Two double amputees finish half marathon
and had a goal. “We’re here to wreck the status quo,” Bunch said while leaning on Alexander’s shoulder.
They did that, and it was impressive Sunday morning during the half marathon portion of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.
Both completed the event with two prosthetic legs.
“It’s fairly difficult, but we both train a lot,” said Alexander, who admitted at about Mile 8 he started to feel intense pain in his hips. “We’re in rather decent shape. We push ourselves to train quite often.”
Alexander, 21, lost both legs in a car accident when he was 16. Bunch, 28, was born without his lower leg bones, and both legs were amputated when he was 13 months.
Both are from Missouri, and both travel to Duncan for their prosthetic work at Dream Team Prosthetics. They also both participate in the annual Endeavor Games in Edmond.
Adding the marathon to their agenda was a no-brainer.
“We want to show anything is possible with prosthetics,” said Alexander, who also ran it last year. “I was very moved by the crowd and the amount of people to come out here.”
‘I’m a winner, not a quitter’
Austin Varnum sat in his wheelchair surrounded by family and his seeing-eye dog Sugar.
He had just completed the 5K portion of the marathon, using his feet and legs to move forward when he could.
Crossing the finish line under his own power was the goal.
“I’m a winner, not a quitter,” Varnum said.
Varnum, who lives in Stillwater, is 21 years old. When he was 7, though, he had a tumor removed from his brain. Since then, he hasn’t advanced at a normal rate mentally.
But he remains as active as possible.
He’s done baseball and field events at the Special Olympics. Now, unable to complete a long-distance run under his own power, he uses his feet to scoot when he can as his family pushes, walks and runs alongside him.
“It only takes a few minutes being around Austin and he’s just amazing,” said Wendy Bauder, who is Varnum’s mom. “Everybody wants to do something for Austin, and this is a great way to be there for him.”
Varnum has completed the 5K at the marathon for three straight years. Sunday’s run, though, was “tough and cold.”
“He’s really competitive,” Bauder said. “He always needs a reason to train. This is our way of always keeping him busy and giving him something to look forward to. He has a self-motivation for everything.”
McNeill, Goetschius win half marathons
Classen Drive appeared to be the most treacherous with the cold wind, but it didn’t deter two local runners from winning the half marathon.
Oklahoma City University’s Max McNeill won the men’s division in 1:09:51 in just his first time in the event. A native of Scotland, he used the event to prepare for the upcoming NAIA marathon championships.
“My coach wanted it to be a hard, controlled effort,” McNeill said. “Not pushing too much, but once I got going I knew I had to win this.”
In the female division, Norman’s Amanda
Goetschius won with a time of 1:18:37.
A former cross country and track runner for University of North Carolina-Charlotte, she felt pressured as an employee of OK Runner in Norman to start running marathons. She had previously run in 10Ks. Now, she’s run three half marathons, with Sunday being her first victory.
“We had a nice little pack of friends and guys I train with,” Goetschius said. “We all said we wanted to go out at a certain pace and all hung together for a while. This is awesome.
“I wanted to win for sure. If I didn’t, as long as I ran a good time, I was fine with that.”
In all, the marathon drew 25,731 participants for all races.
Weather keeps runners cool
Shannon George began the marathon with a jacket and a poncho over her usual running attire, bracing for the cool wind and rain the runners were set to face on Sunday.
She shed the poncho at the start of the race, and she pulled off the jacket midway through.
“Once my body temperature warmed up, I tossed them,” said George, who was running her sixth marathon. “This wasn’t the coldest one I’ve run in. The weather was great. The drizzle helped. I like that more than the heat.”
The weather also meant for a fairly calm day in the medical tent, with the dangers of heat-related illnesses negated.
“It’s been relatively quiet,” said Kim Moore, the head nurse in the medical tent. “The heat is our enemy, the cold is mostly our friend.” Moore and Dr. Tom Coniglione, who oversees the medical staff, said the biggest issues runners faced on Sunday were cramping and dehydration.
“We’ve had more cramps today than I’ve ever seen,” Coniglione said. “People are more dehydrated than they think they are. The wind blows you off and you’re not perspiring. You don’t recognize how dry you’re getting, and you don’t drink.”
The medical tent staff was made up of 20 doctors, about 60 nurses and another 70 support staff, as well as some Emergency Medical Services Authority workers.
EMSA responded to 12 incidents on Sunday, five of which were treated in the medical tent. Two of the 12 were taken to hospitals.
An impactful journey
Jason Boschan had always wanted to run in the marathon. He had always wanted to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial, too.
He was almost unprepared for what the experience was like this weekend.
“It was very emotional knowing what happened here 22 years ago,” said Boschan. “I run a lot of different marathons all over the world, and this is just something I wanted to be a part of and lend my support to the city.”
Boschan, who is from Charlotte, completed the half marathon in 2:19:23. But the significance was more than the time.
It was his third half marathon this year after running in Cincinnati and Tampa. His goal is to run 10 different half marathons in different states this year.
He does it all to help raise money and awareness for help finding a cure to Alzheimer’s.
He started doing this in 2012 after his grandfather died from dementia. He started the Run4Papa campaign and has raised more than $200,000, with all of it going to Northwestern University for research. He has run a marathon on each of the seven continents.
Sunday’s run, though, might be his most impactful since beginning his journey.
“It was so emotional and so uplifting,” Boschan said.” It just makes you appreciate life so much more when you’re a part of something like this, knowing the city is behind you no matter what city you’re from.”
Pacer pressure
Brandon Abla figures he’s run about 10 marathons, but his last two have had a little more pressure.
Abla was one of several pace runners on the course Sunday, the second straight year he’s participated as one of the runners set on finishing in a particular amount of time.
Abla was running on a pace to finish in 3 hours, 55 minutes, and had several runners in his pack. He carried a sign so they could easily find him.
“A lot of people, their goal is to finish in under 4 hours,” Abla said. “It’s awesome to help people reach their goals.
“When you’re holding the sign, it’s a lot more pressure. You start questioning your training. But you know so many people are relying on you, so you hang in there tough.”