Spreading the Word about the OKC Marathon

Popularity of local event has drastically increased since it began nine years ago

By Jenni Carlson
Published: April 23, 2009

Jeff Kidder travels around the country marketing the Memorial Marathon.

Thing is, the best sales pitches these days are never his.

Many times, the marathon vice president has gone to other races to man a booth, distribute brochures and answer questions about the Oklahoma City event. When runners who’ve done the Memorial Marathon see the booth, they often gravitate toward it.

Then, someone who’s never run the marathon will approach the booth and say, "Tell me about Oklahoma City.”

Kidder won’t even have time to respond.

"Oh, my gosh,” the runners standing nearby will say. "You’ve got to do this.”

Kidder has seen it happen time and again.

"I’m smart enough to shut up when somebody does a better sales job than me,” he said, laughing. "I can sell water to a man that’s drowning. But with Oklahoma City, you don’t have to.”

The Memorial Marathon has grown in each of its first eight years, and organizers anticipate that the ninth annual race this Sunday will be no different. Almost 20,000 runners are expected.

In the marathon’s first year, there were 4,400.

The reasons for the marathon’s growth are many — from the local training groups and national exposure to the Memorial connection and race organization — but in the end, it boils down to word of mouth.

The marathon’s marketing is viral.

"Over time, I think people have discovered Oklahoma City through the stories told by others who have participated,” said Greg Hall, president of the Dallas Running Club, which will have a couple hundred runners Sunday at the Memorial Marathon.

Hall is one of those with a story about the Memorial Marathon. He first ran it in 2003, and the connection between the race and the memorial struck a chord. It started with the pasta dinner, a carbohydrate-loading staple of every marathon, but in Oklahoma City, the meal is served by bombing survivors and victims’ families.

Then, there was the prayer service under the Survivor Tree on race morning, the 168 seconds of silence before the start and the banners lining the course with the names of the victims.

"This was not a period of mourning,” Hall said of the weekend. "This was a celebration of life with the founding notion that this loss will move us forward to what is good in people and good in life.

"To the very end, this is a celebration that begs me back each year.”

That link between marathon and Memorial is the reason Bart Yasso fell in love with this event.

He is the chief running officer at "Runner’s World,” the monthly bible of running. Most runners know him better as the Mayor of Running. He is respected. He is followed. He is the Pied Piper.

In January 2004, he listed the Memorial Marathon among his dozen favorite races. He included it alongside Miami, Austin and Minneapolis, not to mention storied locales Big Sur, Catalina Island and Pikes Peak.

Also on his list — Rome, Stockholm and Antarctica.

Yasso gave the Memorial Marathon some serious street cred.

"I’ve always said that running a marathon ... is very emotional,” Yasso said via telephone earlier this week. "If you look at a race like Oklahoma City, they attach a whole other emotion to the emotional day.”

But Yasso believes the draw of the Memorial Marathon goes beyond that. Most successful events have more than great races; they also give runners something unique during the weekend.

The Memorial Marathon, for example, is preceded by a two-day expo that features some of running’s best known personalities. Joan Benoit Samuelson. Bill Rodgers. Dick Beardsley.

"That stuff lasts,” Yasso said. "That really resonates with people.”

And people in the running community talk.

"Word of mouth really spreads in the running community,” Yasso said. "The running demographic is a very computer-savvy, viral demographic. Once you put on a great race, runners just boast about it non-stop.”

That’s marketing that can’t be manufactured.

Kidder still takes the message of the marathon all over the country. He speaks to running clubs in the state and throughout the region. He offers discounts for early registration. He speaks at race director conferences. He mans a booth at many events.

But the marathon vice president isn’t the only one selling the event these days.

"Once you start doing the right things as an organization and people have an amazing experience, you can’t buy that advertisement,” Kidder said. "It’s viral. It’s networking. It’s runners going back to their communities ... and saying, ‘This is what happens.’

"It’s an easier sell now. The reputation is out.”