Welcome to the insanity!

Welcome to the 2010 RunnersWorld Training session for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

Our names are Lisa Kedzuf-McGinnis and Ken "Trail Zombie" (TZ) Childress and we will be your Run Leaders.
You have been placed in the Beginner Marathon group. This means that from the sheet that you filled out you have communicated to us that your goal is to run a marathon. Congratulations on taking the first step toward that goal. Ken, me and the rest of the RunnersWorld gang are here to help get you the rest of the way.

Within the Beginner Marathon group we have subgroups. This makes it easier to get to know each other, chat, share advice, ask questions, pass messages along, keep track of each other, etc.

Our first organized group run is this Saturday morning (12/12/09 at 7am at Veteran's Park, 21st and Boulder, just east of 21st and Riverside). Look for the sign with our name on it so we can meet briefly before our run. This Saturday we are planning on running 6 miles. Try to be early because parking can be a bear. You can park just west, southeast, or north of the park but do not park in the bank just south of the park because they will tow you or so we have heard.

We look forward to meeting all of you Saturday and are very excited about our training schedule! Please feel free to email or call us with any questions:
Lisa: lisakedzuf@yahoo.com,
Ken: trail_zombie@yahoo.com


Lisa's running bio: In June of 2008, my husband and I started running with RunnersWorld Tulsa with the intent to train for the Route 66 marathon. Like many of you, we were running 2-3 days a week about 2-2.5 miles on a treadmill. I got my training schedule and it did seem a bit overwhelming.
I found a group of runners that ran about the same pace as me and we ran together as often as we could. The key was to run my long runs with my friends. I stuck pretty close to the training schedule. On the day of the Route 66 marathon I was very nervous. I never set a time goal. I only hoped to finish and ended up doing better then I thought I could. After that I was addicted. Within the same month, my husband and I ran an ultramarathon (50k = 31 miles) and another marathon, White Rock in Dallas. To date I have run 7 marathons and 4 ultramarathons including a 50 miler in October 2009. I just started training in July 2008 so YOU CAN DO IT TOO!! I give alot of credit to Coach Kathy, Ken, and others at RunnersWorld for all the encouragement and advice they gave me. They made a runner out of me!

Ken's running bio: In 2002, I spent a vacation on the beaches of Cancun, and decided I might have been the fattest guy on the beach. After getting home, I joined Weight Watchers, and started walking for exercise.
Soon, the walking turned into a little jogging, and then to running 3 miles at a time non-stop. After running a couple of 5Ks, I was hooked. The next year, I ran the OKC Marathon, and another 26.2 in the fall. The next year, I joined the RunnersWorld group, and running became more fun than ever for me. I have met the best friends I have ever had in this group! This lead to more marathons, trail races, and ultras. To date, I have ran 66 races of marathon distance or beyond, including finishing 6 - 100 milers. I turned 50 last year, and am getting a little slower, but still like to kick it up a notch every now and then. I hope to someday be one of those old 90 year olds who still finishes marathons. And I hope to still be faster than Oprah!