Running for Carrol "Chip" Fields

A few months ago I was having a conversation with colleagues about training for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and Half Marathon.

We discussed mileage, injuries, hydration and the other mundane details that consume the lives of runners.

Then a colleague came up and thanked me for running THIS race.

It took be aback.

I knew the Memorial Marathon was run in commemoration of those who were killed 16 years ago in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building.

But until that moment, I don’t think I understood what it really meant.

So I asked someone who knows to explain it to me.

“It’s an emotion that you can’t really explain. It puts a lump in your throat that these people are running,” said Ron Fields, who lost his wife Carrol June “Chip” Fields in the bombing. “It’s overwhelming honestly. It’s a trigger. It brings up all your emotions and memories.”

Chip Fields was an office assistant with the Drug Enforcement Administration in the Murrah Building. She was 48 when she died. She was a mother to Ronnie Fields. 

Ron Fields said his grandson, Max, wants to go downtown for the Memorial race on May 1st.