASSEN! The last stretch is a real kill joy. Very monotonous and the oriental garlic smelling food is not the best. (It is probably just me because this is where I get mentally fatigued.) Also, if you are from out of town I've heard to not count on the shuttles from the hotels to get you to the start on time (FYI). I would recommend taking a taxi. I'm sure they drop you off pretty close to the start and then you can catch a shuttle ride back to your hotel. Other than that and the unpredictable weather it is a wonderful marathon with meaning.
K. B. from Anderson, SC (11/8/2012) "What a moving (no pun intended) race" (about: 2012) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This was one of the most moving experiences racing or otherwise. I remember the bombing, but living in CT, was not personally affected by it. I cried during the moment of silence at the start of the race and seeing the victims names along the route was inspiring. The course was great, pretty flat. Gorilla Hill was nothing compared to what I trained on.

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