Doyle and Stephen before the race...it was raining when it began.
Doyle and Stephen going strong at Mile 16.5
Stephen and Doyle at mile 20...this is where it gets tough!
Doyle and Stephen at Mile 23
Doyle and Stephen at mile 23
The boys at the finish line!
Crossing the finish line-the time shown was not their official time..theirs was actually faster!
They finished! Yeah!
Stephen and Doyle finished their 2nd marathon yesterday in Oklahoma City. They even shaved almost 30 minutes off of their Little Rock Marathon time! They finished yesterday in 3 hours, 55 minutes, and 3 seconds. Very impressive!
While the guys were running, my in-laws, Mandy, and I went to Oklahoma City's First United Methodist Church's FREE pancake breakfast. The church is located right across the street from the Federal building that was attached on April 19, 1995. It actually suffered some building damage, but remained in the same place. Let me tell you, these people were amazing. They've started holding their normal Sunday morning service on the Saturday night before during racing weekend so they can serve their community and others by holding a completely free pancake breakfast...that doesn't just have pancakes! They had sausage, pancakes, yogurt, chocolate milk, orange juice, and coffee. They had live feeds of the race in their sanctuary, as well as in the area where everyone ate. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming...very nice for an out-of-towner!
After we finished breakfast, we had an incredible experience at the Oklahoma City National Memorial...on the very site of the attacks. They have 9 rows (representing the 9 floors of the Federal building) of 168 chairs (representing the 168 lives lost that day)...some chairs were for adults and some were for children. When we saw the chairs, it was still a little dusky outside. The bottoms of the chairs are illuminated and it was breathtaking. I was so taken aback that I couldn't pull my camera out of my bag to take a picture. On either end of the memorial is a huge wall with 9:01 on one end and 9:03 on the opposite end...we asked a park ranger about the times thinking that maybe there were 2 bombs that went off...each at one of those times. We were wrong. He told us that 9:01 was the last moment of innocence and 9:03 was when everything changed forever. The bomb went off at 9:02. I thought it was so amazing that they chose not to "memorialize" the time that the bomb went off-that would have almost been what the terrorists wanted. Instead, they chose to put a positive spin on the event (as positive as can be).
Before the race, everyone paused for 168 seconds of silence to remember the 168 lives that were lost...16,000 plus people all silent for 168 seconds. WOW. It was powerful. This was more than just a marathon for the guys. It was a way to honor and remember the people who were forever changed on that April day in Oklahoma City.
1 comment:
Our family visited that memorial several years ago. Although we had a lot of questions to answer from our kids, it was totally worth it to share a glimpse of the world with them. It's amazing a memorial can be so moving, but you're right, it is.
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