Canton Repository, Sunday, September 30, 2007 BY Dan Kane, REPOSITORY ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
CAPTION: AFTERGLOW -- Relaxing in the stands at Canal Park after their relay races Saturday are (left to right) Greg Kloehn, Kristen Ashby, Joy Palone and Bryan Ashby, Kristen's husband, all representing the Aultman Heart Center. (Repository Ray Stewart)
AKRON -- At Saturday's massive Akron Marathon, the approximately 6,000 racers included more than 80 employees from Aultman Hospital. Some ran the entire 26.2-mile course; others were part of five-member relay teams; others ran or walked a half-marathon.
For Amanda Webb, 27, director of clinical services for AultCare, this was her third marathon. "Most people think of you physically training for a marathon, but the day of the race, 75 percent of it is actually mental," she said. "It's a game. Mile after mile, you try to enjoy the scenery and keep yourself pepped up."
Webb, who runs 4.5 to 5 miles each weekday on her lunch hour, finished the marathon in 4:10:34, shaving 10 minutes off her previous finish. "I'm ecstatic," she exclaimed.
For Randy Bigler, 21, who used to play football and wrestle at Sandy Valley High School, the race was a way to reconnect with athletics. "I work full time and go to college full time, so I didn't have much time to train," said Bigler, who ran a 5K leg for the Aultman food-service relay team. "I'll probably do it again next year."
For Jeannie Roach, 54, who walked 13 miles with three Aultman sales department co-workers, it was a chance to participate in another road race, although slower than previously. "I used to run races constantly, mostly 10Ks, but my knees and my hips won't let me do that anymore," she said before the race. "Walking pales in comparison, but it'll have to do."
Alternately walking and running, the women finished in three hours, 27 minutes. "We were literally bringing up the rear," Roach said. "And we went out for a massive breakfast afterwards. We didn't care how many calories."
Cardiologist Greg Kloehn, 44, tries to run 20 to 30 miles a week. On Saturday he ran the final, 7.6-mile leg of a relay. "Your time doesn't matter that much," he said about the race. "It's more about the preparation and the goal and just getting out and doing it."
For Saturday's marathon, Joy Palone, 51, organized seven five-member relay teams from the Aultman Heart Center, and hosted a "carb-loading party" with pizza, pasta, noodle soup and more at her home Friday night. "We've got hard-core runners and first-time runners," she said. "This has sparked a lot of people to increase their fitness."
The scenic marathon course traveled through Highland Square, Firestone Park, the University of Akron campus and other locales. "I ran through a residential neighborhood and there was a country band set up on someone's porch," Bigler said.
With about 6,000 racers, the start of the marathon was so densely crowded, relay runner Abbey Roach said, that "by the time I went over the starting line, it was already seven minutes into the race."
"It was kind of eerie at first. It was still dark," her teammate Christine Cunningham said about the 7 a.m. starting time.
The finish line was inside the Canal Park baseball stadium downtown, where an R&B group, the Wanda Hunt Band, and Beatles tribute band Abbey Road performed as runners triumphantly chugged in.
