03/29/2024
This year Albany Ohio Festivals was blessed to be partnered with Ethan and Kimmi Sayers to make this event happen! 🤍💙
We cannot thank them enough for all their hard work!
Here is a short word from them:
Hello, our names are Ethan & Kimmi Sayers and we reside in Albany, Ohio with our Pomeranian dog and four cats. We began running in August of 2022 in an attempt to escape mentally and physically feeling in a rut. When we first started running, we were barely able to run 1 mile, but we were instantly hooked based on the feeling of accomplishment that we both felt. We slowly grew the distance we were able to run from 1-2 miles to 5-6 miles and felt like we were unstoppable in some regard.
In October 2022, we ran our first 5K and we felt like we wanted to challenge ourselves further by training to participate in a half marathon event in 2023. It's hard to describe the joy and accomplishment achieved after mentally and physically challenging yourself to complete a run, whether its long distance or short distance. It is something to be celebrated internally and what motivates us to continue running. In 2023, we completed five half marathon events as well as one 5K event and one 10K event.
Through continuous running in Albany, Athens and the surrounding area, something unexpected happened. We became more involved in these areas as well. We became more involved with community activism and wanting to be apart of a community. From attending the Athens Farmers Market and befriending vendors, attending Village Council meetings, to volunteering for the Albany Fall Festival and Christmas in the Village, we wanted to do more. Entering 2024, we teamed up with Albany Ohio Festival Inc. and started planning the Bunny Hop 5K.
As runners, it was a lot of fun being able to plan a route for others to run. It took Kimmi and I the month of January to piece together the route that we will run during our event.
As of March 2024, Ethan has completed two half marathon events, one 22K (13.67 mile) event and a 30K (18.64 mile) trail run event. His next event will be the Albany Bunny Hop 5K on March 23 followed by the Athens Full Marathon on April 14. Kimmi has turned to being cheerleader and support for Ethan during the longer events in early 2024 as she is currently expecting. She has continued to stay active and has completed one 5K event and her next event will be the Albany Bunny Hop 5K on March 23 followed by the Athens Half Marathon on April 14. We look forward to seeing everyone at all the future Albany events and want to thank you all as well for participating in the Family Fun Run and the Bunny Hop 5K.
