Amish Country Half Marathon

Amish Country Half Marathon

Amish Country Half Marathon

( 7 reviews )
100% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Berlin,
    Ohio,
    United States
  • November
  • 3 miles/5K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, Relay
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Jodi

Panama City, Florida, United States
19 8
2016
"Hills, Hills and More Hills"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Jodi 's thoughts:

My dad laughed at me when I told him we were going to run Amish Country while we were OH for Thanksgiving!! He laughed even harder when I gave him the course route!! He laughed at me one more time as he looked around the High School hallway and saw that Rick and I were the only ones wearing the Hat and Beard given as race swag!!

The Berlin Amish Country Half Marathon is one of my favorite runs of 2016!! Two years ago we had seen runners posting about this race and decided that the next time we were in OH for Thanksgiving, we were running it!! Also, the fact that it was in my home state and I have never ran a race in OH made it a pretty special run.

My parents live about 1.5 hrs from Berlin, OH so is was and early alarm to make sure we arrived in enough time to pick up our bibs. The start/finish was at the local high school which was opened for us to stay warm prior to race start. To say that is was chilly...ummmm, these FL folk were cold!! The last time we ran a race with a beard it was added warmth to the face and neck. Oh, we were told to add 20-30 minutes to our expected finish time due to the hills...this should have been a clue!!

Race start was at 8a and we were off on time!! The parents and my son were off to eat breakfast while we were challenged by the hills of OH!! Let me just say that we ran 9 hills before hitting the 3 mile mark!! Everything you think the Amish Country is, you see along the route. There were buggies, Amish families manning water stations and just out cheering us on, farms, cows, horses and lots of horse droppings on the road!! Around mile 4 we ran into Amanda and hung out for about 4 miles. She had actually been rear ended on the way to the race this morning and needed a little cheering up!! As we ran and talked, she had already talked to my parents at the High School (because my mom told her about the other race with beards!) and we found that she is a race manager and if we are ever in Cleveland we need to look her up. Around mile 9, little frozen things started hitting me in the face and I realized it was sleeting...how nice!! It didn't last long, but that was a first during a race for me!! At mile 10 I texted my mom to let here know we were about 30 minutes out if they wanted to be at the finish!! Now, let's talk about the HILL at mile 11!! I started around 11.25 (I looked at my watch) and didn't end until pretty much mile 12...let's just say I walked some, if not most of that hill!! At mile 12 you could see the finish, but you also saw that it was a downhill to an uphill before another downhill that took you back on the track for the finish!! AND...I ran that last hill because I knew my parents were watching and I thought it may give my dad another laugh!! All in all, I counted 18 hills and Rick says he counted 19, so there are HILLS on this course!!

After crossing the finish we were handed a bag tied with our medal that contained a block of Amish cheese, chocolate milk and 3 Magi Salve that would come in handy later...it's like the RD had ran these hills before!! We made our way up the hill to the high school cafeteria for the post race fuel of Amish Hot Buttered Noodles!! These were the best thing ever...especially after a cold run.

We loved this race...hills and all!! So much so that we may just give it another go the next time we are in OH for Thanksgiving!!

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