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Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.4 
Organization 4.5 
Spectators 4.4
Number of comments: 330 [displaying comments 31 to 41]
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K. T. from Chicago, IL
(4/28/2014)
"A Race to Remember" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was a race to remember victims of the 1995 bombing. The start, with 168 seconds of silence, was very moving. The race was delayed nearly 2 hours because of a storm, but the officials did a pretty good job informing people. The late start and the headwinds for the last half of the race made this one a challenge. The organization, expo, fans, aid stations, support, shirts, and medals were all top-notch. Oklahoma City was a very nice place to visit with museums, botanic garden, ballpark, Brickyard area, convenient hotels, and friendly people. Just do NOT eat at Flint restaurant! All in all, the OKC Marathon experience is a great one. | |
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S. F. from OKC
(6/6/2013)
"Great race!!" (about: 2013)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I'm from OKC, so perhaps I'm a little partial, but this was my favorite marathon that I've run so far. PROS: -OKC is a developing city, and the course shows off a lot of that. You'll see downtown, the thunder arena, bricktown, nice neighborhoods, classen curve, and be around the lake for a stent. The course does not have an out-and-back section, which I love. No daunting, multiple mile-long stretches where you see where you'll be in 5 miles. -The course was well organized, well marked, courses were full of aid. Towards the later miles, the heat was starting to kick in a little bit (70s), and many aid stations offered wet sponges and water sprinklers which was appreciated. -Great spirit and lots of active spectators (I love when spectators cheer for everyone, not just the one runner they know!) Gorilla hill was fun. Not a super challenging hill, and the signage there and the costumes (monkies and bananas!) were hilarious. -This event occurred right after the boston bombing, and I felt very safe. Many additional safety measures were taken (clear plastic gear check bags, tons of security, helicopters following us throughout the race lots of security on course). -I went to the expo Friday at 5pm and things were great. Awesome vendors, tons of cool speakers, and while it was crowded, it wasn't overly packed. -Plenty of parking in nearby lots that made it easy to walk to the race. -Race corrals were good; I was in corral B and run at about a 9 minute pace- didn't have any issues with walkers or slow runners in front of me which is always appreciated at the start. - Love the silence to start the race in memorium of those lost in the bombing, the race directors also added a nice touch for Boston Victims. This race is very meaningful! -OKC does a nice job putting this race the same weekend as the Arts Festival, which is a short walk from the finish line- great food and vendors, lots of cool art and entertainment really close to the finish line. - I love having a 'finisher' shirt (tech material) that distinguishes the marathoners and provides an additional reward designated for the 26.2 finishers- so many races have done away with this, so I'm so happy OKC is still doing them. And, i actually like the color being white because the logo is so colorful. The cotton T everyone gets is also super comfortable and soft, albeit a Hanes white T. Two shirts for marathoners is becoming rare these days, so I was quite happy. -Barry Switzer gave me my medal at the finish, which was fun. Great Job OKC! Don't miss this one. | |
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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. | |
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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. | |
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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! | |
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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. | |
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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! | |
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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!! | |
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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! | |
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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. |
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