I ran the Buckeye Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago and came in second in my age group with a finishing time of 1:50:39. The first seven miles I felt strong; right around mile seven I felt pain radiating through my right hamstring (from an injury about a year ago) and at mile ten, I had a gimp. I finished without walking so there’s that…not my best time but I’m okay with how I did. Pushing through the pain in not for the faint of heart. Ha!

Canton Charge 5K

Canton Ohio

Finish Time:22:41

Overall 24th out of 388

Age Division 2nd place

Race Review

This was the second year for the Canton Charge 5K. This is a unique race because it features an indoor start and finish. The temperature was a cool 30 degrees but the sun was shining and there was little to no wind making for very nice running conditions. The race starts with all of the participants lined up down a hallway inside the Canton Civic Center adjacent to the Canton Charge basketball court. Runners make their way down the short tight hallway, out a large auxiliary door and after a few tight turns, onto the the streets of downtown Canton. The start is slow and congested. The indoor start did create issues for many runners trying to sink their GPS watches. I was able to acquire a signal on my GPS watch outside prior to the start so I personally did not experience this issue. The first mile of the race has a slight incline but isn’t too bad. The second mile starts with the only significant hill on the course. Most of the second mile is on side streets that are paved with bricks. Many of the bricks on the street are worn making for an uneven and at times difficult running surface. Many runners including myself found it easier to run on the sidewalk on this part of the course. Mile 3 is a long steady downhill grade back to the Canton Civic Center. The tight turns back into the Canton Civic Center property and into the building don’t really allow runners much of a chance to sprint to the finish. Runners are greeted at the finish line by the Canton Charge Girls. Finisher medals are immediately awarded to all runners by several more Canton Charge Girls. The finish times were a little slow as the course was longer than 3.1 miles. Many runners felt it was 3.3 or 3.4 miles. My GPS had the course at 3.2 miles. Once again the fine people at runcanton.com put on an excellent event. All participants received long sleeve tech shirts, custom finisher medals and a ticket voucher to a Canton Charge game. Winners received additional Canton Charge tickets and gift certificates for their next runcanton.com event. A large banquet room adjacent to the arena made for a really nice pre and post race gathering and awards area. The Canton Charge had several attractions and activities on display for kids making this a really nice family friendly event. I would certainly recommend this race to anyone in the future.