Memorial Marathon Hosts First Official Training Run In Oklahoma City

With the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon just over 100 days away, runners are starting their training for the half and the full marathon.

The official marathon Run to Remember training kicked off Saturday with a 5k, attracting runners from across the state and beyond. 

"It's just so exciting," said Tayten Childers, who will be running the half marathon come April. "We usually do the Run to Remember half marathon plan."  

The 13-year-old runner started that training plan on Saturday. 

"They build us up then do a mile less then build up again," she explained. "So it would be like 7, 6, 8, 7."  

She ran Saturday’s 5K alongside over a thousand other runners, all ahead of marathon race day in April. 

"This will be my 5th," Tayten said. "I love running it every year."  

But Tayten doesn't run the half marathon alone. 

"She helped get me into running so it was really special to me that I was able to do that with my mom," she said.  

She runs with her mom’s running club, and it’s a sight that race director Kari Watkins says sums up the meaning behind the Memorial Marathon. 

"As you look at these runners, many of them were not born in 1995,” Watkins said. “So, we're teaching the story to them for the first time."  

It's a story that changed Oklahoma City forever and now inspires people to run to remember. 

"We run to remember those killed, those who survived and those forever changed by the bombing April 19th, 1995," Watkins said.  

"I'm really excited to be able to run for the cause," Tayten said. 

Watkins wants to ensure Tayten's generation of runners will know why this run means just a little bit more. 

"Yes, it does, than a normal run it does,” Tayten said. “Just knowing that we're running for all the people that it happened to."  

For more information on how to register for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, visit their website HERE.

Be sure to join News 9 for live coverage of the race on April 26th-28th.