SMITH: What to expect from your first half marathon

July 23, 2022

If you are signed up to run in the 2022 News and Sentinel Half Marathon, congratulations, you are going to take part in one of the best 13.1-mile races in the country on Aug. 20. Many people run the half year after year. If this is the first time you are going to be part of the event, I thought it would be good to outline exactly what to expect. Most people get the “full experience” by coming to the packet pick up the night before. Open from 2-9 p.m. in the Parkersburg Municipal Building, the packet pick-up is a great way to connect with other runners. After you pick up your ...

SMITH: Don’t get discouraged

July 9, 2022

A friend that has run more half marathons than he can count and around 50 marathons told me that in all those races he has only had a handful where he felt good the entire race. You never really know what kind of race day you are going to have until you start. Come Aug. 20 and the News and Sentinel Half Marathon and you will likely know what kind of day you are going to have in the first few miles. A lot of things have to go well for you to have a perfect experience. Running is like life though; you need to not get discouraged and push through the days where you would rather just ...

SMITH: One day in August

July 2, 2022

A road race is really at its core, a giant math problem. A whole industry exists to keep track of how much time it takes a runner to complete a race. It works like this: There is a radio frequency identification tag attached to the back of your race number. When you cross the starting line, you pass over an antenna that registers you have started the race and starts your time in a computer. People who toe the line before the race repeatedly register, so it is the last time you cross the mat that counts. When you cross the finish line another set of mats registers you have finished ...

BENNETT: Catching up with Big Reds’ Singer

June 23, 2022

Only time will tell what’s going to transpire in the future at West Virginia University for ex-Parkersburg Big Red Bryson Singer. With that being said, there’s little question he’s doing everything he can to be more than prepared for when he hits Morgantown the first of August. During a recent Zoom meeting, he scheduled all his classes for his freshman year. “We got an apartment,” Singer said of his future home with Martinsburg’s Hudson Clement, the Randy Moss Award winner, along with St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) signal-caller Scott Kean and lineman Harry Hilvert from Taylor ...

SMITH: Are you Thirsty?

June 18, 2022

If the News and Sentinel had any more water stops it could officially become a swim meet. I’m only exaggerating a little. Hydration is important. The hotter it gets and the harder you run relates directly to how much liquid you need to drink before, during and after a long race. The News and Sentinel Half Marathon has 15 water stops along the 13.1-mile course. That is of course, more than one per mile. Some of you will need every one of them, others will not take water the entire race. You be you – drink what your body needs. Your hydration plan should start a few days before. ...

Volunteers are heart of the race

June 11, 2022

If you have ever raced in the News and Sentinel Half Marathon or Two-Mile Race you know how great a group of volunteers we have. Many people have told us over the years how much they enjoy doing the races. That enjoyment is largely based on how great the volunteers in Parkersburg really are. The race is run on the efforts of close to 1,000 volunteers. I can’t name them all here. But I will describe some of the things they do to make sure the races go off smoothly. The bulk of the volunteer efforts start a few weeks before the event. I have had the privilege of watching them do ...