Glass City Marathon Ambassador

     A while back I think I had mentioned that I was contacted by the head ambassador the Glass City Marathon.  She had come across my blog and thought I would make a good ambassador for the race.  I gladly accepted the chance to represent my hometown race anyway that I could.  Over the next several months I will be blogging about the race, any changes that might occur this year, my training for the race and any other important info that has to do with the race.  I think this is going to be a fun and all new way for me to experience the race and I can’t wait to get things started.

     Here is a quick little synopsis about the event.  The GCM is held on and around the campus of the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.  I consider this my hometown race as I grew up in a suburb of Toledo and currently live about 30 minutes east of there.  Currently the event, held in late April, features a flat and fast course that is an official Boston qualifying event for the full marathon.  It also features an enjoyable half marathon, a 5K with the same finish line treatment as the full and the half and kids fun run.  The three major races all finish inside the University’s Glass Bowl football stadium, which is really cool.  It is a surreal feeling to run into the stadium and onto the field in front of all the spectators to finish your race. That is the basics to the race; later on I will provide you with a little more history, size and scope of the event.  

     When I started my running journey I intended the the GCM 5K to be my first ever race, but my nerves got to me and wanted to do a smaller local 5K first.  2 weeks after that first race I ran the GCM 5K and realized that even though it was a large event it was so well organized it still felt like a small town race.  I enjoyed it so much, especially running into the stadium that as soon as I finished I told myself next year I am running the half.  Over that next year I ran two other half marathons and set my sights on the GCM half to try and run my first half under 2 hours.  With time and hard work I was able to accomplish my goal and finish almost three minutes under the two hour mark.

For more info and to register now and save a little cash go to www.glasscitymarathon.org