Great day for going the distance
25,000 run this year in ever-growing race
A needling anxiety comes in the days leading up to the Pittsburgh Marathon for those most heavily invested in the race.
Thankfully, for race director Patrice Matamoros and her staff, about 25,000 participants ran and walked through the streets of Pittsburgh on Sunday under sunny skies and in mostly comfortable temperatures, helping make the 2015 edition of the marathon and half marathon a success.
“Working from year one until now, our growth has been so astronomical,” said Ms. Matamoros, who helped revive the marathon in 2009. “There has been 153 percent growth over the seven-year period. We look at that and we keep fixing the model every single year. We keep tweaking and tweaking.”
Pittsburgh Public Safety officials reported the marathon made for a busy day for its emergency medical services staff.
Crews treated a total of 80 patients during the race, 49 of whom were taken to hospitals. The most serious patient was a 25-year-old man who collapsed in cardiac arrest near the finish line about 10:30 a.m. He was resuscitated at the scene and taken to UPMC Mercy, where he was listed in critical condition.
Health issues that the runners encountered along the
course were mostly symptoms such as dizziness, weakness and cramps, according to Ron Roth, medical director of the marathon.
Halfway pick-me-up
In Shadyside, the scent of oranges floats along Fifth Avenue to greet runners at the 14-mile marker. For more than 10 years, Flo Pippin has organized family and friends to support runners with fresh-cut fruit as they run past the street outside her home.
“We love the marathon spirit,” said Ms. Pippin, 70.
Every year, Ms. Pippin starts marathon day with a brunch for family and friends. They then move to the street, where oranges from 16 boxes are handed out to grateful runners just after they pass the halfway mark.
“Anyone can join us,” she said. “If you can make it to Shadyside, we’re more than happy to have you.”
Lieutenant governor’s feat
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Mike Stack set out to run the marathon to focus attention on what he saw as the need to raise the film tax credit.
What he crossed the finish line with was a pretty impressive time. Mr. Stack completed the race in 3 hours, 48 minutes and 18 seconds, an 8:42-per-mile pace over 26.2 miles.
It’s a dog’s life
“You’re still running? We are smart enough to retire,” reads a poster hanging at a lamp post on the South Side. This is a message to marathon runners from former professional racers — the greyhound dogs. These dogs could have been euthanized after they became unable to participate in races because of their age or injury.
Members of a local charity group have been finding and adopting the retired greyhounds from all over Pennsylvania and neighboring states. The six dogs are lying on mattresses with bright paper garlands on their necks. Their hosts are offering garlands and oranges to marathon runners. Some competitors stop their run to pet the dogs and take a picture with them, while the dogs pose patiently.
Family boosters
Sitting on the pavement, 6-year-old Anthony Cerminara is carefully writing on a paper poster a message for his mother, who participates in the marathon. “Go mom, go. Mom is No 1,” the placard reads.
Anthony’s mother, Kathie Cerminara, 30, and her sister Laura Nathan, 29, are running the half marathon for the first time. Their husbands and kids are crowding on a sidewalk in the South Side. Waiting for their mothers, the little boys are waving at the runners and scream happily when they manage to shake hands with some of them.
Honoring Nepal victims
For some time, Jyotsana Beede had been planning on running the marathon in support of girls’ education in her native country of Nepal. But as circumstances changed over the past week, so did her cause.
After thousands of people in Nepal were killed by a devastating earthquake in late April, Ms. Beede decided to run in their spirit, carrying the country’s flag, which normally hangs outside her home, on a white plastic pole as she ran.
Elaborate shout-out
Brittany Quinn won’t settle for the usual cowbells and posters to cheer on her best friend, April Ritchey. This year, Ms. Quinn stood in Oakland wearing a giant pretzel she made from felt and cotton balls with a sign covered in TV host Ellen DeGeneres’ face.
“She loves pretzels and she loves Ellen,” said Ms. Quinn, 28, of Robinson. “I tried to find a cardboard cutout of Ellen, but I had to settle for this.”
Though Ms. Ritchey, 27, ran the half marathon in 2014, Ms. Quinn said, that this would be her first time doing the full 26.2 miles.
Joined by her mother, Denise Quinn, and Ms. Ritchey’s mother, Carrie, both 53, Ms. Quinn said they are always supporting Ms. Ritchey when she runs. In last year’s half marathon, the three women brought a life-size cutout of One Direction singer Harry Styles to surprise Ms. Ritchey along the course.
When Ms. Ritchey ran past them Sunday on Forbes Avenue, she was met not only by Ms. Quinn’s pretzel and poster but also by a shower of purple confetti set off by the two young women’s mothers.
Patriots game
As if running 26.2 miles in a hilly city such as Pittsburgh weren’t enough of a challenge, Barry Goldmeier found a way to make that trying task that much more difficult.
Mr. Goldmeier ran the Pittsburgh Marathon while juggling three footballs, a feat that he said he has pulled off in other races this year. With his white Tom Brady New England Patriots jersey serving as a clue, there was a catch to Mr. Goldmeier’s trick: The balls he was juggling were significantly deflated, an allusion to a charge that the Patriots took air out of footballs in their American Football Conference championship game victory against the Indianapolis Colts in January.
“Everyone knew it then, but now, it’s already getting a little bit old,” he said.
Israeli from sister city
Tsvika Onen, 45, from the Misgav region in northern Israel, crossed the finish line draped in an Israeli flag.
He is with a delegation of 10 runners and one coach from the city of Karmiel, a sister city of Pittsburgh. This is his first time in Pittsburgh and this was his first full marathon.
“It’s a lovely city,” he said.