We were particularly interested in this race because Gail Beckley Brooks was an entrant. She's Bev's brother Joe's wife and she has been doing marathons in the last year or so in just a little over 3 hrs. She did 3.05 in the 2009 Tulsa Route 66 marathon and came in 2nd. In 2008 she won in Tulsa with 3. 02. Breaking the 3 hr barrier was a biggee for her.
Here is the group arriving at the first stop-mile 8 water station...
We stood at mile 8 and I got this shot of the first ladies going by .....
Then Gail.....
Then at mile 14 this one.....
We grabbed a Starbuck's coffee and hurried up, climbing over a fence at one point, to mile 23. I thought I had video at the important mile 23 marker, unhappily it didn't record.
We decided at the last minute to go downtown for the finish but detours and cop cars made it difficult. It took us 1/2 hour or more to get there and by that time we knew from the internet tracking that Gail finished in 2 hrs 59 mins and 34 secs. Whooo!!
We are so proud of her.
NAME: Gail Brooks
EVENT: Full Marathon
DATE: January 17, 2010
BIB/DIV: 982 / F3539
TIME: 2h:59m:37s (gun) / 2h:59m:34s (net)
Despite no cell phone coverage downtown??? We were fortunate enough to spot Gail in the thousands of people just as we had given up hope of finding her. Here is a video of that........
Here Gail and her sister Michelle celebrate.
Here's what the crowd looked like downtown...
And another group with the friends...
And finally old Brian. This guy was walking downtown with beer and cigarette after the run. Go figure.
It was a great day...........
3 comments:
Yes, it WAS a great day! She really loved watching all these videos yesterday, too. THanks for being the videographer!
Eric, Thank you so much for posting this reflection and recording all of these great videos. During the race, your steady and confident, "Go, Gail, Go" inspired me...as for Jimmy and Joe - their favorite part of your blog post was, of course, Brian with his beer and cigarette - everyman must run his own race!
What an awesome accomplishment! So proud of Gail. I know it helps to have people cheering you on.
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