Route 66 Marathon

Friends-

Today we kicked off our Run to Uganda with the Route 66 Marathon.  Originally we were going to use this a training race for our for our run from Tulsa to OKC along Route 66.  Once we decided we were going to recruit a team to log the miles from Tulsa to Uganda (8,225 miles), the marathon seemed like a perfect place to kick off the event. With 6 of us running today, we knocked out a cool 132.2.  If any of your are doing the math, all 4 marathoners ran the extra .3 mile detour to the center of the universe.  Only 8,092.8 miles to go.

We also decided this would be a great place to start promoting the run and the blog.  So at 6:45 this morning decked out in our Run to Uganda t-shirts and 100 business cards, me, my mom, and sister set out to talk with as many people as we could.  I was interested to see how one of our major fundraising efforts would be accepted.  It was encouraging to talk with people who seemed truly interested.  We spoke with several who were aware of Project Hope Worldwide and the efforts already taking place at our orphanage in Uganda.  There were even a few who had run in our inaugural 5K "Orphan Run".  There were also a lot of  supporters along the course who commented on our shirts.  Even the clever comments like "You still have a long way to Uganda" were encouraging.  What was important is "Run to Uganda" was getting noticed!

I'm sure Paul will post a full race report, so I won't say a lot about the race itself.  This was my first marathon back in 2010, so it holds a special place in my heart.  It is an awesome course around some of the coolest landmarks in Tulsa.  Each landmark brings back great memories of growing up in this great city.

In 2011, Jessica Hargis an executive at the Tulsa Area United Way set out to make the race "Green".  Once I realized the amount of trash created at an event like this, I knew I should be doing something different.  My goal today was to not add to the problem.  I am happy to say the only things I threw away today were the couple of cups a beer I had.  It is great Tulsa is doing something to make a difference.

Thanks for all the support, and WE'RE OFF AND RUNNING!

Jono