Yesterday I went downtown to watch the Columbus Marathon. First I went to the starting line to help send off the runners. The starting line is a great place to be, because there’s a lot of electricity in the air. There are thousands of runners who’ve spent months preparing for the race, and naturally they’re excited and probably at least a little nervous. After the runners took off, I went and got some breakfast and hung out for a little bit, and then I walked over to the fourteen-mile mark and cheered the runners on. At the fourteen-mile mark, they’re still feeling pretty good, and usually everyone’s in a good mood, since they’ve already passed the halfway mark.

After hanging out at the fourteen-mile mark for a while, I went down to the finish line and watched the first-place runner come in. He just happened to be one of the coaches of the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group! Read about it here. After watching the winner come in, I went to just beyond the 25.2-mark, which is at the end of a little hill. After making it up this hill, the runners have it “easy” the rest of the way, so this a great place to cheer the runners on. At this point, they’re usually hurting pretty bad and don’t want to hear anyone, so hopefully I didn’t annoy anyone.

Finally, I went to the area beyond the finish line to congratulate some of the runners I know from the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. If you’ve never watched a marathon before, you should really consider it. I think I’ll be cheering on marathon runners even when my own marathon days are through (which hopefully isn’t yet).

Tags: marathon, marathons, running, Columbus Marathon