MEET AN UNSUNG MARATHON HERO
Takesha Williams is doing her small part to give back to the community that was rocked by the 1995 bombing. Williams volunteers as a team captain course marshal at the OKC Memorial Marathon.
Like many Oklahomans, Takesha Williams remembers where she was on the morning of April 19, 1995.
Williams was a student at Rose State College in Midwest City getting ready for class. As she prepared to head out that Wednesday morning, something peculiar happened: The ground began to shake.
“I wasn’t quite sure what it was,” Williams said. “But I knew it was something probably huge and catastrophic.”
Her gut feeling was right.
The blast about seven miles away at the Aflred P. Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City would claim 168 lives.
“Somebody told me about it when I got to class,” she said. “And I think we were all pretty much devastated.”
More than 21 years after the attack, Williams is doing her small part to give back to the community that was rocked by the 1995 bombing.
Williams volunteers as a team captain course marshal at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, which began in 2001 as a way to remember victims of the bombing and raise funds for the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. She is one of the people in charge of making sure the 470-plus course marshals safely and smoothly direct runners at 254 different intersections throughout the race.
It’s not glamorous work — course marshals can spend around six hours at one crossing — but it is vital.
Williams, a budget analyst at the Tinker Air Force Base, started volunteering more than a decade ago. Over the years, she’s developed a routine.
The Saturday before the race, she likes to send out a motivational email to all of the course marshals she’s working with. On race day, she loads up her car with fresh fruit and snack bars. She meets with the other course marshals anywhere between 5 and 5:30 a.m. After a brief pep talk, they go their separate ways.
Williams has seen runners of all types in her years helping at the race. There are, of course, the serious ones who use the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon as a way to qualify for the Boston Marathon. But there are also those who like to dress up in outfits — last year, a group went as The Avengers — and toss back an alcoholic beverage or two mid-race.
“They usually drink around mile marker four or five,” Williams explained. “There’s a liquor stand with a mini-bar. Jim Beam, gin and orange juice shots. You name it, they’ve got it.”
The characters are a small part of what keeps Williams, a lifelong Oklahoma resident, coming back. So are the serious runners. The volunteers, the friends and family who come out to support, too.
Williams loves all of it, what she describes as “a sense of community” that can only be felt on race day.
“I think that the ultimate opportunity to give back is participating in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon race,” she said. “This is the state I grew up in and love so much. I feel like giving back starts here. The essence of doing it in your hometown and state is something I think people truly appreciate.”