MARYSVILLE — The annual Marysville YMCA Fun Run stumbled a bit on attendance Sept. 19, but early morning rain faded into mist soon enough for participants to start their two-mile and five-mile runs.
This year’s fun run drew 29 runners for the two-mile course, 23 runners for the five-mile course, and five runners for the kiddies’ dash. Caroline Brown, associate health and wellness director for the Marysville YMCA, noted that previous years have drawn between 120-130 runners each, and acknowledged that this date might not have been the best time for it.
“This is our second year of doing it in September, to kick off America On The Move week during ‘Steptember,’” Brown said. “Our attendance might have been down because of the rain, or because people are busy at this time of year. A lot of our regular runners weren’t here.”
Brown explained that the goal of America On The Move is to give whole families a healthy activity that they can enjoy together. Likewise, the goal of Steptember is to get people to increase the steps they take by 2,000 every day, to increase their overall wellness.
In the five-mile run, Mike Koslosky came in first at 31:07, while his friend Steve Duncan came in second at 31:18. Koslosky has participated in the YMCA Fun Run three times, and also won first place last year, while Duncan has participated six times, and steadily improved his scores from fourth to third place, before scoring second place for the first time this year.
“I ran a marathon, and Steve just ran a 15K,” Koslosky said. “I’ve been running since I played soccer as a kid. I took 10 years off running before I started again. I used to be way faster. It’s all about consistent hard work. You can’t take time off from it.”
In the two-mile run, Cedarcrest Middle School student Kaitlyn McCormick came in first at 19:11, while 73-year-old local resident David Bonneywell came in second at 19:25.
McCormick credited her mom, Chris, with pushing her to keep going. Chris also ran the two-mile course and reached the finish line shortly after her daughter. McCormick practiced with two weeks of cross country running, and while this was her first YMCA Fun Run, she looks forward to returning next year.
“I just like to run,” Kaitlyn McCormick said.
“It’s a competitive activity that I can do with her,” Chris McCormick said.
Bonneywell has been running since 1978, when his wife decided that they needed to lose weight.
“She bagged on it, but I kept going,” Bonneywell laughed. “I don’t do many of these fun runs anymore, maybe only two or three a year now.”
When asked what the secret of his success was in this year’s YMCA Fun Run, Bonneywell laughed again.
“There weren’t a whole lot of speedsters here this year,” he said.
Click here for more photos.
