Central Ohio runners in Monday’s Boston Marathon

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Monday is going to be a big day in Boston for thousands of people from around the world as the Boston Marathon returns to the spring.

Some running in this year’s race hail from central Ohio.

One of those runners, Gina Palmer, arrived in Boston Saturday and has already had an exciting weekend.

Palmer is a member of the Columbus East Side Running Club, and seven of its members will be racing Monday, a day they have been waiting years for.

Some of them, including Palmer, qualified for the race in 2020, but it went virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also ran in the 2021 Boston Marathon, but that took place in October due to the pandemic, so Monday will mark her first true spring Boston Marathon experience.

“I didn’t do it before so I don’t know, but I can tell you compared to the fall, it’s a lot crazier,” she said. “I think people are so much more relaxed about COVID and there’s so many more people. The expo was bigger.”

“It’s very exciting,” Palmer added. “The atmosphere is, I would call it exciting.”