Capital City Half Marathon National Meet up Weekend.
Friends,
I am happy to announce the agenda for the Capital City Half Marathon National Meet up Weekend for the Half Fanatics.
•Thursday, Apr 23 → Packet pickup + casual shakeout run
•Friday, Apr 24 → Packet pickup + Pre-Race Pasta Dinner
•Saturday, Apr 25 → RACE DAY! + Finish line party & Saturday night hangout
•Sunday, Apr 26 → Travel home & recover
More information is attached.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Join your fellow Half Fanatics for our 2026 National Meet-Up at the OhioHealth Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus, Ohio!
We’re planning a full weekend of fun, including:
✨ Pre-Race Dinner – connect with other Fanatics and get race-ready together
🎉 Post-Race Party – celebrate your finish with the Fanatics community
🏨 Hotel Discounts – special room blocks coming soon
🏅 Race Discounts – register now using code from the race calendar to take 10% off!
👉 Sign up today through the Half Fanatics Race Calendar to secure the best pricing and guarantee your spot at this can’t-miss event.�
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The Cap City Half Marathon course is open and fully supported for 3 hours and 45 minutes, featuring eight Coca-Cola Refueling Stations and a GU Gel station at the 6.5-mile mark — everything you need for a great race day!
Stay tuned for more details on dinner reservations, hotel links, and meet-up plans.
We can’t wait to see you in Columbus, April 25, 2026! Website HERE<
on the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics Blog
Run Family at the Mainly Marathons Aloha Series
Before hitting the starting line, we always try to snap a ‘Family Photo’ when possible. The Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic running family—spotted at races nationwide—grabbed a quick group shot ahead of the Mainly Marathons Aloha Series in Kapaa, HI on January 22, 2026.
on the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics Blog
https://maniacfanaticmadness.blog/2026/01/29/run-family-at-the-mainly-marathons-aloha-series/
Where are you running this weekend?
What are your weekend run plans?
We would like to know the following details:
Race name and location
Distance you are running (marathon, half marathon, 5k, etc.)
As we approach the weekend, please remember to "JOIN RACE" on the club calendar to confirm your participation and inform others about your plans.
For reference and updates, please visit the race calendar on our website: Race Calendar.
/fanatics/events
If you notice any information that needs updating or if a club discount should be applied, please email [email protected]. This will ensure that your concerns are addressed promptly.
If a group photo opportunity is available, it will be listed in the comments section. If none is listed, feel free to organize one—meeting about 30 minutes before the race start near the start line is usually effective.
We look forward to hearing where you will be running and seeing your race day photos!
Friends,
Heads up: Bad weather is coming to a lot of the country this weekend—cold, snow, and wind.
We all have long runs on the schedule, but your health and safety come first. If conditions look bad, use alternatives.
Not sure how to handle cold or snow? Use indoor tracks or treadmills—stay safe, stay consistent, and do the miles.
Run smart, stay safe, and we'll do it together next time.
Meet Half Fanatic 18,919 Aman Jindal!
Prologue:
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get!” My running journey has been a sheer series of accidents. Last October, as part of my MBA at Yale, I visited the Philippines for an exchange program, where I met an Aussie (who would later play a pivotal role in my journey).
The Sowing:
Oct 24, 2024: Two weeks later when I return, a friend takes me to Yale’s gymnasium for the first time. Now, I am not the kind of guy, you associate with a gym. My friend advises me to just walk on the treadmill for 20 mins. I was scared to fiddle with any controls and walked at bare minimum speeds.
It didn’t feel so bad! So, I decided to go the next day as well. Again, 20 mins repeat. On the fourth day, I felt dizzy. But I kept going and I just sat in the gym and came back. Two weeks later, I realised that my capacity was increasing, and I could increase the treadmill’s speed!
The Reaping:
By Jan 2025: I was walking/jogging/running on the tread for 60 minutes everyday. Now in the gym, when you do an hour of tread, you can’t help but observe what other folks are doing. I slowly started doing rowing/cycling/cable machines/weights – a few minutes of each as part of my routine.
Mar 2025: My Aussie friend is now in US (on an exchange program at NYU) and is shocked to see my transformation. He was a runner himself and had registered for the Brooklyn Half on Apr 26! He starts prodding me to register for it. But I had done only five miles on the tread. How was I supposed to do a 13.1, and that too on a road?
The Harvest:
Apr 2025: After much internal debate, I register for the Brooklyn Half. As I registered, I saw that there is a smaller 10-mile run on Apr 13, that can help me figure out if I have the legs to go the distance. I registered a,d to my utter surprise, I was able to do it.
Emboldened, I registered for a half-marathon next weekend in Quakertown, PA. That day was one of the toughest days of my life. I somehow completed it, but after the race, I vomited my guts out! I barely managed to get back home. But the sense of satisfaction was unmistakable, and I wanted to try again.
Continued in comments>
Hi! My name is Brenda Duckwall HF# 14979, and I live in Collinsville, OK. I stay very busy between work, raising a teen son, taking care of our cattle, and somehow finding enough time to train and run races!
I started running in 2011 by attending a Couch to 5k program at my local running store, Runnersworld in Tulsa. They offer a free or low cost training program that meets at their store in town.
I wasn't consistent at first and fell in and out of training cycles for years, but I always found my way back to running. Running has always been an escape for my mental sanity, and that of my family's sanity too. IYKYK!
In 2014, I took the plunge and ran the Route 66 Half Marathon. I didn't quite get the bug yet, but I continued to run this local race each year. Missing only those 2 years we were in a pandemic phase. However, this upcoming November, it will be my 10th time to run this race, just in time for their 20th anniversary!
I qualified for the Half Fanatics club in 2016 where I ran the Fleet Feet Half in Tulsa and 14 days later I headed to Memphis and ran the Great American River Run Half.
In Jan of 2020, I applied to be on Team Beef for the Oklahoma chapter. But I didn't get to run any races for our team until 2022. Team Beef is a group of running athletes, who understand and believe in the nutritional benefits of lean beef and its vital role they play in day to day living and race training.
During the Route 66 race in 2023 my friend Katie, also fellow Half Fanatic, and I had this brilliant idea to run a half marathon in all 50 states. I tacked on the requirement to get my journey done by my 50th birthday. Am I Crazy? Ha.
Well, here I am at 25 Lifetime Half Marathons, and 8 states down;
Chasing 100 halfs and 50 states!
I have 3 more states planned for this year so far:
500 Festival Indy Mini
Kalamazoo Marathon
Madison Marathon
I would love to connect with fellow runners, and to hear about your favorite races to help with my planning. If you are ever in the Tulsa area, hit me up for local tips.
#halffanatics #marathonmaniacs #mmhffeatured
Featured Club Member: Gregory Rouson.
I am the regional ambassador for the Washington DC Metro Area (DC, Southern MD, and Northern VA mostly). I first started running marathons and half marathons in 2013. My initial plan was to just stick to the occasional half; I NEVER wanted to run a marathon. Needless to say, I caught "the bug". I earned my Half Fanatics number in 2015 and my Marathon Maniacs/Double Agent number in 2016. I completed the 50 States Half Marathon Challenge in August 2021 after a long eight years. I am currently preparing to earn my final Abbott World Marathon Majors star at the 129th Boston Marathon. I like being a HF/MM/DA because no matter which race I go to, I can always find another club member to high-five either at the start of the race or out on the course. If you're ever in the DC area for a race, please swing by our club page to say hi! /groups/220350761776847
#halffanatics ##marathonmaniacs
Featured member Sue Stevens: 20 years ago, if you’d told me I would be running Half Marathons virtually every weekend, I would have laughed my head off. I was definitely NOT an athletic child – I was the one who always dropped the ball and was the last one picked for any team. I didn’t mind going on short hikes with my parents and brother, but that was it as far as walking/running went.
Fast forward to 2010. My son was in kindergarten, and a friend and I would walk round the neighborhood whilst the boys were in school. One day she said that she needed a goal to work towards and suggested that we sign up to walk the Seattle Half Marathon. I thought that she was crazy – I mean, Seattle isn’t exactly known for its stellar November weather! But I love her, and I agreed. After all, I could do a long walk, right?!
11/28/10 arrived and there we were, walking the Seattle Half Marathon on a cold but mercifully dry day. The energy and Holiday vibes were fantastic, and I loved it, despite being oh so slow and barely able to move at the end! We decided to sign up for Mercer Island (I miss that race!), and when my friend couldn’t make it, I coopted 2 others to come with me. This was fun!
The race was a welcome distraction as the day after I had a breast biopsy, and this led to a diagnosis of DCIS breast cancer. I was lucky, it was caught early and was very treatable. I was even more determined to keep walking and running and signed up for a further 4 races that year, with friends and solo.
We made friends at events around WA, and in 2013 decided I’d go for a bucket list item and do a full Marathon. The feeling of crossing the finish line was incredible, but I thought I’d be one and done (haha).
Meanwhile I continued to sign up for more Half Marathons and kept seeing all these runners wearing Half Fanatics gear. They looked like they had such great camaraderie, and I eventually signed up in 2014. It was a fabulous way of making more friends, and many of these friends were also Marathon Maniacs. Well, I didn’t want to be left out so resolved to qualify. I’m lazy, so I picked 2 in 16 days and ran Tacoma and Capital City in 2016!
Continued in comments >> #halffanatics
Featured Club Member: Amy Sea Half Fanatic #18410
2024 was an incredible year of racing for me, centered around a single goal: making it to Sun level in Half Fanatics. To achieve that, I set out to complete 52 half marathons within 365 days. This meant averaging one half marathon per week, and since I had to work some weekends, I ended up doing quite a few doubles along the way.
In addition to this ambitious goal, I was getting close to wrapping up my quest to run a half marathon in all 50 states. I also began focusing on my next big objectives: completing a half marathon in all 10 Canadian provinces and on all 7 continents. All of this required a lot of planning and travel, especially since I live in the Northeast, where winter half marathons are rare. To tackle this, I took a 10-day trip to the West Coast and several weekend trips down South to get the winter races in.
Spring was especially busy, filled with back-to-back weekends of races, though some were local, which helped. Fortunately, I had already done a lot of half marathons in the second half of 2023, which set me up to reach Sun level at the Shoreline Half Marathon in New York in July. This race is particularly meaningful to me, as it was my third time running it and also the first road half marathon I did post-pandemic in 2020. It’s the race that ignited my passion for half marathons, and running it again to hit Sun level was the perfect full-circle moment. Even better, it was my first sub-3-hour half marathon of the year, which was exactly what I needed to achieve my goal.
Once I reached Sun level, I didn’t stop there. I was determined to complete 52 half marathons in 2024. After a packed fall and winter, I hit that milestone at the Big Apple Half in Central Park, New York, in December.
Along the way, I visited some incredible places. The Royal Parks Half in London was my favorite race of 2024—my first half marathon outside North America. The course took me past iconic landmarks like Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, making it a truly unforgettable experience. I also ran five half marathons in five new states, bringing my total to 49 states. Continued in comments...
