Akron Marathon Relay

Since FirstEnergy is a sponsor of the Akron Marathon, we get free entries into the marathon, half and relay.  I did the relay with a team from work last year and did the same this year.  A few runners had to drop out from our team, but we found replacements pretty quickly.

By default (since I'm basically known as the Forrest Gump running freak at work) I got the longest leg: 7.5 miles.  The other legs ranged between 3-5.5 miles.  The race started at 7 AM and I had the 3rd leg starting by the Akron University football stadium and would take the baton from Tara Schweitzer.

I haven't run roads for quite awhile and knew it would beat up my legs a lot.  I felt really good though and fast.  It also helped that we were around the 10:30 pace group when I started my leg, so for most my leg I was flying past runners weaving in and out.

I had a couple of minutes added to my time in the beginning since Tara had already gotten to the exchange zone.  However, I figure I probably ran close to 7 minute miles and was happy with that.  I killed myself trying to go really fast last year and just tried to enjoy it a little more this time around.

Afterward, I met up at the Aeros Stadium with Tara and her sister, who finished her first half marathon.  I also met up with Tom, the anchor leg of our relay, and got a bite to eat in Portage Lakes at Hook, Line & Drinkers afterward. 

I had a great time doing a non-ultra road event, something I've grown away from a little.  The weather was perfect and it was awesome seeing many familiar faces, which included a lot of local trail runners actually, including Dan Bellinger, Dave Peterman, Ron Ross, Joan Cottril and a few others.

You can tell the race directors, including Jim Chaney, pay attention to every detail.  From the police officers blocking the roads to the shuttle buses busing you back to the finish line party at the stadium, everything took great planning and I think is why it attracts so many runners including trail runners!