The brisk morning air greets their lungs as they take deep breaths to calm their racing hearts. There is a sense of urgency in the air as a man raises his gun. A loud crack breaks the silence, and thousands of runners take off on a 26.2-mile journey.

More than 8,000 runners from around the world — among them a few OU students — tackled the grueling distance Sunday at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa.

While many runners are simply trying to keep healthy and active, a few train to run marathons.

“It’s one of those accomplishments that not many people can say they’ve done and I wanted to do it,” said Katie Ellis, a physical therapy graduate student. “It’s fun to do and it’s something you can work toward.”

Accounting senior Tim Sullivan ran a half-marathon, or 13-mile, race at the Route 66 Marathon.

Despite the chilly air and early hours, Sullivan thought the experience was well worth it.

“It’s the greatest feeling when you cross that finish line. It feels like you accomplished something,” Sullivan said.

Most runners train for months to build up to marathon distances. Sullivan said training wasn’t that hard for him because he has been running for nearly four years.

“[Participating in a half-marathon] seemed like the next progression,” he said. “I’ve been running consistently since my freshman year, and I just wanted to try something new.”

Ellis also had been a runner for quite some time and decided to take the next step.

“I’ve always been pretty active,” she said. “I just started running and just kept pushing myself to go harder and harder and one of my friends that I ran with had run one and I just wanted to do it.

Ellis ran a full marathon in December in Dallas, and continuously trains in hopes of running the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon next April.

While the Route 66 Marathon is Sullivan’s second half-marathon, it was the first for his girlfriend, Cassidy Bennett. Sullivan encouraged her to run with him in Tulsa.

“I started training and I got in better shape and I just told myself I was going to do it [run a half-marathon]. I’m really proud of myself. I did it and finished it,” said Bennett, zoology junior. “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. It was definitely a long, tiring run, but I finished with a really great sense of accomplishment.”

Allen Knehans, David Ross Boyd professor of nutritional sciences, said his niece inspired him to run his first marathon. Since then he has run 12 more.

“She did one down in Fort Worth, and I figure if she could do it, I could do it,” Knehans said. “I saw it as a real challenge to finish a marathon.”

Yet, deciding to run a marathon and actually following through are two different things.

“If you set your mind to it, and you want to do it, you can and you should,” Ellis said. “You just have to be consistent, make a schedule and stick to it. If you have a lot of things randomly pop up, which tends to happen to a lot of college students, it can be hard. But it’s not that hard to keep to the schedule and in the end it’s worth it.”

Ellis and Knehans both suggest scheduling runs with a friend for extra encouragement.

“It is very helpful to have a running partner to help get you out there running when you really don’t feel like it,” Knehans said.

One of Ellis’ running mates is her current roommate Maria McKee, speech language pathology graduate student, who ran a half-marathon in Oklahoma City last April.

“Exercise has always been a part of my life. I always make time for it,” McKee said.

McKee’s half-marathon experience had been a long time coming. She said she had been training for close to a year when she injured herself. McKee has recovered, and still holds hopes to one day run a full marathon. She advises working up to the long distances.

“I would definitely say start small and do shorter things and train up to it. Maybe not just jump into a marathon,” McKee said.

Sullivan echoed McKee’s wish to run a full marathon, and said he is already working toward it.

“I’d love to do a full marathon. I just don’t have time. School keeps me pretty busy,” Sullivan said.

While there are many hardships included in running a marathon many runners say the hardest is the mental challenge.

“The hardest part of the marathon is those last four to five miles, when your legs are aching and every part of your body is telling you to stop running,” Knehans said. “That is what makes it so rewarding when you overcome that feeling and finish. No excuses.”

Despite the mental and physical difficulties, they all agree that it is worth it and are already thinking about the next run, be it a quick jog or a marathon.

“It’s addicting,” Sullivan said.