Fall Marathons - The Landrunners OKC Running Club

Wichita Marathon (10-22-2006):
Tom Briggs: "I ran a good marathon at Wichita in October, making 4:24:26, despite a cold head wind much of the way. 1st in age group. This time qualifies me for another Boston. Three weeks later I ran the OBX (Outer Banks, NC) Marathon in slower time of 4:56:15. This course [OBX] was a bit more difficult. There was a sandy dirt road for 2 or 3 miles with a lot of ups and downs, and a trail for about a mile with more hills and uncertain footing. Drizzle and light rain by then. True to form, I tripped on a root and took a tumble, not hurt bad but have a persistent pain in my chest which the doc says is an injured "costochondral junction," if I have the term right. Time will heal that. Then the drizzle turned into cold, hard, wind-driven, drenching rain for several miles. Yuk! Finally finished, 3rd in age group. Am signing up for the Dubai Marathon in January."

Doug Cunningham: "The Furman First to the Finish marathon training program [Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST)] really helped me. My official Wichita Marathon finish time was 3:28:34 which was my best marathon time since I ran Oklahoma City Memorial marathon back in April 2003. I have now run 11 marathons (they add up!) over a 3 1/2 year period, 4 Wichita's, 3 Boston's, 2 Andy Payne's, 1 Salt Lake City, and 1 OKC. Also I thank Bill Pierce, the exercise scientist of Furman University in Greenville, SC, for responding to a couple of emails to me. This is...how well I did with doing Furman this time around. The marathon before this, Salt Lake City, I did in about 3:44, and I have done Boston's in the 3:50's or 4:00's range. Other than OKC when I did 3:25:01, my previous best was Wichita 2004 which was 3:29:06, so I definitely did this year's Wichita marathon faster than the previous nine."

Marine Corps (10-29-2006):
Jodie Spielman: "I ran the Marine Corps marathon and had a great time! My sister, bother-in-law and niece were there to cheer me on. At mile 11--they gave me giant scissors to carry until the 1/2 way marker in front of the Smithsonian. It was alot of fun with the crowd noticing the "gal running with scissors!" There is a picture of me carrying the scissors with the Capitol in the background. The picture of me and my family was taken at the end of the marathon."

Bill Goodier: "This is an awesome course! Running down The Mall past all the monuments and memorials is very touching. The last .2 miles are the toughest - running up a hill to the Iwo Jima Memorial - but worth all the effort. Every marathoner should do "The People's Marathon" at least once. I took Monday and Tuesday after the marathon to go sight seeing. I walked about 15 miles between the two days...what a way to get the aches, pains and kinks out."

ING New York City (11-05-2006):
Richard Tate: "This was my second marathon. It was stunning...1-3 million people for the entire 26.2. The best weather they have had in ten years. It was so surprising how dark it was getting and it was only about 4PM in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day but the finishers blanket felt fantastic in Central Park. My first [marathon] was August 16...The Silver State in Reno, Nevada. I wanted to do a marathon on that date since it was the first anniversary of my starting to run and of having lost almost 100 pounds. I will run San Diego, Paris, Oklahoma City, Ft. Lauderdale, Reno, Marine Corps, and New York over the next year. Mark Bravo is my coach and has been a great blessing. Thanks again and I am very grateful to be a part of the OKC club."
P.S. Too good to forget…I was running along at about mile 20 when these three lovely ladies from London stopped and asked me to take a picture with them. They were from the British Olympic team (the Olympic drinking team!!)

Rebecca (Becky) Johnson: "It was a perfect day in NY for the 2006 Marathon. I had a blast from beginning to end. Special Thanks to Kamala Gamble and Lance Cornman who kept me entertained & brought a blanket for the early morning wait at Stanton Island. For me, the stretch up 1st Avenue took FOREVER. Otherwise, on every street and around every corner there were so many cheering fans it was unbelievable. I wore my name on my top which the public reacted to like I was one of their family. My husband, Warren, mother and niece had as much fun watching the handicapped & pros fly by at mile 26...and then me several hours later."

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Tulsa Route 66 (11-19-2006):
Maurice Lee: "First of all I'd like to thank Jack and Sherri Rector for the marathon training program. I don't think I could have finished as well as I did without it. And the camaraderie that was established during this program carried over to the marathon itself.
This was my first marathon, and my primary goal was to finish. I had a secondary time goal, but it kind of went out the door at mile 21. Never the less I still finished strong, and did not feel bad at the end, tired but not bad.
I felt the marathon was well run, the weather was great, and the crowd participation was good. Thanks again to all that encouraged me during the training and the marathon itself. I look forward to the next one."

Anne Wright: "Well, it has been one unbelievable week. I got food poisoning last Monday and was violently ill. I wasn't able to run all week. So when I ran the Half today, I hadn't run in 9 days!! I was so stiff! But that was one of the best races I have been to! Everything was wonderful! We were going to eat at Olive Garden with the group, but there was an incredibly long wait. We had arrived at 5:00, and at 7:00 there was still a 30 min. wait. So we left... There was a lot of the club there."

Elizabeth Lance: "Congratulations to all you marathoners. Here are a few pics I caught while waiting for my husband [Philip] to cross the finish line.
In July, I talked my husband into training for a half marathon. We started training with the OKC Running club the first day of the fall training. Before we knew it we were on target to run the full. I had several shoe, knee and ankle issues which only allowed me to continue training for the half. The day we ran the Memorial Marathon course in the RAIN, we made a new friend named Prahbu. Prahbu and Philip continued training and both completed their first marathon, the Route 66, in 4:43. After I completed the 1/2 I was fortunate enough to make it back to the hotel room to grab my camera and get some photo's of a few of the folks I recognized. It was so emotional for me to watch my husband complete his first marathon. I did my first marathon in June of 2006 the Rock n Roll in San Diego. I remember what a challenge and how incredibly difficult and rewarding it was. CONGRATULATIONS to you all!
...Oh, and a great big THANKS to Brent, and Taylor [from The Runner] who put up with us just about every weekend. It took us forever to find the right shoes! We finally did. Our daughter is going to miss them dearly!"

Doug Cunningham: "The course was fairly nice and scenic. The majority of the marathon was along Riverside Drive just above the Arkansas River... I decided to treat [Route 66 as] an experimental marathon, where I would make a conscientious effort to start out slow, and moderate after 3 miles. It was my goal to start out at a 9 minute mile for the first 3 miles, then do the rest at 8:30 miles, to see how close I could come to 3:45... I was hoping that if I started and ran conservatively, then I would have a burst of energy and speed for the last mile or so of hills (turned out it was more like 3 miles of hills), but it wasn't to be. It was the usual struggle for the last 6 to 8 miles to keep going at a halfway decent pace, hopefully not falling short of goals... What I learned is that those last miles are still a struggle, even if I start out slow. [I got] to run a portion with Sharon Haley...She did real well, qualifying for Boston for next two years, sub-4ing on time. Congratulations, Sharon! I finished with a an official gun time of 3:42:00, but chipped at 3:40:56, so any girl who finished ahead of me qualified for the Boston Marathon for the next two years, including Tiffany [Cone]. She ran real well... Tiffany is an excellent marathon runner."

Allison Swyden: "I have a few reasons why [I wanted to run a marathon]. One is to bond with my stepmother, Susan. I wanted to help her with her marathon training because of her struggle last time. She was injured just three weeks before the marathon. I know she had my dad, “our biggest fan”, for moral support, but I also wanted to be there for her. I’m really thankful that she and I could finish our first marathon together. It was lots of fun. My other reason is that I wanted to get in great physical condition for soccer and I guess for future track seasons. I have so much more energy on the soccer field now, and there is a definite improvement on my overall performance.
I thought it was astonishing that at the marathon I was the only 14 year old there. I felt so young. I love how I’m one of the very few kids my age that can run 26.2 miles. I plan to keep up with my marathon training. I’m going to run the Memorial Marathon in 2007. I’ll be 15 then. Hopefully I will get a better time and keep accomplishing my goals.
Best of luck to all marathon runners."

Editor's Note: Allison Swyden was the youngest (14 years old) Full Marathon Finisher!

Allison Henley finishes her first marathon in under 4 hours!!! "I definitely plan to run another marathon, hopefully New York next fall. My motivation to run a marathon was watching one of my good friends run the Memorial Marathon last spring. It looked like so much fun and even though some people looked dead tired crossing the finish line they were so happy. I'll miss the training for sure. I've been running since I was 15 but this is the first time I've ever run with a group or even been around a group that love running as much as I do. This whole thing has been so much fun for me and I can't wait to get my second marathon medal!"

Heather Patterson: "I ran the Route 66 1/2 Marathon and it was a great time!!!! I plan to run it again next year!!!! Thanks Eva for letting me know about it!"

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