By Riley Burns and Mary Austin
Staff Writers
With the starting and ending point at 800 S. State St. in Downtown Syracuse, dozens of racers lined up to take on the Syracuse half marathon on Sunday, March 22. At the 13.1 mile race, Jamesville-DeWitt High School was well represented by seniors Carly Stone and Julia Slisz, English teachers Diane Rushford and Courtney Romeiser, Math teacher Mike Daly, teaching assistant Jennifer James, and science teacher Nancy Raicht.
Stone finished the race in 1:54:49. “I didn’t train at all for this race so I definitely think I did a good job under the circumstances,” said Stone, who ran this race as a way to stay in shape for her varsity lacrosse season. She suffered from a stress fracture in her foot following the race. “It hurt, but being able to finish the race was most definitely a great accomplishment,” said Stone.
Ms. Romeiser, who finished the half marathon in 2:21:53, admits that this wasn’t her best time due to her lack of training. However, she is pleased because she ran it for her nieces and nephews one of which, her nephew Miles, who doesn’t have the ability to run.
Slisz ended the race in 2:03:01. “There were many times where I wanted to stop,’ said Slisz. “But the person I ran with really pushed me to finish strong and I’m glad they did.” After completing her first half marathon and the Mountain Goat on May 3, she will keep participating in runs this summer.
Finishing about 10 minutes after Slisz, Mrs. Rushford finished the race in 2:13:51. Rushford wanted to run this race because running is a “hobby” of hers. The women Mrs. Rushford runs with run a half marathon “every couple of months,” so she joined them at the start line for this race.
Ms. James crossed the finish line at 2:01:16, improving on last year’s time of 2:22:00 and achieving her goal of cutting down her time. Ms. James also added that the only time she wanted to stop was when there seemed to be utter silence on Onondaga Blvd, ”it was hard because I kept thinking to myself ‘how are we not done yet?” she said. Ms. James was 70 pounds heavier at this point last year, so she took running up as an activity.
Mrs. Raicht, who has been a runner since seventh grade, completed the race in 1:55:38 despite suffering from a nasty cold the week before. She said the race was also difficult because of chilly winds that day. Though Ms. Raicht said it was challenging, she likes to “sign up for these types of races to keep me motivated and healthy,” said Raicht.