Columbus Marathon 2008

This weekend my family and I took a trip down to Columbus to watch my sister Jamie run the marathon. I would've definitely joined her but I had a quad injury not too long ago and not enough time to train.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel which is the host hotel for the race and across from the Red Roof Inn, where we stayed last year. We arrived in Columbus Saturday at noon and went to the expo shortly after.

Our hotel

The Nesquik bunny and Jamie at the expo

After the expo, we met Glenn, Jamie's friend, at the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner.




Later that night, my dad and I went for a walk. We were going to see if any bars were showing the Pavlik fight, but unfortunately none were. We stopped and got a drink at Gordon Biersch Brewery & Restaurant. I got the Hefeweizen - a light sparkling wheat beer with a crisp, refreshing flavor - and my dad got the Marzen - a smooth, mildly sweet, auburn colored lager.

The morning of the race was very cool with temps in the 40s and supposed to raise into the 50s. Perfect weather for runners, but not spectators. Some other people I knew running in the marathon were Levi and Tasha, two former teammates at Clarion, and my boss from FirstEnergy. This was their first marathon for all three of them.

Jamie at about 13 miles

My boss at 13 miles

Jamie finished in a new PR of 3:19:28 beating her previous best by nearly 15 minutes!! Levi finished in a blistering 2:43:55 and Tasha broke 3 hours running 2:59:22. My boss ran 4:10:31. Congratulations to all the runners!

Levi finishing

Jamie finishing

Tasha finishing

One thing I really love about Columbus is the cool artwork and advertisements painted on the sides of buildings. Below are a few pictures of some: