My fourth year to walk the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. A very nice cool morning in the low 50’s. Warmed to the mid 70’s. South wind that increased all day. A couple of years ago I made a point to thank every support person, folks cheering, low five every child I could during this race. As a result Oklahoma City has become one of my favorite races. You just can’t believe the way the OKC people turn out to watch the race. A very special event. I am always moved when you take 20,000 screaming excited happy people, make the announcement ” We will observe 168 seconds of silence to honor those that lost their lives during the bombing.” For those 168 seconds you could hear a pin drop in downtown Oklahoma City. Very moving.

My training this year has been tough. I am struggling. I just can’t stay focused. I raced this year as a training walk. I wanted to average sub 12 minute miles. Did not know if that would be possible. However I walked, it would benefit my 24 hour race in five weeks. To my pleasant surprise I walked well. Never ran out of gas. A very good training walk. Just what I needed. I finished with a 5:06:52. Even with the training I have missed my fitness is still good. More encouraged about my walk at FANS in June.