30,000 people take part in BMW Dallas Marathon events that benefit Scottish Rite

DALLAS - More than 30,000 runners laced up their shoes throughout the weekend at the 52nd BMW Dallas Marathon Festival. 

"It was super hard. It was my first half-marathon ever, but I had fun and I did all three. So I did Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So I’m super proud of myself," runner Brittany Rainey said.

Sunday’s events included the half-marathon walk, half-marathon, and full marathon.     

The events had more than 2,000 volunteers. 

"I kept thinking about I can make it, you know, like accomplishing something. I went through a lot in my life, so this here is like a great accomplishment," runner Kamari Palmer said.

The race weekend is benefiting the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. For some, it was a full circle moment. 

"Being able to run again, and Scottish Rite gave me back my life, so just being able to show that here is you know pretty inspiring," runner Jasmine Tran said.

Tran is a former patient at Scottish Rite. She had an extra bone in both her feet, as well as an extra muscle in her right foot that needed surgical attention. 

She had her first surgery in 2017, when she was 16, the second one in 2018, with the last in 2020.

"l was kind of like on crutches in a wheelchair for 3-4 months and then walked in a boot," Tran said.

Tran said she had her final surgery after a six-month recovery.  

"My doctors were like, you’re free. I wasn’t in pain, and so the first thing I did was grab my shoes and went out on a really, really slow run," Tran recalled.

Now she said she’s proud to run the half-marathon with other runners.

"That’s the main reason why I came out here was to benefit the hospital that’s given me so much. They’ve given me so much financially, but given me so much hope and motivation," she said. "It’s shown me that I can do a lot more than I thought and it’s also just such a privilege to go out and to run and move my body without pain."