Did you know that Central Ohio is home to two marathons? One, of course, is the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon. The other, held each winter, is “The Last Chance For Boston.” It takes place on a 1-mile paved loop in Dublin, northwest of Columbus.

Back in the day I helped Jeff Glaze (from Premier Races & the Marathoner In Training program) start this event. The first year, it was held in Columbus at Franklin Park, which the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon route now passes at approximately miles 2 and 6. The initial “Last Chance” really was – it was held on a Friday evening on the last day of the
Boston Marathon qualifying/registration period for that particular year. We even promised to hand-deliver applications to the post office at the airport to make the deadline!

Well, times have changed, and Boston no longer has a definitive “last chance” to register. Like so many other marathons, registration ends when the race sells out. In some cases, this occurs very quickly. I predict it will be this way with registration for Boston 2011, especially since so many people (myself included) didn’t get around to signing up before it sold out last year!
So guess when registration opens for Boston 2011? Monday, Oct. 18, at 9 a.m., making us “A Last Chance For Boston!”

According to www.marathonguide.com, we are one of 17 marathons taking place in the U.S. on Oct. 17. Of this group, we were #1 for the number of runners (818) who qualified for Boston at our 2009 race. Overall, we were #10 for this out of all of the 400-plus U.S. marathons last year!

With a relatively flat and fast course, awesome pace groups and typically good weather, I expect we will have another great year for Boston qualifiers. Let’s just hope they are as quick when it comes to registering the next day!

“It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.”

I remember seeing and hearing that U.S. Navy recruitment phrase when I was younger. It was paired with scenes of big ships, submarines, and other Navy-type stuff.

I never served in the military, but I respect those who do, and I love our country and pretty much everything about it. After all, the U.S. of A. is where I get to do something I love, which is lead the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon.

Is LOVE to strong a word? I don’t think so. This event is so rich in history, so important to our community, and so meaningful to those who complete it. What’s not to love?

Oh sure, I know this relationship is not without its challenges for myself and the team working with me to put it together. There are just so many moving parts (and thousands of people moving all over the place!) when putting on an event of this caliber; the focus of many of my recent days has been to try and consider every scenario that can unfold and then prepare how to react when something happens.

Certainly we are not changing the course of human history by closing off some Midwestern streets on the third Sunday of October and letting people travel along them en-mass, then feeding them by the thousands at the end. But the journey and the accomplishment of completing this 13.1- or 26.2-mile adventure is so meaningful to so many, that is it is driving us to do the best job possible in helping them succeed while having fun in the process.

I ran my very first marathon in Columbus in 1991. Oh but I was so naïve! I figured a Boston qualifier was in the bag, but alas, I did not achieve that goal on that cold day. However, I finished, in my best (only) time up to that point! Like I always like to tell first timers – “no matter what, as long as you finish you will set your PR today!”

It took work, but after 10 marathons I finally qualified for Boston – doing so at Columbus in 1995. All told I have run this race 15 times, and now am “running” it for the first time in 2010. I love this race, and want every person who crosses our finish line to feel this same emotion.

I know that expecting everyone to love it is just not realistic. For whatever reason, some may only just like it! But if I don’t try, if I don’t do all I can to create an event and an environment of affinity, then gone is my adventure, and it will be just a job. So prepare yourself – we’re working hard to get you to love this race!

I have a confession. I love to eat snacks. Okay, junk food. Who doesn’t, right? But I think I might have a problem.

See, I went through our pantry the other day, a pretty typical day in a pretty typical time of year around our house, to take inventory of our snacks.

And I counted – wait for it – 13 bags/boxes of different snacks. That didn’t even include some duplicates! Amongst them: regular pretzels, honey mustard pretzels, kettle chips, baked cheddar and sour cream chips, sea salt pita chips, salt and vinegar chips, salt and vinegar crisps, nuts, and a snack mix of assorted pretzels, chips and curls.

Yes, I know, not healthy. But wait, I run, remember? Quite a bit, thank you very much. I earned the right to eat such things! The same goes for my love of beef/turkey/bison jerky, too. And cheese. And the list goes on and on. Just ask anyone who really knows me.

While I ran for sports in junior high and high school, I didn’t really become a runner until 1986, and that was – wait for it – because I started to gain weight. I wasn’t about to give up my love of food – snacks or otherwise – so I turned to running.

I know some people will frown upon my habit of buying one kind of snack or another EVERY time I go to the store, regardless of what I already have at home, but I think it is helping me lead a balanced life. Paraphrasing a line from my old life in the Harley-Davidson marketing world: “Live to Run, Run to Eat.” Zen-like, I know.

My snack habit stems from childhood, specifically visits to my grandmother’s house. It was awesome going there, because she had bags and bags of snacks to enjoy! Nothing like it at home! Woo hoo!

Well, the example she set was not one of a healthy lifestyle. She was obese, and had diabetes. Yet she lived to the age of 85.

My other grandmother was more puritan in her dietary intake and generally took much better care of herself, even walking twice a day in her later years. She was maybe 4-foot-8 and weighed 90 pounds fully clothed for winter. Interestingly, she also lived to be 85.

So class, what have we learned? Which path is the right one? I prefer a line from a great book about running called “Once A Runner.”

“If the engine is hot enough, anything will burn – even Big Macs.” Indeed.

“Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel.”

Love this old quote, and it always makes me think of the publishers of the various newspapers I worked at in my past, including The Columbus Dispatch. Being in charge of the words read by thousands of people is a pretty
powerful position to be in.

And so here I am, in charge of the words being read about one of my favorite topics, the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon & 1/2 Marathon. True, as the Race Director, I technically am in charge of the whole event, but I certainly am not alone in making it all come together. We have an awesome team of folks – 12 in all – who do all sorts of jobs out front and behind the scenes. And there are dozens more people who serve as volunteer “captains” in charge of water stops, expo activities, bicycle escorts, etc. Beyond this, there are hundreds and hundreds of others who supply our shirts, medals, food and other items, manage our traffic, provide medical support and serve as volunteers. And this doesn’t even count the runners and walkers!

All of these folks deserve a huge round of applause for their efforts. Also deserving big thanks is Eric Motter, who did a yeoman’s job of carrying the torch for us as our solo blogger for the 2009 Marathon & 1/2 Marathon. Eric took us on a fun, interesting journey as he wrote about his training and his life. THANK YOU Eric!

This year a variety of people will share their insights in this space, including WBNS-10TV morning news anchor Anietra Hamper, who is attempting her first full marathon, and local new-mom and COSI PR and Social Media
Manager, Kelli Nowinsky, who will write about her fitness goals after giving birth.

Expect a smattering of thoughts from yours truly, too. To be honest, I have a lot to say about this event. After all, it was my very first marathon (1991). It was also the first marathon in which I walked (also 1991), and is the place I first qualified for Boston (1995). I also launched the first pace teams here in 1999 (the White Castle “Striding Slyders”). All told, I have completed this marathon 15 times, so yeah, I really do love it!

Someone recently asked me how hard can it be to have a job where you “only work one day.” Very funny. It takes a year to put on this “one-day event,” and we’ve got 30 years of success to live up to in 2010. I have been reading past race results books and news clippings, and am humbled to be affiliated with such a historic sporting/community activity. I also am humbled to see the names of many people I know who have completed the race over the years much faster than my best performance! Some of these same people are still running strong in local races and on the bike paths, trails and roadways of Central Ohio.

I am hopeful that some of these folks will be among the hundreds of people expected at “Run Fest,” the kickoff party we have planned for our 2010 event. It will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 10, at Frog Bear & Wild Boar, located at Mile 13 of the 1/2 Marathon and 26 of the Full (also known as the corner of Nationwide Boulevard and Front Street in the Arena District.) “Run Fest” is a FREE, low-key celebration of a healthy lifestyle, complete with food, music and thousands of dollars in prizes. We are being joined by area running stores and groups, with the single goal of promoting running and walking and of course, the 2010 Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon & 1/2 Marathon. You won’t want to miss it!

A final note: You also won’t want to miss the 31st running of the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon & 1/2 Marathon, but if you dawdle you might find yourself unable to join in.

We sold out the last three years in October, and this year I am projecting this will occur sometime in September. If you are thinking about joining us, take advantage of the early-bird pricing: Until July 31 the cost is $50 for the 1/2 Marathon and $65 for the full 26.2 miles.

Stepping off my barrel of ink now …