Maybe what sets the OhioHealth Cap City 5K Half Marathon apart from the rest, is the after party. They kinda go all out. OR maybe it’s the history you walk/run by in downtown Columbus. OR maybe it’s the beautiful unspoken harmony you feel with your neighbors as you peruse the Commons for your freebies. You wanted to yell, “hey y’all, we need to hang out more.”
The after party felt like a community social with lots of neighbors to meet. Everyone was happy and healthy. The sun was out. It was Saturday morning at 9:30 and you already had a 5k under your belt. Let the party begin. Alcohol, after all, was part of the admission price. And the Columbus country band North to Nashville was on stage playing their music and a few covers.
And of course, we got a Buckeye football appearance between sets. Joshua Perry, a graduate from Olentangy High School, was part of the 2014 national championship team and was voted first team all-Big Ten in 2015. He’s a bit of a rarity – a Buckeye standout and a local boy. After a short stint in the NFL, Joshua is now part of NBC Sports College Countdown team as a studio analyst for both Notre Dame and Big Ten Saturday Night games. We are so proud. Maybe the next Herbie.
Also, on the Commons’ stage afterward, was race director David Babner who is part of M3S Sports – a local active lifestyle firm which started the Cap City event in 2004.
My wife talked me into the experience a couple of months ago. She was right. Again. I loved the event, the vibe and the history we passed along our 3.1 mile journey.
To start, we headed south down High Street and saluted the queen of the southside – the Great Southern Hotel. After crossing over the freeway, I spotted a new business I did not recognize. Turns out, High Line Car House is a historic, industrial-chic event venue with exposed brick walls and high ceilings. It’s beautifully redone to host small weddings and corporate parties.
To help give Columbus more of an identity back in 2006, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman commissioned local singer Donna Mogavero to write a song for the city. She came up with The Streets where I live. I was kinda feelin that vibe as we walked the 5k with our city neighbors.
While still on South High and across from Grange Insurance, we passed the site of the old Clarmont Restaurant. It’s now the Cobra – a good night bar – which opened in October 2023.
The Clarmont closed in January 2012, after 64 year run at that location. Vivian Boeshaar played the Hammond organ at the Clarmont for forty years. Vivian knew all the regulars, knew their favorite songs and would play a few bars as they would walk in.
Frank Kondos, the owner of the Clarmont before selling in 1972, famously bought a white Rolls Royce. All white. White paint, white steering wheel, white carpet. It was a long-body touring Rolls that arrived from the factory on March 17 1966, and he parked it out front of the restaurant almost every day.
There was no Rolls Royce as we walked by, however, there were plenty of people rooting us on along the way, some holding signs. A couple of the best ones: “I trained for months to hold this sign,” also “Go! Random Stranger Go!” and his wife’ sign next to him, “Runners are sexy.”
We made the official turn into German Village at Frankfurt Street with its beautiful brick streets and fully foliated trees hanging above us. Then the turn up Third Street, where three iconic enterprises awaited us.
First, the majestic and stunning red brick St. Mary’s Catholic Church with its towering steeple, christened in 1868 by Columbus’s first bishop Sylvester Horton Rosecrans. The church, and the rest of German Village, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
About that time, we were passed by a young mother with a baby in her stroller. The young lady had signed up to run, but her baby came early, so she decided to still participate by walking. The baby’s age, you ask? One week old.
The Book Loft was next. It has this relaxed, give me a foot massage type of appeal. Kinda like comfort food. In fact, neighbors were hanging out front with their kids and dogs and a Stauf’s coffee in hand. It’s very inviting.
In 1977, Village Owl bookstore owners Carl Jacobsma and Roger Tompkins moved their store to Marianplatz – a unique two building structure housing six small shops in German Village. When a shop owner moved out, the partners grabbed the space and expanded. Soon, they had all thirty two rooms of a multi-story block long venue. The Book Loft reportedly sees as many as three thousand shoppers on any given summer Saturday.
Almost next door is Katzinger’s, a New York style delicatessen which opened in 1984. President Bill Clinton paid a visit with representative Joe Biden and Senator John Glenn on Feb 15, 1993. The Secret Service showed up first. They positioned guys with rifles on the roofs across the street. Clinton ordered corned beef & swiss with spicy mustard on pumpernickel.
The downtown residences caught my attention as we walked our route. We now see full neighborhoods amongst tall buildings and residents out walking their dogs. That’s a city we all want to live in.
Cap City was voted #2 Best Half Marathon in the nation by USA Today. It’s more than a healthy walk or run. It’s a community event that gives you a chance to mingle amongst your neighbors and show some love.
As we were getting ready to leave, two things happened: one – we ran into my buddy’s daughter, husband and two small children in a stroller. As we were talking to them, I realized in a full circle moment, they met participating together in a running club.
Secondly, I noticed a young woman wearing a hoodie that said on the back: “Tap me on the shoulder, if you need me to pray for you.” I went up and tapped her on the shoulder and said, “God bless you.”
Sources: Ohio Health Capital City Half & Quarter Marathon completes another successful run, WBNS-TV, April 26, 2026, www.youtube.com; Thousands participate in Columbus Capital City Half Marathon, NBC4, April 25, 2026; https://capitalcityhalfmarathon.com; www.highlinecarhouse.com; www.bookloft.com; www.m3ssports.com; www.cobrabarcolumbus.com; German Village – behind the bricks by John M Clark, 2015; www.katzingers.com; https://tonysitalian.net; 2026 OhioHealth Capital City Half Marathon benefiting the OhioHealth Foundation Event Guide produced by M3S Sports and 614 Media Group; Featured picture courtesy RJH personal collection.