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Participants share their experience as BMW Dallas Marathon weekend begins. "Trust your training"

The BMW Dallas Marathon is in full swing this weekend. Events started Friday night and will run through Sunday.

Saturday morning included a 10K, 5K, and the kids' 100-meter dash, but Sunday is the big day so many runners have been training for.  

From young runners to older runners, thousands participated in Saturday's events, including one of Santa's elves.

"Santa made me work today," said John Schmidt, who participated in the 5K dressed as Santa's finest.

Myrna Besley came from Colorado to jog the BMW Dallas Marathon 5K on Saturday morning, pushing her grandson along the way.

"My daughter is a runner, we do this to go along with her, she's way ahead of us, and she'll be running in the marathon tomorrow," Besley said.

Teachers Caroline Menzia and Emma Gayle took a break from the classroom to hit the pavement. 

"We work hard every day in our job, and I don't know, we wanted to push ourselves outside of our work, to do something for us that we can accomplish," said Menzia.

Organizers said while a lot goes into planning this event, it's important for runners to enjoy the journey it's taken to get here.

"Have some fun, smile, it's hard, getting to the finish line is not easy," Jason Schuchard, president of the BMW Dallas Marathon, said. "But just relax, trust your training, and just remember to smile."

If you're one of the thousands of runners running on Sunday, organizers said to arrive early, stay hydrated, and stay warm.  

"Come early, park early, make yourself comfortable, you don't want to stress out," said Dr. Logan Sherman, chairman of the BMW Dallas Marathon. "It's going to be cold, so bundle up and any clothes or any items you want to discard before you get to the start, please know that you can discard it on the side of the corral right before you're about to take off."

There will be many road closures in Downtown Dallas on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit: https://dallasmarathon.com/

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