Tulsa, Oklahoma: The Golden Driller Marathon, Black Wall Street, and a Boston Marathon Story Two Years in the Making

Episode 17 of Marrying Your Passions: The DINK Travel and Adventure Podcast

On April 17, 2021, Nathan crossed the finish line of the Golden Driller Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma and finally believed he could qualify for the Boston Marathon. Two years later, on April 17, 2023, exactly to the day, he crossed the finish line on Boylston Street at the Boston Marathon.

Relaxing in the hotel the day before The Golden Driller marathon!

This is the story of that first race, and the city that made it possible.

Why Tulsa and Why the Golden Driller Marathon

It was April 2021. COVID had shut down in-person racing since October 2019, and Nathan was itching to get back to a real starting line. To stay sharp during the shutdown he had completed the Hartford Marathon's Grit and Gutsy 4 Challenge, running a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon over four days, all virtual. It scratched the itch, but it was not the same.

Nathan's swag from the Grit and Gutsy 4 Challenge!

The Golden Driller Marathon checked every box for a safe return to racing. It was drivable from Denver where we lived at the time, relatively small, practicing strong COVID precautions, and perhaps most importantly for us, married DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) couple Nathan and Alicia, the hotel was pet friendly. We packed our two Italian greyhounds and our cat into the car and drove nearly 10 hours southeast to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for what would become one of the most significant weekends of Nathan's running journey.

Getting to Know Tulsa

Tulsa is Oklahoma's second largest city, where Southern comfort and cosmopolitan style converge. A town enriched by its oil heritage, Tulsa boasts world class cultural attractions, magnificent art deco architecture, Route 66 gems, and a music scene that is the star of the state. The Oklahoma Tourism website describes it well, but what surprised us the most was how much there was to discover in less than 48 hours.

Black Wall Street and the Greenwood District

Visiting Black Wall Street was a sobering and important experience.

The most sobering and significant stop of the entire trip was the Greenwood District, known historically as Black Wall Street. Founded in 1906 on what had been Indian Territory, Greenwood was built entirely by African Americans into one of the most prosperous Black communities in the United States. By 1921 it was a thriving neighborhood of more than 10,000 residents with luxury shops, restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, a hospital, a library, two newspapers, two movie theaters, doctors, lawyers, dentists, and its own school system. It is said that every dollar circulated within Greenwood changed hands 19 times before it left the community.

On May 30, 1921, a young Black shoe shiner named Dick Rowland rode in an elevator with a white operator named Sarah Page. The most widely accepted understanding today is that Rowland simply slipped and accidentally grabbed her hand, causing her to scream, and he fled. The next day an inflammatory newspaper report set off a powder keg of racial tension. Armed white mobs gathered, shots were fired, and for the next 18 hours white rioters invaded Greenwood, looting, burning, and bombing the district from the air. When it was over, 35 city blocks lay in ruins, more than 1,200 homes and businesses were destroyed, an estimated 100 to 300 Black Americans were killed, and 10,000 were left homeless. Not a single person was ever prosecuted.

For decades the massacre was omitted from history books and rarely discussed publicly. It was not included in the Oklahoma school curriculum until 2000. Despite all of this, survivors rebuilt. By 1942 there were over 240 Black businesses operating in Greenwood again.

Nathan and Alicia walked up to the iconic Black Wall Street mural in the rain, its bold colors reflecting in the puddles below. They visited Vernon A.M.E. Church at 311 N. Greenwood Ave, founded in 1905 and the only standing structure remaining from Historic Black Wall Street. They read the Community Remembrance Project historical marker placed by the Equal Justice Initiative in 2020, and the Greenwood Art Project marker for Katherine Penny Mitchell's piece created for the massacre's 100th anniversary.

As an ordained United Methodist clergy member and former pastor and person of faith, Nathan found this stop particularly moving. We both agree, standing on that ground matters.

The plaque and cornerstone of Vernon A.M.E. Church.

Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge

One of the most meaningful cups of coffee we have ever had came from the Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge at 10 N. Greenwood Ave. This Black-owned coffee shop was founded in 2020, right at the height of the national racial reckoning, and their tagline says everything: anchored in 100 plus years of grit, resilience and community. Established in 2020 for coffee, conversation and connection. Fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit of the ancestors. If you find yourself in Tulsa, go support them.

The Golden Driller Statue

When the race is named after something, you go see it. The Golden Driller is a 76-foot-tall, 43,500-pound statue of a bare-chested oil worker standing in front of the Tulsa Expo Center at EXPO Square. His right hand rests on a real oil derrick relocated from a depleted field near Seminole, Oklahoma. Originally erected in 1953 for the International Petroleum Exposition, permanently installed in 1966, and officially adopted as Oklahoma's state monument in 1979. The model for the statue was a real Oklahoma oilfield worker named John Franklin Stephens Jr., a former Navy boxer from Sapulpa, who was told to act like he had a bee on the end of his nose and do not move.

The Golden Driller Statue!

Fun stats: belt size 48 feet in circumference, shoe size 393DDD, hat size 112 hard hat. Built to withstand 200 mile per hour tornadoes. The mustard paint applied in 2011 is said to last 100 years.

Construction around the EXPO Center meant we could not get very close, but we got there. It was fun to see the statue in person!

Walking Downtown Tulsa

The Blue Dome was pretty cool to see in person.

After Greenwood, we explored downtown on foot. We walked through the Blue Dome Entertainment District, named for the iconic blue dome structure, a former gas station turned Tulsa landmark. We spotted the Dilly Diner on S Elgin Avenue and made our way to ONEOK Field, home of the Tulsa Drillers, the Double-A affiliate of the LA Dodgers. The ballpark sits right in the heart of downtown and even without a game it is worth a walk around.

We love a good stadium even if we can't get in for a game. The Tulsa Drillers play here at ONEOK Filed.

Where We Stayed

The Best Western Plus Downtown Tulsa/Route 66 Hotel, now operating as the La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Tulsa Downtown/Route 66 at 707 S Houston, was the perfect race weekend hotel. Pet friendly (two Italian greyhounds and a cat all welcomed), walking distance to the Riverparks start and finish at Festival Park, free full breakfast, and genuinely clean and comfortable. The Route 66 history is baked right into the property. For DINK travelers who never want to leave their pets behind, this is the kind of hotel that makes travel possible.

Pre-Race Dinner

Still COVID-cautious, we ordered takeout from Ti Amo Ristorante Italiano at 202 S Cheyenne Ave. Penne Siciliano, fettuccine with broccoli, artichoke dip with toasted bread, all set up on the hotel bed with the iPad and proper silverware. A perfect pre-race carb load and a very real snapshot of what travel looked like in spring 2021.

Carb loading the night before!

The Night Before: Run Streak

Nathan was in the middle of a full year run streak in 2021, meaning he had to run at least a mile every single day. The night before the race he headed out into the rain through downtown Tulsa for a 1.45 mile streak run. 100% humidity, 52 degrees, rainy. The legs did not feel great after a 10 hour drive. He was not feeling particularly confident going into race morning. Which makes what happened next even more meaningful.

The Golden Driller Marathon

Nathan before the race with the starting line behind him.

The Golden Driller Marathon is put on by Golden Driller Racing, with over 20 years of quality events for the Tulsa running community. We had the pleasure of connecting with the team at Golden Driller Racing recently and appreciated their time and the extra insight into the race and its history. The 2026 race takes place on April 18th with a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon.

The race was originally created to complement the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, which runs on a Sunday. Golden Driller Racing intentionally scheduled their race on the Saturday before, giving runners the opportunity to run back to back marathons in the same state in a single weekend. If you are a Marathon Maniac or a 50 States Marathon Club member looking to double up, this race was originally designed with you in mind. Golden Driller Racing also intentionally keeps the race at a medium size, prioritizing that community centered race experience.

The Course

Nathan is ready to go at the start!

The course starts and finishes at Festival Park right next to Downtown Tulsa along the Arkansas River. It is a full clockwise loop of the Riverparks trail system for the first 14 miles, then past the start/finish at Festival Park and out and back on the east bank trail to complete the 26.2. USATF certified Boston qualifier.

One of the unexpected highlights of the race is running through the Gathering Place, a 66.5 acre world class riverfront park opened in 2018 through a $465 million private gift from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the largest private gift to a community park in United States history. Named USA Today's Best City Park, recognized by Time magazine as one of the World's 100 Greatest Places, and featured by National Geographic. There is free admission and open to everyone. Nathan passed through it around miles 3 and 23. On a regular Saturday morning people were out playing, relaxing, enjoying their weekend, completely unbothered. Then there were the marathon runners weaving through.

Worth noting: a close friend of ours completed the full IRONMAN Tulsa on this same Riverparks course just five weeks after the marathon in May 2021, the inaugural year of the race.

The one notable exception to the flat and fast billing is Turkey Mountain. Miles 7 through 9 are the only real climb on the course. There is about 150 feet of elevation gain. When a hill has a name, that is your warning sign. And then there is the bridge crossing on the north end of the trail toward the end of the race. After 20 plus miles on your legs, that bridge feels a lot longer than it looks on the map.

The Result

Nathan had a great race with a chip time of 3:18:20, 7:34 average pace, 25th overall out of 229 finishers, 23rd male, 8th in the 35-39 age group. It was Nathan's personal best time at a marathon to that point!

Nathan crossing the finish line!

What This Race Really Meant

Around miles 18 to 20, running at Boston qualifier pace for the first time for so long in a marathon something shifted. Not a hope. A knowing. After more than 25 marathons and years of hoping, Nathan finally believed. Not someday. Now. If he trained consistently, he could qualify for Boston.

That conviction was so real that the next race on our schedule, the Main 2 Main Marathon in Iowa that August, became a training run for a qualifying try later that year. It was preparation for the real goal. In November 2021, at Revel Big Bear Marathon in California, Nathan ran a 3:02 and qualified for Boston.

And on Easter Sunday, April 17 2022, Nathan preached one of his best sermons ever using the Golden Driller Marathon as the central illustration not the Boston qualifying race itself. This one. Because this was the race where the belief was born. The belief came first, then the work, then the result.

On April 17, 2023, exactly two years to the day after the Golden Driller Marathon, Nathan made that final turn onto Boylston Street and crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

You cannot make that up. April 17, three years in a row!

Finishing the Boston Marathon two years exactly after finishing the Golden Driller Marathon!

Takeaways

Nathan's Takeaway: The Power of Belief

It took more than 25 marathons to actually believe a Boston qualifier was possible. And the moment that belief arrived, everything changed. The work became purposeful. The goal became specific. Belief is not the finish line. Belief is what gets you to the starting line of the next thing. What is the thing in your life where you are still waiting to believe?

Alicia's Takeaway: Do the Trip

Even when you only have 48 hours, go. You will be surprised how much you can cram in and how much you will find that you never expected. Do not stick only to the well-known tourist spots or destinations. The places that surprise you are often the ones that stay with you longest.

Places Mentioned in This Episode

Race

Attractions

Tourism

Our Links

Sporting the Tulsa flag at a race back in Denver.

Marrying Your Passions is hosted by Nathan and Alicia Adams, a married DINK couple (Dual Income, No Kids) who travel, run marathons, scuba dive, and eat their way through life together. Whether you are a DINK couple, empty nester, or anyone ready to adventure NOW, this podcast is for you. New episodes every other week. Subscribe, leave us a review, and keep adventuring!

Right back on the road to head home, but this time with a finisher's medal and a burrito!

Our Italian Greyhounds, Ellie and Chance in the backseat also ready to head home.

Exterior of Vernon A.M.E. Church

Exterior of ONEOK Field home of the Tulsa Drillers

Nathan's Strava from the Golden Driller Marathon. A new Personal Best!

Alicia spying on Nathan from the hotel window as he brings back the carb loading pasta dinner. :)

Nathan's Strava from the Virtual Marathon he ran in 2020. It was a blast but doesn't count toward the 50 States Marathon Club.

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