Akron Life September 2022

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F R O M T H E P U B L I S H E R

[ Publisher | Colin Baker | cbaker@bakermediagroup.com ]

Running Strong

Akron Life and Akron Marathon hit the 20-year mark.

Akron Marathon and Akron Life are both celebrating 20 years. I had my head so deep in starting Akron Life at the beginning that I really don’t remember the Akron Marathon’s inaugural year. But the late 1990s and early 2000s were a great time for downtown Akron, and much of what you see now was built 20 years ago. Canal Park was built in 1997, Lock 3 in 2003 and the Akron-Summit County main library in 2004, and the Akron Civic Theatre was renovated in 2002. That’s a lot of activity within a few blocks of downtown. In between, not only was the Akron Marathon started but so was Akron Life . A lot of what motivated us to create Akron Life was that earlier investment in downtown, which made us believe the timing was right to start a city magazine. I have never run a marathon. I do run and love to exercise, but I seem to lose focus after a few miles. There is a big joke around the Baker house about me telling my kids and wife that I could run a marathon without training. I say, It wouldn’t be pretty and most likely would be slow, but I could do it. I came up with this ridiculous idea from a friend I backpack with who did it in his 20s. He bet his boss that he could do it, and he did. He said that about halfway through the marathon he felt like someone drove a nail into his foot and he could barely carry on, but he did. The big difference for me is that he was in his 20s, and I would need to tack on 30 years to that. I would never do it, but somewhere in my mind, I think I could.

I had a similar experience several years back when I was on a backpacking trip in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. One of my fellow campers got sick and couldn’t make it out. We figured it was closer for him to carry on straight ahead, which would put him at a different trailhead, while several of us would backtrack and bring the car around. We emptied most of our packs and hiked what would have been several days’ worth of trails in one day — over 20 miles of walking. When we got back to the car, I was so wiped out that I started to get chills and couldn’t stop shaking. My legs were cramped to the point where I couldn’t move them when we exited the car to get food. That was miser able, and quite possibly, dangerous. But the motivator was that our friend needed help. I can’t imagine what would

motivate me to run a marathon, so for now, it’s just trash talk amongst the Bakers. This month we are featuring a 20-year look back at the Akron Marathon as well as the 2022 downtown Akron guide. Not only has the marathon sustained and flourished into the Akron Marathon Race Series that also includes a half marathon and team relay, but it has also become a mainstay in our community. On top of that, downtown is going through another transformation — just like 20-plus years ago — with the development of the Bowery Project as well as new apartments, a new roundabout with a rubber worker statue and the new Knight Stage at Akron Civic. Check out the downtown Akron guide on pg. 59 and the Akron Marathon insert on pg. 71. For now, I will be cheer ing on the runners from the sidelines.

[ Publisher Colin Baker is a retired racing driver and gearhead. ] Comments? Email them to Kelly Petryszyn [kpetryszyn@bakermediagroup.com].

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