Metro Running Club Holds Its First Run Of The Year

Landrunners, the largest running club in Oklahoma City, is back. Several marathons, along with group and training runs around town, were canceled due to the pandemic.

When the pandemic hit, Landrunners had to take a step back from meeting, but they're getting their spring back in their step.

Before the pandemic, a typical group run would include hundreds of people. For many of them, this is their first time seeing each other in about a year.

“I would say a lot of the people that I see here this morning I hadn't seen in years in up to a year,” Landrunners club president Kevin Lynes said. “Some that were here in September or October, so it's nice to get out and have a group run again and see a lot of faces that we generally would see roughly every week at our training runs.”

Lynes said they are not just a running group. They're a social group, as well. While there were many familiar faces, newcomers also joined in.

Kamille Morgan just moved to Oklahoma City from Washington D.C.

“We're so accustomed to working from home and just, like, being inside and not seeing people that much, but you really have to push yourself to get out of your comfort zone and get energized and feel the energy of other people,” Morgan said.

Morgan, like many of the runners, has a goal to run in a marathon this year.

The talk among these runners is preparing for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

“They do 168 seconds of silence to honor the 168 victims of the bombing. You have so many thousands of people gathered right there in one place,” Lynes said. “It's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. It's really amazing and it's an emotional time.”

The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon went virtual last year. The plan, as of now, is to have it in-person for the first weekend in October.