“Get a plan, stick to it, and don’t overtrain.”
That’s the word from Jeff Ratushny who finished first in the 44th annual Johnny Miles Marathon.
“I did the half marathon last year, and I loved it. Loved the course,” said Ratushny.
Volunteers were up as early as 4:00 a.m. on Sunday marking out the course for the Marathon which started at 7:00. In total there were 300 volunteers on Sunday to ensure that the day went smoothly, and by 8:00 runners in the five and ten kilometre events were arriving at the start line until all of Provost Street was packed.
Whether they train year-round or only started running recently, there was something for everyone this weekend.
“If we can do it, then anyone can do it,” said Lisa Jackson who along with a group of people from Pictou County attended a 5-K running workshop in Truro that lasted 10 weeks. “We started doing one minute run, one minute walk, and that was ten weeks ago. Now here we are.”
Jackson and her crew were among the 1400 people who took part in the days running events with a 50/50 split of people from inside and outside of the county.
“It was excellent,” race director Terry Curley told The News. “The weather was perfect and all reports from runners on the course said that it went well.”
With the weekend’s events now over Curley said that he and the hundreds of Johnny Miles volunteers are already looking ahead to the next one.
“As soon as we’re done this weekend, we start looking at the Lobster Run, and once that’s over we start on the triathlon,” said Curley. “It’s about community coming together and creating a healthy community.”
