Jill and I flew into Oklahoma City to be part of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on the evening of Thursday April 23 and Kevin from FedEx picked us up along with my good friend Bill Rodgers. By the time we got checked into our hotel it was after 10pm and I had to get up early for a run and TV interviews. But before I went to bed I went down to the hotel fitness center to check out how Brendan Brustad was doing on his attempt for a world record by running on a treadmill for 168 hours (6 days!) Brendan was tired but in incredible good spirits! I wished him well and told him I'd see him in the morning. At 4am I was back at the fitness center to run and there was Brendan still plugging away at the record! He still had over 24 hours to complete his journey and get the record. After my run I headed over with my friend Randy Swanson to the local NBC station where I did a couple of interviews. After a nice breakfast with my wife Jill, we headed over to the expo where I spent the day signing posters, numbers, taking pictures, selling books at the OKC Memorial Marathon booth and at the Oklahoma Runner and Triathlete & New Balance booth. At the New Balance booth, Tim from the Oklahoma Runner and Triathlete along with Len Chatwin the New Balance rep, printed up some great New Balance tech shirts with my picture on them, all the proceeds from the sale of shirts and books went to the Dick Beardsley Foundation. I can't thank Tim and Len enough for their support for our foundation! Friday afternoon myself along with friends Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samulson were on a panel speaking, we had a great turnout and had lots of fun!
Friday evening Jill and I were guests at the VIP dinner, it was lots of fun and saw lots of old friends! Saturday morning anyone that wanted to could join myself along with Bill and Joanie for a 3 mile fun run, what a great turnout we had! Afterwards we chatted with folks, took pictures and signed autographs. No time for breakfast as it was on to the expo that started at 9am. It was a very busy day and great fun! I gave a talk that afternoon and had a super turnout and my talk went well, I love runners! Saturday evening we went to the Memorial for the pasta dinner. Bill, Joanie, and myself took questions from the crowd and posed for lots of pictures. It's an incredible venue to have the pasta dinner at the Memorial!
Sunday morning I was up early for a run then did TV coverage with the folks from NBC and my good friend Mark Bravo. Afterwards it was off to pack for our flight home to Austin. Jill and I can't thank the folks of the marathon enough for the wonderful time we had! A special thanks to Chet Collins, Thomas Hill, Jeff Kidder, Randy Swanson, and Mark Bravo! Over the years we have all become good friends and they work so hard to make this event the great event it is! Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon , I can't hardly wait! :-)
Here are all of the pictures that Jill took.
1 comment:
I've been waiting for you to get to the OKC Memorial Marathon post. I enjoyed the run and it was nice meeting you. You, Bill, and Joan are always so gracious, we enjoy seeing you year after year.
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