By JOEL WRIGHT

Staff writer

Advertising for MOPS annual Run for your Momma half marathon and 5k fun run attracted more than just the local crowd this year.

Runners also came from Missouri, the District of Columbia, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Massachusetts and Indiana.

“Honestly I was already driving through,” said Brittany Kuhn, a marathoner from Biloxi, Miss. “I’m doing a 50-state challenge and saw there was a half marathon in Marion.”

A former high school English teacher now pursuing a writing career in addition to a doctorate in English, Kuhn’s next stop will be Minot, N.D., her seventh state.

She placed 51st overall, out of 74 runners.

“I’m glad I came,” Kuhn said. “It was a wonderful run, it was beautiful, and it worked.”

Coordinator Bethany Carlton said it was nice to see people from other parts of the country participate.

“We advertise and somehow they want to come,” she said. “It takes a lot of people to put on the event and we’re blessed to have so much support.”

Despite the help received from local businesses, rainy weather played a role in organization of the race.

“We usually use country roads, but had to use alternate routes,” Carlton said. “Up until the night before, there was water over the road from the lake. It wasn’t anything you’d want to run through, but by the morning it was fine.”

Results for the race are posted at ozendurance.net.