‘Crazy running people’ gathering for Prairie Fire Marathon

Eddie Ulloa can tell pretty quickly whether he’s working on someone who is new to running or whether they’re seasoned marathoners.

“Usually, more experienced athletes are going to be more tired just from doing it,” Ulloa, a massage therapist, said as scores of runners milled around Saturday at the Fit for Life Expo at Century II. “There’s not a lot of stuff that’s going on with them. If it’s somebody doing the 5K, if it’s their first time, their whole body’s going to be sore. They’re just not used to it.”

Runners of all experience levels converged on the expo Saturday to pick up their registration packets for Sunday’s Prairie Fire Marathon, which includes full and half-marathons as well as a 5K run. A variety of vendors took advantage of the opportunity to display their wares to the thousands of people who came to pick up their packets.

Or, as chuckling Angela Olmstead of Derby put it: “Crazy running people.”

She’s one of them. Olmstead and her running partner, Sandra Ottaway, will do the half-marathon on Sunday.

“It’s an exciting time,” Ottaway said. “Everybody’s trained a long time for this.”

Well, not “Team Sangela,” as they call themselves.

“We don’t really stop training,” said Ottaway, who lives in Wichita.

Half-marathons are more fun, Olmstead said, because “you can still have a life and train.” Preparing to run a marathon is almost a full-time job, she said.

While some runners picked through boxes of running shoes, Karolina Mosa browsed running apparel after picking up her race packet Saturday. She’s been training for a half-marathon with a group of local runners called, appropriately, “Local Joes.”

Mosa said she’s looking forward to the race – and then eager to have Saturdays free from training again. She’s spent the past 16 weeks in training.

“I’m going to have a few weeks off and then keep running,” Mosa said. “I got to know so many people” while training. “I think that’s going to help me stay motivated.”

Mattie Vance, who moved to Wichita last year, is among the newcomers to the longer distances. She’ll be doing her first half-marathon on Sunday.

“I’m a little nervous, just finding out where the start is,” she admitted after picking up packets for herself and a friend.

Victoria Gralian and her father, Wayne, will run the 5K together on Sunday.

“We’re not that ambitious,” Wayne said with a laugh.

Victoria moved to Wichita from Arizona earlier this year and her father came from Phoenix to visit. The father-daughter run was her idea to do something fun together.

“I’m excited to be able to run in a race with my dad,” Victoria said. “It’s exciting to have such a fun atmosphere. Everybody’s pumped.”

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 9:45 PM with the headline "‘Crazy running people’ gathering for Prairie Fire Marathon."