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Tim Fulton 00:09
welcome to the confluence cast presented by Columbus underground. We are a weekly Columbus centric podcast focusing on the civics lifestyle entertainment and people of our city. I’m your host. Tim Fulton this week, marathons are more than just races. They’re complex productions, community rituals and at times, catalysts for civic pride. In this week’s episode, I sat down with Darris Blackford, longtime race director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus marathon and half marathon. We discussed how the event evolved from a tourism initiative in 1980 to one of the country’s most respected independent races, and how Darris went from running it as an amateur to running it as a professional. We explored the behind the scenes logistics of staging a 15,000 person race through multiple municipalities, what makes Columbus’s marathon structurally and financially unique, and how technology has reshaped the race experience without replacing the purity of putting one foot in front of the other. Darris also shared insights on elite runners, nonprofit partnerships and why fireworks beat flyovers every time you get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at the confluencecast.com enjoy the interview. Sitting down here with Darius Blackford, the race director of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus marathon and half marathon. Darius, how are you?
Darris Blackford 01:46
I’m great. Thank you. Yes, for the extended title, they’re like, it is the longest title of any race. I think around we
Tim Fulton 01:53
have to, you know, we have to name things properly. But I will probably just refer to it as the marathon, or the Columbus marathon. How long have you been working? Been the race director. Sorry, this
Darris Blackford 02:03
is my 16th year. Okay, 60. It’ll be my 16th, 15th race. But plus one, because of COVID, even though I was still there, fair didn’t have the race, okay? So, yeah, I took over in 2010 in in the spring of 2010 there had been a different business that had been in charge of it, okay, and that some issues came up. And so the board, I had been working for the event, doing marketing and helping them with marketing for several years, okay? And my history went back, goes back to the 90s with the race, which I’m happy to talk about. But I was asked to take over, and then I, at the time, I was working here at the was doing marketing for the local Harley dealers. There was three of them at the time, and but I was running, I’ve been a runner all for many, many years. I thought, oh yeah, I can do this. I can do both. It was those first three months. Not a lot had been done, okay, event. And I’m still trying in the motorcycle world, kind of like the running world. People are getting outdoors. It’s springtime, yeah, okay, it just got too busy. So I went to the owner the of the Harley dealers, and I just said, Hey, I’m sorry, but this opportunity came up. I’m really passionate about this, which he knew, yeah. And so I just went to the marathon full time that summer, and it was, haven’t looked back,
Tim Fulton 03:22
okay? And the Columbus marathon is, could I refer to it as semi unique in that it’s independently run, like it’s, there isn’t a national company that sort of runs a couple of different marathons around the country, like, I think indie is that way,
Darris Blackford 03:38
right? Well, the way, the way Columbus, it’s, um, it was, it’s a nonprofit, okay? And it was started back in 1980 It was started as a way to bring people to the city. These had been done in other places, okay, but back in the late 70s, cities were seen. These were kind of popping up. And so city leaders were like, Hey, this is a way we can bring, bring people to our city, yeah, and, you know, it did really well, and it was popular during the big running boom back then. But the difference is being a nonprofit versus there’s some for profit companies that run other events, including Cap City, okay, which, which is a great event, where we’re good friends with them, but that’s, that’s a different, different structure, different structure, right? So there’s a there’s a board of directors, okay? And then there’s no employees. Everybody, including myself, are contractors. But basically, I mean, this is all I do. So it’s kind of, you know, all that means is, I pay my own taxes, I pay my own benefit,
Tim Fulton 04:36
right? Well, and I actually, in this will show you how nerdy I am is. I looked up the 990 for the Columbus marathon, and I was like, I don’t see Darris on here, and so, but that’s one way to do it, right? It’s like, you just have a renewing contract with them with record and
Darris Blackford 04:54
that’s kind of that’s how it’s been ever since the very beginning, when there was previous people that were in charge of it. There was different. Businesses or entities. And then there’s a team of people that are involved in putting the event together, but most of them are only either from the summer on, or summer only, like a few weeks out, and then during the race. Okay, just depends on what area they’re specializing. Like, we have someone who’s in charge of we call her the environmental manager, but okay, in charge of trash. Okay? We have someone who’s in charge of of our elite athletes and our wheelchair athletes. Okay? So really, they’re not busy right now ordering things or doing working with the city on permits. Their job really is race weekend Okay, to make sure that everybody’s where they need to be, and so on and so forth and
Tim Fulton 05:38
so then do you, and this is me getting further nerdy, like, are they do those folks contract with that the board directly. They cut them with me. So I gotta have an entity.
Darris Blackford 05:50
Basically, I have to deal with all that. And then they get 10. What is it? 990? 1090, yeah, I know, I know it’s proper, but yeah, so it makes it easier for the board, because, again, it wouldn’t be. It’s not set up where they have, you know, there’s a treasurer and things like that. There’s an accountant. But it’s not like they’re in the they want to be in the business of employee and employee relations and health benefits and all that. And it’s really interesting in this, in this space, and that includes people like Cap City and other events. There are, there are some sort of people that that just specialize in working on these events, okay, as it as a 1099, person, yeah, you know, it just that’s like, kind of their sort of side light little and
Tim Fulton 06:33
I’ve done very, I think of it very similarly to I used to book speakers for a conference. And so it’s like, yeah, I know what my busy time is. And like, there’s a there’s a board and entity, but I have basically a separate contract to I am there to put get speakers on stage. Yeah, right, exactly. So we’re in June right now, or at the time of recording, we’re about to be in June. Where do things stand in terms of logistics and planning for the event in October?
Darris Blackford 07:06
So the way I have done this, and I’ve really developed this pattern over the years, is I really, I really just have starting from the end of the last year, just working my list of things, and there’s certain things I do throughout the year. So in June, we’re basically getting ready to order our medals for the race, working on our T shirt, working on our designs and things like that. We work with the local retailer, Columbus Running Company. They handle our relationship with ASICs, as far as getting the shirts, okay, like that. But then we’re gonna work with local designers to what’s the look going to be great. A lot of is starting to prepare our permits for not only Columbus, but Bexley, Upton, Grandview Heights, Ohio State. We have to work with all those police departments, plus the cities themselves. So there’s a lot of that paperwork, insurance, all the things I had to work with on everything from certificates of insurance and additional insureds. And then a lot of it is the vendors that we’re going to be working with, whether it’s the people who provide the restrooms or the fencing, as well as our food orders, we start to plan and things like that. A lot of the pieces from the participants side started in January, when we opened up registration, okay, they sign up and they’re done, right? Except they have to prepare themselves. It’s a train, correct? So what we start to see is some people are training all the time. It’s just part of their their lifestyle, but people that are really getting committed, they’ll start in June, and there’s a lot of local running clubs and training programs that really will kick off for our event in June, with about an 18 week, 20 week period that they’re focusing on. But a lot of people also maybe they are already running, and they did the Cap City okay? And they just kind of roll that training. Maybe they take a little bit of time off at the end of April, and just kind of roll that into their summer of preparation, and then they’re ready for the fall.
Tim Fulton 09:00
And so do folks that registration is open. Is it full yet?
Darris Blackford 09:04
Or no, but it’s full. Had been a miss. Full is a is a moving target, okay? Full used to be about 18,000 people, okay? Used to be 18 and 19, and it was too many, okay? And it was great. But when we, when we figured out that that, according to the Venturi effect, and I’m going to throw some science, I’m not familiar, okay, however wide the start line is, can only be as wide as the most narrow street in the first early miles. In other words, if we had an 80 foot wide start line, and we got the Bexley and the first street they turn onto is 40 feet. People are going to end up on the sidewalks in yards. And that’s a problem. It’s a problem. It’s kind of weird science vortex,
Tim Fulton 09:50
interesting, because people, I mean, I’ve ridden in Pelotonia and, like, I don’t know if I can certainly imagine in that environment, it’s like, you. You can’t flex that way, but runners don’t adjust for that. Oh, but
Darris Blackford 10:06
if there’s just so many okay? So the point I’m trying to make is, when we were, when we were at 18,000 we were able to control what happened on those streets, but it was too crowded. Okay? It just puts a strain on the early water stops the volunteers, things like, it’s just so many people, okay? So by, by being in that 15 to 16,000 sweet spot, it’s just allows us to keep the quality high, provide what, what everybody’s going to need, okay, also serve, particularly Bexley and and Near East Side and German village, without just over running things and causing issues where people are, are going to get injured, or, yeah, things like that. So we were in that 18, 17,000 then there was a little bit of a dip in the late the late teens, 17, 1819, we had our 40th anniversary. So we had a bump that year. But then COVID hit. So we went to zero, right? So coming back from COVID in 2021, we were about half of where we had been, maybe the 6000 7000 spot, and then we bumped up again, and then we reached a point last year where we’re in that 13 to 14,000 and it’s a it’s getting close to a really sweet spot. We can go a little bit bigger, okay, but the last three years, we have sold out each year we had to close registration earlier and earlier. Okay, so we won’t make it to the end of August for the marathon and half marathon before we have to close it.
Tim Fulton 11:31
Got it. So those that are listening, that are considering it, now is the time to go ahead and register and this you guys have some elite runners that participate. D, is there outreach you have to do to get them? Is it just by because I think, right, please correct me if I’m wrong. If you get a certain time in the Columbus marathon, it allows you to qualify for like the Boston Marathon, that is the New York Marathon, one that you it
Darris Blackford 11:59
has one you can qualify for automatic entry or for to better your chances of getting in. Okay, but Boston has the time. Is the only one that that if you make the time, and there’s certain parameters, and got it clearly, they run your credit card and everything, they’re happy to do that fair, but, yeah, but, but we do. We’ve got a really good reputation. It’s okay. I mean, again, that 44 year tradition. It was always known as one of the, one of the, not one of the first races, because there’s some that are over 50 years old, but one of the long standing races, and had a tradition for being a good a good race with a good Elite Field. So we don’t really have to recruit too much. They also know where they’re going, after the money, and they know that the people that whose job it is to go out and be runners, they kind of know, you know, we’re gonna go to Columbus, the big money’s at races like New York and Chicago. Is there a purse for winning? Okay, so first place wins $4,000 which is a great which a great amount, but it’s more of a second tier. You’re going to New York or Chicago, your appearance fees would probably equal that interesting as a good, you know, as a but again, they’re also, you know, 10 minutes faster than our than our winners. So it’s okay, but we’re good. We’re a good mid, a mid middle, middle sized race, good, you know, good, big city race. But yet and offer all the benefits, but, yeah, from the prize money, it really has never been something that the Columbus wanted to be, that that one that was offering, you know, 1020, $30,000, prize money. It just doesn’t fit into our model.
Tim Fulton 13:33
Okay, got it. But is it? Should I think of our race as kind of we’re very flat, right?
Darris Blackford 13:41
We don’t use it as much. I mean, back in the day, the slogan was, our world is flat, okay? Playing off Columbus, which I really liked that, yeah, but then you don’t want to be so, so pushing that, because places like Chicago, which are pancake flat compared to what we have when you’re coming out of in particular, when you go run up through Ohio State campus, up to Upper Arlington, and there’s some climb to it that that people complain this isn’t flat, like they said, Well, we that’s why we stopped saying our world is
Tim Fulton 14:12
flat. Got it. And do you, how do you sort of approach the do you view yourself as sort of the representative of, obviously, you’re here doing a podcast interview, but like, are you also the public face of the marathon?
Darris Blackford 14:29
Good or bad? Yes, okay, I have a face for radio or face for podcast? Yeah. I mean, I really, I feel it was my first marathon as a runner. Oh, okay, back in 1991 and I’d moved to Columbus that year, I’ve run the race 15 times, okay? And now I’m in my this will be my 15th race, 16 years not counting COVID or counting COVID. And so, yeah, I feel very that that right now, no one’s more knowledgeable about this event than I am. Them, of anybody who’s on this planet, because I really make it my cause to know it and care about it and to nurture it for whoever comes after me, and I think the people before me felt the same way, but I feel strongly that what it means to the community, and not just the community at large, which really has changed in the last few years, but from the running community, it was always a respected event. In 1992 we hosted the Olympic trials for men, which kind of a unique situation, and so kind of knowing, carrying that flag of what this event represents in the running world, I feel it’s important to represent it in a good way.
Tim Fulton 15:41
And do you handle sponsorships and stuff? What’s great about
Darris Blackford 15:45
our event is, knock on wood, we can pay the bills with the registration funds. Okay? So when people sign up, those dollars are used to buy the shirts and buy the metals and buy the food and insurance and pay the six figure police cost that it talks cost to put this thing on and so forth. But we get a little bit of money for a few things, but not much in the way of sponsorship. Okay, we get some in kind, which is great, like Gatorade. I mean, the value of Gatorade sponsorship is, is six figure. Oh, wow. Six Figure. Five figure. What? It’s a lot of Gatorade. It’s probably, I don’t know what the dollar amount is, but yeah, it’s five figure for sure, because it’s Gatorade, it’s cups, it’s all the jugs, all the signage, it’s the really, the branding and the brand recognition of being partnered with them. If we had to buy that, that would just, that would mean our cost would increase, or we had to find other sponsors. But that’s where the model works so well with what we have, because we’re able to really run it as a, as a, as a business, that we’re not trying to put money away as for shareholders, right? We do try to put money away into into a rainy day account, because we had a rainy day, we had COVID, we have COVID, and we had to give everybody their money back. Okay? They still had expenses that year. Yeah, some things had already been purchased. And so the bottom line was, having a little bit of a bank account is great, yeah, because to protect yourself. But what’s great is, by partnering with the hospital, they’re really good at twisting, I mean, twisting arms. I always say that as a joke, they’re always good at getting people to open their wallets, right? And because of that, all the funds that they bring in go to the hospital. Okay? So I’ll use an example. A mile marker has a has a sponsorship. I think it’s $25,000 for a company to sponsor a mile okay, that money goes to the hospital,
Tim Fulton 17:39
and you guys don’t even touch it like it’s just a check to Nationwide Children’s. It’s
Darris Blackford 17:43
an asset. Mile miles are an asset. Water stops are an asset. Entertain, you know, bands that are playing those locations, so the hospital goes out and sells those spots, yeah, become a water stop sponsor. And whatever that dollar amount is, become a mile marker sponsor. And that’s how about half of the million dollars a year is raised, okay, through those the hospital again,
Tim Fulton 18:08
and is it should? I think of that as just sort of like a because you guys could collect that, you are a nonprofit, you could collect that, that sponsorship money, but it’s much more a it feels good that people are running in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus marathon. There’s, I think there’s, are they cancer survivors, or
Darris Blackford 18:34
it’s patients of all sorts of patients from the hospital that are
Tim Fulton 18:38
highlighted at each mile marker. There is also an acknowledgement of those that pass away. Is that the benefit of that partnership is that what you’re saying, so
Darris Blackford 18:50
there’s, so there’s, there’s multiple benefits. I mean, number one, I’ll break it down a little bit easier, from the standpoint of, we raise a million a year. Okay, about half of that comes from those sponsors, okay? Literally, sponsor things on behalf of the hospital, and the money goes to the hospital. Okay? Then there’s the part of the fundraisers. They’re, they’re people, they’re called children’s champions, okay? And anybody who runs can become a children’s champion, okay? And they basically do pledges like or however they want to raise the money. Got it. But, you know, different people set different goals or amounts, and there’s a whole fundraising mechanism through the hospital. There’s a website, and you okay, and they help you to communicate to it’s a lot like peloton. You’re any other
Tim Fulton 19:30
wired, right? Like, no, I wanted to run. I could just what is the registration fee
Darris Blackford 19:34
depends. I mean, it starts off in January. There’s like an early bird rate. Got it. I think it opened in 110 110 for the marathon, and okay, 95 for the half, I
Tim Fulton 19:44
think. But I couldn’t just pay 110 and that would be it. And
Darris Blackford 19:47
that’s because when it first started, we were in our 32nd year, okay? And it wasn’t or whatever year it was in 19, in in 2012 it wasn’t going to be fair to go to people. Say, well, from now on, you can only do it if you raise money, right? We were too far down the line Pelotonia. That’s how they started, exactly, wonderful model. But if they had been 10 years in and then tried to get people to do that, the outcry might have been too much well,
Tim Fulton 20:13
and I don’t know, I don’t know what it is now, but I remember when I did Pelotonia, I did the 100 and it was like, Oh, you have to raise $1,000 and it’s like, oh, that’s
Darris Blackford 20:23
small. But if you but if you had done it for previous years and you didn’t have that set up, you probably would have said, Now, I’m not interested. So we knew that some people have no interest in fundraising, and that’s great. They still want to take part in the event, yeah, but they also there’s a benefit just by signing up, because the marathon board is very good, and we’ve worked hard to be fiscally conservative. We plan for higher expenses and plan for lower revenues, so we always know that we’re going to be able to cover the costs. Yeah, and monies that are extra, part of that gets donated back. So in the in the What year is this 14th year, 2012 the 13th year of the partnership. Okay, more than a million. I think it’s 1.4 million has been donated by the marathon board to the hospital. Okay, so of that 14,000,010% of that has come from the marathon board itself. Got it. Which is, you know, which is, really, it’s nice to know that some of your dollars are going towards that. At the same time. It can’t all go to that, because there’s T shirts, yeah, it’s, it’s, and those expenses continue to go up every year. So we work to be fair in our pricing. There’s races around the country. You know, New York is great, Chicago is great. But those are, those are two, three, you know, $100 plus events. Okay, we offer all the amenities, all the fun. We’re not Chicago or New York, but great won’t find a better start than our race? You won’t. We’ve got great volunteer support and great, great support on the course, with the things, with the fluid stations and the entertainment and that because myself, people on the team the board, have all run the event, run or walked it. So we, and we’ve run and walked other events. And so we kind of know what’s what, what do the best events do? Yeah, we what are the best practices, exactly, and we really adopt those. And we and we take ideas. It’s funny. I just, I was telling some the other day, the race used to start at 8am this is before I got involved, okay? And it’s and there was a flyover by the Air National Guard, okay? Because sunrise is except 745 in October, and anytime after that, they can do the flyover, okay. Well, the race got moved to 730 before sunrise, so they couldn’t do the flyover. And this is my first year. I’m like, Well, what are we gonna do? Yeah, what? How can we have fun with this? Well, I had done the Disney World Marathon in the past, and they start with fireworks. Okay, so now we start with fireworks. And it just, you know, it’s a best practice, something cool I saw, and, yeah, we stole the idea. And there’s no, there’s no new ideas out there, right? Just want to adopt them. And we also try to just adopt ideas from best practices of like of retailers or, you know, how is Starbucks communicate when people walk in, we try to do we try to think things through, from our signage or from our from our branding or our messaging that just is modern day thinking in an industry or in a sector that was really kind of has has roots in sort of independent, kind of put on your shoes and run, yeah? You know, it doesn’t really have the bell. It doesn’t have to have the bells and whistles, and that’s part of the allure. But at the same time, we’re in a modern society, so you want to kind of mimic what people are experiencing in other parts of their life.
Tim Fulton 23:38
Yeah, and that brings up a good point. And how much has technology sort of changed, how a rate a runner experiences the marathon, and do you think that’s good,
Darris Blackford 23:52
you know, from the standpoint of operationally, okay, the technology has been more tweaks, okay, it’s been like that, like the timing, for example, yeah, we you used to run and if you were at the back of the pack and the and the gun went off, yeah, your time started when the one gun went off. Yes, well now it starts when you cross the start line, because there’s a little, a little timing, a little chip in your bib, right? Your bib, yeah, basically just a sticker with a timing chip, and that goes on there. So you, so you, so you, you could be 10 minutes after the start, when you cross the start line, your your clock starts. Okay, great, great tweak, great thing. But still, the concept of, it’s still a starting line as a starting line, right? Safety is helps. For example, we have something called Real Time runner tracking, okay, which allows people to track their family member. But it also allows us to do things like push outs of notifications in case of emergency, okay? Or we could. It also just helps us from a medical. Standpoint knowing who people are if an issue were to happen, yeah, then the technology that the police and fire using same thing they’ve got, they’ve got the ability to communicate if we have an issue that comes up, no. So people have really taken to the availability technology for for their own purposes, in particular GPS systems and smart watches and all that, yeah. But the big thing that’s interesting is, and we found this out from surveys, 80% of the participants carry their phone in the case, huh? Which most of them are listening to their own music, right? Which is kind of a bad thing from our standpoint, because we try to provide, you know, between 60 and 80 entertainers on the course, right? But like, if they can’t hear them, you know, yeah, it’s a lot of money to, you know, we give those people a little stipend, yeah, thanks for playing. And you don’t want someone to come out and have to be out there for a few hours, and, right? They don’t need to practice, you know, they enjoy their craft already, yes, but it’s interesting that that’s, that’s a that’s become more and more popular. It’s, it’s also somewhat of a danger issue, because, you’ll, I’ve been in races, and a police will be trying to get through, or an emergency vehicles trying to get through, and people don’t hear because they’re at their basket, right? Yeah, but, but, you know, so, so the technology, it’s still, it’s also affected things like the gear and like these super shoes and all that, okay, that have carbon plating and all that, but honestly, it’s still fundamentally the act of movement by putting one foot in front of the other, yeah, and that’s what’s kind of pure about it and kind of nice about it. It’s funny, I never got into cycling, and my brother got into it. And I know people have, but I was always thinking to myself, at least trying to, trying to, trying to legitimize in my own mind, the reason I didn’t do it is because I would never be able to keep up with the technology. Okay, ie the expensive of this bike and that bike and, oh, I need the latest thing. I really just didn’t want to do it. But I always think I blamed it on
Tim Fulton 26:58
that. That’s fair for people who are considering running a marathon for the first time, or even if they haven’t done it in a couple of years, what, when does training should? Should training start for
Darris Blackford 27:11
them? Yeah, I mean the marathon, you know, the science, the experts say 18 to 20 weeks. Okay, so, so June, late June. A lot of the training programs are kicking off around June. June, 21 first day summer is a Saturday. There’s some programs that are starting. Then sometimes people like to get a little bit of an earlier start than that, just to prepare themselves the half marathon, which is really the larger of our events. Okay, it’s two thirds, 1/3 we’ll have about 10,000 sign up for the half, and fought five for the marathon, huh? It’s also a lot less training, yep, it’s also you can go. And I just saw someone, someone had posted, basically, it’s all of the all of the excitement without the damage. Okay, you know, you can still go and enjoy your afternoon. You know, if you do a half, I mean, it’s a matter of, what is your what is your goal, what’s your accomplishment? Yeah, desire. But I don’t like it when people only, when they use the word only, I’m only doing the half. Oh yeah, you’re not only doing the half. Only button slow are the worst words only the half or, that I’m slow or but I only did the half marathon. No, you, you, it’s an accomplishment, yeah, and it’s, it’s funny that it used to be this hardcore mentality of the marathoner, and, you know, they were just that training techniques were different, and yeah, now it’s become the running for the half and the full have become social. We’ve seen a real change in the in the whole base of runners that are people that are really just and looking for the fun side of it. That’s why we have, we have 20 local running and walking groups around Columbus, okay, German village, and short north and Marysville and on and on. All these different groups that are, that are out there, have sprung up because people are looking for a community, yeah, within their hobby, yes, because it is, it’s,
Tim Fulton 29:15
it’s a communal or it can be a communal experience, especially
Darris Blackford 29:19
once you experience it as a communal activity, because if you do it by yourself, that’s fine. People enjoy going out and for a run, but once you run with other people, it can be more fun. There’s a level of accountability. And I’ve been in many running groups and things like that, and I know if the people that I run with are out on a Saturday morning, I’m like, I don’t want to go, but you end up building accountability factor. Yeah, right. And that makes, and I think that just gives you more to push, to push yourself for those days. Maybe you don’t want to go. You can learn about about the sport, especially if you don’t know anything about it. You should never say, I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t do this because I don’t know anything about it, right? Just go to. One of these local groups, and a lot of them are free, yeah, and just, just meet people and have fun with it. And nobody, you know, nobody started out as as as an Olympian, right? Absolutely. And most of us won’t.
Tim Fulton 30:14
That’s fair. I end every interview with the same two questions, what do you think Columbus is doing well? And what do you think Columbus is not doing so well? I normally ask that you sort of keep it even outside of, yeah, that can keep the subject matter, yeah. But what do you think Columbus is doing well? Wow,
Darris Blackford 30:35
that’s a really good question. I love this city. I’ve been here since 1991 I was a newspaper reporter at the dispatch. I covered economic development. I got to see a lot of the changes and and things in the city. I really feel that we’re doing a great job with our efforts, with our parks and our park systems, our attention, we’re not leaving green space behind. And we could have, yep, we did. You know, you go back to places like 161, and Morse road and all those, when development happened. I don’t even know if there is a park on Morse road anywhere, right, think about it, until you get out to certain places, you know, not counting Easton and green spaces, yes, but just places like that. The fact that we have places like Parker roses, Whetstone Park and high banks and the Metro park system and the trail system, they’re building more and more of these trails for running and walking and hiking, it’s phenomenal. And I don’t think people that are here appreciate what we have compared to other places around the country. With regards to that network, the simplest thing that I don’t like is the garbage in this city. Okay, what is going on? You know, I don’t care if 71 and 315 are national or state highways. They look terrible. Okay? And there’s no reason this is this. This used to be a much cleaner city, okay, as simple as that, okay? It drives me crazy because I’m out and out, running and, yeah, walking all the time, and I see this. It’s like, come on, what are we doing? Yeah, and I don’t know what the solution is. I saw something on the news the other day where there’s a private company that actually employs people looking for a second chance to go pick up trash and things like that. Great step, but we’ve got to do more. It’s just okay. Yeah, those are my those are my thoughts. I will
Tim Fulton 32:37
credit you with. Those are two unique answers for that question.
Darris Blackford 32:41
Yeah, I used to my biggest complaint, I actually wrote them about this was the elevators at the parking garage at Port Columbus. Okay, were disgusting. Yep, that carpeting. I’m like, What is going on here? Just put in tile and then mop it down once a day. Yeah, it was so and I think they actually improved it for a while. I haven’t been I haven’t been
Tim Fulton 33:03
there in awareness they’re not great,
Darris Blackford 33:08
between all the salt that people in the winter time and so that was my earlier, earlier fix for
Tim Fulton 33:13
the city. But that’s fair. Yeah. Darris, thanks for your time. Thank
Darris Blackford 33:17
you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 33:22
You. You for
Tim Fulton 33:31 Listening to Confluence cast, presented by Columbus underground again. You get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at the confluencecast.com Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of The confluence cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite marathon runner. If you’re interested in sponsoring the confluence cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info at the confluencecast.com our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. Our producer is Philip Cogley. I’m your host. Tim Fulton, have a great week.
