1. Running Around the World: Bryan Petty
Whether locally or internationally, Edmond commercial lender Bryan Petty runs up a
storm.
Bryan Petty, commercial lender at First Commercial Bank of Edmond, spends quite a bit of
his time running races with his wife, Tracey.
Petty actually worked at the Oklahoma Banker’s Association through college, and he is
working on his fifth year at the First Commercial Bank. When he is not at work, Petty has,
with his wife, run various races around Oklahoma, Texas, and, most recently Dublin.
“My wife got us into running,” Petty said. “I think the first race we ran together was the
Christmas classic. Typically we’ll do a destination one—San Antonio, Dallas and so on.”
He said they have been running races for around 10 years, but they never run the races
together. They only start together and meet up at the end.
“I enjoy the races and the events,” Petty said. “My wife, on the other hand, enjoys the
training and stress relief. I just see it as work.”
Petty’s wife, Tracey, echoes these sentiments.
“I guess it started when some friends and I started wanting to run,” Petty said. “Then he
started doing some local 5K races, and once we did our first half-marathon together, he’s
enjoyed it more. He just likes it because he stays in shape.”
Even though Bryan Petty says he does not particularly enjoy running, this did not keep him
and his wife from going all the way to Dublin, Ireland, just for a race.
“The Rock ‘N Roll series has been adding international races,” Petty said. “They only had a
half-marathon. We were in the third wave that started and we actually ended up being on
the local paper.”
They actually did make a vacation out of the trip to Dublin, but they went specifically for
the race.
“It doesn’t surprise me Bryan would traipse all the way to Ireland and take the time to run
in a marathon,” said Jeremy Cowen, vice president/communications at the Oklahoma
Bankers Association and a friend and former co-worker of Petty. “He’s always been a ‘live
life the fullest’ type of guy, a real ‘carpe diem’ fellow. After all, he’s the dude that jumped in
the truck with me back in 2005 for a decide-at-the-last-minute 13-hour drive to Atlanta for
a weekend just to watch my Braves and his Orioles play a single baseball game.”
While running does take most of his time, his dad raises whitetail deer so during the
winter, Petty’s family goes back and forth to Southwest Oklahoma.

2. “My wife and I actually had a pretty good trade-off,” Petty said. “She may have gotten me
into running, but I got her into quail and peasant hunting.”
Few people can say they’ve gone around the world to run a race, but Bryan Petty is a
unique individual, with a unique hobby.