Now in its 40th year, the Harrisburg Marathon and Relay on Sunday, Nov. 11 is sponsored by the East Shore YMCA. Its inaugural race was Labor Day 1973 and since then nearly 18,000 athletes have competed.
Race director Andy Wahila expects at least 900 registrants this year including athletes from 28 states as well as China and Brazil.
The Harrisburg Marathon takes runners and walkers on a scenic 26.2 mile course along Riverfront Park and through historic Shipoke, uptown Harrisburg, Wildwood Lake Nature Park, and Harrisburg Area Community College.
The course is mostly flat, with the exception of a hilly, two-mile patch on the backside of Wildwood Lake. Runners are met with a rousing brass band at the base of the Walnut Street Bridge, some 400 friendly volunteers along the route, and scores of supporters with colorful banners and signs.
Harrisburg’s marathon is a qualifying race for bigger races such as the New York and Boston Marathons, but according to Hap Miller, author of the book Harrisburg Marathon: Four Decades of Running 26.22 Miles at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, “those races just don’t have the small town charm of Harrisburg.”
Miller told me that the male record holder is Rick Blood, who ran the course in 1981 in 2 hours, 21 minutes and 38 seconds and the female record of 2 hours, 44 minutes was set by Carroll Myers in 1984.
Other noteworthy competitors include blind runner Thomas Rothrock who finished the marathon three times with the help of a guide runner, Jennifer Amyx and Eric Price who both competed at age nine, and Don McNelly who was 87 years old when he crossed the finish line in ten hours, seven minutes and 42 seconds.
A marathon runner begins to train 18 weeks before the race and will run over 450 miles in preparation for the big day. Last year was my first marathon, and I did all the training by myself.
Hoping to learn from running with others, I opted this year to train with Team Aspire: a group organized by Aspire Urgent Care and Family Medicine. Team Aspire meets every Saturday morning to run together, inspire one another and to build a community around fitness. It’s a big commitment for the center, especially for the doctors and staff who often can be seen running with the group.
“We believe in encouraging fitness in and out of the office,” said Dr. Richard Rayner, who started the center with co-owner Dr David White. “When I read on our Facebook page and see how important it’s been to participants, then I know that it’s really been worth it.”
Aspire Urgent Care and Family Medicine is the title sponsor of the race for the second year in a row.
Preparing to run marathons year after year requires great dedication and perseverance, and amazingly there have been two men, Park Barner and Michael Ranck, who have run all 39 Harrisburg Marathons. I asked Ranck what keeps him going and he responded: “The realization that only two of us have maintained the desire to want it (the streak) badly enough to spend four or five hours pounding the pavement, perhaps in bad weather, helps drive one onward. I also look forward to having one of my daughters accompanying me the last half of the race, as has been the case most of the last ten years. That alone makes the streak worthwhile!”
Jess Hayden is a concert promoter who enjoys running and doing triathlons.
