The Oklahoma Marathon was held in Tulsa on Saturday November 23, 2002. It was a beautiful day and the weather conditions were ideal. The start temperature was 45 and rose to about 58 by the end of the marathon. A total of about 296 people were registered. The race was a double out-and-back along the river and local participation was limited to those who were doing a bike ride or run on the path.

As for me, I did not feel that well during most of the marathon with an upset stomach and partial chills. I managed to pull out a 3:48:56 completing my 31st state and 43rd marathon.

The 50 State club just happened to use this marathon as a meeting place for their quarterly get-together. I'm actually in awe of the people I met and their accomplishments. It is an interesting group and their website is  www.50statesmarathonclub.com  . I am in the process of joining and becoming an official member.

Here's a picture of some of the members of the multi-state marathon fraternity. The runners in the picture are, from bottom clockwise:

  
• Jim Lynch - Tulsa was Jim's 43 marathon and 31st state.
    
• David Zonker - Jim Lynch's friend from Denver; he and Jim are together
  doing the 50 states
    
• Norm Frank (71) - Tulsa is Norm's 798th marathon. In mid-December, he will
  run his 800th marathon in Huntsville, Alabama
    
• Anita Zonker - David's sister from Germany who completed her 10th marathon in Tulsa
    
• Raymond Scharenbrock (69) - Ray is on his 8th time around running a marathon
  in each state. He has in excess of 450 marathons
    
• Ed Burnham - Ed started running marathons at the young age of 70. He is
  now 83 and has completed 133 marathons.

The Oklahoma Marathon website is www.oklahomamarathon.org.