Thousands of people showed up to watch the 29th anniversary of the Air Force Marathon on Saturday.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00 on WHIO.com and on our WHIO streaming app, over 8,000 runners participated in this year’s marathon.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Man dies after being tased by Springfield officer during chase, family says
- ‘Armed and dangerous’ man accused of stabbing another person arrested
- Guns, drugs seized after months-long drug investigation in Darke County
>>PHOTOS: 29th annual Air Force Marathon at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
The goal for the participants was to push themselves and finish the marathon.
News Center 7’s Malik Patterson said the whole area was jam-packed with people cheering on those runners on Saturday.
Many runners had faces of pain and joy when they saw the finish line.
They told Patterson it was an honor to be part of a historic event put on by the U.S. Air Force Museum and the City of Fairborn.
Our news crew caught up with Chris Floyd, the winner of the Men’s Half Marathon.
“I heard great things about it, so I really just wanted to see for myself,” he said. “It was a great event. I had a great time. So much support for military members out here.”
Floyd told our news crew that he had never run in this marathon and did not know what to expect. Like any race, he faced some challenges.
“There’s some big hills out there towards the end,” said Chris Floyd. “I knew about them, had seen some of them, but really I had to power through this race.”
He won the Men’s Half Marathon with a time of 1:10:20.
Our news crew also spoke with Captain Jaci Smith at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. She decided to give it a try.
“I knew the course was tough. ”So, I don’t focus a whole lot on time, just wanted to make it a hard effort,” she said.
Captain Smith said she was glad to have been able to participate.
“I’ve had two surgeries in the last three years, so when I got stationed at Wright-Patt, I said that I would absolutely work this into my schedule.”
Patterson was told that if anyone wants to participate in next year’s marathon, they should embrace the training and find joy in it.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
