WOOSTER – Stephanie Berry tossed out her hands, shaking away the lively Saturday morning chill.
Around her were two dozen or more individual half-long distance runners running at the United Way of Wayne and Holmes Counties’ Heart and Ghoul race on Saturday, Oct. 30. Each extended or ran set up in anticipation of the 13-mile race.
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On the walkways close by, somewhere in the range of 450 other enlisted sprinters arranged to watch the primary race start off as the commentator settled on an official conclusion for the half-long distance race.
Looking to the beginning line, the she shuddered.
“I’m anxious each time since it’s generally so overwhelming,” the Wooster local said. “I mean it’s a long race, yet I have a ton of loved ones here supporting me.”
She took a couple of full breaths and strolled to the beginning line on North Market Street downtown.
“Five,” the host said, starting the commencement. “Four. Three. Two. One.”
The horn boomed and the sprinters took off. Berry’s legs took her on the main mile of what might be an almost two-hour run.
This was her eleventh half-long distance race this year for her Halfs for Hope pledge drive with one more to go. She runs each race with one objective — to raise $10,000 for amyotrophic parallel sclerosis, or ALS, research.