COLUMBUS – Running may be an individual activity but many around central Ohio find ways to come together through the sport.
10TV caught up with a group of runners bonding through their training for the Capital City Half Marathon.
“It was either you were training for something or you are just kind of out being social and we really wanted to do both,” Ryan Korynski said, a founder of the Rocky Fork Running Club.
The group can be seen around town clocking in long runs on Saturdays, and kicking back together on other days.
“We’ll go run a few miles and have a few beverages and be together as a group,” Korynski said.
Their community continues to grow as Korynski and others reach out to more local groups, promoting healthy living and running.
“Just running with people and kind of creating a community around that. It’s fun and it motivates me,” said Teresa Gellenbeck, who runs with Living Fit Columbus, which promotes exercising and socializing at the same time.
The running community is what is getting Gellenbeck through these last few weeks of training leading up to the Capital City Half Marathon.
“There are days I don’t want to run but if you have a group that is counting on you, it gets you out there,” she said.
Solo runners come together to help each other reach their running goals, and the finish line.
“I know it sounds cheesy but if you can get across that finish line, you have done a lot more than other people have and that you ever though you could,” Gellenbeck said.
Korynski said reaching that finish line is an incredible feeling.
“You can’t believe your body actually took you through 13.1 miles; got you to the finish line and it’s just a huge wave of emotion and it’s such a good feeling,” he said.
Training for the Capital City Half Marathon, Quarter Marathon or Commit to be Fit 5k?
Coaches say preparation is key. The best advice: eat well and get enough sleep.
Korynski told 10TV he eats a lot of oatmeal and bananas and is in bed by 8 p.m. when his kids go down to make sure he is ready to go for race day.
For more Capital City Half Marathon training tips, click here.
